WAKE UP Littlefield!

Ian Snell pitched this evening against the Blue Jays in Dunedin and, once again, most every ball put in play on him was hammered.. no, crushed. Even the foul balls were shots.

16 Balls put in play:
7 GB, 5 easy, 2 hard shots;
9 FB/LD, 1 easy, 8 crushed;
2 K;
1 BB;
2 home runs allowed;
19 batters faced.

All game long we heard the announcers make comments like:

"Back handed by Craig Wilson on a fine running play"
"Bay at the warning track and the wind holds it in the park"
"This one is over Duffy's head"
"Bautista had to make a one of a kind stop on that shot up the middle"
"Bay didn't even move as it was crushed over his head"
"Duffy makes a great catch over his shoulder for the out"
"A mammoth foul shot off the Blue Jays office complex"
"Slow roller dropped by Snell and he made a bad throw to Casey"

All of this against a Blue Jays lineup that is 27th in MLB batting average, 26th in OBP, and 19th in SLG this spring. Many of their regulars only have 6 or 8 AB like Catalanotto, Kratz, and Wells, and others are hitting poorly like Molina at .226, Overbay at .161, and Hill at .276. Not one .300 hitter in their lineup who has more than 10 AB.

And batters don't even have their eyes down yet. ---=== WOW ===---

That is now 15 of 24 balls put in play against Snell the last two games that have been hammered off him and as many as six home runs that could have left the yard without a wind aid holding back four of them. Think about that a second - 6 HR's out of 32 batters faced. *YIKES*

Remember now, Littlefield named Snell the 4th starter. The 4th!

Heelllooooooooooooo.. anybody home? Wake up David Littlefield!

I'm sorry, but David Littlefield needs to make a better decision than to let Ian Snell be a starter. Salomon Torres would be a better choice.. even Vogelsong would be a better choice. Yes, even Ryan Vogelsong.

Make a move Littlefield. Go get David Wells and a good prospect from the Red Sox for Casey. At least Craig Wilson playing at 1B won't give up as many runs as Snell will and Wells might even up the runs lost from Casey's OBP being gone by reducing runs allowed.

There A R E options. We don't have to be this bad.