MLB Daily: Padres Bring Back the Brown; Joc Pederson Continues to Impress; 1981 Dodgers Sing 'We Are the Champions'
By Mike Cardillo
Welcome to MLB Daily where Throwback Thursday is always a state of mind …
#TBT Part I: The Padres wore their mid-80s brown uniforms yesterday in a loss to the Astros at Petco. San Diego came into the National League in 1969 — and by my pure guess — have used the most different uniform/logo variants in baseball over that time. The brown/orange pinstripe is a unique combo and could certainly be adopted in 2015 baseball — the brown/yellow McDonald’s inspired looks from the Garry Templeton-era Padres would look out of place, although an improvement on the bland navy and sand standard San Diego outfit of today.
Anyways Houston is 9-1 in its last 10, winners of six straight and scored three runs off Craig Kimbrel in a 1/3 of an inning in a non-save situation. Let’s enjoy Dallas Keuchel’s beard.
Keuchel is now 3-0 with a 0.87 ERA. He leads the Majors in ground ball outs with 66, nine better than Felix Hernandez.
Golf clap: During yesterday’s crowd-less White Sox-Orioles game Gary Throne did his best Jim Nantz during an Adam Jones at bat.
Quirks: Over six months and 162 games, baseball is fairly predictable as to trends and whatnot. Over the course of nine inning and 27 outs — anything can happen. Take Wednesday’s Tigers’ 10-7 win over the Twins. Sure it’s only one game, but if Detroit edges out Kansas City (or Chicago or Cleveland) in the AL Central by a small margin, this quirky game could stand out.
For one, rookie backup catcher James McCann hit his first big league homer via the inside-the-park variety. Inside the parkers are always fun, but multiply that by a couple billion when its a catcher and there is no serious misplay in the Target Field outfield contributing to it.
The strangest play in what was a really odd game was a misplayed pop-up off the bat of Yoenis Cespedes. You’ll have to watch it here, because I can’t embed it. Literally all four Twins infielders let it drop between them on the mound.
Nice grab: Mookie Betts robbed Devon Travis with an over-the-shoulder, twisting catch in the deepest part of Fenway Park in the Red Sox win over the Jays. Most important is a rare quality start turned out by the Boston staff, this time from Rick Porcello.
#TBT Part II: Here’s Steve Yeager, Jay Johnstone, Rick Monday, and Jerry Reuss singing ‘We Are the Champions’ to celebrate the Dodgers 1981 World Series.
No words.
Think Blue: Joc Pederson is providing another reason for lame East Coasters like myself to stay up to watch the Dodgers. The rookie homered to lead off last night’s win over the Giants and now has four on the season. At 6-foot-1, Pederson isn’t the most graceful centerfielder you’ll ever see, but he makes a lot of plays. He’s also got some patience at the plate with 17 walks already, helping him post an early .298/.461/.447 line.
This & That: Ryan Braun showed some signs of life for the first time in 2015 with a pair of homers vs. the Reds on Wednesday. … Ichiro homered for the Marlins vs. the Mets, matching his total from 2014 in 143 games with the Yankees. The Japanese legend is at 2,859 hits in American baseball. He’ll try to hang around long enough for 3,000 — but will any team want to sign him for 2016? … A-Rod went 0-for-6 in the Yankees extra-inning loss to the Rays, including four strikeouts. He’s still one homer away from catching Willie Mays going into this weekend’s series vs. the Red Sox. … All Star voting began yesterday and it’s all online this year. This isn’t that big of a deal, however I’ll miss the old paper ballots.
[yW]