Friday Happy Hour at the Elysian Fields Bar & Grill
Welcome to the Elysian Fields Bar & Grill, where even die-hard baseball fans drink a toast to the 28th anniversary of the single greatest sports moment – bar none – in the history of the United States: USA 4, USSR 3.
* Bill James says that the Rangers first five starting pitchers of the year have made no more than 106 combined starts in a season since 2003. Last year, 24 of 30 teams had more than 106 starts from their first five starting pitchers.
* James also figured out that Michael Young hit 145 line drives last year, the most in the Majors. He also figured out that 99 went for hits, also the highest in the Majors. James and his minions have been recording hit-type in their data base for the past six years and suggest that Young's 128 line-drive hits in 2003 is the high mark during that time.
* Young on the on-going steroid scandal: "It's definitely not a good thing but baseball will survive. Hopefully fans will see that baseball is trying to get it straightened out. That's the important thing. A lot of attention has been drawn to it with the media coverage but the good thing is everybody is trying to go forward."
* Joaquin Benoit has held opponents to a .220 batting average combined over the past three seasons. Only two pitchers have done better in that stretch. The A.L. is hitting .212 off Scot Shields in that stretch and .217 off Johan Santana.
* You knew that Milton Bradley, Bernie Williams and Chipper Jones are the only three switch-hitters to hit a home run from both sides of the plate in a single post-season game.
* Frank Catalanotto's .321 batting average with runners in scoring position is ranked 13th among active players with a minimum of 600 at-bats.
* That's two straight seasons that Nelson Cruz has played on the Caribbean World Series champions.
* Understand the "inherited runners scored" statistic? That's the number of runners scored from those who were on base. Frank Francisco allowed just three of 44 inherited baserunners to score last year. That was just 6.8 percent, the lowest ratio in the Major Leagues over the past three years.
* Reliever Kazuo Fukumori was selected "Best Father in North East" Japan in a 2007 survey.
* Just for the heck of it: Mike Eruzione.
* All right, Tom Goodwin, then.
* C.J. Wilson on breakfast in Spring Training: "I think I'll consume at least 20 pounds of eggs and at least 60 apples before I leave Surprise."
* Almost unheard of for a first-year pitcher to throw a nine-inning complete game in the Rookie or short-season Class A leagues these days. Strict pitch-counts don't you know. Eddie Guardado did in his first professional season. He threw a no-hitter for Elizabethtown (N.C.) against Pulaski in the Class A Appalachia League. He walked two and struck out ten.
* Matt Harrison had the only complete game in the Appalachian League in 2004.
* By the way, Jason Jennings swept all awards in 2002. Yes he was the National League Rookie of the Year as voted by the Baseball Writers Association of America but also for Sports Illustrated, Baseball Digest, The Sporting News and the Players Choice Awards.
* Jennings .201 batting average is eight best among all active pitchers. Mike Hampton has the highest with a .245 batting average. Donne Wall and Greg Maddux are the two pitchers who have given up Jennings' two career home runs.
* Ron Washington on John Rheinecker's shoulder surgery: "He came into my office and tried to apologize. I told him he doesn't need to apologize. I told him just get the problem fixed and move on."
* The first official night game was May 24, 1935. But the first time to Major League teams played under the lights in an exhibition game was right here in Texas. It was on Feb. 21, 1931 at Houston's Buff Stadium between the White Sox and Giants. Actually the Federal League played a night game in 1914…at Wrigley Field. The Chicago Whales were the home team.
* Hall of Famer George Wright was only 34 when he signed with the Boston Reds in 1881. But his contract said he didn't have to make Western roadtrips but would only play games in New England. Back then Western trips meant Cleveland, Detroit and Chicago. Wright had business interests that needed watching. Of course he ended up playing just seven games.
"Frank Catalanotto's .321 batting average with runners in scoring position is ranked 13th among active players with a minimum of 600 at-bats."
Yet on this blog the Cat is one of the most "gotta trade him" names mentioned by those posting.
On the other hand Jason Boggs who has done nothing in particular is the most "put in the line up" name mentioned.
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Jason Boggs? Naw, just kidding - we know who you mean.
Cat may be a decent hitter, but #1, we've got an overabundance of Left-handed hitters who struggle against LHP. #2, he doesn't have much power. #3 he has no arm, and is approaching liability status in LF, a very important defensive position at the RBiA. Plus, he's really too old to be of use to a team that is "rebuilding". That's why you hear his name mentioned as the guy people would like to see canned. And really, he should be - he's just taking up precious roster spots, for younger talent.
Jason Botts and even Nelson Cruz deserve one last shot at the bigs - especially Botts. His minor league track record is still phenomenal - you have to let him have one last shot at putting up those numbers in the bigs, at the start of a season, not the end of one. Cruz is a great athelete, with good potential himself - even he should probably get one last shot. After all, what have we got to lose? We're not going anywhere anytime soon - so keeping guys like Catalanotto on board, who are older, not improving, and have limited ceilings just doesn't make sense.
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That's a lot of apples and eggs, but can C.J. eat 50 boiled eggs in a sitting? I say no man can eat 50 eggs, but I didn't think it was possible to drift in a rented Jetta either.
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