So last night I got home around 9:30pm, made myself a drink, and sat down to watch some TV. Lo and behold, the Angels and Dodgers were both playing. Even more conveniently, they were on back to back channels. So I sat there flipping back and forth (I cared more about the Dodgers but the Angels were tied and therefore more exciting) and muttering to my dog when I decided to write some of these mutt-erings (Hiyo!) to share with all of you. Enjoy!
Who is Kevin Jepsen and why haven’t I heard of him?!
Jepsen got the ‘W’ last night but also impressed the hell out of me. How can someone who only throws 2 innings be so impressive? By bringing the effing heat! Jepsen was consistently at 97+ with his fastball and was breaking off breaking pitches in the 89/90 range. The slowest pitch I saw him throw was 84 mph. He is the anti Jamie Moyer.
Is Orlando Hudson a video game character?
To me, the greatest baseball videogame ever made was Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball for the SNES (not to be confused with Ken Griffey Jr’s Winning run, also for the SNES, which sucked). They had 4-5 different types of characters, each with a distinctive batting stance. Orlando’s lefty stance is exactly one of those stances. It legit freaked me out last night.
Oh great, another Romo?
Yeah, but you’ve never heard of this one. He pitched in relief for the Giants last night and I noticed two things that I like about him: 1) he obviously has a lucky pair of sleeves that he always wears. Protruding from his jersey last night were some mid-length black sleeves that were tattered and torn at the ends. In the day of pampered players, it’s nice to see someone keeping it real and wearing a shirt I would probably play softball in. And 2) he has a wicked curveball/slider that was always 77 mph. Every single time. The consistency was awe inspiring.
Is Vlad Guerrero now just a softball player?
Unfortunately, someone who used to be one of the best overall talents in baseball is now pretty much a beer leaguer. I mean, he can’t really play the field, his average is dipping, he’s only getting fatter, but he can still cream the ball out of the park. Take his second HR last night (#400 for his career) to right field; outside fastball, actually a very good pitch by Springer, and Vladdy gets that weight behind it and jacks it out of the park. Speaking of Vlad…
Rex Hudler is an idiot.
Right after Vladdy hit #400, Rex opined how that pretty much cemented him a spot on the Hall of Fame. Um, last time I checked there are a lot of dudes with 400 career HR that are nowhere near HOF players. 500 is usually referred to as the magic number. Now, I’m not saying that Vlad isn’t a hall of fame player, that’s a different debate. All I’m saying is that 400 career HR is not an auto-entry.
When did David Wells change his name to George Sherrill?
It’s because Sherrill is fat, you see, and so was Wells.
How friendly is the SF speed gun?
They had Broxton breaking 100 mph multiple times, getting as high as 102. Really? Methinks the gun may be exagerating a bit.