MLB Daily: Bob Uecker Gets Trapped in Booth; Joc Pederson's Incredible Stat
By Mike Cardillo
Welcome to MLB Daily, a place where you’re only as good as your eighth-inning set-up guy …
Just a bit inside: Bob Uecker wound up trapped inside his broadcast booth at Miller Park Wednesday night after a door knob fell off. A ladder was summoned to help him get out. This might be hyperbole, but this will likely go down as the highlight of the Brewers’ 2015 season.
I tend to doubt the lovable loser persona Uecker carved out over the last five decades would be possible nowadays. Just for fun, how many times a day do you think someone shouts out “Just a bit outside” at Uecker everyday?
Bullpen blow-up: The Tigers were up 6-3 on the White Sox with two outs in the 8th at U.S. Cellular. Joba Chamberlain promptly gave up six straight hits, including a game-tying home run to Melky Cabrera (his first of the season) and then a game-winning hit to Avisail Garcia. Tigers rookie catcher James McCann also ran into an out at second in the ninth off for the second out of the inning and a run on third. At least Hawk Harrelson (and Butters) enjoyed it.
This is worth highlighting because it was only a matter of time before the sour Tigers bullpen imploded. This should be a recurring theme.
Three True Outcomes: Joc Pederson is putting together a fascinating season for stat folks to parse over. The last seven hits by the Dodgers rookie, as seen above, are home runs. In 104 plate appearances he has 34 strikeouts and 21 walks. As the season goes on Pederson vs. Kris Bryant for National League Rookie of the Year will gain steam.
Debut: Twins rookie Eddie Rosario homered in his first career at-bat last night off Scott Kamzir (on the first pitch he saw). The Twins won 13-0 and are over .500. As I’ve said before the Minnesota offense is surprisingly decent.
Fizzling: Mike Leake and Aroldis Chapman teamed up to shut out the Pirates last night at PNC. Sure it’s still early but the Pirates, losers of five straight, offense is off to a slow start. Pittsburgh is 29th in team OPS (.624) with Andrew McCutchen, et al, slow out of the gates. The Wild Card allows a lot of leeway but Pittsburgh already trails St. Louis by eight games in the division.
This & That: Bryce Harper hit three homers yesterday. Watch them all here. … The Red Sox waived Edward Mujica on Thursday morning. …. Texas swept Houston, putting a swift end to the Astros being the toast of baseball.
[Feed Your Lawn. Feed it.]