Death threats, losing streaks and record breaking feats. It’s just another week in Major League baseball recorded here in a distinctly Braves influenced “Weekly†hit ground ball.
Dukes of Hazard – Just when you thought things were finally going well, it all came crashing down. Elijah Dukes spent his Minor League career proving that he was good enough to be a Major Leaguer on the field, yet also proving to be a whole heap of trouble off it. Coming into 2007, it seemed as though the Rays thought their only option was to promote him to the big leagues and hope that this provided the impetus for him to turn his life around. Sadly that doesn’t appear to have been the case. Dukes’ wife filed a restraining order against him this week after he reportedly threatened to kill her. While this is a very serious issue, I have to admit that his response to reporters who wanted to speak to him about it did make me laugh. Dukes didn’t have time to answer their questions, explaining: “I’ve got to go. I’ve got a video game to finish”! Nice to see he has got his priorities in order.
The Reds are feeling blue – Josh Hamilton has provided a great “feel-good†story (until he went on to the DL) and Ken Griffey Jr has been showing us that beautiful home run swing with increasing regularity. So there have been some bright spots in Cincinnati so far, but to say it has not been a good start to the season for the Reds would be an understatement. They have now lost nineteen of their last twenty-three games and, at 18-32, have the worst record in the Majors (yes, even worse than the Royals).
The Reds’ desperate state was graphically illustrated when their bullpen somehow managed to conceded eight runs in the tenth inning against the Pirates. It was commonly thought that the NL Central would be a weak division this season and that a team like the Reds might be able to put together a half-decent season to make the play-offs. It doesn’t look likely right now.
Losing in St Louis – While we’re on the subject of the weak NL Central, the reigning World Series champs are not exactly defending their title with honour (although some would say that this is fitting). They have problems all over the roster, but their starting pitching has been particularly poor. Anthony Reyes was the hero in Game One of last year’s Fall Classic. Baseball has a way of turning a hero to zero in a short period of time though. Reyes is currently 0-8 so far this season with an ERA of 6.08. His eighth loss came on Friday night and it tied him with the lead for most losses by a starter so far this season. That he tied his team mate Kip Wells for this dubious honour tells its own sad story for the Red Birds.
“It was twenty years ago today …†– If Reyes wants some advice about dealing with an extended period without a win, he would do well to call Jamie Moyer. On Friday night, Moyer picked up a win against the Braves to improve his season record to 5-3. What made the win special was that he hadn’t won a game against Atlanta for twenty years, when he was pitching for the Cubs in 1987 (Reyes was five years old at the time). In fairness to Moyer, he has spent virtually all of the period in between playing in the American League. That he has had such a long career despite not possessing great stuff is remarkable. Tim Hudson’s description of Moyer’s performance on MLB.com, “He’s still throwing that slop up there … but it’s tough to hit”, might not be particularly flattering, but it is pretty accurate.
“Where did you get that hat?” – The “golden sombrero†is one of the many idiosyncratic terms in baseball. For the uninitiated, a golden sombrero is referenced when a player strikes out four times in a game. Andruw Jones went one better last Sunday, whiffing five times to earn himself a platinum sombrero to go alongside the platinum contract he will receive when he’s a free agent at the end of this season.
A double ton – John Smoltz reached a milestone on Thursday by earning his two hundredth career win. He reached the figure after beating his good friend Tom Glavine and the Mets for the third time this season. Glavine himself is only five wins away from the three hundred win mark, so he will be hoping to reclaim the bragging rights in the near future. Of course, what sets Smoltz’s achievement apart is that he has also lodged over 150 saves during his stint as a closer. That’s an impressive record.
“You’re outta here!†– Smoltz had an action-packed week. He was thrown out of the game against the Phillies last night, despite not actually playing (he argued with a call by the first base umpire from the dugout). Still, Smoltz has learned from a master. Bobby Cox was thrown out of the game arguing the same play and this put him just one ejection behind the all-time record held by John McGraw. Cox has amassed 130 ejections during his career and considering he suffered the same fate on Friday, the odds are that the record will be equalled and passed before too long. Bobby is a great character as well as being a great manager, so I hope he continues to be ejected from games for many years to come.
