I tried to think of an opening theme this week, but since I used one of my talking points on a much larger piece, I decided I'd just talk about Brett Favre.
In all seriousness, Ryan Garko wasn't the only player benched for lack of hustle this past week. Strangely enough, it was in the same series that B.J. Upton got benched for not running out a groundball to pitcher Edwin Mujica.
Joe Maddon and Eric Wedge probably sounded like clones talk about the lack of hustle. However, Wedge was a little more mum, considering his biggest pet peeve is not hustling or showing effort.
Either way, I love the managers that demand hustle 24/7. A great example of hustle is Kelly Shoppach, who takes the liberty to run all-out to first base on a walk. Now that is what I call hustle.
I'm a hustle kind of guy, considering I'm one who always had to make up for lack of talent. Sure, it was on the soccer field, and as I got older, I got better. But you can't get results if you don't want to put forth the maximum effort, even if you have all the talent in the world.
With that, let's get into what's making me really hustle around the world of Major League Baseball.
What's Making Me Rally
You could almost say that, given his past two performances, Ryan Garko's benching has sort of made him turn his season around.
That's exactly what the little tussle between Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Manny Parra and slugger Prince Fielder did.
Not to say they were out of the race, but the Brewers needed a spark, as the Cubs started to run away with the division. In a loss on Monday, Prince Fielder shoved the young pitcher in the dugout.
Cooler heads prevailed, everyone kissed and made up, and Ned Yost said it was no big deal to begin with.
I'd like to argue against that.
Not only have the Brewers reeled off five straight since the incident, but Manny Parra went out and threw seven solid innings for the Brew Crew in their victory on Sunday, ensuring them of yet another series win.
You just never know anymore what will turn a team around. Sometimes it's adversity, or a fight between teammates. While other times it's as simple as someone bucking a trend and everyone else gaining confidence.
Either way, great to see the Brewers jump right back in the hunt and turn something that could have been a negative into a real positive.
What's Making Me Hang My Head in Shame
Along those same lines, maybe a total meltdown at the hands of the Tampa Bay Rays was just what the Cleveland Indians needed.
Since the colossal explosion on Wednesday, Cleveland swept Toronto and that disastrous bullpen has given up just one run.
Still, that is not the reason I brought up that horrendous game for the Indians. Now that I've had a few days to digest the meltdown and see the Indians come back and sweep another team, I realized what is going on in Tampa.
I've been counting the Rays out of the game. Not that I like the Yankees chances or anything down the stretch, I saw just one team coming out of the East at the All-Star break, and I still kind of do.
1 comments Last one added 10 months ago — Leave a Comment
David Wiley 10 months ago
One thing I've always liked about Wedge is his insistance of hustle. Notice I said one thing at the beginning of that.
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