I guess that it's back to the drawing board for Jorge Julio. He thought he had it all figured out. He thought that a mechanical flaw was causing him to rush his pitches and open up too soon, which threw off his command. So against the Brewers on Tuesday night with a 2-1 lead in the ninth, he slowed down, and threw the ball nice and easy.
Turns out the only thing that slowed down was the inevitable, a Jorge Julio blown save. Julio walked the lead off hitter, then gave up a long one out game tying double to J.J. Hardy. In the process, he performed a deep disservice to Marlins fans, who had to sit through two rain delays to even get to the ninth inning. Then, after Julio performed his latest disaster, they had to sit through another inning only to have the game suspended by rain with the score tied at 2-2. They'll finish it up on Wednesday at 7:05 before the scheduled game (unless Bud Selig panics and decrees that they play the rest of the series in Tampa Bay to avoid the possibility of rain).
He also did a disservice to the family of Rick Vanden Hurk, who flew all the way in from Holland to watch their son make his major league debut, and pitch well he did for 4 and 2/3's innings before Fredi Gonzalez decided not to bring him back after the first rain delay. Holland is a long ways to travel from to see Jorge Julio blow a save for your son's team, and I think the least Julio can do is pay for their plane tickets back home.
But seriously folks, did you know that Vanden Hurk is the second major league player of Dutch descent? Did you know that the first was Bert Blyleven? And did you also know that in Holland, baseball is referred to as Honkbal?
Previously on The Fanhouse:
The Nationals only win so far is courtesy of Jorge Julio
