JEWISH BASEBALL NEWS — Jewish position players are batting a collective .318 this season, compared to .256 for their peers. But Jewish pitchers are struggling.
How bad are things?
- Relief pitcher John Grabow (0-2, 9.00 ERA) and the rest of the Chicago Cubs’ bullpen have been so ineffective that manager Lou Piniella decided this week to move ace starter Carlos Zambrano into a middle-relief role. Zambrano is in the middle of a 5-year, $91.5-million contract.
- Washington Nationals starter Jason Marquis (0-3, 20.52 ERA) helped kick off Jewish Community Day at Nationals Park this week by giving up seven earned runs in the first inning — and becoming the first pitcher in team history to be pulled from a game before recording a single out. Marquis, whom the Nationals picked up during the off-season and given a two-year, $15-million contract, was supposed to rescue the team’s beleaguered pitching staff. (Maybe he should start brushing up on his pinch-hitting skills.)
- Collectively, MLB’s five Jewish pitchers are 1-7 this season with a 7.98 ERA. In 2009, seven Jewish pitchers amassed a 47-34 record with a relatively svelte ERA of 4.01.
Having said all this, it’s early yet. We’re less than one-tenth of the way through the 2010 season. And there’s a chance that I’m just projecting a little bit here. Allow me to share my own recent humiliation on the diamond.
I used to be a pretty good softball player. Competent in the field, strong at the plate, aggressive baserunner. In my flaccid mind, I still am. But years of parenting, couch-surfing and not playing appear to have caught up with me.
A couple months ago I joined a local, co-ed softball league. And in a game this week, I did something you might’ve thought impossible. After lining — okay, dribbling — the ball to the pitcher, I began sprinting for first base but soon ran into an unexpected obstacle: my own bat, which I conveniently had tossed in the basepath.
From one humiliated, bruised mess to another: I’m rooting for you, pitchers.
— Scott Barancik
