Birthday Boy

Hector Santiago was very impressive when I saw him against the Mets at Citi Field last May 7th. The New Jersey-born lefty went mano-to-mano that spring night with Mets ace Matt Harvey. Neither allowed a run -- Santiago threw seven shutout innings and struck out eight; Harvey went the first nine with 12k's. And neither was around at the end -- Mike Baxter drove home Ike Davis with a pinch hit single in the bottom of the 10th for a 1-0 New York victory.

When I noticed that Santiago was one of the pitchers the Angels picked up in that three-team trade that involved Mark Trumbo and Adam Eaton, I wasn't surprised. He seemed like the kind of pitcher the Angels needed to return to contender stats. Yet, despite dazzling everyone in Queens that night, Santiago compiled a 4-9 record. While striking out nearly a batter an inning (137 in 149); he also walked 72 -- way too high in a hitter-friendly league. I suppose that's proof you need more than one or a handful of dazzling games to be recognized as an ace-in-the-making. I believe the poster child for that was Bobo Holloman of the St. Louis Browns.

Elsewhere on our December 16th birthday list are a couple of notable Orioles names: the late pitcher Mike Flanagan and infielder-turned-broadcaster Billy Ripken.

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