Aramis' New Approach

It's called Patience (yes, Dusty, look it up. No, not by not pulling out the starting pitcher, and, no, not by leading off Juan Pierre come Hell, the Mendoza Line or high water, and, no, not by... well, you get it). Some say he picked it up from Kosuke. I, for one, don't buy it (he had Derrek Lee's patience to watch all this time, for one, and I'd bet the ranch that Gerald Perry and Sweet Lou are the real reason), but I don't care either. It's just nice to say that Aramis Ramirez, yes, the Chicago Cubs Third Baseman, is a Disciplined Hitter. Wow...

Hear that Alfonso?!!?!! (yes, I realize he's on an AMAZING tear right now, but it sure isn't because reason has suddenly possessed one of the free-swinginest swingers of all swingers. I think he's even got a cameo on that new show on CBS).

Speaking of Swinging, A-Ram is hangin' it all out with a fat line of .312/.423/.532. As of 7:22pm CST, that's the #18 Batting Average in Major League Baseball, the # 4, yes, FOUR, On Base %, and the #22 Slugging %. He's also tied for 17th with 40 RBI. Nice.

It this the same Aramis that's a career .284/.340/.501? I know, the BA and SLG aren't far off, but the whole point of this post (wait, there's a point?) is to highlight the whole .340 versus .423 part of that equation. He already has 34 walks in 205 AB's. His career high in walks was 50 in '06, in a whopping 594 AB's. And, since Fukudome is still working on English, let's give Gerald Perry some props. And congrats to Aramis to listening to someone.

OK, Kosuke has 37 walks and we all know about his pitch count per AB ratio, so maybe there's some combination of factors there. Whatever it is, don't change a thing.

Random Thought: What about putting The Flyball Adventurer Soriano back to 2B and let DeRosa flag a few in LF for a while? I guess maybe the whole don't fuck with the best record in MLB thing applies here, but still, why not? Oh, the record thing. And the "Can Fonzy still hack it at the two-bag?" thing. And the "He's So Sensitive" thing. Great. Let's just act like I didn't mention it.

And that, folks, is how I treat a guy that hit for .345/.386/.672 in the month of May, with 10 HR and 29 RBI. I am, truly, a pissed-off, rockin' chair on the porch rollin', yellin' the car window drivin', crusty old Cub Fan.

OK, I don't own a rocking chair. Yet.

See, I didn't even mention Alfonso's 23/8, K/BB ratio that month either!

Time to watch the rest of the Rays-Red Sox and Astros-Pirates games. With a few peeks at the Nationals-Cardinals to boot (even though it looks like a sure doubleheader split).

Go Cubs!!

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