CIRILLO HURT
Former Milwaukee Brewer, Jeff Cirillo was injured attempting to bunt and will miss 4-6 weeks with a broken finger. I've always said that bunting and baserunning in the Major Leagues is absolutely pathetic, when compared to the overall skill level of the players. Most of these guys never had to bunt, so when they actually have to lay one down in a crucial situation they look completely lost.

As for Cirillo...I remember when the Brewers traded him after the 1999 season. A lot of Brewers' fans (all twenty-seven of them) were pretty upset about it. It was a three-way deal between Oakland, Colorado and Milwaukee, with the Brewers giving up Scott Karl and Jeff Cirillo and receiving Jimmy Haynes, Henry Blanco and Jamey Wright. Karl fell off the face of the Earth soon afterward, Cirillo had a good season in 2000, a decent season in 2001 and then two awful seasons in Seattle. Now he's in San Diego and considered a utility infielder.

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel just ran a story on Jeff Cirillo and his two-year long slump. As most people that recall Cirillo's time in Milwaukee, he at times was his own worst enemy. Unfortunately, some of my most vivid memories of Cirillo was when he'd strike out and walk out to his position at third screaming profanities at himself. Mark Loretta said "He always looked tortured, even when he was hitting .325." Baseball is a game where you can't afford to be that intense. In my brief college career I've come across many players who just can't handle a slump or even a bad game. Talent can only take you so far, but especially when you're going through a 162-game season you can't take every at-bat, or every game as life or death. It'll just wear you down in the end, as it seems to have done to Cirillo.