THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT HAIRSTON

Jerry Hairston has a total of 2062 MLB ABs. Corey Patterson has a total of 2039. While Dusty Baker bent over backward to apologize/cajole/inspire/excuse/validate (reader's choice) for Corey Patterson, he doesn't seem to like Hairston much at all.

"[Hairston] is doing pretty good. We still want him to stay out of [hitting the ball in] the air." "We want him to be more aggressive running on the bases too. But he's getting better." That was Baker yesterday. When you take into account that Hairston and Patterson have about the same career ABs, shouldn't Baker be using the "Corey Book of Apologetics" for Hairston too? Especially considering that Patterson was an everyday player for years. Hairston has been for about 1 1/2 seasons.

I'm sure you can quickly think of other things he could have said about Hairston. How about: "Wow, we've been going great guns since he has been leading off." being just one example. But anything that sniffs around a full endorsement of the move would mean that Baker would have to admit that it took him 83 games to fill out the lineup card correctly. And that was only after his hand was forced. Me, you and every Joe Blogger wrote about it and talked about it. But it's those "proven veterans" that always get the job done, right?

I don't disagree with what he said about Hairston. But it's odd that he can't give props to a guy who surely deserves them. He has plenty of them for guys who don't. It's odd and it's weak. Like most of the things that come out of his mouth.