HENCH’S HARDBALL: Opinions expressed in Hardball are not necessarily those of Boston Dirt Dogs, Big Dog, or our sponsors:

Date: Thursday, June 28, 2001
From: Kevin Hench
Subject:  Pappas Smear

"I think he's OK," said Dr. Arthur Pappas.

Does this remind anyone of when the Politburo would issue a statement on the
good health of Andropov or Chernenko and the guy would be dead in a week?

Pappas is the anti-healer.  I don't care about his opinions.  He lost a
lawsuit to Marty Barrett for Christ's sake!  How is this guy still involved
in the well-being of professional athletes?

---

Our bullpen is shot... and certain members of it ought to be.  Ten times in
the last month I've eagerly anticipated the "Schourek Released" headline and
ten times I've been gravely disappointed.  As for Sunny Kim, the guy has been
getting shelled to the tune of 5.74 as a starter in Pawtucket, so why would
you have him come into a one-run game with Pichardo - and Florie even -
available?  As far as I could tell, Sunny throws one pitch - a fastball
between 91 and 93 with limited movement.  Should anyone be surprised that
Aubrey Huff laced a two-run single on Kim's sixth straight fastball to him? 
Develop a second pitch, rookie, but not on my time, not in the Majors. 
Seriously, Pulsipher?

---

While we've actually been producing more with Trot in the 3-hole than with
Everett there, the defense is killing us.  Trot's fish-out-of-water flop-fest
allowed the winning run to score on Sunday and last night's bizarre sequence
in the ninth ended up costing us the game.  Did Steve Cox hit a baseball or a
bar of soap to shallow left center?  Yes, Manny made a game effort, but only
after getting a bad jump on the ball.  His graceless belly flop and stone
hands should have left us with a runner on first, but somehow - we'll never
know, thanks to ESPN's unconscionably bad camera work - Trot failed to pick
up a ball that looked like it had come almost completely to rest, allowing
the lumbering Cox to go to second.  Why was this so important?  Well, it
forced us to walk McGriff with one out, putting runners on first and second. 
Both runners moved up on Grieve's bleeder and scored on Huff's liner.  If
Trot makes the play, there's about a 65 percent chance we get out of the
inning unscathed.  (Then we really go bat-s**t when the ump blows the call on
Merloni's homer.)

---

Yes, 23 runs allowed in three games against the worst-hitting team in
baseball is a red flag, particularly on the heels of a three-game sweep at
home.  Right now we can't get anyone out and the defense is so weak that the
pitchers are never bailed out by an extraordinary play.  We have three
outfielders playing out of position, no second baseman, the worst throwing
catcher in the league and no legit shortstop, though Merloni seems a clear
improvement over Lansing, both with his arm and his bat.

The car is crashing... and we can't look away.

Kev