With Kennedy, We've Found Our Chappaquidick

Ian Kennedy -- en route to becoming our American Kei Igawa -- was returned to Anthracite Country today, and if the vibes are true, he should buy a condo there.

Friday night, Kennedy punctuated a two-inning fiasco with a butchery post-game interview, in which he apparently didn't express enough remorse to appease the sportswriters in attendance.

Ever since, they've hit Kennedy harder than Vladimir Guerrero, because he failed to flog himself, presumably lying face-down on the shower room floor, while they administered cigars and ice to his buttocks. They've questioned his attitude. They've questioned his soul.

Fine. OK. Whatever.

I wonder sometimes about those judgements. Everybody reacts differently to pain, to humiliation. I once interviewed a woman whose husband was murdered, and she laughed about it. I asked how she could laugh, and she said it was something her father told her: Whenever the world is destroying you, smile -- just to show that it cannot.

I have a feeling that if Ian was smiling on the outside, he was pretty bummed inside.

Any chance we could cut him slack?

Listen: This looks like the year we splatter on the pavement. Come November, we're going to dump a lot of excess baggage. We're going to dump some all-star hitters who've shown they cannot drive in a runner in with less than two outs.

Come winter, we're going to remake this godforsaken team.

And basically, we have one hope: Youth.

Ian Kennedy should have pitched this entire season at Triple A.

Last year, they rushed him. He wasn't ready for the majors then.

He still isn't ready.

He is 23.

If Kennedy spends all of next year at Scranton, he'll still be younger than Chien-Ming Wang was when he reached the majors.

We are crumbling. We don't belong in the same league with the Angels. We are scraping for a wild card, but we could easily be overtaken by the Texas Rangers, the Minnesota Twins and several other teams.

We are mediocre. Deal with it.

In two years, Ian Kennedy might become a decent fourth or fifth starter. That's what he was originally projected to be. That's OK. We can use a decent fourth or fifth starter.

Look, I'm all for scapegoats. You get the tar, I'll get the feathers! But seriously, let's cut the young guys some slack. They didn't get us into this quagmire. They just haven't been able to pull us out.

Hey, maybe next year...