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Sunday, June 14, 2009

Houston Chronicle: Berkman,Tejada put milestones to good use

Not long after Miguel Tejada and Lance Berkman collected milestones to help reward Roy Oswalt’s perseverance, the Arizona Diamondbacks threatened to tarnish the Astros’ special performances Saturday night.

Arizona jumped on reliever Chris Sampson for three runs in the eighth inning at Chase Field, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the pair of three-run rallies the Astros had on a night Berkman collected his 300th home run and Tejada got his 2,000th career hit.

Although Oswalt pitched seven strong innings of one-run ball, the Astros needed five relievers over the final two innings to win 6-4 before a crowd of 29,206.

“It’s obviously a milestone homer, and I take pride in it for sure because there’s not a whole lot of switch-hitters that have gotten to that level,” Berkman said after becoming just the seventh switch-hitter in history to collect 300 home runs. “It’s not like 500 homers, but I’ll certainly take it.”

Baseball-Birthdays.com Posted: June 14, 2009 at 11:16 AM | 7 comment(s) Login to Bookmark
Tags: arizona, astros

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1. Tricky Dick Posted: June 14, 2009 at 05:06 PM (#3218828)

All time switch hitter HR leaders:

1- Mickey Mantle - 536
2- Eddie Murray - 504
3- Chipper Jones - 416
4- Chili Davis - 350
5- Reggie Smith - 314
6- Ruben Sierra - 306
7- Lance Berkman - 300

2. Vaux, A.B.D. Posted: June 14, 2009 at 05:20 PM (#3218858)

That's cool that both those things happened in the same game.

3. Bitter Calculus Instructor Posted: June 14, 2009 at 05:23 PM (#3218865)

What's even more cool is the D'backs falling another game farther back in the standings.

4. The Kids Are Enright (1k5v3L)

Posted: June 14, 2009 at 05:28 PM (#3218875)

You know what pissed me off about Jon Garland last night (besides the fact he sucks)?
The situation was 2 outs, Tejada on 2nd, 1b open, Berkman at the plate, 1-1 game.
Hinch goes to Garland and tells him to basically pitch around Berkman.
Garland, being the piece of crap he is, hangs a 1-0 slider.
And Big Puma crushes it to right field, 3-1 'Stros.
Garland is about as dumb as he is bad.

It doesn't help when he goes on the record saying this:

Garland has just 21 strikeouts in 56 1/3 innings, but he doesn't think missing bats is imperative to his success.

"No," he said. "That's what the public wants to see. Strikeouts are like home runs to me. Everybody wants to see them, but to me it doesn't matter. If you're getting outs, that's the name of the game."

Nuff said.

5. Jeff K. Posted: June 14, 2009 at 06:01 PM (#3218979)

If I were Lance Berkman and at all interested in the HOF, I'd be quietly trying to avoid any association of my name and Tejada's.

6. Petuniaviles Posted: June 14, 2009 at 06:10 PM (#3219029)

To be fair, I think Garland can be excused for thinking that, considering he's fashioned a very successful 10-year career with 4.7 K/9 and 1.56 K/BB. Both ratios are way down this season, yes, but what do you want him to say "I've always been alright without striking out too many guys, but I've known all along I was on thin ice and it could all come crashing down at any moment, and I think that time has probably come. Thanks for 7.25 Arizona!"

7. The Kids Are Enright (1k5v3L)

Posted: June 14, 2009 at 06:30 PM (#3219073)

Garland had this to day today:

One out later, Miguel Tejada ripped an RBI single for his 2,000th career hit. And with two outs and first base open, the Diamondbacks decided to pitch to slugger Lance Berkman. He responded with a two-run homer to right - the 300th homer of his career - on a hanging splitter.

"I felt comfortable going after him right there," Garland said. "I don't know what to say about it. S--t happens."

If by "S--t" you mean "G-----d", then you are right, Jon.
When you are Jon Garland, you have no business being comfortable going after Berkman.

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Sunday, June 14, 2009

Houston Chronicle: Berkman,Tejada put milestones to good use

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