Rhymes with Cant Miss!

C'mon... how can you not smile for Sir Lance (Homers) Alot!? I read that he was a bit nervous going back into Houston after all those years as an Astro. Maybe nervous for the Astro pitching staff since he has more HR's there than any other player in history.

Nervous.. Smervous.. Lance Berk'd 'em with 4 hits, a couple of Dingers, 5 RBIs and raised his batting avg. to a robust .410 to lead the Cards over the Astros. That first HR was a missile shot too.. Watch it Here!

HooRay for Nick Swisher! I love watching this guy, he's fun to watch no matter what is going on. Yesterday he finally got that monkey off his back by belting his very first HR of the year against Chicago. Thats the longest streak of Nick's career to start a season without a bomb. He did alright last night by wrapping out 3 Hits, scoring 3, knocking in 4 and slowly but surely edging his average upward. The Yanks romped on the ChiSox.

Worth mentioning is the little guy in Toronto, Corey Patterson. Ya it's true.. it wasn't much.. just a tiny little bunt. But, that's not the point. It's "when" the bunt came and the fact that the day before he showed he could go yard. This is called "situational hitting" and why a guy like Corey can make his mark in the Show. What did he do? Ya gotta click here to check it out.. it's kinda cool and brought a W to the jays.

What rhymes with "Can't Miss"? ... ah... Ben Zobrist! Are you kidding me? What a day! 8 RBIs in the first game of the doubleheader and 2 more in the Night Cap.. 10 Ribbies for the Utility man. How about this for a day's work: 7 hits, two HRs, three doubles and oh yea, those 10 Ribs. And just for the sake of conversation.. has anybody noticed how the AL East is getting back to normal. It's a funny game, dontcha think?

Extra Extras!

One of the cool things about baseball is there's no real "clock" on the game. It's nine innings. That could be a lightning quick 9... or it could drag out over 3hrs or so. But, no matter the length.. there is no shortage of drama. It's built in to the game. If there's no clear winner by the 8th inning or so, every runner becomes a high tension thriller. Will he reach scoring position? Who will knock him in? It's fun to watch.. obviously.

Well, yesterday was a bit more of the same.. and a little extra to boot. Extra innings galore. Now, the cool thing about Extras is the hero roles could come from anywhere in the lineup. Lots of heroes yesterday. Take Cliff Pennington who led off the A's 10th with a stinging triple and then buzzed home on an infield chopper to beat the Angels 2-1. That's one way to do it.

Or, you could go the more conventional route like the red hot Andre Ethier did for the Dodgers. After LA fell behind 4-0 early in the game Andre and the boys rallied to a 4-4 tie. Chances for both teams failed to end the game in 9, so.... extras = ) And, what does Andre do to cap off a day in which he set the record for most consecutive April games with a hit (24).. what else? Hit a game winning Home Run in the 10th inning. Cool stuff.

Then you have the guy who's been sitting on the bench watching the game all day. It gets late... manager's make their trickly little moves, next thing you know he's got a bat in his hands and asked to make a difference. That's what Daniel Murphy did for the Mets in Washington. He delivered in spades when he belted a game tying blast in the 8th inning. Then, just for the heck of it he wrapped out a two run double in the 9th inning to ice it.

I know, it's kind of anti-climactic when you're the visiting team and score that winner in the top half of the frame. No where near as cool as the Home team walk off winners. But, still... it's fun to watch. Drew Stubbs completes the streak of visiting teams that stole their games late as the Reds snuck past Milwaukee 7-6 on the strength of his 10th inning lead off bomb. And it was a rocket.. .watch it Here.

But, crazy enough.. my YH goes to an old timer who did something pretty miraculous on this date in 1982. Philadelphia's Pete Rose went 5 for 5 to tie Max Carey for the NL Record, doing it for the 9th time in his career! Rose led the Phils to a 6 run 9th inning and they stomped the Dodgers 9-3 in LA. Congrats to the Hit King.

Deja Vu all over again...

Ya really gotta wonder how these Managers keep committing the same Tommy LaSorda mistake. You know, the one guy that can beat you is coming to the plate..ala Jack Clark in a playoff tilt with the then LaSorda managed Dodgers. . First base is open.. walk the dude! No. ? Bang! Home Run.. you lose!

The Cardinals just did that a couple of days ago, didn't they? Was anybody paying attention? Now, it was the Braves turn. Don't get me wrong.. the player (whoever that may be)still has to get the hit. But, why would you let him? That's my point. Why would you let "that guy" have the chance?

Well, they did. And... "that guy" (Matt Kemp) did. And... the Dodgers won it in 12 innings of greatly entertaining baseball. But, I gotta give the YH to another fella in the throwback Brooklyn Bums uni - Mr. Casey Blake.

Now, Casey had himself a game. Blake had 3 hits and 2 of those were incredibly special and very impactful. First, he blasted a Solo Home Run in the 7th that snapped a 1-1 pitcher's duel. Then, with LA surprisingly down by a run in the bottom of the 9th.. Casey at the Bat smoked a game tying, two out single into left field to set the stage for the incredible heroics in the 12th inning.

Yea, it's a crazy game.. watch it Here!

Squeezin The Splendid Splinter

I wonder how many people realize it's been neary 3/4 of a century since Ted Williams broke into the Big Leagues. Yup. Believe it or not today marks the Anniversary in which one of the most heralded hitters in baseball played in his very first MLB game. Cool huh?

Oh, how did he do... you ask? He smacked the dog snot out of the ball! Ted cracked a 400 foot.... double.. in the cavernous Yankee Stadium. But, the Red Sox went on to lose to the New York Yankees, 2-0. Ted would go on to figure in a heckuva lot more of those Yankee/Red Sox tilts over the next 20+ years.

He'd also go on to belt another 500+ doubles in that time. Funny that a guy with this kind of POP was nick named after a Splinter. Yea, he was lanky.. but he could coil and uncoil with the best of them. Here's something I think is incredible about Ted - He led the AL in Slugging Percentage in '41 and '42 .. went off to war for 3 years, came right back and led the AL again for the next 4 years running. From MLB to the US Marines to MLB and never missed a beat. Crazy.

Ok, enough history... let's look at Yesterday's Hitter.

No, he's not a lanky dude that can belt the ball a hundred miles. Nope, not a war veteran either. He is a scrappy second baseman that never fails to surprise me. John McDonald isn't even the starting 2B for the Blue Jays, but that doesn't keep him from contributing when they need him.

They needed him on Tuesday when the Jays were in a dog fight against those pesky Yanks. McDonald came into the game as a runner for Aaron Hill only to be thrust into the spotlight in the bottom of the 9th inning. The Jays were rallying against the greatest closer of all-time and had runners on the corners and down by a run. What's a scrappy little dude do against Mo Rivera when the game is on the line? Squeeze 'em!

Check it out Here!