Home Run Derby

There are a few things we like to track here at Home Run Derby.  Sometimes we focus on all that is good in baseball, like 3 Home Run nights and Milestone Home Runs.  Sometimes we are not so nice, as is the case with Golden Sombreros. 

Now I would never call Richie “selective” in his postings about said events given we both have day jobs, but I find it a little puzzling that Geovany Soto’s weekend has not graced this page as of yet.  He isn’t a blatant homer for the Cubs, given he called out Aramis Ramirez’s lack of defense.

Soto didn’t just have a Golden Sombrero on Saturday.  No, No, he has a Platinum Sombrero (5 at bats, 5 strikeouts) and he did it in a nine inning game.  

To put it in perspective, that feat has only been matched 47 times in the history of the game.  It does seem to be occuring more frequently with quite a few current players on the list (Jim Thome, Andruw Jones, Adam Dunn, Scott Rolen, Richie Sexson, Preston Wilson). 

Dick Allen is the only player to achieve the Platinum Sombrero twice in his career (1964, 1970).

So we can agree that the Platinum Sombrero is pretty damn embarassing, but it gets worse for Soto.  He actually achieved this feat against the Worst Team in Baseball, the Washington Nationals.  Let’s make it even more embarassing.  Four different pitchers on that vaunted staff, each struck out Soto during that game (Matt Chico, 1st and 3rd; Joel Hanrahan, 5th; Chad Codero, 7th; Jesus Colome, 9th).  FYI, the Nationals are the 14th ranked pitching staff in the NL.

But wait, there’s more.  Soto, actually almost had a Golden Sombrero on Friday night, when he went 0-3, 3K, 1BB.  So in his last 8 at bats, Soto has 8 strikeouts (all against the Nationals – Odalis Perez got him all three times on Friday).  His only saving grace is the one walk he got in his last plate appearance on Friday Night.  But not let’s give him too much credit.  He didn’t even earn that walk – because it was intentional to load the bases to set up a potential inning ending double play.

Update:  I see ESPN’s Rob Neyer has a post up about this. First of all, I am flattered that he highlighted the post on his blog.  Second, just a quick retort to this paragraph from Rob.

“Like I said, this is all good fun, and I enjoy talking about the Sombrero as much as anybody. I still remember where I was the night Sam Horn struck out six times. But I’m thinking we should probably take this moment to mention something I noticed this morning: Soto’s having an awesome season. “

Rob is absolutely right.  Soto is having an outstanding season so far.  The purpose of the post was to highlight the feat (albeit at Geovanny’s expense), not his season.  He would get a lovely expose on this blog if he had hit three Home Runs in a game as well.  It was the Sombrero that mattered.  Awesome season or not, 8 straight strikeout is really hard to do.  

I am also reminded of something Neyer points out all the time.  It’s not really that Soto is having an awesome season as much as he is having an awesome April, his last two starts nonwithstanding.  But 22 games is an awfully small sample size, don’t you think Rob?  

In honor of your feat Geovany, here are some famous Sombreros for you.  Now Richie, I think we need an El Guapo post.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 29th, 2008 at 12:24 am and is filed under 2008 MLB, Cubs, Golden Sombreros, Nationals. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.