People do dumb things - you, me, and major league managers.
I'm only including myself to be gracious, by the way.
In the eighth inning yesterday afternoon, the following words were heard: "John McDonald pinch hitting for Phillips." It was the general consensus in the press box that the phrase "John McDonald pinch-hitting" was a new one, a combination of words hitherto unused. John Gibbons was asked afterwards (after the entirely predictable groundout) what had brought on this fit of creativity. He said "I've got my reasons" but that no one else needed to know what they were.
OK.
But don't blame us if we speculate.
We can, by the way, eliminate injury - Phillips was fine. We can also eliminate past history - neither Phillips nor McDonald had ever faced Brian Stokes. Neither had Sal Fasano or Jason Smith. Alex Rios, also on the bench, had a single in two at bats against Stokes.
By the way, it was just two weeks ago when I wrote:
John McDonald! If he goes 1-22, he'll still be hitting .300. And face
it folks - who on this team is more likely to go 1-22 than Johnny Mac?
He didn't let me down, he's gone 1-26 since then, so he's hitting .281 - and he's appeared in every game this month. His batting line for May 2007 is wonderfully symmetrical: .043/.043/.043.
Anyway... speculate away! "I've got my reasons."
What might they have been?
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20070514061252431