2010 Baseball Thread No. 2 (which was my Little League number!)

They were down 9-1 at one point. They were down 9-3 entering the bottom of the ninth.

I was at the game in 1998 when they scored six in the ninth against the Red Sox to erase a five-run deficit.

Glavine started that game and got rocked, and afterward a writer asks, "So you're sitting into the locker room saying, 'fuck,'"

Glavine says, "I don't talk like that."

 

Ball ticked off the thumb of Nix' glove. It would have hit the top of the wall anyway.

 

Yeah, you're right.

I was at a game in 1994, where the Braves trailed 8-1 headed into the ninth against the Phillies. They scored seven in the ninth, then won it in 15 when Deion Sanders scored from third on a bunt single by ...

wait for it ...

Mike Stanton.

 

Mike Stanton is now a high school baseball coach in New Jersey.

 

I remember listening to that game on the radio and staying up until it finished.

 

Part II of that story is that I also had tickets to the next day's game, which was a 1:05 p.m. start with Maddux pitching. We hadn't even gotten back to where we were staying til about 3 a.m. But we turned right back around and went back to the ballpark the next morning, and Maddux pitched a complete game in about an hour and 45 minutes.

On a totally unrelated note, Ozzie Guillen had this to say about Gordon Beckham changing his walk-up music (from The Outfield's "Your Love" to Metallica's "Seek and Destroy"), then going out and driving in three runs Thursday:

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=382412&src=162

Say what you want about Ozzie, but he's never boring.

 

What's the record for most 100-loss teams in one season? Right now that looks like a cinch to be broken.

 

Not sure, but in 1985, three teams lost at least 100 games: the Pirates (104 losses), Giants (100) and Indians (102), while the Rangers lost 99. Interestingly enough, shortstop Johnnie "Disaster" LeMaster played for the Pirates, Giants and Indians that season, so perhaps it was his fault.

Is it possible Johnnie LeMaster was the worst hitter in major-league history? He played in 1,039 games over 12 seasons, and had a career OPS of .566. He could run a little bit (94 career steals), but wasn't even really good at that (caught 51 times).

He was apparently very good defensively (career range factor/9 innings of 5.00, which is 11th all-time, at least since 1974, when complete play-by-play data was available for the first time). But it's not like he was Ozzie Smith or Mark Belanger or anything.

Maybe it's no coincidence that the Giants started getting better almost immediately after they dumped him. Or maybe it was because of Will Clark and Kevin Mitchell ...

One more thing ... LeMaster apparently knew how bad he was. He once took the field in 1979 wearing this jersey ...



So at least he had a sense of humor. He still sucked.

 

Thanks for the informative and entertaining response. (I'm tipping my cap to you.)

 

When LeMaster was on the Giants, he got pissed at the media and said he was not talking to the media anymore. Then he got hurt and wanted to sit in the press box.