All Things Bubba: A glimmer of hope?

Saturday, June 30, 2007

I e-mailed the Bats radio guys tonight, and asked them about Bubba. Apparently, they meant it literally when they said they had no news about Bubba. They said they haven't heard anything about him from either manager Rick Sweet or trainer Chris Lapole.

They did say that, unofficially, they heard that Bubba might be rejoining the Bats to continue rehabbing. And they didn't rule out his being activated in time to play when the Bats come to Scranton at the end of July. So I guess there's still hope.

On the pinstriped front...no trade news yet. Yanks lost again. Igawa gave up way too many home runs, but it didn't really matter, since the Yanks didn't score at all.

Amazingly, Andy Phillips got yet another start at first base. He went 0 for 2 with a walk. No one did very well at the plate today. The Yanks had only one hit in the entire game (by Johnny Damon). At least Joe didn't put Cairo in for Andy today. (Probably because down 0-7, defense wasn't what was needed.)

Chris Basak came in at the top of the 9th for Jeter. (Wow, Basak is alive. Who knew?) No, it wasn't a defensive replacement. Jeter has some right knee tendinitis. Torre expects Jeter to play tomorrow, but if he can't, Cairo will play SS. (Which would mean Andy starts at 1B again, I guess.)

posted by BubbaFan, 10:40 PM

6 Comments:

Basak may be the most under used 25th guy ever.

I really don't understand why they DFA'd Josh Phelps (who is now a Pirate). They should have kept Phelps, and sent Basak back to Scranton. Torre did use Phelps occasionally. Basak is so buried on the bench it isn't even funny.

Check out Bronson Sardinha's middle name.

http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?n=Sardinha%2520%2520RF&pos=&sid=t531&t=p_pbp&pid=450363

Tino Martinez has joked around on ESPN about young guys getting very little chance before they are pulled. "Ask Shane Spencer..." Tino might make a cool manager. This veterans only nonsense needs to stop.

Sardinha is from Hawai`i, as I am. It's traditional in Hawai`i to give children a middle name that reflects their ethnic heritage.

It used to be the law in Hawai`i that babies had to be given English first names. So parents gave their kids Japanese or Chinese or Korean or Hawaiian middle names, and the kid would be known by the English first name at school, and the ethnic middle name at home.

That law was rescinded long ago, but the custom remains.

Sardinha's middle name is not unusual in Hawai`i. The Hawaiian language has only 7 consonants, so words tend to be very long. Kiheimahanaomauiakeo means "Protector of Kihei, Maui."

(And no, I don't have a middle name like that. Though I was born and mostly raised in Hawai`i, I am not of Hawaiian ancestry.)

I think Andy earned a few more starts today.