Big wheel keep on turnin'
Proud Mary keep on burnin'
Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’ on the river
- “Proud Mary”
And the juggernaut keeps rolling on. Offense, defense, starting pitching, bullpen: all cylinders are firing. Damon’s back. If I were an opposing pitcher I wouldn’t even know where to breathe in the lineup: sure, there’s Manny Ortiz, but the OC can deliver, so can Kapler. Even Derek Lowe can joke about his terrible first half.
“The other four days [in the first half] I would imagine the guys felt like they had a chance and then they said, ‘Oh, God, here’s Derek’s day, let’s see what we can do.’”
Compare that to him getting all snippy when asked about his pitching issues earlier this year (the whole “mental Gidget” thing). There’s confidence oozing through the pores here. There’s Pedro yesterday, fast and loose, kidding around by dialling into the cell thrown down by some rabid As fan. (Question: who throws a cellphone onto a field? Sure, the other team’s pissed you off. Why would you get rid of something as valuable as your cellphone?) Nothing fazes them. I’m out of superlatives, and I’m out of breath.