Hit It to Shawn!

There was always that one little league kid you stuck in right field because he couldn't catch. Kids, being stupid, never picked up on that when I was young because everybody wanted to be Dave Kingman and pull the ball to left field. Slowly but surely, little leaguers and softball players alike would start learning how to take the ball the other way, and you see these types of players coming up in the majors now. They didn't watch Tom Emanski tapes...they just finally figured out that if you hit the ball the other way, you're going to find the weak link.

Unfortunately for Shawn Green, he was the little leaguer in the field today, as his drop of a Matt Diaz sac fly in the sixth enabled the Braves to score two extra runs as the Mets lost their first of the season 5-3.

Not that Green was totally useless, he did some good things...really! He got three hits including an RBI against lefty Mike Gonzalez in the seventh. But with Lastings Milledge hovering over him (Joe Buck compared him to "The Shadow" today), and growing groups of angry fans with pitchforks and torches marching towards Green's locker, it will be the dropped ball in the outfield with the bases loaded and one man out which will be focused on and scrutinized. (Not that Green was the only defensive choke artist today...Carlos Delgado dropped an Easy...please note the capital "E"...throw from second on the first Braves batter of the game to set up all sorts of mayhem today, and it seemed like Delgado couldn't catch anything coming his way today. )

With Alex Rodriguez hitting a grand slam with two outs in the ninth inning right as the Mets game was starting up, the first thing I thought was "great, now the focus of New York's ire is going to be Green". Once A-Rod starts hitting, the New York papers are going to move to a new goat. What better candidate than Green, who is unpopular to begin with? Now after the drop, I fear that the target on his back only grows.