When I heard that White Sox slugger Jim Thome hit a go ahead 3 run homer against Kansas City to win the home opener, I swear I thought "I bet Farnsworth let it up."
And lo and behold, I looked up the box score.
Yes, Farnsworth... the guy that has stuff that makes each drool... and has results that make fans say "NO! DON'T BRING IN FARNSWORTH!"
It's easy to see why teams would covet him. He throws lightning. He hits triple digits. He gets big strikeouts. And I'm sure every pitching coach thinks "Oh man... if I had this guy, I'd unlock his potential."
And yet he couldn't put it together in Chicago, or Detroit, or Atlanta or the Yankees and now is blowing it for the Royals.
Now before you start writing in and say "Wait a second! He pitched well for the Braves in 2005" I'll remind you that the Braves handed him a 6-1 lead in the 8th inning of game 4 of the Division Series. He couldn't hold it, and the Braves were eliminated in 18 innings.
Yeah, it's one game. Kind of a big game.
And his performance in New York was so wretched that fans dubbed him Farnsworthless. Joe Torre could not put him in any pressure situations because, well, he would implode.
I remember when he let up a towering homer to Jermaine Dye in the same inning he let up a shot to Paul Kornerko on August 2, 2007.
Suzyn (sic) Waldman said after the homer "The Radar gun clocked that at 100MPH, and all I could think was So What?"
She's right.
He's talented but it's time to come to grips that he is what he is: A garbage time reliever with nasty stuff.
Farnsworth is a great looking guy who is trouble and girls can't stop falling for.
"I can turn him around! He's good deep down!" The girls all think they can change him... and they never do.
He's looks Mickey Rourke circa 1985 on paper.
But on the mound is as awkward to look at as Rourke NOW!
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