Tagged: Jorge Posada

The Big Puma Goes To The Big Apple

*Sorry I forgot to post this a few days ago.

After 1,648 hits, 326 home runs,
1,090 runs batted in, 1,592 games, and parts of twelve seasons, Lance “The Big
Puma” Berkman is leaving Houston to play with Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez,
Mariano Rivera and the rest of the New York Yankees in the Big Apple.

It’s a bittersweet day in Houston.
On one side, the team is starting over and getting younger. On the other side,
you are losing a franchise player who played his college career (with the Rice
Owls) and pro career in Houston. Berkman has given the city of Houston so many
memories, good ones and bad ones.

Personally, I have two distinct
memories about Lance Berkman. The first autographed baseball I ever got was
Lance Berkman’s on my ninth birthday. However, In spring training of 2008,
while I was trying to get autographs, he went off the field, in a golf cart,
into the clubhouse, (the Astros clubhouse at their spring training park,
Osceola County Stadium, is on the other side of the left field fence) totally
ignoring the fans.

That day, Miguel Tejada, Jose
Valverde, Hunter Pence, and Wesley Wright, among others came a signed for the
me and the rest of the fans. I understand that fans do get a little crazy
sometimes. Ex-Astro Roy Oswalt use to only sign to small groups of fans while
with the Astros but spring training is different. Which, I understand.

Anyway, it has been a gradual
decline in power since 2006 when “Fat Elvis” hit 45 home runs. Since then, he
has hit 34, 29, 25 and 13 (in 85 games this year). And with the exception of
2008 when he drove in 106 runs his RBI totals have gone done every year since
2006 when he had 136 of them.

Now, I expect his power numbers to
increase with the dimensions of Yankees stadium and not having to face Josh
Johnson, Ubaldo Jimenez, Roy Hallady, or Mat Latos (who has a 0.99 WHIP) along
with the rest of the National League pitchers. However, the one thing that
could make his disappointing season even more disappointing would be if he
can’t play ball in the spotlight of New York City.

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Nice Way To Start

The 2010 season has started! Adrian Beltre, Mike Cameron, and Marco Scutaro, all had nice games. Beltre has a sac fly and a total of two RBIs, Cameron had a walk, two hits, and a run, and Scutaro had two hits, a run, one RBI, and a walk. Youk had the first Red Sox hit of the decade with a double off the monster.

So here is a list of baseball “first of the decade.”
-First Play, Derek Jeter grounds out to shortstop Marco Scutaro.
-First Hit/Run/Home Run/RBI, Jorge Posada hit a home run off the Pesky Pole.
-First Reliever, Scott Schoeneweis
-First Sac Fly, Adrian Beltre
-First Single, Nick Swisher
-First Double, Kevin Youkilis
-First Strikeout, C.C. Sabathia strikes out Dustin Pedroia
-First Walk, Josh Beckett walks Nick Johnson
-First Double Play, Marco Scutaro, Dustin Pedroia, and Kevin Youkilis get Nick Johnson out at second and Alex Rodriguez at first.
-First Steal, Derek Jeter
-First Win, Boston Red Sox
-First Loss, New York Yankees
-First Winning Pitcher, Hideki Okajima
-First Loosing Pitcher, Chan Ho Park
-First Save, Jonathan Papelbon
Beckett though has not had a nice start to 2010. His command was terrible. Martinez is setting up low and he has thrown high and it has been very consistent. His velocity also has not been so good. He only threw about 95 MPH at his highest and not his regular velocity of about 98 MPH. Beckett through gave up five runs on eight hits in 4.2 innings. He struck out only one, Nick Johnson and walked three.
josh-beckett5.jpg
Youk is now 100 percent a beast if he was not earlier with a double, triple, two RBIs, and two runs. Pedroia was probably a little more clutch but for me Youk was player of the game.
Scott Schoeneweis and Hideki Okajima helped my fantasy team while Ramon Ramirez didn’t. Schoeneweis pitched an inning, not allowing a hit and striking out one. Okajima got the win, pitched one inning, and gave up a hit and one walk. However, Okajima allowed two of Ramon Ramirez’s runners to score.
Ramon Ramirez’s stats look like this: 0.1 innings pitched, two hits, two earned runs, and a walk. Not the best way to start 2010 but no need to worry because the Red Sox got the win.

Jacoby Ellsbury mishandled two balls now off the monster. I was not expecting that Ellsbury would play the balls off the Monster perfectly but I thought he could do better as Jacoby could win a gold glove.
J.D. Drew though had a very nice play on a ball that one hopped the wall. In most ball parks it would be a home run but Drew got it barehanded and held Robinson Cano to a single.
https://mlblogsbostonsports.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/jd20drew.jpg
Victor Martinez still is not a gold glove catcher and probably never will be. With Jeter on first and Brett Gardner on third Martinez threw to second then Gardner stole home.
Jacoby Ellsbury and Big Papi had an opening day to forget going a combined, zero for eight with a walk by Papi. I am not worried yet because it is only the first game. However, at this point I am more worried about Ellsbury because Papi is a second half hitter.
However, we couldn’t finish talking about the game without mentioning the little guy, Dustin Pedroia. Pedroia went two for four with a game tying home run off of Chan Ho Park in the seventh. Pedoria also had two runs, three RBIs,  a walk, and a K.
After Pedroia tied it Youk came home on a pass ball making the lead 8-7. Then in the bottom of the eighth Pedroia added an insurance run driving in Mike Cameron.
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Daniel Bard pitched a hitless eighth inning then Papelbon gave up a hit to Posada but got Granderson to ground out to end it as the Red Sox won nine to seven. So much for pitching and defense!
UPDATE: Now it is Tuesday and the game is just strarting
Photo Credits
1-http://thestartingfive.wordpress.com/2007/10/19/beckett-to-cleveland-not-yet/
2-http://werbiefitz.mlblogs.com/archives/2009/10/
3-http://oneseasontrader.com/features/dustin-pedroia-stock-trading/