Labor Day weekend notes
Craig Biggio was not hit by a pitch in last night's game, and he was forced out at second to end the game. He would have been the tying run in the 8-7 loss.
Tonight the Astros face Mets' starter John Maine. Maine has hit only 1 batter in his career and that was Jason Kendall of the A's, on August 28th last season. Biggio has been hit twice on September 2nd - in 1990 by John Smiley and in 1995 by Marc Valdes. Both were in the 4th inning, and both were at the Astrodome.
On Sunday, the the Mets will be sending Orlando Hernandez to the mound. He's never hit Craig Biggio with a pitch either, but he has hit 58 batters in his career and 8 this season. Biggio was hit a year ago on September 3rd by Chris Carpenter, and on September 3, 2003 by Kevin Brown.
Monday may be a holiday for the rest of the country, but Craig Biggio and the Astros still have to work. They'll travel to Philadelphia for an afternoon game with the Phillies and Brett Myers. Myers has hit 34 batters in 135 career games, but this season he's hit a career low 2 batters. Perhaps he'll be looking to make up for that when he faces the Astros.
Biggio hasn't been hit on September 4th since 1995 when Mark Portugal did it. He had never been hit on September 4th before that.
Portugal's plunk on September 4, 1995 was also Biggio's first HBP recorded on Labor Day. Only Joel Adamson his plunked Biggio on Labor Day since then, on September 1, 1997. Both Labor Day plunks were recorded in the 3rd inning, both games were at the Astrodome, and the visitors won both games.
Labels: Chris Carpenter, Kevin Brown, Labor Day, Mets
4 Comments:
I was at the game last night, and I have to report that, in one of Biggio's at-bats (the 3rd one, I think), he spent several minutes arguing with the umpire because he thought that he had been hit by a pitch. The ump evidently disagreed, and called the pitch a ball. Phil Garner had to intervene to prevent an ejection. Subsequently, Biggio struck out.
I was disappointed.
Actually, the ump said it was a foul (which the catcher caught), and he was called out on the very pitch that hit him. I haven't seen Biggio so pissed in a long time. He was screaming curses all the way back to the dugout. TV replays showed there was no way possible the ball hit his bat.
Earlier in the game, Delgado claimed he was hit by a pitch, and he didn't get the call. He made a big whiny deal about it, so that may of had something to do with Biggio getting the shaft.
Well, I guess the umpire blowing the call entirely isn't quite as bad as last years lost plunk episode when it clearly hit him, and the umpire knew it.
Hey pbr, I think I remember that call--the call wasn't that the ball did not hit him, but that a player has to make an appreciable attempt to get out of the way. The ump ruled that Bidge didn't even try to get out of the way, so no base (iirc). Dumb rule.
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