long ball longing

Seth Smith, the former Hillcrest Christian and Ole Miss standout, hit his first home run as a member of the Oakland A’s on Sunday. Smith, who has 40 at-bats through the A’s 17 games, is a little behind his career home run pace of about 1 every 25 ABs (51 in 1,285 entering 2012). He is also hitting just .205, 70 points under his career average, and has only four RBIs. Oakland acquired Smith from Colorado in the off-season for his left-handed power. Smith has time to pick it up, but one has to wonder now how his playing time (mostly at DH) will be affected when Manny Ramirez is eligible to play again at the end of May. P.S. Former Mississippi Braves outfielder Jordan Schafer, now with Houston, hit his first career grand slam on Sunday. Wonder if the Braves miss Schafer? Nah.