Friday, August 17, 2007

SAY IT AIN'T SO!! Or say it might be so!! I really don't know!! That's just kinda weird.

Well, Craig Biggio went 2-4 in last night's 6-2 loss to the Dodgers, but since he didn't get hit by a pitch, there is a much more important Biggio related story in the news today. It seems that Tigers closer Todd Jones has been throwing wild accusations around that Craig Biggio has used performance enhancing cabbage leaves.

Now, major league baseball does not, as far as I know, ban the use of cabbage - although the Korean major leagues do. This topic was brought up on this very site by official Plunk Biggio Senior Korean Correspondent Cletus J. "Bubba" Huckabee Jr. over two years ago. This is not a new idea in baseball, and Babe Ruth himself was said to have used the cabbage trick. But in this era of accusations, how can a pitcher like Todd Jones throw around such issues so lightly? Obviously I had to check out whether or not Jones had his facts right, and as it turns out, Biggio did have a game in Jones' rookie season at St. Louis in which he committed a ground ball error and left the game shortly after - July 18, 1993. But from this we can at least be sure that if Craig Biggio did in fact use a cabbage leaf that day, it certainly didn't help his performance. Also, he got hit by a pitch the day before.

Now the other interesting thing about this is that the week this issue came up in the news two years ago (and was discussed on this site), was also the week when Craig Biggio passed Don Baylor for the so called "modern" HBP record. So, if you believe in omens, it could be that when Cabbage Leafs are in the air, plunk records are about to fall.



The Astros are in San Diego tonight to play the Padres, and Jake Peavy. Peavy has plunked Biggio before on August 31, 2003, and he's hit 6 batters so far this season. Peavy is 26 years old, right-handed, and 6'1" - and if you've been reading the site this week, you know those figures fit closely to the profile of pitchers who have plunked Biggio in the past.



Scott Ruffcorn and Wayne Gomes both plunked Biggio on August 17, 1997 - that was the only time Biggio was plunked twice by the Phillies. Randy Wolf hit Biggio with a pitch on August 17, 2004 - that was the last time Biggio was plunked by the Phillies.

Ben Sheets plunked Biggio on August 17, 2006, and that was the last time the Brewers plunked Biggio, but they still have a few more chances.

Could today also be the day the Padres plunk Biggio one last time? Or maybe just one more time?

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