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| Brandon Webb | Chris Sampson |
| 2 - 2, 3.75 | 3 - 2, 3.90 |
Let me be the last member of Astronation to weigh in on the roster moves made this afternoon, before I get on to the rightful business of cheering on our Ground Ball Guy vs. their Ground Ball Guy.
This is quite simply the other foot landing from when they brought up Pence. There were two players who could have been sent down today: Hunter Pence, or Chris Burke.
I didn't write anything here about it, but I actually thought it was going to be Pence. Certainly sending down Pence was the last way for this situation to end gracefully, without the unseemly result of the former number one pick cursing the organization. . . .
Pence had proven himself a better center fielder than Burke had been, but otherwise, he basically gave you the same thing Burke had. If you send down Pence today, you could have spun it like Pence gets the valuable taste of major league life, and returns to the minors knowing what he needs to work on as the AAA season progresses. And Burke (you can say) is re-energized to move forward (witness the three-run homer).
That's what you could have said, anyway. The truth is you'd just be undoing the mistake you'd made.
In case I hadn't been clear, there is no way that anyone on this site or at any other can legitimately claim that Burke is being wronged today, while having cheered the Pence callup two weeks ago. The moves are absolutely and unequivocally linked. If you liked Pence up then, you have to placidly accept Burke down now as the logical result, and if you disliked Pence up then, well, feel free to whine.
Like I have.
There's a drunkard at the wheel, but the Astromobile rolls on.