August 26, 2009

To Hell and (Hopefully) Back



"It's been another learning experience. They love you when you're doing well and hate you when you're doing bad. Come next year, if I'm hitting .320, people will love me but I'll never forget these last few months, that's for sure."

V-Dub's darkest hour: 2007. A .245 batting average, .304 OBP, and wretched 85 OPS+. He's done his best to replicate those numbers in 2009; the similarities are eerie. Yet in an injury-shortened 2008, Wells responded with a 129 OPS+; the third-highest of his career. He's been down this road before. Some faith.

I trust that Wells will heed his own advice, and not forget these last few difficult, pain-staking, awful months. (Fuck off, Carlos Pena.) I trust he'll use them as motivation. Mark my words: Wells isn't finished.

It ain't V-Dub against the world. It's V-Dub and me against the world.





Some business: Thanks to our good friend The Ack, Aaron Hill's got a new nickname: Lighthouse Hill. For Aaron is undeniably the light amid the darkness.

7 comments:

The Ack said...

Seriously, 30 taters from our boy Aaron? That's something, at least. Right?

Nice to see the Rosy Cheeked Raker (h/t - Tao) get into one again last night. We just might have something there.

I have to be honest. This forced optimism is exhausting. Once game 162 is over, I'm likely to explode into an assholish diatribe of epic proportions. But not until then, hopefully.

Mattt said...

Aaron Hill and Adam Lind have been enough this season to still have hope...

Hungry Leafs Fan said...

Lighthouse Hill is an epic nickname. If this is the ingenuity that comes with The Ack tweeting, then his debut was definitely worth the wait.

Ian Hunter said...

Lighthouse Hill is money - they need to print those on the back of Jerseys and sell them in the Jays Shop.

Props for rooting for the underdog, EyeB. Your dedication is something to be proud of.

Corey Pronman said...

Remember when people were penciling Hill in at 6-8 in Spring Traning for those who thuoght he wouldn't gel in the 2 hole?

DaveC said...

Heck, I figured he'd finish at between 15-20, up until he got to about 19.

The more, the merrier, though- but like he said the other day, "I hope they don't expect me to do that every year."

Just keep hitting well!

Navin Vaswani (@eyebleaf) said...

@ The Ack: Stay strong, mate. Just another month.

@ Mattt: Let's add Ricky Romero, R-Zep and Cecil to that list.

@ Hungry: Needless to say, and you probably already are, but read The Tao of Stieb.

@ Ian: Nicknames have been rather successful this season. Kool-Aid, The Sausage King, Lighthouse Hill. At least something went right. Also: respect on the kind words.

@ MoneyPuck: Do you think the 2-hole is still the optimal spot for Hill? I'm not sure how you mess with him or think about moving him after the season he's had.

@ Dave: Hill's on the cusp of being an MVP-type player. As Ian pointed out earlier on his blog, The Blue Jay Hunter, if he learns how to be a bit more patient and draw more walks, he could reach incredible heights. Hopefully he was taking notes from Scutaro this season.