Cognitive dissonance

OK, first there's this:

"I can't really put into words how reliable this guy is," Tracy said of Sanchez, who is hitting .462 in the sixth spot. "He's a terrific offensive player. He's not a home run hitter and he's not going to be asked to be one here.

"But he's an ideal sixth hitter. He does his fair share of damage cleaning up what the third, fourth and fifth hitters don't do. He's a very unselfish player. He's a headsy player. He's a thinking man's player. He's a winning player."

Aha, says I, Tracy clearly gets it. I can now relax about Freddy losing playing time to Joe effing Randa.

And then, the same day that the quote above appeared in the Post-Gazette, there's this:

PITTSBURGH
1. J. Bautista, CF
2. J. Wilson, SS
3. S. Casey, 1B
4. J. Bay, LF
5. J. Randa, 3B
6. C. Wilson, RF
7. J. Castillo, 2B
8. H. Cota, C
9. V. Santos, P

Now I know, it's one game and doesn't necessarily indicate any kind of a trend, but I've been trained not to trust this team to do the right thing. So this makes me a little nervous.

On the other hand, I guess it's possible that this is one case in which we really are putting Randa into the lineup to showcase him for major league scouts who may be in Pittsburgh to assess his health, for a possible trade. If that's the case, then I'm okay with it. We sure don't need Joe Randa now; we never did, but the Pirates didn't know that.

This team, by the way, is not as bad as it appeared to be in the beginning of the season. I was there last night, and they played a damned good game--one of many they have played recently. Jose Castillo, with his newfound power, is a real difference maker. If everything else remains the same, the pitchers improve, and Castillo achieves the potential that we've been waiting for for a couple of years now, this team might even be capable of exceeding mediocrity.