The Brandon Wood Award

Given out annually to the manager with the most reasonable sense of calm in the face of his young players’ struggles. In this instance, we have Mike Scioscia responding to a Brandon Wood’s terrible offensive first few weeks with clarity:

“Come on, it’s only fifty at-bats!”

When his Cooperstown plaque is etched (do they have plaques for entrants to the Hall of Fame on display?) it will read: He let his players play.

All of which is to say: congrats, Brandon, on shaking off the cobwebs; looks like you’re not a basket case after all. We’ll continue to be patient and hope for a solid season of learning; and for 40-50 extra base hits, and maybe a few walks to go with all those strikeouts.