First off, I want to make this clear: I’m a big fan of Milton Bradley. He carried the Padres down the stretch in 2007, and I was disappointed he wasn’t resigned that offseason. That said, I have no idea what the guy was thinking while “fielding” big Kyle Blanks‘ inside the parker last night. Let me explain with a helpful diagram:

A couple notes that need to be mentioned: this screen was taken after the throw was made, so center fielder Kosuke Fukudome may have taken a couple more steps toward right, exaggerating his distance a bit. Also, the frame doesn’t show Bradley’s starting position, so he may have had to run a bit further than his arrow shows.

The ball was hit to left center, so it’s a bit understandable that Bradley wasn’t sprinting towards the landing spot on contact. But once it started rolling towards right, I have no idea how Fukudome could possibly beat Bradley.

Oh yeah, Kyle Blanks is the man. If you’re a loyal Sac Bunt reader, you would already know that. And someone should tell all those Cubs fans if they like their team so much they should just go home.

Melvin Update 8/19: Good news for us Bradley fans. That shot above is misleading. This view exonerates him a bit:

Still up for debate, as far as I’m concerned, is if the right fielder kicking back watching a well struck ball to left-center field is justified, before the ball landed and rolled to right.