March 31, 2014
I’m not sure how valuable a clean-up hitting DH is going to be for Gil (even one who ‘looks like his own big brother’… what does that even mean and why does Gil respond by saying ‘well said’?) but I seem to recall the best players in high school were almost invariably pitchers, short stops or center fielders. Maybe I’m offbase when I say this, but it seems improbable to me that you would have your cleanup hitter (usually the second or third best hitter) also be a DH.
I’ll have to leave it to the commenters to parse it as I can’t say I ever followed baseball much below the collegiate level. Regardless, I can only hope we get some gobsmacked reaction by Marjie when Gil reveals to her his plan to start prominent local walking disaster area Lucky Haskins at third.
Update: Speaking of Opening Day, my beloved Cubbies had a great run tied for first in the NL Central this year but now have dropped to the cellar where I hope they’ll be comfortable because… it’s gonna be a long season, but aren’t they all?
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This Week in Milford 
Baffling it is not particularly. The DH is either a big lunk who doesn’t field well or a good hitting pitcher not on the mound & hits for the weakest hitting regular – presumably Noxious Foley or the catcher.
Comment by Downpuppy (@Downpuppy) — March 31, 2014 @ 2:00 pm
The pitcher thing certainly makes sense but I didn’t get the sense that Jordy is a pitcher.
I guess what I was getting at is it didn’t make particular sense to me that he’d be hitting in the cleanup spot. If he’s just a big lunk – and I have to assume he doesn’t field well if Lucky is getting the nod over him for 3B – I’d think he’d be further back in the lineup with the ‘good’ players (again, the shortstops, CF types) in the heart of the order. Maybe I’m overthinking this…. Yep, I’m definitely overthinking this.
Comment by timbuys — March 31, 2014 @ 2:12 pm
Everybody has this right. At the high school level, the pitchers are usually the best athletes on the team and often play center field or DH when they are not pitching. The middle infielders tend to be kept together for coordination purposes, but otherwise pitchers might play anything but the most difficult and dangerous position, catcher. Thus it is likely that Jordy Castillo IS a big lunk, and yes, it is unusual that he is the dh instead of an off-duty pitcher.
Comment by vaganova — March 31, 2014 @ 5:56 pm
Nice earrings on Marjie – but a rare misspeak from the only character in the strip who always has it together, as ‘his own big brother’ could just be said ‘his big brother’, but I guess he doesnt have a big brother, so maybe she’s pretending he does.
Comment by robmize2013 — March 31, 2014 @ 8:06 pm
It is strange phasing. In real life you don’t get to edit your spoken words. They’re already out.
Politicians, of course, will try to deny what’s on tape.
Comment by Dale — March 31, 2014 @ 10:57 pm
So Gil’s “Well said” could be tinged with a bit of sarcasm… or Wild Turkey.
Comment by teenchy — April 1, 2014 @ 3:56 am
The Gil Thorp universe feels so non-contemporary that I first interpreted panel1 as Marje holding an old fashioned recorder over her left shoulder and the wired mic in her right hand.
Comment by steve_in_hb — April 1, 2014 @ 5:03 am
Today’s strip has Castillo as an off-duty pitcher, and Gil tries to add Marjie to the rotation. Actually, I’m pretty sure he’s not joking.
Comment by billytheskink — April 1, 2014 @ 7:12 am
Remember the moody, touchy Bobby Loft who played baseball for Thorp back from 1980-1 ? He was undoubtedly one of the most difficult to get along with athletes whom Thorp ever coached. He also played basketball too, in fact, and was a standout in the latter sport. At any rate, in the 1981-2 academic year he was aiming for a b-ball scholarship at some first-choice school and got VERY upset with Thorp for not putting in a good word for him to some recruiter who’d apparently been considering Loft…….but who backed away from him when finding out what a jerk the kid was. Loft’s reaction ? He told Thorp he would NOT be playing baseball for him in the spring of 1982. And that was fine with Thorp !
Comment by Howard S Sample — April 1, 2014 @ 12:51 pm