Affeldt's Outing Ruined

Here's the thing about Angel Berroa. He's a horrible fielder, who doesn't hit, and who doesn't run the bases well. And he often takes mental vacations during the middle of games. So why exactly is he on a major league roster? Granted, he has a strong arm and a little pop in his bat, but give me a sure-handed, light-hitting, hard-playing, run-of-the-mill shortstop any day over Berroa.

Bell said that Berroa was caught in between hops yesterday when Berroa committed the error that led to the 3-run fourth inning. It looked more to me like he nonchalantly approached the ball and failed to get in front of it and the ball skipped off the heal of his glove. If that play happens in little league, the shortstop is running laps for not staying with the ball and for not knocking it down with his body. But this is the major leagues—where prima donna's like Berroa are accepted and expected.

I certainly would have liked to have seen Jeremy Affeldt close the door on the White Sox after Berroa's two-out error, but when you give four outs to a team like the White Sox, they are bound to take advantage of it, and they did by winning the game 3-1. Afterward, Affeldt didn't make any excuses: "You’ve just got to make the pitch," he said about his battle with Juan Uribe, "and keep it from getting out of hand. I just had a little brain cramp."

Unfortunately, the Royals couldn't take advantage of an otherwise outstanding outing from Affeldt who pitched six innings, giving up no earned runs, striking out three, and walking three. Affeldt was aggressive—often getting ahead in the count, and he changed speeds much better this time out. He threw his change up for strikes the second time through the line up and he mixed in his devastating curve ball. This was the Affeldt all of us were hoping to see, and I'm thinking that as much as our bullpen needs a little help, our rotation needs Affeldt more.

This afternoon, we're sending Scott Elarton (0-3, 3.60 ERA), back to the mound. He'll go against Javier Vazquez (0-1, 6.23 ERA).