Timofei Bakitski can’t seem to get it together.
A year ago, everything was spring flowers and sweet tea for Bakitski, nee the faded Russian Liquor Salesman. He was playing in Yellow Springs and throwing smoke that no one could hit, on his way to posting a 3-2, 15 save record on a 1.97 ERA. But a strained forearm put the kabosh on his buzz, and next thing you know he was a playoff goat after coming back—some say too early.
After a hope-instilling spring, 2041, however, did not start off well for the mad Russian. Five outings saw him sitting at a 9.82 ERA, and fans hailing him with boos and tossing call-in show bitching at manager Bill Inkster for employing Vodak in lieu of closer Curt Phillips.
The club stuck with Vodak, and it appeared he was getting his act together, through April and early May. He picked up a win and a save, and saw his ERA drop to a semi-respectable 4.79.
Commeth the River Monsters, though, and out-goeth four earned runs in 2.1 innings. Yes, Vodak struck out five guys in those innings, and gave up only 1 walk, but four hits lead to those four runs, and the team lost 7-6. Not good. Not good since it was at home, too. Cascades of boos have not been thicker, and perhaps were augmented by the fact that the 34-year-old reliever has apparently suggested he would be willing to come back at a steep discount to his current $10M salary.
“Wouldn’t want him back at 10% the price,” one fan said on a Nine-Talk call in hour. “The guy is horrible.”
If one gets the idea that the natives are restless, you’re probably in the right camp. It seems clear that fans see the blighted Heartland landscape of a Louserville club rising up to the south and a Chicago cartel slime-ing their way to the top to the north, and they aren’t happy.
“This is still America,” one guy said. “I know Bakitski is from the New Mother Land, but we can’t let afford to let him pitch or these other bastards will win.”