Scroll down for another of Kevin “I do feel a good streak is coming” Long’s failures…
Melky’s turned the corner
On Tuesday, Melky Cabrera overtook Ryan Braun to gain third place in voting among outfielders for the NL All-Star team and then overtook Willie Mays to become the fastest San Francisco Giant to 100 hits in a season. He needed 291 at-bats. Mays needed 295 in 1958.
He went into his game last night against the Angels with 101 hits and an MLB-best 302 — 10 more than anyone else — since the beginning of last season. Cabrera was hitting .369 this year with a .945 OPS, moving Long to say, “He’s a hell of a player. He has totally gotten committed to his career. He doesn’t drink. He doesn’t take anything for granted any more. His personal trainer is with him all the time. When you go all in and have talent, this is what happens — and it is evident he has the talent.”
Long said it was clear Cabrera had talent before he was traded to Atlanta, but was “pudgy” and not as diligent about his career.
“If Melky committed himself to the Yankees as he does now, he would still be a Yankee,” he said. “And he would say the same thing. He made himself tradeable then.”
Repoz
Posted: June 21, 2012 at 09:15 AM |
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1. The Long Arm of Rudy Law Posted: June 21, 2012 at 09:56 AM (#4162637)That didn't seem right, but he meant 291 plate appearances. Bonds got to 100 walks in 255 PA in 2004.
Um, Mike? Pujols is having a bad year (108 OPS+ for a 1B, which is his high water mark for the season), the worst year of his career, and has been taking a beating from critics who say the contract won't be worth it.
Francesa also named someone else who is also having a bad year, but his name escapes me.
When a caller suggested that Granderson has more power right now, Francesa's response was that Granderson's home run power "is all because he is a LHB in Yankee stadium."
Eh? Even if true, so what? Do home runs not count in Yankee Stadium? Has Granderson not been hitting more of them than ARod?
Hopefully he would then concede that A-Rod's homer yesterday didn't really count since it looked like a jammed pop-up off the bat.
I seem to remember some Braves fans believed he already had.
Ray, you really need to turn off WFAN. It's not making you happy. :)
I may be off, but it certainly feels like the early to mid aughts Yankee farm system has produced a lot of ML value: Melky, Cano, Robertson, Kennedy, Jackson, and Wang.
I can't tell if it is hilarious or sad that "4 HRs in 4 & 1/3 IP" Hughes isn't on that list. I'd add Gardner to the list though. That's a pretty good list with some high level talent, although probably not as deep as at least a few others from that span.
Does anyone listen to WFAN because it makes them happy? I always assumed it was something fiery New Yorkers did to get their blood boiling...
Not really outing him, Melky was known for getting more than his fair share of partying in during his time with the Yanks.
I know, right? Repoz too. I don't understand the compulsion. It's so terrible. And it's 50% ads.
Yeah, I remember reading that one of the Yankees' motivations for trading Melky was that Robinson Cano was his primary wingman on their after-game drinking excursions and the team felt it was having a negative impact on Cano's effort.
Who was it around here who called him "a terrible player and a detestable fatass"?
Melky is a terrible player and a detestable fatass.
Have to admit, I'm shocked it's not Sam.
I've probably said this a thousand times already...and maybe I just saw them at a better point in their careers or whatever...but in Summer '07 the first 3 guys to the ballpark and working out every single day were A-Rod, Cano and Melky. Every single time. So, maybe they slacked off after that or maybe they weren't working as hard as they appeared to be (and Melky did end up getting visibly fat later on) but because of that I've always been hesitant to believe things were as bad as they were made out to be in the papers.
Also, that thread has about 25 different fat jokes. 4 of the first 5 comments include fat jokes. The 5th uses his nickname "Leche," which also sounds like a fat joke.
Because they were still up from partying the night before?
Leche just means milk.
I like to think that on that day, when the Melk Man's career hit rock bottom, it was reading that thread that jolted him out of complacency and restored hs work ethic.
Did his admission occur before or after his hip surgery?
Well, Steve Somers doesn't make me angry, just incredibly melancholy.
Let that be a lesson to all you others out there thinking about admitting steroid use!
Of course, if A-Rod had maintained his age 20-32 numbers from ages 33-36, then that would obviously be evidence of steroid use.
When you're 24, you can do that after getting bombed the night before.
Take that back!
During Melky's year in Atlanta, it really looked like he didn't care to be a major league player. It's one thing for a player to not always in The Best Shape of His Life™; it's another to show up thirty pounds overweight and then play defense like you down a fifth of vodka before every game. He was to enter the big money portion of his career; his year in Atlanta was his next to last before free agency, and if a bigger arbitration award and eventual bigger payday doesn't motivate a player to at least not pack on a ton of pounds, I didn't think Melky would ever find the motivation to be a good player. I was wrong, so good for Melky.
Us Atlanta fans still reserve the right to hate him, since in his one year there, he really did not give a quarter of a ####. And not in the 'he looks like he doesn't care, but he's still productive and plays well' sense, like J.D. Drew or some such. He couldn't bother to keep in shape, and that led to awful on-field performance.
I don't actually listen to WFAN; I listen to Francesa's show only, and on YES, not on the radio. I'll have it on in the background while I'm doing other things. And I don't sit through commercials; I fastforward through them on my DVR.
We're talking about the same shtick with the same altecockers calling in to reminisce about how grand baseball was when it wasn't about the money....
OTOH, this is kind of funny.
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