After being stymied by former Round Rock Express starter Chris Sampson last night, the Dodgers have scored 2 runs in their last 27 innings. While Andruw Jones isn’t the sole Los Angeles player responsible for this offensive drought, he’s the only one repeatedly being called “Tubbo” by the LA Times’ T.J. Simers (link swiped from Repoz and Baseball Think Factory).
Saturday night the fans in Dodger Stadium booed Jones’ name when the starting lineup was announced. “Don’t you care that the fans in Dodger Stadium have turned on you?”
“No,” he said. “That’s their problem.”
I suggested that it’s not human for someone not to be bothered by booing fans in their own stadium, and he stuck out his tongue and made some noise.
“How do I write that down?” I said.
All together now: “I don’t care,” he said.
Without the fans, I said, there’s no reason for you to be here in Los Angeles playing baseball and no way you’re getting paid $36 million over the next two years.
“I don’t care,” he said. “You play for the team, you don’t play for the fans. The fans never played the game. They don’t know.”
As for his play on the field, the Tubbo has one home run, and so far it looks as if he has only warning-track power, which suggests he has lost something.
“If you think that’s what I’ve got, warning-track power, then write it down,” Jones said, and it always helps when I have a player’s permission to criticize him. “I lost my power, I suck, I should retire.”
“I hope you’re not waiting for me to disagree with you,” I said.
Then Jones went out, and struck out on three pitches in his first appearance at the plate. I wonder if he cared.