Interleague baseball exists to embarrass pitchers.
Brandon Gomes entered the weekend without a big-league plate appearance. The usual from a relief pitcher without National League experience. Gomes did have four minor-league plate appearances to his name, but nobody cares about those.
On Sunday, Gomes entered the second game of a doubleheader as a pitcher and recorded two outs. Because the Rays were in the midst of a bullpen game, Joe Maddon left Gomes in to hit against Cliff Lee. No problem, no sweat; Gomes exudes confidence:
Sure enough, Lee struck out Gomes. But Gomes would get another crack at it an inning later. With the bases loaded and two outs he prepared to hit, only to see Charlie Manuel go to the bullpen and bring in a new pitcher. That new pitcher, Jake Diekman, walked Gomes on five pitches. No, really—and they weren’t even close:
Charlie Manuel, your reaction?
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