October 21, 2002
Two down, five to go?
First of all, I want to let everyone know that part 2 of my article, "Minnesota Twins: A Plan for the Future" is now up and available for you to read over at BaseballPrimer.com.
And if you haven't read part 1 yet, well, what the #%&! are you waiting for?!
Also, if you haven't checked out my World Series Preview and Prediction article yet, you can do so by clicking here.
Wow, that some game last night, huh?
Before I talk about anything else, I have to discuss what Mr. Bonds did in the 9th inning.
That home run was quite possibly the most titanic blast I have ever seen.
I saw the replay like 20 times and I still don't think I saw where it landed.
Tim Salmon pretty much had the same thoughts as I did when he saw what Bonds did.
Right after the homer, the camera flashed to Salmon on the top step of the dugout (he had been replaced in RF by Alex Ochoa) and Salmon (very clearly) said, "My god! That is the furthest ball I have even seen hit..."
I was going to do a "Top 10 ways you know the homer is an absolute BOMB!" list, but I could only think of like 2 or 3 ways.
So, here is the list anyway:
3) The camera tries to focus on the flight of the ball and you can see the moon in the middle of your TV screen.
2) The umpire throws the pitcher a new ball before the homer gets to the outfield.
And the #1 way you know the homer in an absolute BOMB! is...
1) It actually silences McCarver and Buck for more than 2 seconds.
For those of you who haven't been checking the "Bonds Playoff Tracker" on the left side of this page...
First of all, shame on you.
Secondly, Superman is currently sporting a .909 slugging % and a .528 on-base %.
And I am loving every minute of it.
A few other thoughts on the game...
Francisco Rodriguez continues to be magnificent, throwing 3 no-hit innings last night, with 4 strike outs and 0 walks.
His numbers for the post-season:
13 IP
4 Hits
19 K
4 BB
1.38 ERA
.095 Opponent Avg
5-0 Record
Un-freaking-believable.
Both starting pitchers were completely horrible last night, lasting a combined total of 3 2/3 innings and allowing 12 runs off of 14 hits, including 4 homers.
John Lackey came on in the 3rd inning to relieve Kevin Appier and ended up pitching 2 1/3 innings.
I am not sure exactly what this does to the Anaheim rotation the rest of the way.
Lackey was scheduled to start game 4, but I am not sure now.
I would think that he could still make the start because he only threw 32 pitches last night, which is probably sort of like throwing on the side between starts.
Chad Zerbe came on in relief of Russ Ortiz and did a very nice job, going 4 innings to save a complete bullpen drainage.
6 different San Francisco pitchers got into last night's game and not a single one of them was able to strike out an Anaheim hitter.
I have been talking in my previews of each Anaheim series about how Anaheim "doesn't strike out," but I didn't mean it 100% literally!
When you total 37 at bats as a team without striking out even a single time, you are going to get some hits and that is exactly what Anaheim did.
Speaking of Anaheim getting hits...
Kenny Lofton's defense in center field has gone from great to good to decent to laughable in about 3 seasons.
He never had much of a throwing arm to begin with and the great speed and range that he once had is now dimished quite a bit.
Plus, he seems to have a bit of a problem getting the ball from his glove to his hand with having it fly 3 feet away from him.
Kenny, if Dusty asks you if you want to DH in games 6 and/or 7, say yes this time and save yourself and your team some trouble.
How bad must a team's bench be when the designated hitter is hitting in the 9th spot in the lineup AND it is Shawon Dunston!?!
Paging Damon Minor...
I am not sure what Dusty was thinking leaving Minor off of the playoff roster for any of the rounds and especially in the World Series, when the AL team has homefield and you might need to use a DH 4 times.
Troy Glaus has been awesome this post-season (.349/.404/.837 in 43 ABs) and last night I was taking a look at his career stats and I found them pretty interesting.
Glaus' first full-season in the Majors was 1999.
He hit .240/.331/.450 with 29 homers in 551 at bats.
Okay, pretty good full-season debut for a 22-year old.
He has been a full-time 3B ever since and here are his numbers:
Year ABs .AVG .OBP .SLG HR BB
2000 563 .284 .404 .604 47 112
2001 588 .250 .367 .531 41 107
2002 569 .250 .352 .453 30 88
That is one weird career progression.
He had his best season in his 2nd year and has declined in both seasons since then.
Actually, if you start with 1999 as his first year (which it was) and just reverse everything after that, it looks like what I would consider a normal career progression.
Let's try it...
Year ABs .AVG .OBP .SLG HR BB
1999 551 .240 .331 .450 29 71
2002 569 .250 .352 .453 30 88
2001 588 .250 .367 .531 41 107
2000 563 .284 .404 .604 47 112
If Glaus had done that, instead of his actual downward progression, I think we would be talking about a future (or current) superstar.
In the "revised" version of his career, his batting average, on-base % and slugging % are on the rise throughout.
He ups his home run total every year and his plate discipline gets better and better.
My point? Nothing, as usual.
Although I guess my point could be that "timing is everything"?
That's all for now.
Next game is Tuesday night, in San Francisco.
Livan Hernandez vs. Ramon Ortiz.
The Giants need a win pretty badly in this game, otherwise they are looking at being down 3-1 after Kirk Rueter takes his beating in game 4 (and yes, that is an official Aaron's Baseball Blog Prediction).
