Dear Barry Zito-

I see your season isn’t starting out so good! Seven straight losses is a bummer especially for a major leaguer who gets paid millions of dollars to play baseball.

I caught the game on Tuesday and you seemed to do a pretty good job to me. I was in the bleachers so it was kind of hard to tell, but at least the other guys didn’t score in the first five innings. You can certainly write that down in your journal: “No points for Texas through five innings!”

The guys in the bleachers were pretty upset about that whole mess in the sixth. I thought they were a bit uncharitable–everybody gives up a hit now and again, even to a batter late in the order who was hitting 0.081 for the season. I’m not a very good batter and sometimes I get on base. It happens.

I suppose they had cause to complain when the next guy also got a hit, too. Sometimes the bottom of an order will surprise you. It doesn’t happen much but you can’t overlook those guys. They aren’t in the major leagues for no reason! I didn’t think two little hits was that big of a deal given that your team was ahead 3-0.

Though I will admit things started to feel familiar at that point. In our last game things were going really great for the first few innings. We got a bunch of hits and runs and held the other guys to just a few hits and runs. I’m not sure if we were technically “ahead” but we were certainly in the game. And then the other team got a few guys on base and they all scored and more guys scored and we were way behind. It happens fast!

What I’m trying to say is that I was perhaps the only sympathetic guy in the bleachers when the next batter hit the ball out of the park and tied the game. I thought some of the unkind things they said were kind of unnecessary. It’s not your fault, well, its kind of your fault but you were doing your best, right? Giving up a three run homer is no reason to call a guy a bum.

Its too bad they didn’t let you finish the game. It was also a shame that the infield fell apart and started throwing the ball out of bounds and letting the other guys score at will. We had some infield problems last week as well–at one point their runner was just standing between two bases while we chatted amongst ourselves. Someone pointed out that the runner was “in play” and we got all excited and threw the ball out of bounds so that a bunch more of their guys could score. It happens.

I was glad to see in the paper the next day that you didn’t personally get credited with a “loss.” The paper called it a “moral victory” because you did such a good job with the first five innings. You could clip out that story and tape it to the fridge at home. Maybe Mrs. Zito already did that. I’ve participated in dozens of moral victories and I know it helps you keep your chin up when things don’t seem to be going your way.

Your pal in the bleachers,

Bricker