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.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rare Remnant of a Lost Ballpark

Image
When the subject of baseball in Brooklyn comes up, the discussion centers around Ebbets Field, the Flatbush venue most famously home to The Boys of Summer.  Those legendary 1940s and '50s teams that featured such historic and beloved players as Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider, Pee Wee Reese, Roy Campanella and Gil Hodges. Ebbets Field hosted its last major league game in 1957 and was torn down during the winter of 1960. But decades earlier, just before World War One, the Dodgers were based in the Park Slope area and played at Washington Park.  Once they moved out, the land was occupied by another stadium, which housed a different franchise.  The upstart Federal League, which played in the 1914 and '15 seasons, had a Brooklyn team called the TipTops.  Owned by a local baking magnate Robert Ward, whose company produced TipTop bread, the club took over the abandoned lot along 3rd Street and built a new brick and steel venue. The only no-hitter in the Federal League's two-year r
Read more

Another Yankee Trade

Image
Yankee fans: here's a last look at shortstop Trey Sweeney .  The 2021 first round draft choice was part of the three player trade with the Dodgers that brings reliever Victor Gonzalez and infield prospect Jorbit Vivas to New York. Now seeking to rebuild their pitching depth after dealing for Juan Soto and Alex Verdugo, the Yanks deemed Sweeney expendable.  While the Louisville native showed promising power in his three seasons with the organization -- he batted only .248 to go with his 36 career homers -- Brian Cashman has committed to Anthony Volpe and Oswald Peraza as his young middle infielders.  So Sweeney became a trade chip. ( My images of Trey Sweeney are from the Somerset/Binghamton AA games on July 15th and September 19th, 2023. )
Read more

Will He Wear Zero in the Bronx?

Image
The Yankees bolstered their starting rotation with Thursday's signing of Marcus Stroman .  The Long Island native, who spent 2019 and '21 with the Mets before moving onto the Cubs, brings a 77-76 career record to the Bronx, along with a recent loyalty to uniform number (?) zero.  If he requests that, he'd become the third Yank to wear it, following the path of Adam Ottavino and Domingo German.  Of course, neither of their Yankee tenures ended all that well -- Ottavino struggled badly in 2020, before reviving his career with the Red Sox and Mets; German's alcohol and domestic violence issues sabotaged such Yankee highlights as last year's perfect game. Can a number truly be lucky? You can understand kids in little league or high school ball wanting to wear 2 in honor of Derek Jeter or 7 for Mickey Mantle.  But is there an heroic ballplayer associated with 0?  The closest I recall comes from pro football, where the Oakland Raiders Hall of Fame center Jim Otto wore 00
Read more