I want my Marcum back

Right about now, I'm guessing that you might be asking yourself, "why is a picture of Dustin Pedroia, in all his douchebaggery, leading a post about Shaun Marcum?" Well, I'm getting to that, junior.

You see, I've never liked Pedroia, but always kinda sorta maybe a little....admired him. These feelings came with a hearty side order of self-loathing, so I've always managed to repress them, but they were there - lurking. Then I happened across an article with Douchebag Jr. as the subject, and I no longer have to worry about these sick feelings of admiration for a Red Sock (is that right? Is that how you do it?).

If you're too lazy to click the link (hey - it's OK - sometimes I do it too), basically, Pedroia is a trash-talking loudmouth who constantly runs his gums and refuses to give credit to anyone he faces. You know - a mental edge sort of thing. He could be facing Roy Halladay in the midst of a no-no and come back to the dugout after a 3 pitch strikeout railing about how Doc has nothing.

So you can imagine what he was saying after he took Shaum Marcum deep in the first inning tonight..... "He ain't got shit!"...."Easy AB's tonight boys!"....."Even you can get a hit tonight, Tek!".....

And you know what? He'd be right.

Now, it's pretty hard to quibble with what Marcum has done this season - he's still 8-6 with a sub-4.00 ERA. But even though he'd put together a nice stretch of starts before this one, I can't quite shake the feeling that he's not all the way back from that mid-June elbow strain that cost him a month of the season. His fastball seems to be topping out at 86-87, which makes his bread and butter 81-82 change-up just a little less dazzling. And what about the sharp breaking ball? Where'd that go?

Is it just me? Does he look like the same pitcher to you? I'm remembering a guy from April-May-June who was in full command and making hitters look foolish, teasing them with his change-up and sneaking by fastballs as a result. Now I'm seeing a guy who doesn't look comfortable out there, has lost velocity, and is struggling to get hitters out.

I'm certainly not ripping on Marcum here. Far from it - what am I, a moron (rhetorical)? I'll tell you what I am, though, is shit scared that all is not well with Marcum's elbow and he's trying to pitch through it. I sure hope I'm only seeing something that isn't there, because that scenario won't end well for anybody.

The Blue Jays have a new player, and he's not one of my all-time favorites just yet
So, debut tonight for the great Jose A Bautista. Oh-fer one in a pinch hit appearance. LOSER! Just kidding, but.....I....just....don't....get....it. Yeah yeah, low-cost low-risk move for the Jays. The player-to-be-named, per Wilner guesstimate, will be a Russ Adams-John Parrish-Curtis Thigpen organizational type guy.

But...another utility infield guy? Really? We need more of that on this team? Oh wait - he now leads the team in homers (with 12 - barf)? I don't know. I'm just not feeling this one, JP. Maybe he proves me wrong and takes the lefty Lester deep in game 2 of the series.....but isn't that what Mencherson was supposed to do? (Kevin Mench as opposed to the now-DL'd Brad Wilkerson, I mean, but the 2 are virtually indistinguishable in my mind.)