Monday, June 23, 2008

Pitchers on Bad Teams Hitting Grand Slams Against Santana??? No. You Are NOT on LSD

So, if you take a close look at the box score and see Felix Hernandez' line you will note what looks to be a picket fence: 1 1 1 and then an ominous "4" at the far right.

How does something like this happen? Mariners have a bad enough record as it is, but Santana grooved on and Hernandez made him the bug while he became the windshield and chased 3 ducks off the sack.

Let's talk about irony here for a sec. The Seattle Mariners have been around since 1977 and Hernandez is the FIRST pitcher to clock an HR...This also comes on the 37th anniversary of Rick Wise pitching a no hitter AND hitting two home runs in the same game...and the LAST AL pitcher to hit a grand slam was Steve Dunning who accomplished the feat in 1971 against the A's on May 11, 1971 Box Score...Finally, in Jim Bouton's classic book, Ball Four, he talks about a pitcher that hit an inside the park grand slam home run (if I recall correctly). A reporter asked him after the game what his thoughts were and he said he didn't like it because (tongue in cheek), "it put pressure on all the rest of the pitchers on the team to hit inside the park grand slams." Oh, the pitcher in question who hit it? Mel Stottlemyre who was in the Seattle dugout tonight.

Message of Morals - Don't lose to the Mariners again

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