Wednesday, May 23, 2007

A New Addition to Johnny Gold's List


My main man, Johnny Gold has a list he likes to call his "P&*#y List". This list is inhabited by the likes of the oft injured like Grant Hill, Ken Griffey, Jr., Terrell Davis and Peter Forsberg or flat out cowards such as Todd Pinkston and Pat Burrell. Tonight, I have a nominee to the list....Rod Barajas.

Sure, the Phils won tonight in extra innings, but they could have won in 9 innings if Barajas showed a little guts and blocked the plate to prevent the tying run from getting under his less than half hearted tag attempt. I've seen Randy Moss look more willing to be hit while running patterns across the middle than Barajas did on that play. Remember that play a couple years ago against the Redskins where Pinkston claimed to lose the ball in the lights? This play was just as bad.

What made this play more embarrassing was that this was not a bang bang sequence where Barajas did not have time to brace himself. To the contrary, Rod caught the ball with plenty of time to set himself, block the plate and apply the tag before the runner reached the plate. Instead, he opened legs wider than Ron Hextall's five hole in the mid 90's, applied a chest high tag and let the tying run slide in. I just wish I could find a picture or You Tube clip to share, but unfortunately I could not locate one.


The Phils should cut him tonight and let Coste play the rest of the year as the backup catcher. I guarantee you Coste wouldn't pull any nonsense like that.

(By the way, kudos to Mitch Williams for calling this guy out in the post game show and saying that he did not want to get hit. The Wild Thing is quickly becoming one of the better announcers in this city.)

To make matters worse, Brett Myers hurt his arm pitching to the next batter after Barajas' gaffe. Only in Philadelphia are brutal mistakes compounded by injuries to integral players (remember Jevon Kearse's season ending knee injury after the numerous mistakes in the Giants game pushed it to O.T.?)

Johnny, let me know if my request to add Barajas to the list is accepted. I think he is fully qualified.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

NOW, this is good journalism. I've been waiting for what seems like months to read something on this place that gets me fired up and you've done it. I mean, between me you and St. Joe's Nick it gets a bit lonely around here, but today you've done it!

I'm gonna give you 2 nuggets on this play. One, involves me getting run over by a 12 year old girl on a play at the plate, the other left the base runner toothless.

Ok, 12 year old summer league is Sea Isle City. For whatever reason I end up on a stacked team, we were like 13-0 and yours truly was playing catcher. Turns out the SS ends up an All Conference cathcer for Deptford, but he's play SS and I'm catching in this summer league, go figure. We have 1 girl in the league, she happens to live across the street from me and is a piece of ass. I mean she's really cute, a bit Tom Girlish, but cute and she can play. Play at the plate, low throw to me that i pick cleanly and she lays me out. I can still see it clearly all these years later, I fortunately hold onto the ball, but she layed the wood to me. Turns out, this chick was All State for Ocean City HS in Softball.

Second, involves the Semi's of the Group 3 Final in 1988. Mark T. Gavin was at the plate on a similar play as last nite's. Gav did something i've never seen before, but I won't soon forget. He receives the ball in plenty of time much like Barajas does, but what he does next will live in infamy. He receives the ball with both hands, then transfers the ball into his throwing hand, he then proceeds up the line a step or two and applies the tag to the runners teeth. We record the out, go on to advance to the Group Finals, and the runner ends up at the dentist. He lost a tooth and i'm sure some others were loose. Gav explains, you go for the head in that situation with the ball as a weapon, the ump assumes the ball is still in your glove hand. We lost in the Group Final for the second year in a row to CH West, but that play will stay in my mind forever. You know, that runner came back in the seventh and hit a triple, tough toothless son of a bitch.

Philly Phan said...

Oh my god...that may be the best comment ever posted on this site....I can't believe you just admitted to getting run over by a chick.

Anonymous said...

Normally my list is for players who get hurt all too often, BUT If what your saying is true (I did not see the play) I will make this exception......

Anonymous said...

The point is Philly Fan, I hung in there and made the play, unlike Bologna Tits Barajas, who for some unknown reason gets another start tonite.

Now, this chick was no joke, I'm telling you she was All State, and you know how girls mature much faster than boys.

Anonymous said...

Why is the catcher in the big leagues, and why does he get the start 1 nite after almost blowing the game. He just screwed us again

Anonymous said...

I hate this team. how do u get thrown out at teh plate by 30' w/ 0 outs

George said...

Who the *$#^ is making the personnel decisions around here? Chris Coste to Reading? Please leave him on the bench and send down one of the pitchers that never gets used. (Yoel Hernandez) Why do they carry extra pitchers and never use them while the bench continues to get used up every night before they even get to extra innings?