A few minutes before a weird Tuesday afternoon game time, and I see that Aaron Rowand is in the lineup again. I appreciate his hustle, his grit, and his desire to play every day, but watching last night’s game, it’s obvious he’s hurting — and hurting the team more than helping.
He doesn’t look comfortable at the plate, and he grimaces every time he throws. Not to mention the agony of sliding or diving, which he seems to do every ten minutes. Sure, he took out Steven Drew with a tough slide last night and broke up a double play, as I noted in the previous post, but most players would do the same. It’s not like the Giants needed Aaron Rowand, double-play breakup specialist, to win that game last night.
Please, Aaron, sit down, relax, go on the DL if need be, but get back closer to 100% so you can play exceptional defense and hit with power. Randy Winn and Raj Davis can cover center while you’re gone. They might not be dirt-eating, fire-assed gamers, but they might actually play better for the next week or two.
Amen.
One of the things that Barry Bonds was most ragged on for (pre 'roid hype) was not being a 'dirt-eating, fire-assed gamer'. Instead, with Willie Mays' support and guidance, he played an amazing amount of games over a long period of time with his full abilities.