In your face Ozzie!

This is the first of many posts from the one and only brandx... I don't claim to know everything because everyone already knows that I do.

Disclaimer: I'm really not conceited, but it's a lot more fun to post on a blog with an attitude and ego the size of the yankees failed payroll - HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

Recently Ozzie Guillen sat down to piece together the last pieces of his All-Star team, the one that he hopes will give his team homefield advantage in the World Series. For his mandatory Royals choice: Mark Redman. Now, I know that everyone has gone over the statistics and compared Redman to Liriano (who could get God to groundout into an inning ending double play) and even Verlander (also made up of superhuman DNA). I have heard two reasons for choosing a 5-4 record with 5.59 ERA and as many walks as strikeouts:

1. Make the downtrodden Royals the laughing stock of the MLB in order to do away with the rule that every team must have a representative.
2. That Ozzie wanted another lefty in his bullpen and since Redman is pitching well of late he made a good fit.

Now, the second argument has been made by many Royals commentators and their argument is based on Redman's recent performances. This is a justified argument. With homefield advantage based on the winner of the All-Star Game, and the White Sox remaining somewhere in the top three teams in baseball, Ozzie would be crazy to do anything but pick players that were garaunteed to help him beat the National League. However, we are forgetting one key component that makes this point of view null and void:

Ozzie Guillen is an opinionated, self-righteous dick.

That's right, now that we bring that back into the picture we see that Guillen probably did pick Redman over many other more qualified players to prove a point. In reality, wouldn't he have picked more of his own players to insure a win and to give his team even more notoriety around the league? This was a chance for him to make a point and to rub the Royals' noses into the ground.

But, there is good news to this tale my friends, Redman pitched a game worthy of an All-Star nomination last night. He really only made one regrettable pitch (which Vernon Wells hit to Toronto). Aside from that one pitch Redman only kept one of the more prolific offensive clubs in the majors to 2 runs. That's right, 2 runs. And, the hits (forgetting Wells' shot to Mars) were not extremely hard hit balls and were really just quality at bats that Redman couldn't quite finish. Really, if you look at Redman since he came back from Bereavement leave he has pitched astonishingly well. No, he has not looked like a Cy Young winner, but he has put the Royals in a position to win every game since his return, and most of those were quality outings. So I say Redman is a solid pick for the Royals... maybe there were a few more deserving, but Redman has stuck to Ozzie by shining in his laest outing. My only hope is that he continues to shine after the Mid-summer Classic. It's really just too bad that Redman won't throw a single pitch in the game, because Guillen will be too busy proving his point.

brandx