Who Broke the Rabbits Foot?

Sanchez. Alou. Valentin. Green. Beltran. El Duque. Now Chavez. All have gone down to injury this season. Other players have missed time, Wright, Easley, Gomez. In the minors, Johnson, Milledge, Carp, among others, have gotten hurt. What the hell did we do to run into this buzzsaw?

I know all teams have to deal with injuries. Look in the Bronx for example. But this is bordering on ridiculous, if not there already. We are missing 2/3 of our outfield. Now, you can say that we should have expected Alou to get hurt, I agree with that sentiment, but Green? The guy has never been on the DL before this year. We call up Gomez, and he strains his leg. Then, Endy "strains" his hammy last night in a disheartening loss. I'm sorry, from the way he grabbed it, and the look on his face, I ain't expecting Endy back anytime soon. Alou tried to run yesterday, after having more fluid drained from his quad on Monday, and it was not good. He has no idea when he will be back. Valentin should be back tonight (keep your fingers crossed). Green on Sunday. But Beltran is going to have to fight his knee tendonitis for a while. Easley, the same thing (though the return of Stache helps this, as does the play of Gotay.)

With Milledge hurt (and still 4 weeks away apparently), now Endy, who is next to come up? Newhan is not a starter. I'm sorry, I try not to be one of those fans, but this guy sucks. He couldn't even get a damn bunt down last night. Yes, he doubled, but it was a flare. The guy is not good. Johnson has not shown much in limited action, though he does have decent minor league numbers. Can you say Ricky Ledee anyone? Cripes.

Of course, the injuries are not to blame for the present 3 game (that's right folks, only 3 games) losing streak. The blame there falls to the big bats. Beltran, Delgado and Wright have not gotten it done. Now, we could survive one of them slumping, but all 3 at once? No chance. They need to get going. Tonight. Cole Hamels is the opponent, and he is damn good. Maine goes for the Mets, and he needs to be as good, if not better, than Glavine and El Duque the past two nights. The bullpen has had a part in the recent streak, but it all gets back to the bats. Reyes needs to get on base, and the other guys need to drive him in. With Chavez out, it will be interesting to see who bats second the next couple of days. I'm guessing Stache, leaving PLD in the 6 spot to protect Wright (yes, I know protection is overrated, humor me, I'm in a bad way today). It would also be nice if some of the guys in the bottom of the order could get a couple of hits. I know Gomez, Johnson and Gotay are young, but they need to contribute. We've gotten great starts of late, with not so good bullpen. In the last seven games though, the lineup has been dead. They have scored 0, 4, 1, 7, 1, 2, 2 runs in each game, with two wins, the 4 and 7 run games. Something needs to be done about the lack of hitting.

The boys better take last night's loss as a wake up call. Inter-league is starting, and June in particular is a tough month. I know we are 3.5 games up, as we were last year on this date. But the team has not been hitting as well since the start of May really. Somebody needs to step up. Someone needs to carry this team. Enough messing around guys. Start hitting. I heard boos last night after Aaron gave up the homer to Rollins. I hated it, but I can sort of understand it. Use that as fuel. Show the fans that they were wrong to boo, and beat up on Hamels. Then do the same to the Tigers starting tomorrow.