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TIME TO FILL THE BLACK HOLES IN THE LINEUP by Jason Martinez posted 6/04/08 Padre fans have waited patiently (at least a few of us have been patient) for more than two months now and endured Paul McAnulty's defense and Scott Hairston's strikeouts. But enough is enough. Can Chase Headley really be any worse in left field than P-MAC? Can he really do any worse than the .229 BA /.335 OBP/ 400 SLG that Padre left fielders have given the team thus far? I seriously doubt it. I'm one of the few who thought it was a good idea to let Headley start the season in AAA, find his swing, and become a bit more comfortable in left field. And to be perfectly honest, the offense is not the biggest problem at this very moment. There is an even bigger hole in the starting rotation until Jake Peavy returns from his injury. But c'mon Kevin Towers. C'mon Sandy Alderson. I know there' a chance that Headley might not become a superstar but he's much, much better than what we're currently throwing out there. P-MAC, Justin Huber, and Hairston are major league players. But they're probably not major league starters. Whoever is making the call, it's time to call the kid up and not only look to the future, but the present. If you haven't noticed, the Arizona Diamondbacks have quickly become a really, really bad team. After they're through getting blown out in Milwaukee today, they'll be just 4 games over .500 and 3 games ahead of the 2nd place Dodgers. The Giants will be just 6.5 games out and our Padres would be nine games back with a chance to cut it to 8.5 with a win tonight. As bad as this team has played, they are not out of this. Especially if the Diamondbacks keep it up. This could be the season when a division winner will have a sub-.500 record. If it were the Padres, I'd be ecstatic. Especially considering that us Padre fans thought the season was all but over in mid-May. So call the kid up already. He just might help light a fire under this team. And while you're at it, how about getting us a catcher who can hit the ball out of the park once in awhile and throw out some base runners? Oh wait. We might already have that guy in AAA. Nick Hundley is batting just .228 but he has 9 HR's and 22 RBI's. He's also batting .324 with 5 HR's and 12 RBI's over his last nine games. The 24 year-old is solid defensively. He had nailed 14 of 31 attempted base stealers as of June 1st. Give the kid a shot. It can't get any worse than what we're throwing out there right now. Padre catchers are batting a combined .186 with 0 HR's and 46 strikeouts. If they called up Hundley, I would bet big money that he would do better than that. How could you not? No more excuses KT. What pressure? Pressure for Headley to play better defense than McAnulty? Pressure for him to hit better than .229. Pressure for Hundley to hit more than 0 home runs? Give me a break. You're 14 games under .500. Take a chance. I promise I won't expect either one of them to be the savior of the San Diego Padres. |