5 Minus E

I watched only four innings of tonight's game as I had to go out and catch a small independent film about a boy wizard and his friends.

First, a few notes about Thursday pounding of the Yankees.

Yeah, Bautista slid feet first into third base, caught a spike on the bag and rolled over his ankle. It looked painful, and he was seen limping around the clubhouse earlier on Friday. Everyone freaked right out and Adam Lind, who completely understands us, said to the press post-game, "I told Nick Swisher it's a bigger deal than if someone tried to assassinate the prime minister."

They've scored 14 runs since Bautista, who is listed day to day, left the game so the finger is still hovering over the panic button.

Russell Martin accused the Jays of stealing signs, and relaying them from 2nd base. I remember Yorvit Torealba accused the Yankees of the same earlier in the season when the Yankees blew the Rangers away. It was met mostly with ridicule over the Internet, but I guess it cuts both ways. As long as no one is using anything but their eyes, ears and observational skills, I think sign stealing is completely on the level. Martin said it was his job to change the signs if he suspected something, which is one of the ways to solve it. The other is chin music if it is really pissing you off.

To counteract the suspected sign stealing, Martin and Yankee starter Freddie Garcia used extra care and changed the signs, which slowed the game down to a crawl.

"It did seem like the game was a little slower out there," Martin said. "We were going with multiple signs, even with nobody on. When you do that it slows down the game a little bit."

If the Yankees are feeling like the game is crawling, you know it's damn slow.

As I wrote above, I missed much of this game, but was pleased to see the final score was 7-1. I did witness an absolute gem of a play at third by Encarnacion. It was the opposite of an E5....it was a 5 minus E.

Morrow, the game's starter said, “That’s one of the best plays that’s ever been made behind me.” The bench looked thrilled for him, and were all waiting to play high five and grab ass. He was so popular, Encarnacion left Arencibia hanging for a bro fist. Burn, J.P. Burn!


Encarnacion also had a double, and I am with @Contrasoma who suggested we start calling him Double E, as that has been his main source of offensive contribution.


Escobar made two great plays at short and contributed two RBI singles, a double and a walk.

“I always feel that I’m the same player here this year and last year,” Escobar said through translator Luis Rivera. “I had two tough months last year at the beginning [in Atlanta] and after that people started doubting me a little bit. But I never doubted myself. I feel like those two months are not going to make a difference in my career.”

Mean Mr. Jones can't hurt you here, Yunel.

Something I noticed on Twitter was that people were criticizing Bartolo Colon for living in the States for 12 years and still using a translator. Of all things to complain about, this is what they chose. Apparently Escobar can sort of speak English, but he, along with the rest who use translators, are probably just worried about misspeaking and being misunderstood.

That's two poundings in row, for those keeping score at home. Romero faces Sabbathia for a lefty Saturday duel to the death.

I planned to post on the first episode of The Franchise, the show that follows the Giants, but I never got around to it. A few things stood out. Brian Wilson lives up to the great freak show reputation he has built up. The previews for the next week, Wilson says, "Papa is feeling pretty delicious right now." Tim Lincecum says things like, "He's not coming in with that tight butt feeling." Barrie Zito is one frustrated hippie. And there is a hell of a lot of crying in baseball.

My visits to SOSH have soured my opinion on Red Sox fans, but I found some I actually like at Fangraphs, for their reasonable allowance that Bautista has been the MVP so far over Gonzalez. My favourite comment, "We should start a movement – 'Sox Fans for Joey Bats'. Kind of like 'Jews for Jesus'."