Wow. That game featured a dozen different kinds of ugly. It was ugly enough –particularly if you happen to be one of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays’ 117 fans– that it almost managed to make Big Sid Ponson look pretty. You know, pretty in a greasy, WWF bad guy sort of way.
But, what the hell, let’s throw Siddhartha a bone while we still can: that was a serviceable impersonation of a Major League pitcher, and who knows how many times we’ll be able to say that.
The Devil Rays are a young, often laughably bad team right now, but they have been able to score runs; even after tonight’s blowout they’ve still managed to outscore the Twins (127-124). They’ve also given up 171 runs, the most in the majors by a large margin. Despite that fact they remain tied with the Yankees for last place in the east. We should all take satisfaction in that while we can.
The Rays beat Johan Santana, though, and they beat-up on Joe Nathan. They haven’t quite figured out the crafty Sid, however; both of his wins have come against Tampa Bay, and tonight’s performance (7 IP, 5 hits, 2 walks, 5 strikeouts, and one earned run) was actually good enough that it almost made it possible to root for the guy.
Almost.
Be honest, though: even after the Twins built an early lead, didn’t you pretty much take it for granted that Sidney would cough it up? It was almost shocking to see him go back out there for the seventh.
After the last couple games Minnesota’s marketing people must be breathing a big sigh of relief. It was a serious risk to expend so much capital on the whole piranha shtick, particularly when the club has the reigning MVP, Cy Young Award winner, and batting champion. I’ll be damned, though, if that game wasn’t an example of piranha ball at its ferocious, shin-kicking best.
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