Easier Said Than Done

Sorry my loyal readers for going dark for a week, but rest assured the View From the Bleachers will be updating regularly once again. Starting with this post, I am going to have a weekly segment called “Easier Said Than Done”. It is basically what it appears to be, I am going to be sounding off on things in sports I think are a mistake, but hell, I’m not a professional athlete, so it is probably easier for me to say than for those multi-millionaires to do.

ESTD – Wednesday’s game, bottom of the 2^nd, bases loaded with the Brewers already down three runs and Mike Cameron makes an out by running into a groundball that looks like it was hit by a first grade girl at a family picnic? What do you call a “rookie mistake” when it is made by a 15-year-veteran?

Speaking of which, when can we end the ridiculous cliché of “rookie mistake”. Professional athletes of all ages make mental mistakes that appear heinous from our comfy couches. Whether you are an ickle first year about to be sorted or a burly seventh year, intelligence, or lack thereof, remains roughly the same your entire adult life.

ESTD – Why don’t home plate umpires ask for help on a check swing every single time when it is even remotely close? You can’t tell the depth of a swing while sitting directly behind a hitter. The first and third base umps, however, have excellent views. The Brewers, of course, were burned by home plate umpire Bill Hohn when he disagreed with my assertions (and every other logical baseball fan) and called Gallardo on a strike out with the bases loaded, ending the inning.

This has nothing to do with the post, but…Brian Anderson (the Brewers play-by-play announcer) just called out the Giants for “drinking the Kool-aid on their own team” in spring training. Brian Anderson just accused someone else of possibly showing homerism. Brian freaking Anderson! Talk about Hermione calling someone else a nerd

ESTD – Why does Ken Macha ever, ever, ever give plate appearances to Jody Gerut? Batting .196 on the year, Gerut has hit .114 with Milwaukee and slugged an even more impressive .114 in 38 plate appearance. He has a -18 OPS+. He almost never sees more than two pitches in an at-bat before grounding weakly to second base. These numbers defy sarcasm. He makes Billy Hall look like Ryan Braun. Braun compares favorably to Babe Ruth when stacked up with Gerut (OK, so the numbers don’t completely defy sarcasm).

To top it off, the Crew have a very capable lefty on the bench in rookie Mat Gamel. The tall lefty bats with some power, walks some and most importantly, his jersey does NOT say Gerut on the back.

On a side note, what the hell happened to Gerut? In his rookie year with the Indians, Gerut had a line of .279/.336/.494 and belted 22 home runs, resulting in a respectable 120 OPS+. He even finished fourth in Rookie of the Year voting, beating out fifth place Mark Teixiera.