Frankly, I think twice before I make such posts. Really. I'm not aggressively looking to target these barrelled fish. There is no sport. When I do comment, it's only after I have reached a high level of frustration.

I know that I could certainly not do those jobs any better than the men I am mocking. I try to get not get overly hung up on tortured grammar and dubious math skills, generally finding adequate reprieve in simply yelling at my television and letting the moment pass. This behaviour is not quite as zen-like as I'd want, but, alas, self-improvement comes slowly.

But we are all in a pact with Rogers. We, here, watch and/or listen to more games than the average fan. In a typical day for us, we hear the voices of Buck Martinez and Pat Tabler more than those of our spouses, kids and co-workers. It is therefore incumbent upon Rogers to honour that pact and dutifully fill those jobs with men who are skilled at their profession. We deserve such consideration. Never mind that Rob Faulds held a fulltime job a decade ago and ostensibly has the experience to fill in. He doesn't. By any measurement, he is terrible at what he does. He may have a terrific broadcaster's voice, but he uses it to advertise his cluelessness. And while I feel offended enough by Rogers when they foist Buck and Pat on me, as they do every year, I am all the more offended when the best substitute teacher they can find is even worse. You wouldn't have thought that would even be possible.

Dave Till has many times mentioned he watches the games on mute. Come mid-summer, I eventually relent and do the same. Baseball is played by world class athletes. Even the players we mock are far better at their profession than most of us are at ours. That professionalism should be extended to the broadcast team, as much as possible. It is an affront when it is not. And sometimes I reach a boiling point and smarmy blog posts ensue.

Unfortunately, one arm won't be able to take all the high leverage spots

Actually, since a closer would slot everyone else down one rung, it does theoretically have a positive cascading impact on high-leverage situations. Suddenly Cecil gets to throw the 8th, and Osuna gets the 7th (or vice versa, if the platoon advantage looks like it's shaping up the other way). Hendricks and Loop get the 5th and/or 6th, and Delebar gets spare stuff in there somewhere now that he seems to have found his fastball command again.

This doesn't even require a Chapman-level arm... Just someone you trust enough to not take the closer's job away from after a bad few outings.

Colabello has exactly zero successful bunts in affiliated ball of any type, so the answer is that you don't ask him to bunt

Pinch-hitting Carrera for Colabello screams "We' re bunting!" to the Mets. Encarncacion isn't a great runner at second. Carrera seems like a decent bunter as per his numbers, but I presume the odds of a successful bunt drop a lot in the scenario where it is so telegraphed and the defence is prepared

I have no issues letting the next three batters swing away to try to cash in EE, but sometimes it's just not your night

Colabello has been a singles-hitting machine. I don't think there was any real choice for Gibbons to make.

With the domestic soccer spotlight on the Women’s World Cup, the Canadian men are flying under the radar. With no TV network interested, Tuesday’s game is being streamed on the Internet. Monday’s practices drew one reporter.

6-14 in one run games now

That tells you everything, IMO.

That even when they're down by three runs late, they're still going to have to make mistakes to lose by one?

Just saw the replay again this morning. The third base coach had the stop sign up for Goins just after Pillar rounded second base. Plenty of time for Pillar to pick it up and stop running. He just wasn't looking.

I would guess that not everyone views the comments in nested mode, so you might want to contextualize your remark by citing a passage from the post you are referring to. Unless, of course, this is a broad, philosophical question meant for everyone (whatever I mean by "everyone").

McGowan was outpitched by Jeff Francoeur. There are some tea leaves for you. Too bad his unlikely return to the mound, after so many setbacks for so many years, didn't have more of a Disney flavour to it. He has earned over $6M so can take solace in a comfortable retirement.