Fungos and Trivia

Just wanted to post a few quick notes before I return to the travelogue.

First of all, trivia! Last time I posed the question about the player who has only worn uniforms with orange as a feature color. He has pitched for Detroit, Houston, New York Mets, and is currently starting for the Giants, but he hasn’t (yet) been an Oriole. The player is future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander.

Today’s question: On July 15 (7-15), there was a special presentation during the All Star Game to celebrate Hank Aaron’s 715th home run, which broke Babe Ruth’s career record for homers. You may remember that Dodger pitcher Al Downing served up the pitch to Aaron, but do you know who caught the home run ball?

Speaking of the All Star Game, I tuned in expecting the usual dull pitcher dominant performance, but was pleasantly surprised to see a very entertaining game which featured a little bit of everything. When the score was tied at the end of nine innings, they tried something new to break the tie. For lack of a better name, they called it a swing-off. At first I wasn’t sure about the idea, but I actually liked it. There’s no need to prolong an exhibition, and this little mini home run derby provided some additional excitement and a clear cut winner for the night.

I knew the National League would win when I heard that Kyle Schwarber was a participant. Seems like he almost always either walks, strikes out, or hits a home run. Since it was not possible to get a BB or a K, it was inevitable he would go deep three times. And he did, earning MVP honors for a game in which he neither wore a glove nor got a hit.

The most glaring omission on the All Star roster was Ranger starter Nathan Eovaldi. He has been outstanding this year - definitely among the best in the league. Since the first All Star game there have been 31 instances where a pitcher had an era of 1.65 or less at the break. Thirty of those players were on the All Star team. Eovaldi’s 1.61, along with his other stats were worthy of being named. He has a standard clause in his contract which gives him a $100,000 bonus if he is named as an all star. The Ranger organization did the right thing, and paid him the bonus anyway. Well deserved!

Texas has added first baseman Rowdy Tellez to their roster. He will be in the lineup tonight. It certainly seems appropriate for a Ranger player to be named Rowdy. They are missing the boat if they don’t play the theme from Rawhide for his walk up song. Rollin’ rollin’ rollin’!

That’s one man’s opinion - what’s yours?