AMEN!

What exactly does Velez bring to this team? He's fast as hell, great. He can't hit with consistency, he doesn't necessarily walk, and his defense at 2B is half-decent. But what irks me the most is not the rookie mistakes, but the repetition of rookie mistakes. Everyone's entitle to screw up, but a failure to learn from mistakes and commit them when presented with the exact same situation is a sign of stupidity. Blunt, yes. But true.

Add Bochy to that list too. Why sit Lewis? I totally agree with you Lefty. This guy is 27, should have been getting regular PT 2 years ago to develop, and he's inarguably our 2nd best hitter right now (better plate discipline than Molina gives him the edge in my book). He's still raw and could actually be one of the everyday players once this team is good again, so sit him against LHP why? He's only going to learn to hit against lefties by hitting lefties, and I could give a shit about the extra base runner per game he sits we MAY gain...

You called it a while ago. The inhereted runner stranded % of our bullpen was out of this friggin world, and once that came back to the ground, our team was in for it. Well, here it is. Please start Lewis everyday, let's see if Bowker can be Feliz -10 years, and for godsakes get Schierholtz up here and hand him the RF job.

I've been reminded of what a REALLY PITIFUL team this is when Velez comes in to PH in a crucial situation late in the game. Seems like he's done that a lot lately. Last night I was happy to see him only used as a PR until he #&@($^) that up too.

After Hennessey left, Chulk became my least trusted guy in the pen. (Sadler scares the bejeebus out of me too).

When Walker blows a game, I'm at least disappointed. Chulk, he just hasn't ever looked sharp this year.

I'm not a big fan of chulk either. Last year, it seemed like he would allow his inherited runners to score (which wouldn't affect his ERA), and THEN get 3 outs. I bet a neighboring season ticket holder one of those insanely expensive crab sandwiches if we witnessed him getting a 1-2-3 outing at the ballpark. Do you know how many crab sandwiches I had to buy the whole year? One.

I think Chulk has focus problems. That sounds mushy, let me explain. For all its power and violent muscle action, pitching is also a small motor skill activity. Imagine someone building a model airplane, gluing tiny parts together. To be precise requires both calm and intense concentration. Throwing a ball exactly where you want it requires the same concentration. Waver just a bit, and the fastball will drift; the slider will hang.

Cyrus -- good point about the runner stranded %. it was bound to drop. Though the relievers are also allowing plenty of runs when they start their own innings, as Walker did vs. the Astros and White Sox and Wilson did vs. the White Sox. Those runs don't show up in the runners stranded stats.

Pretty hard to be limited to ONE roster move. A month ago I would have said get rid of Durham and let Burris/Velez play 2b. Now it is a tie between Aurilia and Winn.
My conclusion: get rid of Aurilia so that everybody else (Bowker, Ort at 1b, and Burriss at utility guy) can start seeing regular ABs. Once Aurilia is gone, I would next try to move Durham, then Winn, then Molina (altho, admittedly, we seem to have virtually nothing to back up Holm - and trading Molina is guranteed to take 120 points off of Holm's BA

Let me also say, other than minor league pitching, we don't have any MLB ready position players in the minors (well, other than OFs, Schierholtz, Horwitz). Our Cs and IFs are AA at best and need at least another year in the minors. Want to argue? Exhibit One: E. Velez

For last four games (all losses):
Rich Aurilia - 15 plate appearances.
Ray Durham - 17 plate appearances.
Randy Winn - 16 plate appearances.
Omar Vizquel - 12 plate appearances.
I'm counting.

Is Bochy "on the roster"?

Weren't most of those losses, "pitching" losses?

I guess my point is not that the games were losses, or that these players were the reason for the losses. In fact, they have been playing decently - here are their batting averages as of now: RA .256; RD .294; RW .298; OV .291. But, if we are rebuilding, why do we keep giving the vast majority of the playing time to the oldsters?

I would imagine the "oldsters" (good one) are getting the ABs to enhance their trade value at the trade deadline.