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| Wednesday, June 26 Wild Pitches: Strange streak-ender, Bro By Jayson Stark ESPN.com |
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Streak killer of the week It was four years ago. We were camped out in St. Louis, covering Mark McGwire's march to 70 home runs. Every night, actual baseball games were being played. But the 100 reporters on the McGwire Watch merely needed to wake up once an hour -- for each Big Mac at-bat. One friend of ours even filled out a scorecard every night with only one name on it. Because the games didn't matter, not to us. Only one thing mattered: Did the Mac Man go deep? And by Saturday night in Miami, that's what every Marlins game had turned into, apparently -- an excuse to get Luis Castillo to the plate. He'd hit in 35 games in a row. But in Game No. 36, he was 0-for-4. And his steak was clearly over -- until his team began climbing back out of a 4-1 hole in the bottom of the ninth. Then there they were in a 4-4 tie. Castillo was on deck. Tim Raines was at the plate. Andy Fox stood on third, representing the winning run. And what was left of a crowd of 14,713 was chanting: "Walk ... walk ... walk." Because they knew Castillo was fated to march up and extend the streak with a game-winning hit. Obviously. Except he wasn't. Tim Raines didn't walk. He hit a sacrifice fly to center. Fox tagged up and scored. Game over; that's good. Streak over; that's bad. "Deep down," Fox told Wild Pitches, "I knew I did a good thing. But then I got back to the clubhouse, and they asked, 'Did you even think about not scoring the run?' And I had to say, 'Well, no. I really didn't think about that.' "I wish I could have gone in slow motion to see the reaction," Fox said. "I'm sure I'd have seen a couple of fans saying, 'What the hell are you doing?'" Yeah, he had a lot of nerve, scoring the winning run like that, didn't he? It reminded us of poor Rick Manning, the man who drove in the winning run in the 1987 game that ended Paul Molitor's 39-game hitting streak -- with Molitor also on deck. Afterward, Manning said, "I doubt any other player was ever booed at home for getting the game-winning hit." Well, if Rick Manning has been looking for somebody to commiserate with all these years, he can give Andy Fox a call. "I've never had so much controversy in my whole career," Fox said, "over scoring the winning run."
Ex-streaker of the week A few more games, and it would have been fun to start comparing Castillo's streak to Pete Rose's 44-gamer in 1978. Their streaks were amazingly similar in many ways. But the men who authored them were about as different as Mike Tyson and Richard Simmons. During Rose's streak, he gave a press conference every night, telling America everything he knew about all the historic characters he kept passing, from Ty Cobb to Tommy Holmes. "Pete would have known where Tommy Holmes played Little League," our Wild Pitches witticist-at-large -- and former Marlins coach -- Rich Donnelly said. "Luis might think Tommy Holmes is one of the clubhouse kids." "Pete knew everything about everybody. He was like a history major. Luis probably doesn't know the teams in his division. But he knows to see the ball, hit the ball -- and run like hell." Yeah, if the nation's media was looking for a baseball history lesson, they would never have registered for Professor Castillo's class. He grew up in San Pedro de Macoris, not Cincinnati de Ohio. So he had good reason to not know Tommy Holmes from Larry Holmes. But then, the names of his own teammates have often eluded Luis Castillo, let alone the names of men who played 60 years ago. He calls those 24 guys he plays with by the same name, in fact -- "Bro." "It's not that he doesn't know people's names," Fox said, "he just doesn't use them. Some people say, 'Dude.' He says, 'Bro.' "I'm his double-play partner, and he always calls me, 'Bro.' But a few nights ago, he was trying to switch coverage (of second base), and he was saying, 'Hey, bro.' I didn't know he was talking to me. When he says, 'Bro,' he could be talking to the guy on second base. So he finally said, 'Hey Foxie.' So he didn't just know my name. He knew my nickname. "That's the first time in the three years I've played here he ever called me Foxie," Fox reported. "Then, a couple of days later, we were taking grounders during BP, and he wanted to turn some double plays, so he called me Andy. I did a double-take. He said, 'See, I know your first name, too.' I think that proves he knows all our names. He just doesn't think he needs to use them." So that's why we're engulfed with sadness that Castillo's streak ended when it did. It would have been worth seeing Castillo go another week -- just to see if he referred to Ty Cobb as "Bro."
Somersault of the week Friday night, though, we witnessed one of the most unique two-man pileups ever. Twins outfielder Dustan Mohr thought he was just heading for the bag on a two-out chopper to second base by A.J. Pierzynski. Then, however, the eyes in the back of his head thought they detected Phillies second baseman Marlon Anderson mysteriously trying to race him to the base instead of just throwing to first for the third out. So Mohr slid into second, did a little pop-up slide, figured he was OK -- and only then got slammed into by the late-arriving Anderson, who proceeded to do a very unintentional mid-air somersault. Once everyone had picked themselves up and reattached a few loose body parts, it was time for the big question: How should you score a play like this? A charge? A blocking foul? How about cross-checking? Should they have called it back for clipping? Or should the umps have just handed out a yellow card to Anderson? "Nah," Twins utility humorist Denny Hocking told Wild Pitches. "It was incidental contact. No harm. No foul. Both going for the ball. Play on." Right. So what was the call? How about ... eh ... a hit for Pierzynski, who had appeared to do nothing other than hit a routine ground ball to second? "That," said Pierzynski, gratefully, "is a knock." Yeah. In every sense of the word, too.
Double threat of the week Before the same Braves-Tigers game, he took batting practice with both teams. First, he took BP with the Braves. Then he got called over by Bobby Cox and John Schuerholz to be informed he'd just been traded -- across the field, to the Tigers. So he walked into the Tigers' clubhouse, wearing a Braves uniform, put on a new uniform, then went out and took BP again. With his new team. A little later, a few hours after taking batting practice in the same group as Kevin Millwood, he was sent up by the Tigers to pinch-hit against Millwood. He flied out to right. Then he returned to the dugout -- the Tigers' dugout, fortunately. "I'm quick," he told Booth Newspapers' Danny Knobler. "I catch on fast. I knew which dugout to go to."
Vote-catcher of the week
Huh? Yes, for reasons that never did emerge with any sanity, Rios hung in there among the leading vote-getters for close to a month -- until fading to 13th in the last two weeks. So we know now this game in Milwaukee will go on without him. And as well it should, we might add, considering he has zero home runs and nine RBI all season. But what the heck was up with those 195,000 votes he got, anyway? That's more than Shawn Green, Larry Walker, Gary Sheffield, Adam Dunn or his own teammate, Brian Giles. "Maybe," Rios told the Beaver County Times' John Perrotto, "it's like the Broward County election. Maybe the space to punch my name is lined up wrong and the votes that are going to me should be going to Barry or Sammy." Well, his name is right above Sosa's on the ballot. So, could be. We'll ask Katherine Harris and get back to you. "They said on ESPN that I was getting votes because I had the Latin heat," Rios said. "Maybe I'll have to start waxing my eyebrows."
Cheap save of the week But in fact, Texas reliever Randy Flores outcheaped him June 14, even though his save came in a game the Rangers won by only three runs (9-6, over the Astros). Here's Flores' entire role in this extravaganza: He entered the game with two outs in the ninth, Richard Hidalgo on first base and Orlando Merced at the plate. He threw one pitch -- and it wasn't even a strike. Catcher Pudge Rodriguez then picked Hidalgo off first -- to end the game. So Randy Flores had just earned his first career save ... without ever retiring a hitter -- or even throwing a single strike. Afterward, his teammates gave him the ball. And he said, "I should give it to Pudge." Good point. But the Fort Worth Star Telegram's T.R. Sullivan then pointed out that Flores had, in fact, contributed to this cause more than he'd been given credit for: Because the pitch was inside, it forced Merced to lurch backward. And that gave Rodriguez an opening to launch his throw to first base. "Yep," Flores chuckled. "That's just the way we choreographed it in spring training."
Box score lines of the week 4 IP, 2 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 6 BB, 6 K, 1 HR, 97 pitches to get 12 outs, and a third-inning sequence that went: walk-walk-walk-grand slam. That's eight earned runs on two hits. Tough to do. No wonder Wood heaved his glove into the stands on his way off the field. "Walks killed us," Wood said. "They killed me. They killed us." Palindrome division: Since 2002 is the Year of the Palindrome, we're going to start presenting the most inventive palindrome box-score lines. And our first winner is Oakland's Aaron Harang, for this June 15 clunker against the Giants: 4 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 4 BB, 4 K -- and his record at the end of the day was also a palindrome: 2 and 2. Grand prize winner: Freddie Garcia had allowed nine earned runs in his previous six starts as he took the mound to face Oakland on Monday night. Somehow, he then managed to give up more than that in the next three innings: 3 IP, 9 H, 10 R, 10 ER, 5 BB, 3 K. Garcia was the second opening-day starter to give up 10 runs in a game this month. Ryan Dempster allowed 10 to the Twins on June 7. (Anaheim's Scott Schoenweis and Pittsburgh's Todd Ritchie did it last year.) Asked what it felt like to watch all those A's rockets whoosh by him, Garcia quipped: "My neck hurts."
Gift certificate of the week "The draft is a scouting director's Christmas," Creech told the Beaver County Times' John Perrotto. "And having the No. 1 pick means you get to open your presents first. But Christmas is over -- and now the credit-card bill comes due."
Injury of the week Which brings back memories of the time then-Expos pitcher Dennis Martinez, who strained his shoulder carrying his suitcase into the hotel lobby. The official diagnosis at the time, according to Expos p.r.-comedian Richard Griffin: "Samsonitis."
Piazza-ism of the week So we won't hold his cheap home run Thursday versus the Twins against him. But Torii Hunter will. Hunter leaped at the fence to do something he does about every 20 minutes -- steal a home-run ball out of the sky. Except this time, Hunter's glove came down on top of the fence at Shea Stadium -- and the fence knocked the glove right off his hand. With the ball still inside. So even though the glove landed with the ball in it, it was ruled a home run for two reasons: 1) the glove wasn't attached to Hunter's hand at the time, and 2) it came down on the other side of the fence. "Tell Mike Piazza he owes me a Christmas present," Hunter said afterward. So the Newark Star Ledger's David Waldstein did just that. "It's on the way," Piazza said. "I'm going to send him a basket of fruit with some toys in it -- and a little eggnog."
Time piece of the week The bad news is: The winner gets an engaged watch. "It's a nice honor," Wilson told the Beaver County Times' John Perrotto. "And it will be nice to get the watch. But I never wear a watch. I just look at the window and see if it's daytime or nighttime." Remind us never to schedule an interview with Craig Wilson for 4 p.m. sharp.
Ace-beater of the week ... by beating Curt Schilling, who had lost one of his previous 27 starts (including the postseason). But that's not all. Schilling -- who had allowed 25 fewer hits than innings pitched at the time -- also gave up a hit to Maroth. Naturally, Maroth hadn't swung a bat against anybody, let alone a dominator like Schilling, since high school. That wasn't just a shock to us, to you and to all the boys in Vegas. It was a shock to Maroth himself. Asked by Booth Newspapers' Danny Knobler before the game what he thought his chances were hitting against Schilling, Maroth replied: "I'd have about as much chance with a broomstick (as a bat)." But you never know. He forgot his broomstick. He stroked a fourth-inning single with a bat. He scored a run. And he did all that before he'd even allowed a baserunner to the World Series champs. "After I scored that run," Maroth said, "I sat in the dugout and thought, 'I just got a hit off Schilling, I haven't given up a hit. How fun this is.'" Beats going 0-9 in the Southern League. That's for sure.
Bunch-and-Judy hitter of the week He got two (2) hits in the same game. No other player in the Mets lineup that night got two hits. Just Leiter, whose previous multi-hit game was Sept. 29, 1999 -- 142 at-bats ago. It was Leiter's fifth career multi-hit game. (And, as ESPN's Mark Simon reports, in between Leiter's multi-hit games, Ichiro Suzuki twice had five multi-hit games in a row.) But that's not all. Leiter's barrage also included a fake-bunt-then-hack-away double -- Leiter's first double since Aug. 12, 1999. (In between, Mike Hampton had 65 hits, eight homers and 11 extra-base hits.) So how, you ask, did that sweet-swinging Al Leiter explain this outburst? "My hits come in bunches," Leiter announced. Well, sure they do. And how, Leiter was asked, would he define "a bunch." "Two," he said, of course.
Run-producer of the week On June 16, in the first plate appearance of his major-league career, 30-year-old Orioles rookie Travis Driskill did the only logical thing -- he walked, against the Phillies' Terry Adams, who hadn't allowed a baserunner all day until then. But Driskill's offensive adventures were just beginning. He then took what his manager, Mike Hargrove, called "the biggest lead off first base I've ever seen." And it was a good thing, too -- because he then sprinted all the way around from first to score on a Brian Roberts double. Driskill was off with the crack of the bat and never stopped running. In fact, he never even stopped to look at his third-base coach, Tom Trebelhorn. Asked about that transgression, Driskill laughed: "I probably had my eyes closed." Not to suggest he wasn't moving quite as swiftly as Luis Castillo, but his assessment of how long it took him to get from third to the plate was "forever." Asked whether anyone tried to get Driskill some oxygen en route, Hargrove replied: "If he would have stopped to get some, I would have given it to him." Whatever, that outburst started what ultimately became a game-winning three-run rally. "I think I put myself in line for a pinch-running appearance," Driskill said. (Pause.) "Uh, I doubt it."
Ex-slumpee of the week So bad, as in 0-for-26, Marlins manager Jeff Torborg decided to bat him eighth in a game against the Royals. And how did that move work out? Like a stroke of genius, of course. Wilson promptly thumped his first two home runs since June 2. Asked afterward if that was a sign he was angry about batting eighth, Wilson gave the stand-up-guy quote of the year: "When you're 0-for-26," he said, "I'm surprised I wasn't batting 12th."
Loaded question of the week Asked his reaction to this shocking development, teammate Darin Erstad quipped: "I was surprised he didn't get booed for not hitting a home run."
Triple threat of the week With two outs in the fifth inning, Marlins pinch-hitter Pablo Ozuna got hit by a pitch from the Phillies' Vicente Padilla. So he got to go to first base, right? Well, almost. Then the umpires conferred and decided he'd swung at the pitch. So it was ruled strike three. And that appeared to end the inning. The Phillies left the field. The Marlins took the field. Reliever Hansel Izquierdo started warming up. Even the grounds crew started raking the infield. And then ... The umpires conferred again, then called the press box to ask what the count was. Turned out it was only 1 and 1. So the strike didn't end the inning. Whereupon the Marlins and the grounds crew left the field, the Phillies came back, Ozuna returned to the plate -- and beat out an infield hit. And then the inning ended. Whereupon everyone reversed roles -- except the grounds crew, which never did return. "I think they figured they did it once," Marlins utility humorist Andy Fox told Wild Pitches. "So they said, 'Forget it. We've been on this field enough, putting the tarp on and off. So we're not coming back.'"
Headliners of the week
Jupiter's Moon Europa And ...
Babe Ruth's Records Being Jayson Stark is a senior writer for ESPN.com. |
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