A throwback Bootcheck shot

We’re not Lindsey Jacobellis. Or Nate Newton. Or DeSean Jackson. There will be no a premature celebration only to watch a victory fall by the wayside. No. There will only be premature celebration as we coast into victory.

For all those times where celebrating early came back to bite a person, there were hundreds of Deion Sanders high steps into the endzone that went off without a hitch. And with three days (including today) of voting remaining for the AAA All-Star game, this is one of those hundreds.

Three weeks after I invited all the Hustlers out there to band together as one and perform the very important (some would say life-changing) task of voting for Chris Bootcheck to go to the AAA All-Star game, there are only 10 words to say: WE DID IT! WE DID IT! WE DID IT YAY!

As of June 14, Bootcheck not only leads the International League relief pitchers, he’s maintained his title as the people’s champ of pitchers, leading everyone at the position in votes. So to all the  people who cheated the system and made up fake email addresses, I thank you. To all the unemployed people who had nothing else to do but vote for Bootcheck all day, I couldn’t do this without you. And to all the kids home from school who woke up at 1 p.m. and sat in their boxers on their computer until 2 a.m., you’re nothing short of heroes.

As the James Mungro Memorial Award presented by (your name/company here at the right price) runner up, Quintin Berry, tears up the majors and collects a lofty paycheck, our friend and JMMA winner RHP Bootcheck refused to sell himself out.

He’s remained in the Minor Leagues, bored out his mind, for us. We started this campaign and he’s making sure to finish it. After the player and the managers also select him for the AAA All-Star game (remember, fan voting only counts for a third) and he dominates with the world a few people watching, the public pressure will be too much and he’ll have to come and save the Tigers season.

In the meantime, he continues to make Shepard’s Pie out of the young pups in the International League. Since we last met, Bootcheck has appeared in five more games. The only two runs he gave up came in in a non-save situation (Toledo was actually down a run). I blame the managing. Chris Bootcheck doesn’t mess around. If he knows his team isn’t going to comeback anyway, why waste all his good stuff? That June 18 game against Lehigh Valley was a perfect way for him to show how much a lesser caliber of pitcher would hurt the Mud Hens.

He then came back with a save yesterday, sandwiching his two-run giveaway with two solid performances. The game before he pulled a patented Bootcheck, walking the first two batters because he could, and then striking out the side to end the game.

On the season he’s got a 3.00 ERA, with 13 saves on 30 innings pitched and 33 strikeouts. When Detroit wants to bring him up after his stop in Buffalo for the All Star game, I say he holds out for more money.

In other completely related and very timely news if you wanted to see shaky, amateur camera work of Bootcheck pitching in the Japanese League, where the camera doesn’t follow the ball at all and stays completely focused on Bootcheck to the point where it kind of gets creepy, YouTube is a gold mine. I particularly like the “Boo check” in the title. I’m not sure if that’s a heckle or a typo. If it’s not the former, it should be.

But back to the point at hand, have I mentioned that WE DID IT?

Seriously. I’s over. You don’t even need to vote anymore. Just go around your office/basement high fiving your co-workers/friends like a baseball team that just won the game. You deserve it.