Why the Fox are the DBacks throwing to Ethier

BG’s better halves aren’t the only ones falling for Andre Ethier.

I heart Andre Ethier.

After listening to Steve Lyons tonight, I’m starting to feel a man crush for the guy, too.

Ethier had another walk-off just minutes ago, golfing a – what was it, an RBI single, or a double? – to center field and carrying the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 6-5 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks in 10 innings.

Not to steal BG’s thunder here, but it made FOX’s analysts wonder: why is righty reliever Blaine Boyer even pitching to the left-handed Ethier with a base free and a double-play-waiting-to-happen-slower-than-dirt Manny Ramirez on deck?

Andre the Giant Killer had a league-leading six walk-off base hits a year ago. And he’s hitting .370 with a .519 slugging percentage on the season.

But let’s not forget, baseball is a game of stats freaks FOX SPORTS WEST PRIME TICKET WHATEVER YOUR STATION IS CALLED THESE DAYS.

And Ethier’s lefty vs. righty (B.Boyer) matchup had to look safer than the Manny vs. Your Mom matchup.

Ethier was hitting .300 against righties, while Manny is crushing at .381.

Let’s not forget, Manny’s Manny, and he’d already reached three times on the night.

Plus, does anyone in the NL outside of Albert Pujols demand the kind of attention the dreaded one does? Exactly.

So it’s not like the DBacks had many other options. With the teams running out a total of 25 pitchers (not a joke) in the first two games of the series, it wasn’t like there were a lot of arms to be had in the 10th inning of Game 3. Heck, Mel Stottlemyre gave me a call tonight after he heard Dwight Gooden wasn’t available.

But moving forward, teams might want to stock up on some lefties (the DBacks have only one) for situations like this. Ethier hit .194 against ‘em last season, but I digress.

So that’s why they didn’t want to throw to MannRam, Fox. If the DBacks are going to get beat, they’re going to get beat by Ethier. He is an Arizona State product after all.