Bottom Line: Bud Black should be worried about his job
Joe Wieland has his first at-bat at Petco Park 4/19/12
An interesting question was raised tonight: “Does Bud Black know that his job is in jeopardy?” I responded by saying that he must unless he is dumb. But then I started to think, he isn’t doing anything with our lineup, so maybe he is dumb?
I am stunned that Bartlett is still in the lineup. I know I complain about him nearly every night, but HOW is he still playing?? Like I said last night, Nick Hundley has a better average than him and he started the season at 0-21! Bartlett struck out twice tonight by letting the third strike just fly right by him. No attempt was made to swing the bat at the third strike. And then… and then… with a runner on first, Bartlett runs towards second (I’m still not sure why) and the batter hits the ball directly to where Bartlett should have been. That would have saved us a run, but alas, Bartlett sucks.
For the record, I definitely boo’d Bartlett and Hudson tonight. I also told them how much they suck.
Speaking of Hudson, I was blown away tonight by a reaction by Hudson. At some point around the 8th inning or so a fan was heckling Hudson. He kind of deserves it. He has done nothing for the team. Well, I didn’t see the whole thing evolve, but all of a sudden all the fans around us (we were sitting right by the dugout) they jump up. So we look over there. I found out later that Hudson had the balls to jump out and confront that fan. Here’s what I take from that, Hudson knows that he sucks. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t have bothered to confront the fan, because it doesn’t matter at that point. The fact that he stepped out and argued 1. Proved immaturity. 2. Was totally unprofessional. 3. Showed just how much this team is cracking.
They have to be cracking, right? You’re 3-11 and the laughing stock of Major League Baseball, there are going to be some weaknesses. However, in order to be a great team– hell in order to be a good team– they’re going to have to fill those cracks. Not just the errors on the field, because Bartlett’s drama on the field is all fixable, but the cracks within the team. We do not need players like Hudson jumping out of the dugout to confront the fans. Yea, you play for us, because without us MLB would be nothing, but you do not confront us. Play the game like the fans are not there. Remember how there was the triple play on Sunday, and then on Monday they came back with a fire in their eyes? That is how every day needs to go. Obviously I’m not in the dugout (damn!) but I’m certain there are some tensions down there. That’s not how games are going to be won. This team needs to play like a unit and act like one.
Also, maybe we should send certain batters up without a bat. Maybin, Bartlett and others all went up and it didn’t seem to matter if they had a bat that worked– they weren’t swinging. Newsflash, y’all aren’t going to score too many runs without hitting the dang ball.
Joe Wieland no longer intrigues me. Joe Wieland now impresses me. After the first inning I had this whole blog written in my head. I was going to go on and on about how I had such high hopes for him and he went and blew it with a 30 pitch first inning. But then holy wow! He turned things around in the second inning. He really found his stride and just kept right on rolling. In fact, when Bud Black took him out before the 7th, I honestly believed that he could have gone one more and been successful. I think the first inning was jitters. I really do. It was his first game at Petco, and I’m sure that was intimidating. Unfortunately that first inning made all the difference.
But seriously, I don’t want to complain about Bartlett and Hudson anymore. I want them to prove me wrong. I can only write so much about them before it becomes wruting (terrible writing).
Bottom line is that Bud Black should be worried about his job. If he doesn’t start to worry, he is going to be the laughingstock of Major League Baseball. He needs to start choosing lineups as if his job depends on it– because it does.
And I have to give a shout out to Ken for Saturday’s tickets. I will be seeing Luebke pitch once again. Let’s hope for a win.. seriously.
Green Grass Love Affair 
I would seriously doubt Bud gets fired.
1) Byrnes is the GM. He loves O-Dog. He Loves Buddy. Both are still around.
2) Moores isn’t likely to authorize or demand Black’s firing, and with the ownership in flux, don’t look for the team to pay for 2 managers. Black has a long term contract, so they’d be paying him for a while.
Bartlett and Hudson have their ropes. They are hanging themselves. But as much as I’d like to see a move, it really is a matter of having the bullets to put in their gun after they fire those blanks. Also, we cut ties with Jim Edmonds in 2008 who was off to a start as bad as these two clowns. Then he was picked up by the Cubs and performed well for them. I think there’s always a bit of making sure you don’t give up on a guy too soon. Hopefully things change very, very soon. In either the roster make up, or the performance on the field.