Willie Harris Has Career Night
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by Romiezzo
I know, these numbers will never be produced by Willie Harris again (probably), but outfielder Willie Harris of the Atlanta Braves had a career night tonight, helping them win against the St. Louis Cardinals 14-6. He became the second player in the history of the franchise to get six hits; the only other person to do that was Felix Millan on July 6, 1970. Not only was he 6-6, but he also stole a base, scored four out of the fourteen runs they had, (all until the fourth inning). On top of that, he made a tremendous diving catch in the ninth inning. Like Bobby Cox pointed out in his interview, it wasn't important since they had an eight run lead, but it added a feat that he achieved on a career night for Harris.
He had career highs that night with 6 hits and 6 RBIs. For his six hits, he singled in the first inning, singled in the second inning to bring in Scott Thorman for his first RBI, then he hit a triple in the third inning (his 2nd of the season) and brought in two more for a total of 3 RBIs. In the fourth inning, he triples, yet again, for his 3rd triple of the season, and the second on the night, bringing in 3 this time. After that, he singled in the sixth inning, and then again in the eighth.
"Fortunate, lucky," Harris said. "I like to say I was lucky today. [I'm] just thankful -- I'm thankful for this day. Days like this don't come around often. You just try to enjoy it, and tomorrow come back out and forget about what happened tonight. I was just having fun. It's been a long time since I had fun before I got here to Atlanta. I'm just having fun, trying to play the game the right way and playing hard all the time. Good things happen when you do that."
Willie Harris has been going down very slowly, but it seems like he's one of those hitters that are very underrated and you can get the most out of (surprisingly). He did pretty good as a leadoff man tonight, and he was definitely the key factor in helping the Braves beat the Cards today. I'm sure Willie Harris will remember this day for the rest of his life.
