Rollin' With The Thome

Okay, this NL West divisional crown is a done deal, home field advantage for the playoffs is as good as locked as well, and we've got eight games left against a bevy of last place teams: the Washington Nationals (34.5 GB, NL East), Pittsburgh Pirates (31.5 GB, NL Central), and San Diego Pirates (technically in fourth place, but still 22.5 GB, NL West). We've been using the opportunity to tune up the offense and give live-action bullpen starts to Chad Billingsley and Clayton Kershaw, as well as #3 starter auditions to Jon Garland and Vicente Padilla. And now there's one thing left to do for the remainder of this season: Get Jim Thome back in the swing of things. And we can best do that by playing Thome in the field for a game or two, to give him four to five at bats instead of the one-per-game he's getting as a pinch hitter now. Yes, Thome hasn't played a field position since June 13, 2007, when he played first base. And yes, there is no doubt that he will ...