Tagged: david ortiz
What’s A DH?/AL .OPS Teams
- What was a DH?
Originally, a DH was just an opportunity to put an extra hitter in the lineup, an attempt to pull the AL out of a era of great pitchers. The popular notion was that fans preferred high-scoring games over low scoring games, and that having higher-scoring games would entice more fans to attend games. In short, it was just another way to make money.
- What is a DH?
The DH spot is now a spot to stick overweight multimillionaires who have no idea how to play the field, (see Ortiz, David) . These players earn a comfy salary for tearing the cover off the ball every 2-3 innings, (or not tearing the cover off the ball, see Ortiz, David), while their teammates stand out in the field for 9 innings doing most of the work. The DH has done what is was supposed to have done!!! Now get rid of it!!!!!!
Crawling Back
A few days ago, I considered writing about how David Ortiz’s career was over because of his hitting troubles.
Guess not. With 3 homeruns in the past week, and pushing his BA above the Mendoza Line, Papi’s proving everyone wrong. Slowly but steadily, Ortiz is crawling back.
- Interleague Play Again
Some hitters and pitchers primed for big days today:
Alex Rodriguez- 10-16, 3 HR, 2.122 OPS against Livan Hernandez
Vladimir Guerrero-7-16, 3 HR, 1.533 OPS against Chad Gaudin
Paul Konerko-14-34, 2 HR, 1.105 OPS against Jeff Suppan
Ian Snell against Tigers
Vicente Padilla against Dodgers
Roy Halladay against Marlins
This Day In Baseball History
1907-The Yankees commit eleven errors and lose to the Tigers,14-6.
1939-In front of a record crowd of 23,864 fans at Ruppert Stadium, Lou Gehrig plays his last game as a Yankee during an exhibition game against the Kansas City Blues, their AA farm team. Playing only three innings and batting eighth, the’ Iron 71-Horse’ grounds out weakly to second base in his only at-bat.
1939-The Baseball Hall of Fame opens in Cooperstown, New York.
1940-In a trade which stuns the baseball world, the Dodgers obtain Ducky Medwick and pitcher Curt Davis from the Cardinals for outfielder Ernie Koy, pitcher Carl Doyle, two minor leaguers and $125,000; the deal signals the emergence of Brooklyn as a serious contender.
1941-The Braves break up the Waners’ brother act sending Lloyd to the Reds for pitcher Johnny Hutchings; ‘Big Poison’ Paul will stay in Boston.
1954-Braves’ hurler Jim Wilson pitches the season’s only no-hitter as he blanks the Phillies, 2-0.
1959-Despite giving up a hit in the sixth, Giant Mike McCormick was credited with a no-hitter when the game is rained out later in that same inning.
1967-In a 22-inning game which takes six hours, 38 minutes and ends at 2:43 in the morning, the Senators defeat the White Sox at R.F.K. Stadium, 6-5. The marathon causes the American League to adopt a curfew stating that no inning may begin after 1 00 a.m.
1970-Dock Ellis throws a 2-0 no-hitter against the Padres in San Diego during the first game of a twin bill. The former Pirates’ right-hander, later an adovocate of anti-drug programs claims he was under the influence of LSD while tossing the most memorable game in his career.
Dock Ellis died on December 19, 2008 R.I.P.
1971-Padre Clay Kirby one-hits the Giants; the no-hitter is spoiled by a Willie McCovey homer.
1981-Major League Baseball’s first strike which begins after the start of a season cancels thirteen regular-season games.
1983-Hall of Famers Charlie Gehringer and Hank Greenberg have their uniform numbers retired by Detroit in a ballpark ceremony. The digits 2 and 5, respectively, will join Al Kaline’s #6 (1980) as the only numbers retired by the Tigers.
1983-Before the game against the Giants, Dale Murphy visits with a six-year old in the stands who recently lost both arms and a leg due a power line accident and is asked by the girl’s nurse if he could hit a home run for the injured child. The outfielder modestly answers “Well, Okay”, and then proceeds to hit two homers in the 3-2 Braves victory at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.
1988-Mike Scott’s attempt for his second career no-hitter is spoiled with two outs in the ninth inning by a Braves infielder Ken Oberkfell’s line drive single down the right field line. The right-hander, who settles for a 5-0 one-hitter, tossed a no-no in 1986 which clinched the Nation League West division for the Astros.
1997-After 126 years of major league play, the first interleague games in history are played as the Giants defeat the Rangers, 4-3, at the Ballpark in Texas. Glenallen Hill becomes the National League’s first regular season designated hitter.
The Dan Haren Trade Revisited
Before I get to the main subject of today’s post, a few quick notes…
- Congratulations To Red Sox Pitcher Jon Lester For Taking A Perfect Game Into The 7th
Jon Lester is a success story to many. A miraculous recovery from cancer, pitching again, winning the last game of the 2007 World Series, and finally pitching a no-hitter in 2008. Lester’s story runs almost parallel with another player’s: Dave Dravecky. At the beginning off the 1988 season, Dravecky had a cancerous desmoid tumor removed from his pitching arm, along with half of the deltoid muscle, and freezing the humerus bone. On August 10, 1989, Dravecky made a remarkable return to the majors, pitching 8 innings, and giving up three runs. However tragedy struck in his next start, Dravecky’s humerus bone snapped while he was delivering a pitch, ending his career. Let’s hope that Lester’s career won’t mirror Dravecky’s that closely!
- Chad Tracy, Stephen Drew, Chris Young, and Eric Byrnes, You Should Be Ashamed
Diamondbacks pitcher Max Scherzer has a .667 OPS, horrible, right? What else would you expect from a pitcher? Four D-back starters, 1B Chad Tracy, SS Stephen Drew, CF Chris Young, and RF Eric Byrnes, have lower OPS’s than Scherzer! The D-backs offense should be ashamed.
es (257), Mets (286) and Cardinals (351) skipper becomes the first person in big league history to have to reached the milestone and also have at least 2,000 hits as a player.