“We can all agree that the NL West race is over now that the Diamondbacks have acquired David Eckstein” proposes Bad Altitude’s Mark T.R. Donohue, calling the former Cards/Halos SS “the Ringo Starr of recent years in the MLB, and I mean that as no insult to either David or Mr. Starkey.”
Eckstein’s a fine role player, a small-ball wizard, and a way better shortstop than anyone with his arm strength ought to be. Ringo was a great drummer and by far the best actor among the Beatles. In both cases those skills have little to nothing to do with the massive successes the two had in their careers; they piggybacked on the skills of others. Nonetheless, don’t be surprised if the D-Backs now go on to win it all.
I’m not sure I can abide by Donohue damning Ringo with faint praise — some of us consider him to be our favorite Beatle purely on musical grounds. On the other hand, if anyone would like to call Joe McEwing the Bobby Blotzer of retired utility men, I’d not argue the claim.
What happens when a pair of Triple-A clubs far removed from the playoff race collide for a noon matinee in the final game of the season? A crisp, 95 minute, 1-0 victory for Albuquerque over Round Rock earlier today, with 27 year old Bob Keppel needing just 95 pitches to dispatch the opposition. This was the first complete game of the season for the former Mets prospect who’d allowed 5 earned runs or more in 7 of his 9 nine prior appearances. I’m not suggesting anything fishy was going on, but I do hope all players and staff made their respective flights home later today. Either that, or the 2:45pm screening of “Kung Fu Panda” at Round Rock’s $1.50 theatre.
That’s 36th overall pick, homeboy. And he’s 26 as of a couple months ago. This is me attempting to inflate the value of the Bob Keppel rookie card I wrote for the 2007 Topps 52 Rookies set. It would be, in economic terms, impossible to deflate that value, so I figure I’m bound to win.
Also: a late-career, Nelson Figueroa-style resurgence is far from out of the question for Bobby. Even though he doesn’t have N-Fig’s Brandeis diploma to fall back on.
My shoddy math and fact checking skills aside, I suppose I should’ve wondered why a 29 year old was drafted at all.
My apologies to Mr. Keppel. But I still think there’s something rotten in Round Rock. BESIDES Nolan Ryan’s Aged Beef.
How obnoxious would it be if Eckstein won 3 World Series titles on 3 different teams? You know some dot-connecting motherfucker (like Steve Phillips) will rush to claim that the 2002 Angels, the 2006 Cardinals and the 2008 Diamondbacks won mostly due to His Royal Scrappiness.