Charlie Zink: Starring In A Debut to Remember

Ok, Zink wasn't really good last night. I'll chalk that up to him being a knuckleballer, and the knuckleball dancing in magical and mysterious ways that no one really understands. I don't think a demotion was warranted... especially since it means Paul Byrd is being added to the roster.

As if I needed any more reasons to wish Theo Epstein would spontaneously combust. Really? Paul Byrd? Are you f*&^ing kidding me? He's an HGH junkie! Theo, you idiot! Why do we need this guy on our team? You really think he's going to be any better than Dahmer? I shudder to think about the direction this team is going, since Theo doesn't seem to mind picking up drug abusers. Nice job, you useless moron. Why don't you just sign Barry Bonds to replace Mike Lowell. That seems just as logical to me*.

*Disclaimer... I don't think anything Theo does is logical. Sometimes, my distaste for Theo makes me say stupid things.

Again. We need bullpen help, and Theo gets us a drug-addict starter who I affectionately refer to as Gargoyle. Ugh..

If ever there was proof that we needed bullpen help (and maybe that Delcarmen needs to find an apartment in Pawtucket), there was last night's game. Charlie Zink allowed 8 runs, and the bullpen allowed 9 more. 9 runs from our bullpen. Charlie has an excuse... this was his first-ever major league start, and he was facing one of the best offenses in baseball. The rest of the bullpen didn't have an excuse. Thank God 2007 Okajima came to visit yesterday.

On a night where we allow 17 runs, one would assume that we lost the game. But no, thanks to some spectacular offense on our side, we ended up winning. Then again, one would assume if we scored ten runs in the first inning like we did last night, the game would have been a piece of cake. Also not true (see: Bullpen bitching, above). We ended up with 17 hits, 19 runs, 10 BB's, and 6 K's. Munchkin went 5-6. Ortiz hit 2 three-run HR's (in the first!) and a double. Asshat went 2-5, with both of his hits being HR's. It was an offensive explosion. Hopefully they saved some runs for Binky tonight. All in all, it could have gone worse for Zink, but I do think he showed enough promise to maybe get another chance some time this year.

Injury report: Mikey Lowell strained an oblique (an injury that screams Trot Nixon to me)... he's going for an MRI today, and chances are good that he's going to be placed on the DL. Sigh. Get well soon, Mikey!

In other news: Manny was tardy for his game yesterday, and he still hasn't cut his hair.
-The (Devil) Rays lost, so we gained a game on them. Hopefully, we can keep doing that whole gaining games thing....
-Julio Lugo is STILL NOT PLAYING! Thank God for small miracles!

Have a delightful Wednesday, everyone.