I should be beaten and left for dead, since TOTALLY forgot about A-Rod, Jeter, and Garciaparra. At least Vizquel is still the best defensive catcher. I believe he is still perfect on the year, with no errors.
And yes, as much as I love the Yankees, I have to admit that Alex Rodriguez is the best shortstop in the game.
This year, certainly, you have to go with Vizquel for the glove.
Anybody else think A-Rod is filling out so much he may have to move to another position soon? He is the youngest of the 3 big AL SS. Third? Didn’t Schmidt play SS in the minors? 1B - like Banks? OF - a Molitor type? (yeah< iknow he wasn’t SS) (or reverse Russell)
Not only this year, but that’s only my very humble, Indians fan mentality speaking.
And DRY? Thanks. That was a nice thing to say. I really do feel outta my league (pun intended) in this thread though; I am surrounded by real experts. Perhaps I should go watch the end of the Indians game and gasp as Omar pirouettes around making unbelievable defensive plays.
You’re welcome, Frannie. And I meant what I said–you clearly picked out some good defensive statistics to support your position re Omar Vizquel.
Oh, and it’s no shame to be out of your league in this group of fans.
Russ Branyan on your team is an interesting player: All or nothing swinger–strikes out a ton, doesn’t hit for average, but walks some and has 13 homers in LESS THAN 100 AT BATS. He also has only 4 doubles, which is a very low number of doubles for a guy with 13 homers. He must be interesting to watch.
Oh geeeeeeez… I had to go back to those stat sites! Yep, in 99 at bats, he’s homered 13 times, doubled four times, walked 14 times, and struck out forty-one times!
In the last game I attended (July 5), he struck out once, walked once, hit two singles, and hit “only” one HR. My father’s comment on his singles: “What’s wrong with Branyan tonight? Singles?”
Tomorrow, I’ll be sitting in the bleachers once again. Hopefully, one of his HR balls will land in my lap (I certainly can’t imagine actually catching one).
I think that Branyan’s typical game might be something like 1-4 with a homer and 3 strikeouts.
I also wonder how many times he hits the ball on the ground relative to how many times he hits the ball in the air. I imagine that when he makes contact, he’s pretty much a flyball hitter.
Certainly Branyan’s not going to be able to keep up with his current home run pace–he’d break McGwire’s record if he did! However, the guy does have prodigious power–though, again, I can’t believe that he has only 4 doubles to 13 home runs. Any guy who can hit that many home runs should have more doubles than that. He must be pretty slow, but speed doesn’t matter if you hit the ball out.
Have a great time at the game, and good luck catching a ball! The Cleveland bleachers must be raining baseballs, what with Branyan, Thome, Manny Ramirez, Sexson, Robbie Alomar…