In his first game AGAINST the Blue Jays in his career, Vernon Wells went 0-4, never looked comfortable at bat, plus extended an inning by letting Jose Bautista reach base on a single on a ball that he SHOULD have caught, but instead decided to Garret Anderson the Ball and let it fall in front of him. The next batter, Adam Lind, hit a two-run double into Left-Center which tied the game.
I'd excuse the poor effort in left field if it wasn't for two factors: He is a Gold-Glove Center Fielder, so left field should be a piece of cake, right? Also, he was inept at the plate. Leaving 5 runners on base, striking out twice. If he would've had a 3-run blast, or even a clutch double as some point in this game, and he can make up for the run's he gives up in left, then I'd excuse it.
This won't happen, but he needs the day off tomorrow. He needs a day to think about his game and his approach at the plate. Just one day. A short time-out while Chris Pettit shows us what he can do in a big-league game. Is that too much to ask? If nothing else, he needs to drop down a couple spots in the lineup until he finds his swing. Guys like Callaspo and Trumbo are too hot to be coming up an inning after Vernon Wells kills another rally.
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I wish I had something nice to say about the game today, but I'm just too miffed that the Angels blew a winnable game. I appreciate your enthusiasm, Tim Salmon, but the Angels didn't get beat today, they beat themselves.
Yeah, his left field play was just weird on Friday. It looked like he could run backwards for a catch just fine but couldn't run forward, let alone bend or dive if the game depended on it...and it did. If he was having problems with the corner or something else specific to his new position, I would be much more forgiving but this? I have no concerns about his bat long term. A lot of hard hitting guys take the whole month of April to warm up at the plate (including usually Torii, though not this season thank goodness) but the stiffness in left field needs to end, like yesterday.
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