Man, we just got brutalized. Say one thing about Melvin’s bullpen management, at least it makes it long and painful.
Another brutal homestand. It’s been interesting to see the fans turn on the team, though: where once people were almost uniformly cheery and gave me dirty looks if I said something not-quite-positive enough, now there are boo birds throughout the stands and some players don’t get any applause at all when they’re up (Aurilia!), though we’re not at the point where the crowd’s really jumping on specific players. Even Cirillo never got a severe bad reaction on the intros.
I was at the game, so all I saw was a weird disappearance of Olerud and then a long period of stalling, which I figured was due to Olerud being in the bathroom. What was the official explanation, anyway?
Update!
Niehaus said it was bathroom-related at the time, after the game Melvin said that Olerud and Aurilia were “locked in the video room.” Is that what the kids are calling it these days?
Some bad news on the minor league front: Justin Leone got hit on the wrist with a pitch last night and could be out of action for an extended period of time. Considering that before the HBP he had launched his 12th and 13th homers of the year, raising his SLG to .651 (including a ridiculous .389 ISO), he was making enough noise to get a look in the inevitable overhaul that is coming. It’s too bad this is probably Leone’s peak year, and instead of being given a chance to help the big club, he was mashing pitchers in Tacoma. Time to hope the injury isn’t too serious.
Edit: Just learned that it is just a bruise, and he’ll miss about a week. Hooray.