Baseball Etcetera...Hamilton Returns...Dunn, Renteria homer twice
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by user Niteowl049
Baseball Notebook
Standing Ovation For Josh Hamilton
The second day of the season had many stellar accomplishments like Adam Dunn and Edgar Renteria hitting two home runs with Renteria's turning out to be the game winner in the 10th inning in the Braves win over the Phillies. Ben Sheets pitched a complete game 2-hitter for the Brewers showing how well he can pitch when healthy and giving Brewers fans hope for a NL Central division contender this season. Felix Hernandez pitched the Mariners to a 4-0 win over the A's limiting the A's to 3 hits in 8 innings while striking out 12.
The highlight of the day for me though was when Josh Hamilton came to bat in the eighth inning and received a standing ovation from the Reds fans. We can only imagine what that meant to Hamilton who has struggled through years of drug abuse to get back where he was yesterday playing in a major league game.
It didn't matter that he hit a sinking liner that was caught by leftfielder Matt Murton because the fans cheered him again as he returned to the dugout. And the players on Reds bench showed their support for Hamilton in the dugout after his out congratulating him...not for making an out but for fighting a drug abuse problem that an average player would not been able to overcome and possibly reaching the potential the Devil Rays had expected from him when they signed him as No. 1 draft pick in 1999 amateur draft. Now eight years later he has played in his first major league game after not playing from 2003-2005 seasons and only playing in 15 games for the Hudson Valley Renegades. We will be watching how he does in baseball this season for the Reds and will be remembering all season the outpouring of adulation from the Reds fans he received yesterday. Hopefully Hamilton will be able to stay clean and I think he will because he won't want to let down the fans who believed in him yesterday and will be rooting for him as he embarks on his journey this season.
[http:// http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070403/COL03/704030323]
Yankees Honor Cory Lidle
Another special event on opening day and just as important as the Hamilton ovation was that Cory Lidle's widow and son threw first pitches at Yankee Stadium. It had to be very emotional time for Jason Giambi as he escorted Lidle's widow Melanie and 6 year old son Chris to the mound. Lidle who died last year when his plane crashed into a high rise building in New York City had went to school with Giambi and played last season on the Yankees with Giambi. Yesterday won't bring back Cory Lidle but for a few moments Melanie Lidle was able to feel he was there in spirit.
Baseball Daily Report
Devil Rays may be in for a long season if yesterday is an indication of how their bullpen will perform. Scott Kazmir left the game with a 5-3 lead but by time game was over they had lost to Yankees by a 9-5 score. Alex Rodriguez hit his first home run of the season later in the game after being booed for dropping a foul popup. In fairness the Yankees fans did cheer for Rodriguez when he batted after making the error....Miguel Cabrera and Hanley Ramirez had 7 hits in 10 times at bat while driving in 5 runs with Cabrera having 4 RBI's in Marlins win over the Nationals....Jose Contreras had his worst nightmare come true leaving the White Sox-Indians game after 1 inning giving up 7 earned runs and 7 hits leaving his opening game ERA at 63.00. White Sox have to get better pitching than this or they will be fighting Royals for 4th place in AL Central....Cubs didn't have much to show for their $300 million investment during the offseason as Aaron Harang defeated them 5-1 allowing no earned runs in 7 innings and Adam Dunn hit two opening day home runs. Willy Taveras struck out 4 times in his debut with the Rockies and Matt Holliday and Garrett Atkins each left 6 runners stranded in their loss to the Diamondbacks. Six Diamondbacks pitchers combined to strikeout 14 Rockies in their 8-6 win.
Gil Meche the $55 million pitcher signed by Royals in offseason pitched the Royals to a 7-1 win over the Red Sox. If the Red Sox are going to contend with Yankees this season they have to beat teams like the Royals....Johan Santana didn't pitch his best game yesterday leaving the game with a 6.00 ERA but still pitched well enough to defeat the Orioles 7-4....Roy Oswalt allowed only 1 run in 7 2/3 innings but his effort was wasted when Jason Bay hit a 2 run homer in the 10th to give the Pirates a 4-2 win over the Astros. Adam LaRoche didn't have the kind of opening day he expected as he struck out 4 times while going 0 for 5 in his first game in a Pirates uniform....John Lackey outpitched Kevin Millwood in the 4-1 win posted by the Angels. The question is how will the Angels fare in the coming days without Jered Weaver and Bartolo Colon in the rotation?
It was an exciting second day of the season with the emotional opening days for the Corey Lidle family and for Josh Hamilton who we will be pulling for all season as he tries to keep his life in order and to stay clean. Being tested three times a week he knows that he is only one positive test away from being out of baseball again.
Looking at Stats
Hanley Ramirez is the early leader in hits with 4....Edgar Renteria and Adam Dunn lead in homers with 2....Miguel Cabrera leads in RBI's with 4....Felix Hernandez with 12 and Brett Myers with 9 lead in strikeouts....Erik Bedard has the dubious distinction of leading in hits allowed with 10 in 4 2/3 innings.
Looking Ahead: Today's Games
Barry Bonds will start his quest to pass Hank Aaron today this afternoon in San Francisco. The game will also mark the debut of Barry Zito as a Giant. You have to wonder how deep the Twins starting rotation is when Boof Bonser is the starter in their second game of the season. Last year they had the combination of Johan Santana and Franicisco Liriano at the top of the rotation so it is a big dropdown from Liriano to Bonser as the No.2 starter....It is surprising that Joe Blanton is starting second game of season for A's with Rich Harden pitching tomorrow. I can understand the A's not pitching Harden in first game with Felix Hernandez starting for Mariners and who pitched an excellent game striking out 12 batters but see no reason for him not starting against Jarrod Washburn.
Rest of Story on Josh Hamilton
The following article tells of how far Josh Hamilton has come to play baseball again after being addicted to drugs. This article was written before he joined the Reds. After reading this you will understand if you didn't already why thousands of fans in Cincinnati gave him a standing ovation. This story is bigger than any baseball game. This is a story of a man returning to his family and regaining his dignity that had been lost to a life of looking for the next high instead of becoming the major league player he could be. He has lost three years of his baseball life because of the addiction to drugs but he is 25 and still has time to play major league baseball for many years.
[http:// http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/al/devilrays/2006-06-06-hamilton-cover_x.htm]
