I know this blog has degenerated into me bitching about the Brewers, but it has been for good reason. This quote in today\’s paper from recently-acquired reliever Scott Linebrink set me off:

As so often happens for the Brewers, no matter what the score is in the early going, the final innings were adventuresome. Houston scored two unearned runs in the seventh off reliever Scott Linebrink, who heard his share of boos when Yost opted not to pull him with the bases and one down.

\”There\’s not a lot of teams I\’ve been on in a division race, where you\’re in control of the game and don\’t give up the lead and you still get booed,\” Linebrink said.

So for Linebrink (who my friend Jay has dubbed \”LineDrive\”), loading the bases with one out and giving up two runs is known as \”being in control.\” Hey – he didn\’t give up the three-run lead, right?

Here\’s a memo to this jackass: fully one-quarter of the Brewers\’ losses this year have been because of the bullpen – which his acquisition was supposed to help. Instead, he\’s exacerbated their bullpen problems. In fact, I think there\’s some question as to whether Linebrink knows if he\’s playing for the right team – I heard he was found in the Astros\’ locker room tapping his foot. After blowing 15 games where they were ahead by more than three runs, you\’d think he\’d understand fan frustration.

Linebrink\’s 2006 salary is listed as $1,365,000. So I\’ll strike a deal with Mr. Sensitive: He can pay $100 so he and his kids can come to my work to boo me, and I\’ll take the $1.3 million. In fact, I\’d be willing to go in to a game and walk the bases full for only $500,000. Think of the savings to the Brewers.

The fact that the Padres were so willing to part with this moron in the midst of their own playoff run says a lot. When teams in first place are unloading middle relief (which other teams are always trying to acquire around the trade deadline), an alarm should go off.

And if he\’s sensitive to booing, he should try being Derrick Turnbow for a day. I would boo Turnbow before he comes in the game, while he\’s in the game, when he leaves the game, when he leaves the stadium to walk out to his car, and while he\’s mowing his lawn at home. If I saw him ordering dinner on a date at a restaurant, I\’d walk up and boo him. \”You ordered the salmon? Boo! Boooooooo!\”