Daily Archives: August 6, 2008
Marlins SS Hanley Ramirez hasn’t hit for power against the Phillies, but he’s doing his job as a leadoff man. With 11 hits and seven walks, Ramirez has .409 OBP against Philadelphia, and has scored nine runs in 10 games.
The Marlins, on the other hand, have held Ryan Howard in check. With his 1–for-4 Tuesday night, Howard is hitting just .189 against Florida this season. He struck out more times than he’s reached on hits.
Gregor Blanco took over the leadoff roll for the Braves. His .374 OBA from the spot is sixth in the NL.
Tonight’s starter for the Nationals, Odalis Perez, has picked up his strikeouts from last season – he has already collected 10 more Ks in 31.1 fewer innings pitched.
For more real-time information, news, links and stats from around MLB, check out Baseball Musings.
“Right-hander Livan Hernandez is on the verge of joining the Rockies,” reports Ken Rosenthal on FoxSports.com.
According to the report, ‘The Rockies beat out another NL team with a better record.’
Yesterday, at ESPN.com, Buster Olney wrote 
that several teams had shown interest in Hernandez, including the Mets and Rockies.
Hernandez had been 10–8 in 23 starts for the Twins this season before being designated for assignment last week.
The Twins and Rockies now have 48 hours to work out a trade.
In last night’s win against the Padres, Fernando Tatis hit a solo home run and a three-run home run, which was followed by a huge ovation and a curtain call from the crowd.
Jerry Manuel, speaking about Tatis, while talking to reporters following last night’s game:
“Tatis has been awesome for us. Their guy kept us off the board, kept us from getting a hit, and then he comes up and hits a tying home run and then a three-run shot to put us ahead. He’s had an amazing run for us and he has been a very, very important part of us having the success that we’ve had. For him to step up in the manner that he has it would have been difficult to go out and get some one to do what he has done. You just hope that he continues to do that. He’s been tremendous for us.”
…i love the ‘Ta-Tis, Ta-Tis,’ cheer that the crowd has been rocking any time fernando does 
something special…also, his curtain call was hilarious, in which he arched back, raised both his hands to the sky, and paused for a moment like Leonardo DiCaprio on the front of the boat in Titanic…
…by the way, following his first home run, did you catch the fan in the Mets jersey doing a stomp dance in the first row behind the dugout…wow…that guy was pumped up…
In 61 games for the Mets this season, Tatis is hitting .316 with nine home runs and 33 RBI, while striking out less than once every four at bats.
For more on Tatis, check out the Daily News and the Bergen Record, and to watch Tatis speak with Kevin Burkhardt following last night’s game, courtesy of 
, click here.
Prior to yesterday’s game, following news that Billy Wagner had been placed on the 15–day disabled list, Jerry Manuel told reporters that he would likely use Aaron Heilman in save situations because he is able to get both right-handed and left-handed batters out.
In the ninth inning of last night’s game, and the Mets up by four runs, Heilman walked the first batter he faced on four pitches, then let up a single and a three-run home run.
…had Argenis Reyes been able to a) flip the end of the fielder’s choice in to a double play, and then b) had he been able to pull in a pop-up behind second base, technically, the inning may never have reached a point in which a home run was possible…
Nevertheless, Heilman was removed from the game in favor of Joe Smith and Scott Schoeneweis, who locked up the final two outs of the game to protect the win.
Manuel, on Heilman, speaking to reporters after the game:
“Aaron really should have been out of the inning, but it didn’t work out that way and he ended up giving up the three-run home run…I think, with a little help, he could have been out of that inning…If we had played a little defense, I think he could have been out of the game without a problem. The first base-on-ball bothers me, though, that probably bothered more than anything.”
When asked who his closer will be tomorrow, Manuel said, “I don’t know, I don’t know yet.”
…in short, it sounded like, because of the lead-off walk, not the home run, but the walk, manuel is saying he is not sure whether he can trust heilman in a ‘save situation,’ and instead may turn to some one else in that spot down the road, while using heilman earlier in the game…
For more on Heilman, check out Faith and Fear, and Hot Foot.
…personally, i would just throw Eddie Kunz in to the job…
…ideally, Duaner Sanchez is the closer, with kunz being his set-up man, and Joe Smith, Pedro Feliciano and Scott Schoeneweis acting as the bridge…but, duaner’s velocity is down, and he’s just not right…
…i understand that the conventional, industry-wide wisdom is to give kunz at least one or two innings in a less-pressurized moment so he can ‘get his feet wet.’…but, he’s a closer…that’s what he does…he knows what to expect…it’s what he has been groomed to do, at more or less every level of baseball that he has played…and so, here he is, let him be the closer…
…frankly, he can’t be any shakier than what i watched last night…
For more on Kunz, read Newsday and the New York Post.
To watch SNY.tv’s exclusive Post Game Extra, hosted by Gary Cohen and Ron Darling, including highlights and quotes from last night’s win against the Padres, click play:
