Wabberjocky wrote:
Not only did Mariano Rivera give up a game-losing three-run homer to the A's today, but gave it up to a player extremely unlikely to provide such heroics in utilityman Marco Scutaro.
In his seventh major-league season, Scutaro has 25 home runs. His career slugging percentage is .386, and the American League slugging percentage during Scutaro's career is .431.
When Russell Earl Dent hit his earth-shattering shot off Bob Stanley in the one-game 1978 playoff against the Red Sox, he had been in the majors for six seasons and hit 23 home runs in his career to that point.
In 1978, Dent slugged .317. The AL average that year was .381.
I hereby propose a constitutional amendment that forcibly renames Marco as "Bucky" Scutaro.
(Okay, I admit it. I just like piling on the Yankees when they're down.)
Ummm...ol' Russell Earl had a slightly bigger platform from which to launch his beatfied blast. And whereas one day Marco Scutaro is going to be able to tell his grandkids that he managed to hit a homer against the great Rivera, Mr. Dent takes no great relish in having hit his off the decidedly mediocre Mike Torrez. Russell Earl's shot helped deliver a division championship (Reggie Jackson's homer later in that game actually sealed the deal); Scutaro's dinger (literally) decided one April game.
That said, it was vexing. My thought as I watched Rivera do a reverse Carlton Fisk and then pump his arm dejectedly as he walked off the mound was, "Well, you don't see that too often."
Not sure where Newsday's staff gets six walkoffs for Rivera; the Times today and ESPN last night listed four walkoff home runs in Rivera's career, all since 2002. The Times cites the Elias Sports Bureau as its source, and the graphic is apparently not available at the Times' Web site: July 14, 2002, at Cleveland, a Bill Selby grand slam; Indians 10, Yankees 7; July 24, 2004, at Boston, a Bill Mueller two-run homer; Red Sox 11, Yankees 10; July 20, 2006, at Toronto, a Vernon Wells solo homer; Blue Jays 5, Yankees 4; and yesterday's debacle. I vividly remembered the Mueller shot, a blast to the right-field bleachers, Big Papi territory, but had forgotten about the Wells shot.
And, yes, Derek does have to start catching the ball, though to be fair, yesterday's error was a tough error. That ball almost hit him in the face.
Mike Francesa deservedly asked last night what would have happened to A-Rod in the New York press if he had made six errors and Jeter had made only one (A-Rod's total). The answer was that A-Rod would have already demanded a trade to the Cubs for the roasting he would have taken from fans and media.