Thursday, April 20, 2006

Roundup

So Kaz Matsui once again pulled off his annual year opening don't suck for one at bat trick. It's pretty cool, and he's the only player in history to homer in his first at bat in each of his first three years. However, the good folks at Elias told the team at SNY that Ken Griffey, Jr. homered in his first AB three years in a row - '97,'98, and '99. Or, as Griffey likes to call those years, "The years I should have retired after."

Julio Franco became the oldest person in history to hit a homer. When this was reported it sounded accurate enough to me before the sentence was finished.

Derrek Lee is going to miss 2-3 months with a broken wrist after Rafael Furcal ran into him. The first time I watched the highlight it didn't look obvious how Lee had been injured. After watching a second time and seeing that Furcal probably bent Lee's wrist back on impact, well, ouch. Like that arm wrestling scene in The Fly, which is the only part of that movie I've seen but assured that I will never see any of the rest of it, or engage in arm wrestling again (this is probably for the best anyway). And I know it's Mets-centric of me, but I can't watch anything Vin Scully announces without waiting for the call to turn to, "behind the bag...gets by Buckner..."

So the clueless Reds are off to a nice 10-6 start, with Brandon Phillips driving in 6 runs today, 13 for the year. Phillips has struggled to get his once promising career off the ground, but it's still not too late for him. He's shown signs of life to open the year, and I'd like to see if the Reds do the smart thing by giving him the playing time. So far they've gotten him starts. I do know the temptation to get Scott Hatteberg and Tony Womack at bats, given the massive upside of both, but I think the Reds would be smart to play Aurilia at first and Phillips at 2nd. And, as I've said before, keep Freel in the OF and move Dunn to 1B when Griffey returns. But we might see flying cars before Griffey returns - which, as we all know, will come in 2015, along with hoverboards and clothing that dries itself.

Brandon Inge had a 15 pitch at bat after getting down 0-2 against Justin Dushscherer, which setup the Tigers' rally to come from behind and beat the A's. An at bat like that is totally lost on the non-fan or the casual fan, but I don't know a true baseball fan who doesn't love the drama and the battle in a long at bat. Kudos to you Brandon Inge. Kudos.

2 Comments:

Blogger The Fades said...

and that right there marks the only time brandon inge has received kudos in his life.

9:21 AM  
Blogger Danny said...

I brought matzah farfel and milk for lunch today. I haven't had chometz yet. The record is 22 days after Pesach set by Sholomo Pomerantz in 1897. The modern era record is 15 days dating back to the Holocaust. Too soon?

12:52 PM  

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