Kevin Millar Is An Idiot

MLB Network is, for the most part, a fantastic resource. For the most part. Its lone blemish is "Intentional Talk," a talk show for people who perversely enjoy asinine, loosely-based-on-fact baseball banter between Chris Rose and Kevin Millar. On Friday, the two were discussing the dominance of left-handed Reds closer Aroldis Chapman--he has yet to surrender a runs this season in 27 innings, and he has 47 strikeouts to just 8 walks. Rose asked Millar whether his scoreless streak would extend through June. Millar said no, it wouldn't, because the following player would eventually touch up Chapman for a homer:

"Bryan LaHair. Lefty. For the Cubbies."

Now, obviously, it's hard to call a prediction "wrong," because it's an opinion. But this is wrong. LaHair is hitting .308 and slugging .582 on the season, but he doesn't even play against left-handed pitchers because he he's so bad against them:

LaHair vs LHP: .136/.296/.273

Chapman, meanwhile, destroys left-handed hitters. He's faced 34, and struck out 21 of them without allowing an extra-base hit. As a whole, left-handed batters are hitting .094 against him. That's very low.

So you've got someone who can't get a hit against lefties, and a pitcher who doesn't give up hits to lefties. The mismatch is so great that there's no way Cubs manager Dale Sveum would ever let LaHair bat against Chapman in a meaningful situation. Out of all the great hitters in the National League, Millar picks this guy to hit the first home run off of Chapman?

Another thing that makes this prediction wrong: the Cubs don't even play the Reds in June. So yes, Bryan LaHair hitting a home run off of Aroldis Chapman in June of 2012 is one of the least likely events to occur on this Earth.

When Chris Rose pointed out this fact to Millar--that his stupid pick to hit a homer against Chapman this month won't even face Chapman this month--Millar chose to change his pick:

"Okay. Ryan Braun."

Oh, one of the best hitters in baseball. You couldn't choose him the first time around?