Hottest Little Potatoes

So we come to the May 7th version of Hottest Little Potatoes in Major League Baseball. It comes complete with our first repeat offender, a double dosage of Dodgers (for the love of alliteration), and our first relief pitcher. As this has quickly grown into a not-quite weekly segment on the blog, we've added some structure. Each not-quite week, you'll see 3 batters and 3 pitchers awarded the badge of "Hot Little Potato". At the end of the season, we will award the Mugatu Trophy, for the Hottest Little Potato of the Season, to the player that has made the most appearance on Hottest Little Potatoes. You can look for that among our growing list of end of season awards, some normal (MVP, Cy Young, etc.), some blog-orginals (Mugatu Trophy, Bronze Arms, some still TBD). So be on the look out.

Now on to this week:

HLP Batters

Andre Ethier, LAD: 12/25, 9 R, 2 2B, 5 HR, 13 RBI

Alfonso Soriano, ChC: 10/23, 7 R, 3 2B, 5 HR, 11, RBI

James Loney, LAD: 11/21, 5 R, 3 2B, 2 HR, 12 RBI

HLP Pitchers

Dr. Roy Halladay, Phi: 16 IP, 2 W, 15 K, 0.56 ERA, 0.88 WHIP

Neftali Feliz, Tex: 4 IP, 4-4 Sv, 6 K, 0.00 ERA, 0.00 WHIP

Scott Olsen, Was: 13.1 IP, 1 W, 12 K, 0.68 ERA, 0.83 WHIP


- The aforementioned repeat offender is Los Angeles Dodger Outfielder, Andre Ethier. He appeared on the debut edition of HLP and notched his spot this week with a walk-off Grand Slam last night.

- Our still unnamed LITB fictitious beat reporter (please send in suggestions for a Lightning or Sports related name for this beat reporter), got a chance to speak with one of this weeks potatoes, Alfonso Soriano. Soriano assured the Bolt that his appearance on HLP will in no way affect his ability to drop routine fly balls or generally not give a shit.

- Dodger First Baseman James Loney proves you don't have to hit homeruns to be a Hot Potato (it certainly helps), especially when you bat over .500 for the week.

- Doctor Halladay continues to absolutely dominate the National League. His latest two victims, the Mets and Cardinals are nothing to sneeze at. Well deserved HLP point for the Doctor.

- Neftali Feliz is setting a HLP precedent: If you are a reliever and record 4+ holds or saves in 7 days, while surrendering ZERO baserunners in 4+ IP, then you will be known as a Hot Little Potato.

- Scott Olsen told our beat reporter that he wasn't sure if the Bolt knew there was a still a Washington Nationals Franchise, so he thought it best to take a no-hitter into the 8th inning last night to make sure there was enough press around him for LITB to take notice.

Well, time to go run my hands under some cold water.

- APT

(All statistics are from the last 7 days, unless otherwise noted. All comments to fictitious beat reporters are OF COURSE fictitious)