Ramblings of a Madman

July 2nd, 2009 | by Ray Flowers |

Rambling – seems to be one of my talents anymore. I counted up all the words I have typed over the first half of the 2009 calendar year and the number falls somewhere between 750,000 and 1.5 billion. I didn’t get an exact count because I fell asleep and hit my head on the keyboard before I woke up. When I was able to focus my eyes, there was a really long number with a bunch of numbers that I didn’t recognize, something like 543,575,345. Rather than recount, I thought I would go with a rough guess, kind of like the United States when we do a census report.

Which D’backs starter has had worse luck so far this season, Dan Haren or Doug Davis?

Haren: 7-5, 2.19 ERA, 0.81 WHIP
Davis: 3-8, 3.15 ERA, 1.37 WHIP

Haren has certainly been vastly superior, but it’s not like Davis remotely deserves that atrocious record that he is saddled with.

What’s the deal with all these struggling guys getting a “mental” day off? I know it’s happened for years, after all it is pretty difficult to hit a 95 mph fastball or an 86 mph slider. Guess I’m just jealous as I get no love from my bosses who tell me ‘tough titty’ when I claim that I need a mental break. OK, they don’t say that, in fact they tell me that it wouldn’t hurt to take some time off from time to time, but it’s always fun to complain isn’t it? Regardless, it’s not like I have a girlfriend to occupy my time, and what other reason is there to avoid talking sports?

Paul Maholm has seen his ERA go up over a full run in less than a month from 3.61 on June 11th to 4.69 after getting blasted for six runs in 4.1 innings on Thursday. Hopefully you sold high on him when I suggested doing so. I’d give you the link where I wrote that, but you are just going to have to take my word for it since I write so much on a weekly basis (see above) that I have a hard time keeping things straight. OK, not true, I keep everything straight, though sometimes I do forget where my thoughts are listed amidst the fury of postings that I crank out everyday.

Anyone out there care about what “John and Kate Plus 8″ do with their lives? I swear, there has been more media coverage over the impending divorce of those two and how it will effect their eight children than there has been coverage over the passing of the King of Pop, Michael Jackson. Anyone can have a doctor put a bunch of embryos in their belly, but it takes some true talent to do what Jackson did. Why don’t we, and I include myself in this since I just mentioned them, let John and Kate just go back to their miserable lives and cover something truly newsworthy with our time?

Further proof that the Mets are having problems. Tim Redding was hit hard on Thursday to the tune of five runs while recording just seven outs. Redding now sports a 6.99 ERA and a 1.57 WHIP through eight starts. So tell me again, why is Oliver Perez being looked at as a bullpen option and not a starter? I know Oliver has all kinds of issues, chief among them locating his pitches, but if the team is going to go with the vanilla Redding on the hill, and that experiment will almost certainly end after this outing, doesn’t it make more sense to go with the guy who could throw a no-hitter any time he takes the hill in Perez? I’m just saying.

That Joey Votto kid continues to flat out rake. He had four more hits on Thursday to push his average up to .366 on the year thanks to 15 hits in 38 at-bats (.395) since returning from his DL stint because of depression.

Did you all see the flurry of NHL deals that occurred the first day of free agency. Crazy busy with some rather huge names switching teams. If you want to read my thoughts on those moves I can remember where I wrote them since I just finished putting the piece together. To read those thoughts give Frozen Pucks – Free Agent Edition, Part I a run through.

By Ray Flowers

Tags: Dan Haren, Doug Davis, Joey Vott, Michael Jackson, Oliver Perez, Paul Maholm, Tim Redding