MONDAY
Q. What relief pitcher could be mistaken
for an upper-case “F” as he leans in to get the sign from the catcher?
Hint: He led his league in saves his first four
full seasons in the majors.
Hint: He was an All-Star and top 10 in Cy Young
Award voting in each of those seasons and received MVP votes in 3 of the 4.
Hint: His favorite player was Bob Feller,
according to his web site.
- In seasons 2011-2014, he had 46, 42,50 &
47 saves respectively, leading both leagues in 2013.
- His major league career ERA is a microscopic
1.79.
- He loved Rapid Robert’s fastball. Feller died in December of Kimbrel’s MLB
debut year, 2010. Kimbrel’s web site here.
FCR - David Paulson,
Columbia, Maryland
No cigar: Al
Hrabosky, Bruce Sutter, Lee Smith, Trevor Hoffman, Stu Miller, Roy Face, Rich
Gossage
TUESDAY
Q. Who was the only college player on the
2008 US Olympic team?
Hint: He won the Golden Spikes Award and the Dick
Howser Trophy as the nation’s top amateur player.
Hint: In his second start for Syracuse, he pitched six no-hit innings
before exiting the game.
Hint: He holds the record
for most strikeouts in his first three major league starts.
Hint: With too much
fast food, he ballooned to 250 pounds as a junior in high school.
- Had 32 K in his 1st 3 career GS in 2010,
breaking J.R. Richard’s record of 29, set in 1971. Strasburg reached 50 K total in his first GS.
- He struggled as a pitcher at West Hills High School outside of San Diego. He ignored
conditioning and devoured tacos and French fries at Estrada's Taco Shop every day after
practice.
FCR - David Krassin, Los Angeles
No cigar: Chris Reitsma, Ben Sheets, Mike Trout
WEDNESDAY
Q. Who led Team USA for the 2007 Baseball
World Cup in OPS, beating out tourney MVP?
Hint: He has never suffered fewer than100
strikeouts in each of his full major league seasons. That streak will be broken this year.
Hint: His brother played in the majors. Another brother and his father both played
professional baseball.
Hint: His name is essentially a cheese and a 16th-century
Dutch philosopher/theologian.
- Asked his 2017 team, the Tampa Rays, for a
leave of absence for unspecified reasons in July. They do not expect him to return.
- Rasmus is the brother of pitchers Cory
Rasmus and Casey Rasmus, and the son of minor leaguer Tony Rasmus.
FCR - Steve Berman, Bergenfield, New Jersey
No cigar: Adam Laroche, Jayson Nix
MIDWEEK BONUS
Q. Who won the Babe Ruth Award the most
recent year the Royals went all the way?
Hint: His first major league team was only an
hour’s drive from his home town.
Hint: He was a journeyman starter until he became
a closer and his services are now highly sought in that role, this year earning
an 8-figure salary with his new team.
Hint: In his first full season as a reliever, he
had a stretch from 24-Jun to 16-Sep where he did not allow a single earned
run.
- 2015, when KCR won their most recent
WS championship. The award is given to the most outstanding player
in a particular year’s postseason, considering all levels of the play-offs.
- Grew up in Lake Wales, Florida and played his 1st
4 seasons for the Tampa Bay Rays, some 60 miles away.
- At the end of that scoreless run in 2014, his
ERA stood at 0.69. He ended the year at
1.00 w/109 K’s over 72.0 innings.
FCR - Madison
McEntire, Bryant, Arkansas
No cigar: Salvador Perez, Greg Holland, Jorge Soler
THURSDAY
Hint: An increase
of the quality of his new team has resulted in a considerable increase in his
performance on the mound. Maybe he was
too cavalier before?
Hint: When
thousands say his nickname, not everyone hears it as cheering.
Hint: He was
drafted as an outfielder.
Hint: In his only
All-Star appearance, he struck out a slugger he may well have to contend with
this fall.
- The Nats lost in their 1st
round (LDS) of the playoffs all 3 X they won the NL East. They clinched again last week.
- “Dooooooooooooo!”
FCR - John Burbridge,
Seven Valleys, Pennsylvania
No cigar: Yu Darvish, Johnny Cueto, Justin Verlander,
Max Scherzer, Archie Bradley, Jose Quintana
FRIDAY
Q. Whose walk-off 2-run homer in the bottom
of the 19th inning mercifully ended the longest-lasting game in
Oakland A’s history?
Hint: This personable journeyman has managed to
pack service to 7 different franchises during his 11 years in the majors.
Hint: For four consecutive seasons, he played for
a team that went to the playoffs, but never won a single series.
- The walk-off shot against Barry
Enright
on 29-Apr-2013 put an end to six
hours and 32 minutes of play. Moss had
already homered in the 6th.
- Postseason HR 2014 ALDS
FCR - Bob Flynn, Chandler, Arizona
No cigar: Eric Hinske, Reggie Sanders, Rajai Davis, Josh
Willingham, Rickey Henderson, Scott Hatteberg, Matt Stairs
END-OF-THE-WEEK BONUS
Q. Who was the first National League player
to collect two hits in one inning in his major league debut?
Hint: He was the first Atlanta Brave to go 4 for
4 with 4 extra-base hits in one game.
Hint: When called on to pitch in the majors, he
employed a pitch he called “LaLob”.
Hint: He and a switch-hitting predatory, feline
opponent were the first two players to hit grand slams in the same postseason
game.
- Entire MLB pitching career consisted of one
inning on 31-Jul-2015. He faced 3 batters, getting a pop fly, a ground
out & a swinging strikeout. Career
ERA will forever be 0.00.
- LaRoche and Lance Berkman each hit grand slams
in the 4th and final G of the 2005 NLDS, Series finale, won by HOU.
FCR - Mark Hayne, Dumfries, Virginia
No cigar: Andres Galarraga, Dusty Baker, Dave LaRoche,
Jeff Francoeur, Andruw Jones
SATURDAY
Q. What National League All-Star commutes
to work for home games on an electric scooter?
Hint: Despite missing 50% of his college games one
year due to an injury at mid-season, he was still named the conference player
of the year.
Hint: His teammates tease him because a slight
mispronunciation of his name produces a children’s comic super hero.
Hint: A spinal disorder that left him with no
flexibility in his thoracic spine goes part way to explaining his unorthodox
approach to most baseball fundamentals.
- Watch the scooter story here.
- Playing for the University
of Texas at Arlington in 2004, he also led the Southland Conference
with a .395 batting average
- “Hunter Pence” said quickly (or drunk) with a
verbal emphasis on his last name can sound like underpants, hence the reference
to “Captain
Underpants”.
- He received his diagnosis of Scheuermann’s
Disease only after signing a five-year $90,000,000 extension with SFG.
FCR - Eric Stone, Los Gatos, California
No
cigar:
WEEKEND BONUS
Q. What former Orioles is a prime candidate
for MVP this season?
Hint: His name describes one of the fielding
functions he does very, very well.
Hint: He was drafted by the Yankees and might
have won a ring had he not decided to return to school, taking some solace in having
already won an NCAA World Series Championship.
- Debuted with BAL and played
17 games for them in 2009-10.
- He turns double plays with the best.
- Drafted by NYY in 2005
in the 29th
round in 2005. College champs at Cal State Fullerton in 2004.
FCR - Mark Hayne, Dumfries, Virginia
No cigar: Aaron Judge, Jonathan Schoop, George Springer
SUNDAY SUNRISE SPECIAL
Q. Who is the only major league catcher to
lead his league in doubles in the last hundred years?
Hint: He was, in back-to-back seasons, traded at
the deadline to help his new team make the postseason.
Hint: It worked in both cases.
Hint: His once broke his throwing hand with a suitcase.
- 53 2b in 2015 for MIL to lead
NL. 46 were hit in games he caught, a
season high for all catchers.
- Traded from MIL to TEX 01-Aug-2016;
traded from TEX
to COL. Other players were involved in both trades.
- The 2016 Rangers won their division. The 2017 Rockies enjoyed postseason play.
- Suitcase injury
FCR - Rich Klein, Plano, Texas
No cigar: Mike Piazza, Yogi Berra, Pudge Rodriguez, Joe
Rudi
WEEKLY THEME – Select players
sporting red
beards in 2017. [Certainly
not an exclusive club, but it seems that these guys led with their chins this
year.]
*Not active in 2017.
First
Correct Respondent to Identify Theme – Nary a soul
Incorrect theme
guesses:
Sunday - Players
whose names are also verbs
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