Posts belonging to Category Players

Bottom 2: Jorge Posada called out on strikes against Matt Moore

Bottom 4: struck out swinging against Moore

Bottom 6: singled to right against Dane De La Rosa

Bottom 7: struck out swinging against Alexander Torres

Bottom 8: struck out swinging against Jake McGee

Final Line: 1-for-5, 4 K

Notes: Posada collected his first golden sombrero of the year on Thursday night against the Rays.  It’s important to note that each of his strikeouts came against left-handers, as he was forced to hit from the right side – his single came against De La Rosa, a right-hander.  Appearing in only 110 games this season due to his deteriorated skillset behind the plate and the offseason acquisition of Russell Martin, Posada is currently sporting a career-low slash line of .238/.315/.398.  It’ll be interesting to see how much (or how little) playing time Posada receives this postseason.

Total 2011 Sombreros: 122

On Monday night, Mike Stanton belted not one, but two of his most impressive bombs of the 2011 season at home against Mike Minor and the Atlanta Braves.  While he hasn’t hit the 50 home runs that I had hoped for (he will next year), Stanton’s power has been every bit as advertised; of his 34 home runs, 26 have traveled over 400 feet.

According to ESPN Home Run Tracker (formerly Hit Tracker Online), Stanton has hit five balls over 450-feet, and 15 of his gargantuan blasts have been classified as “no-doubters.”  Thanks to MLB.com and their wise decision to allow the use of their videos, here are Stanton’s tape-measure shots from Monday night at Dolphins Stadium.

Perhaps it’s the astonishing lack of attendance and background noise, but the sound of Stanton striking the ball just sounds different than everyone else.

True Distance: 408 ft.

True Distance: 461 ft.

Top 3: Alex Liddi struck out swinging against Kevin Slowey

Top 6: struck out swinging against Slowey

Top 7: struck out swinging against Slowey

Top 9: called out on strikes against Scott Baker

Final Line: 0-for-4, 4 K

Notes: Really not too much to say about Liddi’s golden sombrero against Slowey and the Twins on Wednesday.  It’s the sort of thing that will happen when you are a free-swinging call-up…just ask Paul Goldschmidt.  For what it’s worth, the Italian-born third baseman has shown some pop: of his four hits in 24 at-bats, Liddi has doubled and jumped the yard twice.  This year at Triple-A, he dropped 30 bombs and drove in 104 runs while fanning 170 times (559 at-bats).

Total 2011 Sombreros: 121

Top 1: Bobby Abreu struck out swinging against Dustin McGowan

Top 3: struck out swinging against McGowan

Top 6: called out on strikes against Jesse Litsch

Top 7: called out on strikes against Luis Perez

Top 8: flew out to center against Carlos Villanueva

Final Line: 0-for-5, 4 K

Notes: Abreu notched his first golden sombrero of the season on Wednesday against the Blue Jays.  A week away from completing the worst season of his career, this will be the first time Abreu has finished with less than 150 games played (136), double-digit home runs (7), sub-.400 slugging (.360), sub-1.0 fWAR (0.2), and sub-.142 ISO since bursting onto the scene with the Phillies in 1998.

Total 2011 Sombreros: 120

Bottom 2: Jason Varitek walked against Chris Jakubauskas

Bottom 3: struck out swinging against Brad Berken

Bottom 4: struck out swinging against Berken

Bottom 6: struck out swinging against Jeremy Accardo

Bottom 7: struck out swinging against Brad Bergesen

Final Line: 0-for-4, BB, R, 4 K

Notes: In a game where the Red Sox scored 18 runs on 20 hits, Varitek was the only starter without a hit in Game 2 of the double-dip against the Orioles on Monday.  As a team, they struck out six times, and ‘Tek accounted for four of them. Although 39-year-old has appeared in only 67 games this season, he’s managed to drop 11 bombs while posting a .205 ISO – his career ISO is .179.

Total 2011 Sombreros: 119