Baseball fans of all allegiances flocked to Camden Yards on Wednesday hoping to see Manny Ramirez make history by hitting two home runs to reach the 500 home run milestone.
He did make history in one sense, but not in a manner anybody expected. He did so by turning late Orioles PA Announcer Rex Barney’s famous saying “Give that fan a contract” into “Give that fan an assist.”
Manny turned what could be seen as the first 7-10-4-3 double play in baseball history in the bottom of the fourth inning by high-fiving a fan between making a running catch on a Kevin Millar fly ball and firing the ball into cut-off man Dustin Pedroia. Pedroia then relayed the ball to first-baseman Kevin Youkilis to complete one of the funniest successful plays you will ever see.
I say “successful” because it’s hard to top Jose Canseco’s Zidane-esque home run helper with the Rangers, Jack Cust’s ‘03 home stretch stumble with the Orioles, or Ruben Rivera running the bases for the Giants like a squirrel crossing a busy street (unfortunately I couldn’t find a picture or video of the last play).
… an estimated 182,460 new cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed in American women in 2008 alone.
Last year, about 200 Major Leaguers swung away with the Pink lumber provided by Louisville Slugger. I’d expect that that number will be even higher this season.
Home Run Derby loves this effort. And so, for the third season in a row, Home Run Derby will go Pink. We’ll be making our annual pledge to the Komen Foundation - $10 per Home Run hit in MLB this Sunday (Mother’s Day, May 11, 2008) whether it’s hit with a Pink Bat or not. And since Nick Swisher dyed his soul patch pink … we’ll up that pledge to $25 for every Home Run hit by Swisher on 5/11/08.
Last season, we donated $280 to the Komen Foundation for the 28 Home Runs hit on Mother’s Day 2007. In 2006, we donated $150 - we only pledged $5 per Home Run and there were 30 hit that Mothers Day 5/14/06.
Pinch-hitting is hard enough. Sit on your duff for 7+ innings, get the notice that you are probably going to get at bat if the situation is right, go take a couple swings in the cage behind the dugout, swing the donut a bit, and go out there down by 1 run and 2 runners on and 2 out.
Oh, and you get to face Hank Steinbrenner’s favorite Yankee (but not Erin Andrews), Joba Chamberlain. A single ties the game, but why not over-deliver? Second pitch he sees … ding dong, the pitch is dead.
And while Joba had a bad night last night, “his” team in the HRD, The Joba Rules, is building a nice cushion in our contest. Through May 5th, The Joba Rules had a seven Home Run cushion in the contest and was on the doorstep of breaking 100 Home Runs to date.
I think we might have found a new HRD whipping boy.
Another day, another Walk Off Home Run. This time in extra innings, Hunter Pence delivers the fatal blow to the Milwaukee Brewers. The second time in three days a Houston Astro has walked away with the coveted HRoD award.
The funny thing here is everything in the game was just a little weird, or more to the point, predicated on poor execution. The Astros were lucky to even get to extra innings. Eric Gagne had a horrible ninth to blow the save with a game tying walk Lance Berkman. Gagne’s line 1 IP, 2HA, 3BB, 2ER, 0K.
Hunter Pence wasn’t really any better before the 12th as he nearly had himself a Golden Sombrero as he was 0 for 5 with 3 strike outs to that point. Even if you look at the video, the swing was everything you teach your kids not to do: His hips fly open, he has poor weight transition and appears to lose his balance. It was the case of the ball hitting the bat, not the bat hitting the ball. It seems the MLB has given up the embedding of video (no more menu to try), but I highly suggest taking a look at the video. Crappy swing or not, Hunter Pence you are the HRoD Honoree!
Yesterday was one of those days that was filled with meaningful Home Runs. There were 27 Home Runs in total, two walk-offs (Burrell, Schumaker), three multi-Home Run games (Uggla, Pence, Bautista) and the first of the year from Khalil Greene (Hooray…finally, the last stone cutter on my entry this year).
But sometimes meaning takes a whole different point of view, as it does with today’s honoree, Miguel Tejada. Tejada was special in the sixth when he smacked a two run Home Run against the Brewers to tie the game at 4-4. First, his Home Run was the first of three consecutive by the Astros (Berkman, Lee) last night.
But more importantly, on a night when every Astros Home Run raised $10,000 (courtesy of Citgo) to fight Muscular Dystrophy, Tejada fulfilled a promise to a young MD patient he made earlier that day. Miguel when meeting 8 year old Jacob Scott prior to Friday’s game told the young man that he would hit a Home Run for him.
The Astros, in addition to the back to back to back jacks, had two Home Runs courtesy of Hunter Pence. 5 Home Runs. $50,000 for MD research. Good job, boys.
Kali Speta, my friends. It’s been a long time since the diner has been open, but hey we are through the first month of the season and the Derby has a bunched up leaderboard. It seems like a good time for the Greek to rattle off the things that are on his mind, share some interesting links and more importantly say something stupid. Let’s get dinging.
Ding: I am kind of sad to see Jo-Jo the Idiot boy fall from the top of leaderboard. Probably because Tommy Boy is one of my favorite movies, and the scene where the Jo-Jo alter ego is introduced is a classic … and I pet it, I stroke it … you’re a naughty pet, your naughty!!! And then … sccrrunnch, sccrunnch … Oh, no, I KILLED IT. Oh screw it, let’s go to the tape.
Ding: Last time I checked David Wright is still to dead to me. Wait, hold on…yep, still dead to me.
Ding: Last season’s doormat the Komodos are back and apparently have learned about picking catchers in the Derby (rule #1 don’t pick catchers, they don’t get enough at bats). The Komodos are respectably in the middle of the pack and are almost closer to first (-15) than last place (+13).
Ding: On a brighter note, Soto had an outstanding bounce back with 2 Home Runs last night, 1 short of the magic 3 Home Run night that would have led to another feat feature for him. That would have been pretty incredible … Platinum Sombrero to 3 Home Run night in the course of a few days.
Ding: Super Rays fan David Chalk at Bugs and Cranks has been able to paste together two of man’s greatest vices, baseball and hookers. Too bad, no pictures.
I was kind of hoping that Geovany Soto would hit a Home Run last night and end up here to dispell any rumor that I am incapable of honoring a Cub (despite my World Series prediction).
Alas, it was not meant to be, so we turn our attention to a former 40+ Home Run hitter , Adrian Beltre.
If you just look at the final score of last night’s Mariners-Indians game (7-2), you might miss that it was tied going into the ninth 2-2.
Beltre untied it with a 3-run Home Run off of Rafael Betancourt. The Mariners added another 2 run after that for good measure, but that doesn’t take away from Adrian’s clutch performance.
Think of it this way, if they were in Seattle it was a walk off (there’s a movie quote in there somewhere, different locale - any guesses?).
I know it doesn’t take the sting of the bloated contract Beltre signed in 2005, but he actually having a excellent start to the year (.309 BA. .962 OPS) not quite his stats from his last year in LA (.334 BA, 1.017 OPS) but certainly more in line with what was expected from him when the Mariners signed him
Well, for one day anyway, Adrian Beltre you are king of the Home Run.
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.
Yesterday was a pretty cool day for Home Runs. We had 4 multi-homer games (Delgado, McLouth, Konerko and Phillips).
We had power hitting third baseman that were swapped for each other hit their first Home Runs for their new teams (Rolen and Glaus) - more than 25 games into the season.
We had a total of 22 Home Runs to choose from, and today’s winner is Melky Cabrera. His Home Run has the distinction of being the only run scored in the game between the Yankees and Indians. Run, Melky, Run.
Baseball fans of all allegiances flocked to Camden Yards on Wednesday hoping to see Manny Ramirez make history by hitting two home runs to reach the 500 home run milestone.
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