At this point in the season, Chone Figgins could rescue a kitten from a tree and get booed.
We don’t know if that’s the reason he’s not in the Mariners’ lineup tonight (because of the booing, not rescuing a kitten), but you’ve got to wonder if it’s a good thing that Figgins doesn’t play again until the Mariners are on the road and away from the home fans.
Adam Kennedy makes his first start of the season tonight at third base, and manager Eric Wedge laid no clue as to whether or not this is a one-night seat on the bench for Figgins.
“I want Adam to get in there,” Wedge said. “One of the ways for him to get in there is for him to play third base.”
True. The arrival of Dustin Ackley has reduced Kennedy’s opportunity for fairly regular duty at second base, and Wedge has said he’ll keep Kennedy’s bat in the lineup by rotating him into the lineup at second, first and third. Wedge needs to keep Kennedy’s bat in the lineup.
But it’s also time for Figgins to take a seat, (one) because he’s bringing nothing offensively and (two) the home fans are so vicious toward him now that anything he does will draw boos. Players may say they don’t hear it or that it doesn’t affect them, but it does.
Figgins has given them plenty of reasons to be rough on him — his .195 batting average, his team-high eight errors at third base, a snide comment or two he’s made to reporters and enough foul outs to make popup drills unnecessary for opposing catchers.
From my perch, it’s easy to get a little jaded to the booing because I’ve heard so much of it directed at Figgins this year. But Friday night it seemed especially harsh, probably because it was a bigger, more energetic crowd than usual (34,000-plus) that witnessed a really, really tough night at the plate by Figgins. He went 0-for-4, including two foul popups and a strikeout.
In the field, he caught a ton of grief from the crowd after he made a long run in left-field foul territory chasing a popup. He got to the ball but didn’t catch it, and the boos were ringing as he tumbled over the railing into the first row of the grandstand. He didn’t deserve it that time, if you ask me.
Everybody on the field is fair game when it comes to cheers and jeers, but Figgins is a huge target right now for reasons he does and doesn’t deserve. And because of that (along with his struggles at the plate), maybe it’s best that he take a seat for a few days until the Mariners play next week at Washington.
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