Hotdog & Friends

Fig Jam

Do you remember that scene in Braveheart when William Wallace had been captured and was being “purified” by pain? When he was hung, then racked, and then disemboweled before a large crowd who began begging for mercy on Wallace’s behalf?  I remember that….

Let’s talk about Richie Sexson.  I know I go after him a lot, but fucking Mercy already. MERCY!  Take him out of the line-up, out of the dugout, and out of the clubhouse.  It’s over.  He isn’t going to be comeback player of the year, he isn’t going to “figure it out” or “break out” or “hit the ball” or anything like that.  It has just become absolutely painful to endure one of his at bats.  He was recently benched for 5 games (mariners record 3-2) in order to work on a new “wide stance” at the plate.  That approach didn’t work for Larry Craig and it isn’t working for Richie.  He’s 1-6 in the two games since he’s been back (actually a worse percentage that he was batting before the benching).

Worse still, during the stretch where he was benched, a situation arose where the Mariners were down by 2 in the bottom of the 9th with 2 men on board, and John McLaren let Miguel Cairo go up to the plate representing the winning run.  This is unfathomable.  McLaren likely did this because he has lost all confidence in Sexson and knew that if/when Sexson fanned during the at bat, the boo’s would be overwhelming.  In any event, it matters not.  Whether McLaren didn’t want to subject Sexson to the boos or just didn’t think Sexson would hit the ball is irrelevant.  Both concepts envision failure.  It’s time for Mercy.   

Yesterday, various blogs called sexson a “strikeout guru” and noted that child with one leg probably had a better on base percentage.  In the past year a Seattle bar has run a promotion offering beer for the price of Sexson’s batting average.  The boos cascade down upon the man whenever he wildly swings at strike 3.  It is time to remove this polarizing figure from the team and let everyone breath a sigh of relief (including the man himself). 

Look, he’s still going to get paid.  He’s not going to have work for the rest of his life and will be able to buy beautiful houses all over the country and spend the rest of his life golfing and fishing.  It could be worse. 

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 4th, 2008 at 9:42 am and is filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.