Final two in Florida
Craig Biggio's attempts to find a 286th pitch to get hit by were once again foiled last night by the opposing pitching staff, who were too busy giving up 8 runs to the Astros batters. Biggio did collect his 3,022nd hit, and the Astros won 8-2, but those of us wishing to see the Craig Biggio reach 288 plunks, and the unification of the so called "modern" and all-time HBP records have to see it as another lost opportunity against a known plunker (Dontrelle Willis). To make matters a bit worse, Biggio will probably be on the bench for the final two games of the series, as has become the Astros custom. It seems they, and some fans, have already decided that the team would be better off seeing if they can get Chris Burke moving toward the all-time HBP record. But let's face it - Burke has shown signs of being a promising get-hitter, but his chances of approaching the record are astronomically low (no pun intended). Why not devote the remaining 53 games of the season to someone with the best chance anyone's had in 104 years to break this record? Burke will need to average 20 plunks a year from next season until he's 40 to break the record. I have nothing against Chris Burke, and it will be fun to see if he can make a run at this record a dozen or more years from now, but can't he just wait until next year and watch the master at work for two more months?
Tonight, Sergio Mitre is expected to pitch for the Marlins. He's hit 6 batters this year, and 19 in his career, but he never plunked Biggio. Jose Valverde is the only pitcher ever to plunk Biggio on August 4th - that was a 9th inning plunk in 2005.
Tomorrow, Scott Olsen will face the Astros. He's cut down his plunkings from 7 last year to only 1 this year in 21 starts, and he's never hit Craig Biggio with a pitch.
Biggio has also never been plunked on August 5th.
3 Comments:
I have commenced to torment myself with negative thoughts about our man “Target” and the cruel possibility that we done seed the end of his noble chase towards the record. The statistical opportunity has been gently moved a little farther away from him by reducing the number of appearances at the plate and thus the chance that a stray ball will graze his battered and bruised appendages. I wasn’t afeard so much until it dawned on me that August is on us. I kind of lost track of time on account of me being busy with my political campaign here in Chesterfield County, but that ain’t of too much concern when stacked against the magnitude of what is about to transpire (or more magnanimously, what might not transpire). It feels like we are fixin’ to witness a most frustrating conclusion to this superb, magnificent and quiet ascent towards immortality of a most painful sort. I started fussin’ with Mama due to the heightened tension and overall frustration in our trailer home because we is all pretty worked up in anticipation of the possibility that this might not transpire as we expected it to. The twins have ceased brushing their teeth or combing their hair until Target establishes the new record… and their halitosis is currently passing the marginally tolerable level and entering the industrial strength range. Junior has a habit of taking out a fire arm and going through a few boxes of ammunition when he is upset and I realized this Biggio conundrum was impacting his slow little head when he used up a box and a half of shells shootin’ varmints around our trailer house. (I reckon he shot up some family pets, birdbaths, and unoccupied vehicles too). Mama has commenced to eating. That’s how she deals with stress. She eats. Just today she put away three pounds of bacon. She tends to like bacon tartar when she’s a stressin’. She done consumed three whole pounds of raw bacon as she stood in the kitchen going about her womanly chores. I went out to the shed and tried my hand at devising a new ciphering’ method to see if I could help the situation, but so far I come up with nothin’. I am worried something fierce and feel that all might be for naught.
http://www.theonion.com/content/news/craig_biggio_blames_media_pressure
I'm sure you've seen this.
I, too, am in a bit of tizzy over the distressing possibility. But, I've resolved to be philosophical about it. After all, perhaps the Ghost of Hughie is smiling somewhere, serene in the security of his most notable career accomplishment (aside, perhaps, from his distinguished managerial career in which he led the Tigers to three straight Series, famously was pronounced the only man on earth able to get along with Ty Cobb, oh and also being one of the greatest players of his era both offensively and defensively with a .311 career batting average and a posthumous election to the Hall). Ya know, if you're gonna be second to somebody, he's a pretty good choice.
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