starlin castro len kasper hustle more please

By foxsports
Published

I hope I’m not breaking some sort of rule when I say I’m a big fan of both the MLB Network and MLBAM. Yes, they’re house organs. Usually I don’t even notice. Occasionally, though, we’re reminded.

Wednesday night, I was catching up on Twitter and saw this:

Beloved Cubbie broadcaster calling out All-Star Cubbie shortstop? Sounds interesting! To Len’s credit, he stuck around for quite awhile on the Twitter machine, responding to people who wondered what he meant. I wondered, too, so I did what we’ve been trained to do: I looked for video.

I didn’t find video. MLB.com posted 15 clips from the Cubs-Reds game, yet not a single clip of Starlin Castros (as I discovered after rooting around elsewhere) failing to reach second on a long drive to the center-field wall. And it was sort of an important play. Hey, here’s MLB.com’s Carrie Muskat!

The Cubs tallied in the eighth against Jonathan Broxton on a two-run double by Baez. Castro then smacked a long hit off the center-field wall, but only made it to first base while sending Baez to third. It may have proved costly as Soler then drove in Baez from third on a single before Welington Castillo grounded into an inning-ending double play.

"He feels bad," Cubs manager Rick Renteria said of Castro, who returned from the bereavement list on Tuesday. "He knows. He's apologizing to everybody about not getting over there. He's got a lot of things on his mind, and he's out there doing the best he can.

"When a young man tells you he's made a mistake, it's very hard to do anything other than accept it. Quite frankly, there were a host of things prior to that, and part of that whole ballgame, that put us in the position we were in."

That’s kind of Renteria. But has Castro always had a lot of things on his mind? Because this is hardly the first time he’s done something that might have gotten him benched. Which isn’t to say he’s not a really good player. He is. It’s not to say he should be taken behind the barracks and flogged. He shouldn’t. But you can understand why somebody might be frustrated with him. Especially with all those talented young shortstops knocking on the door.