Yuniesky Betancourt and the Red Mercedes

Parking in downtown St. Paul is a pain in the ass but sometimes we get lucky and find a place to park in a free lot. We were meeting some friends at Patrick McGovern's and we began our search for parking in the small lot behind the bar. We drove through once and didn't find a spot but there was a woman who looked to be in her 70s standing at the passenger's side of a red Mercedes talking on a cell phone. We did a lap through the parking lot and then spotted a gentleman who seemed to be walking to the driver's side of the same red Mercedes. This looked promising. We pulled up near the car and put our blinker on to indicate that we planned to take the spot. Only nothing happened. The guy got in the car but the woman continued to use the cell phone. She would talk into the phone and then stare at the phone and push a few buttons and then talk into the phone again. This went on for several minutes. After about five minutes, she got in the car. This looked more promising. But again, nothing happened. After a few more minutes I got out of the car to see what the holdup was. The couple was just sitting there.

I started laughing. Seth said that he was going to continue to wait because, by this time, he was invested in this parking spot. After another minute some other people walked to their car so Seth backed up so that he could take the spot being vacated by the people who had just walked to the lot from the bar. Of course, at the exact moment that the new people staring backing out, the couple in the red Mercedes did the same. Now when something takes longer than it should, Seth and I say that we've been red Mercedes'ed.

Yuniesky Betancourt is a lot like the couple in the red Mercedes. I feel like I've been waiting around a long time for him [to produce]. On the one hand, he's historically been a pretty below average big leaguer, so maybe all he can do is stand by the side of the car and try to use a cell phone. On the other hand, if the Brewers are to win the NL Central, we really need him to get in the red Mercedes, back out of that parking spot and put his foot on the gas.

I think we're seeing Yuni attempting to put his foot on the gas. In Game 2 against Arizona, the Brewers brought out the bats. Corey Hart led off the game with a home run and one batter later, Ryan Braun connected for a long ball. Three batters later, Yuni got into the act with a home run. At the end of the first, Milwaukee led 5-0. Betancourt would go on to hit another homer in the ninth inning. He went 3 for 5 with four RBI in the 11-3 victory. (Game played July 19, 2011)

Jumping ahead to Friday night's game against the Giants at AT&T, Betancourt went 2 for 4 with 2 RBIs in the 4-2 victory. In the second half of the season, Yuni has appeared in eight games, and produced a .423/.444/.731 line. Compare that with .237/.255/.342 line in the first half. Wow, that first half is bad but maybe Yuni can keep his foot on the gas and turn things around.

Maybe. Or maybe we'll watch Doug Melvin pull another rabbit out of his hat and we'll have a new SS before the trade deadline.