Where was this Rod Barajas last year? One of a couple of unpopular offseason acquisitions from 2007, the now-Jays' catcher got revenge last night, hitting a grand slam in the second inning to give his team a 4-0 lead. Booed from the get-go, Barajas only gave the fans more reason to vent, adding a solo shot in the ninth in the eventual 6-3 win for the Jays. Barajas did nothing, nothing, nothing while with the Phillies and will always be remembered for egregiously punking out in a play at the plate in a game down in Florida. That stunning lack of effort sealed his fate in Philadelphia. He may be a nice guy and all that but not a player who gets it. During his mercifully brief tenure with the Phillies, Barajas was perceived as taking up space that would eventually be far better occupied by ageing rookie Chris Coste. Last night the Philiies were not up to what the overpaid on-again, off-again A. J. Burnett was throwing. Their own overpaid pitching disappointment, Adam Eaton, again got his own share of boos. One thing about Adam, though, so far he has taken it like a man. Barajas was never able to own up to playing like mud.
Listening on the radio last night, I heard lots of boos. For Barajas, for being a soft player while in Philly, for Rolen, for scorning the city (though last offseason he said he would have welcomed a trade back to town), for Eaton for being overpaid and under-performing, and even for Ryan Howard, for striking out another 3x. I don't boo but guess fans can do what they want. Players have big egos and get big paychecks. They should be able to take it. Other performers get booed and umpires get booed mercilessly. But what was going on last night was nothing at all like how one NY writer summed up the atmosphere at Shea Stadium this season: " a quick, energy-sapping maliciousness hard to match anywhere else." Delicious.
