Let's Meet...Jeff Ridgway

Hi Jeff. Welcome to the organization. Unfortunately, I can show no enthusiasm for your arrival as it cost two players when you, well, kinda suck. No biggie. I mean, not everybody is going to be good at baseball. Hell, I suck. But I'm not costing any team two players, no matter what intangibles I have and could bring to a new team. Though...they are many. I can eat a lot of starburst sours for instance. Not everyone can, but me? I rock at it.

Jeff - who for some reason, I keep wanting to call Larry - is a veteran of three major league games and 201 minor league outings. When the Rays drafted him, they tried him as a starter. After three nondescript years (plus a year in the middle that was gone because of injury), they moved him to the pen in 2004, subscribing to the baseball edict that if you are a lefthand reliever, you are worth, at the very least, two middle infield players.

Ridgway seemed to battle injuries in '04 and '05 before making some headway with a fairly solid '06 campaign. In a career best 50 games between Montgomery (AA) and Durham (AAA), Ridgway posted a 2.79 ERA and a 1.12 WHIP. He added more K's than innings pitched as well. After he failed to break camp with the Rays last year, he attempted to repeat his numbers at Durham and while he was not _as_ good, he wasn't too horrible either, posting more K's than innings again, a 3.06 ERA, and a 1.30 WHIP. Control was a bit of a problem as he walked 4.2 men per nine innings.

In September, he made his major league debut. Against the Angels, he entered in the sixth with a runner on third and one out. After a single and a triple, he was out of the game with the line - O ING, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO. Only a stupidass bunt attempt by the Angels with the runner on third (leading to a double play after the bunt was caught) kept the other run from scoring.

Four days later on the 21st, he faced Boston. It did not...go well. After entering in the ninth with the Rays down by three, he gave up a walk and hit a batter. In stepped Big Papa, there went the ball. Three-run homer and he was removed. Second game gave him the line of O ING, 1 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 0 SO, 1 HBP, 1 HR. Not good.

Five days later, he got the Yankees. That's just mean. With the Yanks already up 9-2 in the sixth he entered to face the top of the lineup. A pair of infield singles by Damon and Jeter preceded a single by Abreu to bring in Damon. Finally, Ridgway got his first out as AL MVP A-Rod popped up, but another single by Posada brought in Jeter. Ridgway was replaced, but Robinson Cano singled in Abreu against Juan Sales to add to the troubles. Third game gave him the line of 0.1 ING, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO

So...we have 0.1 ING, 7 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 1 BB, 0 SO, 1 HBP, 1 HR. He faced a grand total of ten people, got one out and that, strangely enough, was Alex Rodriguez.

Welcome to the Braves...I guess.