If Your Birthday is February 13th

...you share it with Nate Eovaldi.  The Dodger farm system product has produced when he's healthy:  his 102 big league wins include a 14-3 season with the 2015 Yankees, 11-9 with the 2021 wild card Red Sox and 12-5 with the 2023 World Champion Rangers.  At age 36, he'll join fellow greybeard Jacob deGrom at the top of the Texas rotation this summer.
I first saw Eovaldi in spring training with the 2013 Marlins.  Now, if you judge by WAR, he's the post productive pitcher ever born on this date.
Gilberto Celestino spent a year and change (2021-'22) in the Twins outfield, but didn't hit enough to remain a regular.  The Dominican native has spent the past three years bouncing around the minors, including 2025 with the Mets Syracuse farm club.  After being overlooked despite hitting .272 for the Triple A Mets, he's moved on to Tijuana of the Mexican League for 2026.




 





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Wayback: 70 Years Ago Today

Image
September 2nd, 1955 :  Whitey Ford takes a no-hitter into the 7th inning, while Yogi Berra adds two hits and Mickey Mantle crushes a three-run homer as the Yankees beat the Washington Senators 4-2 . It's also a big day for Billy Martin .  Back from a year and an half of active duty in the Army, the shortstop goes 2-for-4 as the Yanks stay a half-game back of the league-leading White Sox. (They would regain 1st place on the 16th and go on to their 21st American League pennant.   Martin would hit .300 over the final 22 games.) The Monument Park plaques are from a 2021 visit to Yankee Stadium.  The image of Whitey and Yogi up top is from the 2012 Old Timers Day at the Stadium.
Read more

If Your Birthday is September 5th...

Image
...you celebrate it with  Bill Mazeroski , the first player to end a World Series with a walk-off home run. 65 years ago next month, leading off the last of the 9th in game seven against the Yankees, he crushed Ralph Terry's second pitch over the left field wall, giving Pittsburgh perhaps its greatest baseball moment. A gifted defensive player with more modest offensive skills, Maz remains one of the more controversial inductees of the Hall of Fame. A statue, depicting his joyful scamper around the bases following that 1960 home run, is one of several outside PNC Park in Pittsburgh. And below,  Pablo Lopez  , who earlier this season, added his name to the nearly 170 who have played for both the Yankees and Mets. The utilityman got into 24 games for Bronx Bombers -- highlighted by driving in the go-ahead run against the Royals on June  12th,  His Mets tenure was microscopic -- he pinch ran for JD Martinez (and scored a run) in the September 1st, 2024 game against...
Read more

Preventing History

Image
The stories I post are based on or connected to photos I've taken.  While watching the remarkable conclusion of Saturday night's Orioles game on TV, it struck me that I'd seen one of the key players on a recent trip to Baltimore -- and the other as a Mets minor leaguer a year ago: In the most dramatic bottom of the 9th I've seen all season , Yashinobu Yamamoto of the Dodgers was one out away from no-hitting the Orioles.  Two outs, no one on, LA up 3-0 -- standing on the verge of history.  And indeed we were... just not the way you'd expect. Down to their last out, Baltimore's rising star  Jackson Holliday  faced  Yamamoto.  He crushed the righty's 2-1 pitch and launched it into the right field seats, ending the no-hit bid and shutout -- but still leaving the O's down 3-1.   That was just the start of a remarkable comeback.   Next up, former Mets prospect  Jeremiah Jackson  (below) doubled to the wall in left -- followed by...
Read more