Last week’s foreshadowing seems to have largely come to fruition, as Murdoch seems to be headed towards a “misunderstood good guy” path to redemption. He was given a pretty wife, cute daughter, and a backstory (courtesy of Watts) complete with a false accusation of cocaine use. The give the writers credit, though, it was pretty shocking to see coke mentioned in a series like this. As well, they aren’t rushing things or glossing over just what a tool Murdoch is, no matter his excuses. Throughout the entire episode he continues to suck on the field and generally act like the world’s biggest a-hole.

Goro, seeing things starting to disintegrate around him as the Hornets face a six-game losing streak, takes it on himself to patch things up with Murdoch. They never actually speak, but Murdoch gets the message from his wife – and continues to silently sulk. In his defense, he’s being blamed as a curse at the root of all the Hornets troubles – when in reality, they’re all to blame – as Watts points out. In his next start (at LA’s “Rojer Stadium”) he tries to put the team on his back by throwing 101 MPH bullets in the first inning. Unfortunately Murdoch fails in the clutch at the plate and can’t scoop a low throw by Roy, resulting in an error to the shortstop and a near-fight on the field. Oh my, things aren’t looking good… But this is Major we’re talking about – even if Goro doesn’t win in the end, there will surely be redemption of some sort.