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2011 MLB Catch-All Thread


Balta1701

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This is a pretty cool story

 

The script was pure Disney, all except for the lack of a Diamondbacks' victory.

 

The scene: Chase Field on Wednesday night, a showdown between the surprising D-backs and defending World Series champion San Francisco Giants.

 

The central character: D-backs outfielder Willie Bloomquist, a day removed from miraculously walking away from a major traffic accident with only minor bumps and bruises.

 

The payoff: A night at the ballpark that 11-year old Abe Speck will never forget.

 

It was a twist on the Babe.

 

Speck called the shot.

 

Bloomquist hit it.

 

Bloomquist has 15 major league home runs in nine major league seasons, but none was more meaningful than the one he had in the third inning Wednesday in front of Abe, some family members and his friend Max Siegel.

 

Every home stand, Bloomquist invites a patient from Phoenix Children’s Hospital to attend a game. He gives his guests an inside look at the D-backs’ clubhouse and brings them onto the field for batting practice. Bloomquist signed a bat for Abe and Max and had other players sign, too.

 

Of course they talked baseball, and during the course of the day Speck asked Bloomquist where players point when they hit home runs. Bloomquist said he did not hit enough homers to have a routine down pat.

 

Abe, contacted Thursday, took it from here: “So I said, 'If you hit a home run today, will you point to me? I have a feeling you will hit one tonight.'

 

“He was really bombing them in batting practice.”

 

Sure enough, Bloomquist hit one in the first row of the left-field bleachers in the third inning to tie the game at one.

 

“As I was rounding the bases, I thought, 'No way this is happening,'” Bloomquist said.

 

“That’s the secret — I have to have him come out to more games, I guess.”

 

As Bloomquist touched the plate, he turned to Section 129 and pointed.

 

“The boys were going crazy, screaming and jumping up and down. His lucky patient. It was a magical moment,” said Abe’s mother, Lisa.

 

“He came home last night and said it was the best night of his life.”

 

Bloomquist established a foundation after signing as a free agent with the D-backs this winter. He played at Arizona State and has lived here for years, the place he calls home, and said he wants to become more active in the community.

 

“It’s my turn to give back,” he said.

 

Incidentally, the special moment for Abe came a day after Bloomquist’s car was totaled in a traffic accident when he was rear-ended. The force of the collision threw his head around, and he said the driver’s-side air bag “hit me like a Mike Tyson left hook.”

 

“I’m very fortunate in a lot of ways. To be playing the game was something that maybe I shouldn’t be. I’m just trying to be thankful for the opportunity to play and thankful that I’m here right now,” Bloomquist said.

 

“Having a guy like that out to the game certainly brightens my spirits. I enjoy it. It’s more for me than it is for them. It puts things in perspective.”

 

Speck, who is recovering from intestinal issues he has had since he was 2, is a big baseball fan and an All-Star in the Arcadia Little League. He will turn 12 in three weeks.

 

“It was like five birthday presents,” he said of his day at the park.

 

“Number one by a mile.”

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QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jun 17, 2011 -> 11:04 AM)
Wait just a minute...you mean a team boots a worthless, incompetent vet (Jack Wilson in this case) for a premium young talent that's done nothing but hit and hit and hit at AAA? Well I'll be god damned.

 

I see you've already picked him up in our saber league.

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QUOTE (chw42 @ Jun 17, 2011 -> 11:41 AM)
I see you've already picked him up in our saber league.

 

Yup. And that kinda backfired. In yahoo he's listed at a LF. I assumed it'd be the same for ESPN. But they rightfully have him as a 2B. I already have Weeks. So I have nowhere to play him. Maybe he (Ackley) rakes and I can do something with him or Butler.

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QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jun 17, 2011 -> 11:04 AM)
Wait just a minute...you mean a team boots a worthless, incompetent vet (Jack Wilson in this case) for a premium young talent that's done nothing but hit and hit and hit at AAA? Well I'll be god damned.

Further evidence that our organization has a low baseball I.Q.

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This analysis needs to be seen.

Major league owners in 2011 are paying a higher percentage of their total payroll to the top 25 players and receiving far less production. Even if you account for better seasons the rest of the way from the likes of Joe Mauer and Ichiro Suzuki and Torii Hunter and John Lackey, the 2011 group wouldn't come close to matching the 1985 group in total WAR.

 

What's amazing is to look at the 2011 list and realize how many of those guys were never superstar players: Vernon Wells? Carlos Lee? Torii Hunter? Michael Young? A.J. Burnett? Barry Zito? Please. Good players at one point, never superstars.

 

Another way to look at it: Of the top 25 position players in B-R's WAR in 2011, only ONE (Miguel Cabrera) is one of the top-25 highest-paid players. In 1985, nine of the top 25 position players were among the 25 highest-paid players.

The only player from the White Sox on their list is Jake Peavy.
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A Cardinals spokesman said a preliminary evaluation revealed Pujols sustained a sprain to his left wrist. He will receive further evaluation Monday, an off day for the Cardinals before they open a three-game series with the Philadelphia Phillies.

 

Wilson Betemit hit a chopper up the middle off starter Jamie Garcia. Second baseman Pete Kozma back-handed the ball and threw while in the air to first, pulling Pujols off the bag. As Pujols went to tag Betemit, he hit Pujols' glove hand -- his left -- and the Cards' three-time MVP grabbed his wrist and went down to the ground in pain.

 

Pujols walked into the dugout and down the tunnel with a trainer holding his arm.

 

Lance Berkman, who had been given the day off, replaced Pujols at first.

 

Pujols, hitting .279 this year, was 3 for 3 with a home run -- his 17th. The fifth-inning homer gave St. Louis a 3-2 lead.

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Charlie Morton went from 9 ERA crap pitcher to borderline all-star. How? Because he decided to pitch like Roy Halladay (literally).

 

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writ...morton.pirates/

 

I saw him pitch earlier this year and thought, "hey, this guy pitches a lot like Roy Halladay". I joked about it with a couple of my friends and said that he probably just decided to copy a better pitcher since he sucked so much. Turns out I was right. It sure is rare to see ML players imitating another pitcher's mechanics.

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QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 19, 2011 -> 08:19 PM)
Brian the Pujols stuff was what I was reading on twitter by some baseball people. Still a chance for tendon damage

 

Shame on them for reporting such speculation.

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QUOTE (chw42 @ Jun 19, 2011 -> 07:13 PM)
Charlie Morton went from 9 ERA crap pitcher to borderline all-star. How? Because he decided to pitch like Roy Halladay (literally).

 

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writ...morton.pirates/

 

I saw him pitch earlier this year and thought, "hey, this guy pitches a lot like Roy Halladay". I joked about it with a couple of my friends and said that he probably just decided to copy a better pitcher since he sucked so much. Turns out I was right. It sure is rare to see ML players imitating another pitcher's mechanics.

Joe Kerrigan really f***ed with Charlie. Kerrigan is as stubborn a man you'll ever meet, and it nearly ruined Morton. Good for him.

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QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jun 20, 2011 -> 01:17 PM)
He did say possible. I know fathom doesn't just throw junk out there out of nowhere. Maybe initially it looked really bad? How many times has Albert been on the DL?

 

I would guess twice. In 2006, he missed 15 games from June 3-22, I assume that's a DL stint. In 2008, he missed 13 games from June 10-26, and that's over 15 days as well. Every other season he played at least 154 games.

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QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jun 20, 2011 -> 11:32 AM)
I would guess twice. In 2006, he missed 15 games from June 3-22, I assume that's a DL stint. In 2008, he missed 13 games from June 10-26, and that's over 15 days as well. Every other season he played at least 154 games.

Over the past like 7 or 8 years he's like 4th in games played or something ridiculous like that.

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QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jun 20, 2011 -> 01:32 PM)
I would guess twice. In 2006, he missed 15 games from June 3-22, I assume that's a DL stint. In 2008, he missed 13 games from June 10-26, and that's over 15 days as well. Every other season he played at least 154 games.

 

Props to you for doing some research. Seems like Albert is in there pretty much every day to me.

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QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jun 20, 2011 -> 01:40 PM)
Props to you for doing some research. Seems like Albert is in there pretty much every day to me.

 

Even though he's constantly hurt. I seem to recall that he has needed like Tommy John surgery or something like that but played through it because the pain didn't bother him that badly. The dude is a monster. If there is somebody who can play through pain, it's him.

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