Hell Of A 2015 Debut For Rusney Castillo Last Night
While it’s only one game, and I still fully expect Rusney Castillo to make an impact in this disaster of a lineup, that probably wasn’t the best way to reintroduce yourself to 36,000 pissed off Red Sox fans. Any time that you even remotely make me wish that Shane Victorino was out there instead, or when you’re so bad that Hanley Ramirez becomes a viable option as a defensive replacement, you know you fucked up big time. I’m fine with giving you a free pass on this one and chalking it up to nerves, but only because the Red Sox still would’ve lost by 26 runs if you had made those plays cleanly.
If there was a positive to take out of last night’s shit show, it was that Mike Napoli went deep for the second time in his last four games. I heard on the radio that Dustin Pedroia and Napoli were looking at video of Napoli’s swing on the flight back from Seattle last weekend. They were comparing it to his swing this year, and Pedroia noticed a difference in Napoli’s hands.
Ever since Pedroia identified the flaw in Napoli’s swing, he’s been moving his hands back to generate more power, and he’s clearly seeing some results early on. Small sample size, but he’s hitting .333 with an 1.108 OPS since he’s made the adjustment, so let’s hope that continues. Oh, and why do we have guys like Pedroia fixing Napoli’s swing? Isn’t that what having Chili Davis as your hitting coach is for? Say what’s up to Juan Nieves on the golf course for me.
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