Home Run Derby

Somewhere, Mitch Williams is smiling. 

Nearly fifteen years after the Phillies lost to the Blue Jays in the 1993 World Series … The Phillies extract a little revenge.

Earlier this year, Jayson Werth earned a Home Run of the Day with an Inside-the-park job at Colorado … I guess that wasn’t enough for Werth, who felt he had to lay a whuppin on the Blue Jays … all by himself.

And only one of those longballs was a solo shot.  Werth hit a 3-run jack and a Grand Slam in the second and third innings off Jays’ starter David Purcey, who practically grooved two balls right in Werth’s wheelhouse. 

Here’s Video of the Grand Slam and the Solo shot …

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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).

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