Article:Baseball Notebook: Catching Up on Lost Weekend

Catching Up on Lost Weekend

Having worked 32 hours in a 40 hour stretch on Saturday and Sunday am just recapping some of the highlights during that time.

The biggest news is that Manny Ramirez hit his 500th home run the day after his 36th birthday. I think it is safe to say that he will hit his 600th homer before he retires but then again it seemed like Gary Sheffield would hit his 500th this season but it is looking very unlikely it will happen this year and may never happen.

The most inspiring thing about the Ramirez home run is that Damon Woo who caught the historic homer presented the ball to Ramirez instead of trying to make money off of it. In a day and time when money is paramount in the thoughts of most of those recently catching historic home run balls Woo gave the ball to Ramirez with no strings attached and forfeited any chance of making money off the home run ball.

Jacoby Ellsbury has stolen an amazing 8 bases in his last 4 games and has been caught stealing only 3 times while stealing 27 bases this season....Jim Edmonds must have read what I wrote about him being near the end of his career last week. Since then he has been 5 for 7 and has driven in 5 runs in his last three games. On the first day of June he already has hit as many doubles as he hit in all of May and hit one more triple. I have to give Edmonds credit for proving me wrong for one weekend at least and I hope this is the beginning of a good season for him.

The Ken Griffey Jr. 600th home run watch has officially begun and he lost a chance at his 600th homer when he was in the on deck circle when Jay Bruce hit a walkoff homer on Saturday to end the Reds 8-7 win over the Braves.

The Reds made a great move by calling Bruce up when he was red hot down in the minors and his confidence at a high level helped him continue his torrid hitting at the major league level. In only 6 games Bruce has had 13 hits in 22 times at bat including 3 doubles and 2 homers. He has walked 6 times a big part of the reason he has an on base percentage of .690. He is slugging 1.000 and hitting for a .591 average and driven in 6 runs. To put his numbers in perspective Ryan Freel has batted 98 more times than Bruce but only has 4 more RBI's.

It is very safe to say that Bruce has been a huge upgrade over Corey Patterson with Bruce having 6 walks in 6 games while Patterson walked 8 times in 44 games.

Second Home Run Binge For Utley This Season

Chase Utley is in the middle of his second home run binge of the season. Earier this season from April 17th through April 23rd Utley hit 7 homers and drove in 12 runs in 7 games. Now he is currently in another hot streak that started May 25th and he has hit 6 homers and has driven in 17 runs in his last 7 games. In the two streaks combined he has hit 13 homers and driven in 29 runs in only 14 games.

Last season he hit 22 homers in 132 games and after 58 games in 2008 is halfway to having his fourth consecutive 100 RBI season with 50 already this season. Just two seasons ago in 2006 Utley struck out 132 times and walked 63 times but this season he has struck out 34 times and walked 27 times with the season being more than a third over and will be half over in 23 games.

Cody Ross Also on Home Run Binge

Cody Ross is another player on a home run binge. At the end of April he had no homers and 2 RBI's in 44 at bats. However in May he had 10 homers and 18 RBI's in 52 at bats. One negative for Ross is that he is only hitting .216 for the season but the Marlins will put up with that average if he continues to hit homers and drive in runs.

Chipper Showing Chinks in His Armor

Chipper Jones has been extremely consistent this season having hit .422 in April and .417 in May but is showing some chinks in his armor by having 2 hits in his last 12 at bats dropping his average from .420 to .405 since last Thursday. Since the 14th of May Jones only has hit one homer and drove in 3 runs.

Ozzie Guillen Could Make Changes in White Sox Lineup

It is easy to understand why Ozzie Guillen is upset with the lack of offense from the White Sox lately. In their last 7 losses the White Sox have scored only 7 runs and have been shut out in 3 of those losses.

Guillen says there will be some changes made in the lineup if they don't hit better in their game Tuesday against the Royals. The White Sox are 5th in the majors in homers with 64 but are 26th in team batting average with a .247 mark.

Five of their regulars are hitting .241 or less with Orlando Cabrera hitting .241, Jim Thome at .212, Paul Konerko at .205, Nick Swisher at .201 and Juan Uribe below the Uecker line at .198.

If Guillen makes changes I look for Swisher to be on the bench. Just two seasons ago he had 35 homers but this year only has 4 in 55 games and 189 at bats. It may be time to give Alexei Ramirez a shot at an everyday job in the outfield since he hit .295 in May after hitting .138 in April.

Josh Hamilton: Mr. Consistent

Josh Hamilton has hit well from the start of the season. He hit .333 in April and .322 in May and hit 6 homers and drove in 32 runs in April then hit 8 homers and drove in 29 in May. His .328 average is only two points below AL leader Hideki Matsui at .330 and that is all that is keeping him from leading the AL in all of the Triple Crown categories since he is leading in homers with 15 and RBI's with 63.

Hamilton has come a long way from being the No.1 draft pick of 1999 and has followed a rocky road to where he is today. He took a detour on the road to drug abuse and when given a chance by the Reds to play again last season he had a good if not spectacular season partially due to injuries but this season he has shown why he was the No.1 pick by the Rays nine years ago.

I am not sure how he is faring in the All Star voting for 2008 team but if he is not in the starting lineup a grave injustice will have been done. If someone had mentioned two years ago that Hamilton would be on the 2008 All Star team they would have been laughed out of town but now it is a very real possibility.

Adrian Gonzalez Also Took The Long Way to Stardom

Adrian Gonzalez was the No.1 pick in the 2000 amateur draft when he was drafted by the Florida Marlins. By 2004 he was with the Rangers but only played 59 games total over the 2004 and 2005 seasons.

His big break came on January 6, 2006 when he was traded with Termel Sledge and Chris Young to the Padres for Akinori Otsuka, Adam Eaton and minor leaguer Billy Killian. There is no doubt who got the best of that trade with Gonzalez and Young being an integral part in the Padres success last season and all three of the players the Padres traded to the Rangers no longer with the Rangers or never played for the Rangers.

In the 2006 season Gonzalez gave the first indication that he could help the Padres when he hit 24 homers and drove in 82 runs then in 2007 his power numbers improved to 30 homers and 100 RBI's and in slightly more than a third of the 2008 season he already has 15 homers and 50 RBI's. His slugging percentage of .500 in 2006 has improved to .502 in 2007 and .570 currently this season.