Through May 11, 2006

 

Cincinnati activated CF Ken Griffey from the Disabled List on Thursday, where he’d been since April 12, and promptly inserted him into the lineup batting third.  Then after first seeing Bronson Arroyo’s 8 shutout innings go for naught in a 9^th inning blown save, and after watching Washington take a three run lead in the top of the 11^th,  Griffey put an emphatic stamp on his return with a three-run walk off blast. This was the 539^th home run of his Major League career.  Welcome back, Junior.

 

Going into play on Friday, the top hitter in all of Baseball over the previous 30 days is…Brad Ausmus?  The Astros backstop was hitting .389 in his last 25 games following play Thursday, albeit without a home run and with just 6 RBI.  Second behind Ausmus, and batting .382 in that same span, is Blue Jays OF Alex Rios.  Rios though also has 5 HR and 20 RBI in his last 24 games.

 

HR History Lesson Pt I - Babe Ruth hit his first big league home run while a member of the Red Sox on May 6, 1915 off of Jack Warhop of the Yankees (coincidentally Ruth also hit his first HR as a Yankee against the Red Sox).  Hank Aaron hit the first of his 755 off Vic Raschi of the Cardinals on April 23, 1954.  Raschi was also the same pitcher who gave up Aaron’s first Major League hit 8 days earlier.  Japanese legend Sadaharu Oh hit the first of his World Record 868 home runs on April 26, 1959 (pitcher unknown on this side of the pacific).

 

Trivia Question – Can you name the pitcher who served up Barry Bonds’ first Major League home run? (answer at the end)

 

As hot as the Cardinals Albert Pujols had been the last 30 days (14 HR), the Yanks’ Jason Giambi had been slightly hotter.  Before going 0 for 5 on Thursday, the “Giambino” had 12 jacks in 68 at bats during that time, averaging a home run once every 5.66 AB to one in every 6.64 AB for Pujols. 

 

Despite Andy Phillips’ struggles at the plate (4 for 29), Carlos Pena remains a ways away from the Bronx.  He is hitting just .203 with 1 HR in 59 AB at Columbus, though with 15 BB he does sport an OBP of .377.   

 

Free Swingers Redux – Braves OF Matt Diaz did not draw a walk in 5 plate appearances on Thursday, and now has the most AB in the Majors without a walk with 43.  Despite not drawing a walk however, Diaz did go 5 for 5 in the Braves win over the Marlins.

 

On the flip side, Barry Bonds has been walked 34 times, including 15 times intentionally.  Albert Pujols and Jim Thome are tied for the second most intentional free passes with 6 each while none of Giambi’s co-Major League leading 36 walks have been issued intentionally.  Bobby Abreu, co-leading with Giambi, has been intentionally walked just once.

 

The Colorado Rockies continue to float above .500 thanks to their bullpen, which, led by David Cortes (3-0), sports a 9-3 record.  The starters (including Zach Day, 1-2 and now with Washington) are a combined 11-12.   

 

Cubs starting pitcher Carlos Zambrano got his first win of the year on Wednesday, leaving last years AL Cy Young award winner Bartolo Colon (0-2 and currently on the DL) as the most notable starter without a win to date.  Josh Towers of Toronto leads all starters in futility, going 0-7 in seven starts (10.09 ERA) this season.  His next (and possibly last) start is Sunday in Tampa.

 

Cleveland reliever Brian Slocum has committed errors on each of his two fielding chances thus far this season. 

 

The Longest Streaks Pt I – The league’s longest winning and losing streaks came to an end on Thursday afternoon as the Astros (losers of 6 in a row) defeated the Dodgers( who had won their previous five) by a score of 4-2. 

 

The Longest Streaks Pt II - The longest winning streak in the Majors now belongs to none other than the Kansas City Royals!  KC finished sweeping the Indians on Wednesday to run their league best win streak to 3 games and stick the Indians with the longest losing streak, also at 3 games.  Both teams were idle on Thursday.

 

In Wednesday nights 1-0 loss to Tampa Bay, M’s pitcher Jaime Moyer balked home the games lone run.  The last time that the only run of the game had scored on a balk was June 8, 1998 when the Mets beat the Red Sox on a Tim Wakefield stutter. 

 

Streak Over – Hideki Matsui’s consecutive games played streak (518 Major League games, 1,768 combined with his Nippon Professional Baseball league total) came to an end on Thursday night, and the Yankee left fielder’s season may have also have come to an end with a broken wrist, as Matsui made a sliding attempt at a ball hit by Mark Loretta.  He will miss at least 3 months.  Cal Ripken played in 2,632 straight games to set the Major League record.

 

Could Dontrelle Willis be pulling a Randy Johnson circa 1998 in an attempt to facilitate a trade away from the hapless (and hopeless?) 8-23 Marlins?  After 5 solid starts to begin the season and just 1 win to show for it, Willis got hit hard in his third consecutive start while losing his fourth straight decision.  Willis gave up 7 runs on 10 hits with 2 walks and no strikeouts in just 2.2 innings in the Marlins 9-1 loss to the Braves on Thursday night, and in his last three starts, Willis has gone 0-3 with a 12.88 ERA in 14.2 innings while giving up 22 runs (21 earned) on 30 hits with 4 walks and just 9 strikeouts. 

 

In the Dodgers’ loss, 2B Jeff Kent hit his third HR in as many days, showing signs he has finally broken out of his season-long slump, while Barry Bonds was homerless in the Giants 9-3 win over the Cubs on Thursday afternoon, leaving him 1 shy of the Babe.  The Giants’ arch rival Dodgers come to town Friday night for 3 games in what is sure to be a playoff-type atmosphere this weekend at AT&T Park (this despite the two teams being tied for last in the NL West). 

 

 

Trivia Answer - Craig McMurtry of the Braves in Atlanta on June 4, 1986 was the pitcher who gave up Bonds’ first HR. For his part, McMurtry claims he does not remember the blast saying, "Someone came up to me and told me it was to left-center field, to the opposite field. I said it must have been a nasty sinker down and away."

HR History Lesson Pt II - Ken Griffey Jr. hit the first of his 539 HR (so far) on April 10, 1989 off of Eric King of the White Sox.  Albert Pujols hit his first career home run off of Armando Reynoso of Arizona on April 6, 2001, just 11 days before Bonds would hit his 500^th career off Terry Adams and the Dodgers.  Pujols now has hit 219 total in his career.

 

And finally, in taking a page out of Bud Selig’s book and in helping the PAMF softball team to battle back from a 14-4 deficit, yours truly last night went 3 for 3 with the game tying RBI single with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 7^th (and final) inning of what turned out to be a 17-17 tie.  This came after popping out and leaving the tying run stranded in a similar situation in our first game of the season. 

 

Ah, sweet redemption!  In my first two organized league games of any kind in nearly 20 years, I am now 5 for 6 at the plate with a double and 2 RBI.  Hope this league doesn’t have a drug testing policy!  Ha ha, just kidding!  Have a great weekend and see you back on Monday with more news and notes from around Major League Baseball.