Yesterday, the lovely Missus over at Grace and Wayne accused me (with a somewhat suprised expression. That is, suprised I'm such an idiot) of not liking Hollandsworth. Why would I not like him, when he was so good for us last year? Just to be clear: I like Hollandsworth. I mean, I've had limitted correspondence with the man, but he seems alright. But, to paraphrase Inigo Montoya, "You seem a decent enough fellow, I hate to platoon you."

Hollandsworth brings a decent game to the table. He has moderate power, he's a solid defender, and (at least to my keen eye) an excellent baserunner (read: the anti-Alou). I'm not a big fan of his haircut (a little mulletty) but I can overlook that. All that aside, to be used optimally, he should be used at most in a platoon situation, where DuBois/Hairston get all the AB's vs. lefties. Otherwise, his numbers and health aren't going to hold up. I would go farther than that, and suggest that he should be used in less than a platton situation. He is an extremely valuable bat off the bench (lefties with power come in handy in the late innings) and can also spell Lee at first (L-E-E A-T F-I-R-S-T. get it, "spell Lee at first." I kill me) , Patterson in center, and Burnitz in right. This would get him plenty of AB's, strengthen our bench, and we can get Hairston in the leadoff position as much as possible, shifting Kid Korey down in the lineup.

That is all I was saying. There is nothing wrong with Hollandsworth. He is who he is and I just want Dusty to optimize his value to the team.

On another (old) note, I posted an entry regarding how Prior excelled late in the season, not because of the Bako-factor, but rather because of the "snappy curve/popping fastball" factor. Turns out Mr. Prior doesn't agree with me (Sun Times article). Now, I believe that Prior had better communication with Bako. I mean, I suppose Mark knows a little better than I do. A little. But still, I don't think that is the reason for Prior's resurgence at the end of the season. He had spent the first part of his return recovering from an injury, battling inconsistency and an inability to locate his pitches. He was clearly not the 2003 Prior. However, it all came together the last five games of the season. While I think a lot of this was physical, I concede that there was probably also a fairly large psycological factor at play here, as Prior was more at ease pitching to a familiar face. At being said, I think it could have been anyone he was familiar with catching. I just don't see anything special with Bako, and there is not familiarity excuse with Blanco this year, so Barrett should get the call to action for all of Prior's starts. I mean, who are you going to trust, me or Prior?