Cleveland Sports Forum

Cincinnati Reds Prospect Billy Hamilton is Making Quite an Impression

Is there a more obscure thing to be really, really good at then stealing bases in the minor leagues?

This is Billy Hamilton, and you’ve probably at least heard something about him by now. He’s got 141 steals this year while playing in the Reds’ minor league system, and he’s got some time to add to that total.

But he’s not that fast. Seriously. I mean, don’t get me wrong, he’s fast, but I doubt he’s faster than say…Jacoby Ellsbury? Or Michael Bourn? Yet somehow, this wily little 21-year-old just gets on base, takes second and then takes third. He’s just got perfect technique, it seems, or he’s just taking advantage of the fact that minor league pitchers have never heard of the slidestep.

To go with the 141 steals, he’s also been caught 31 times. That means he’s attempted 162 steals, and it’s mid-August. Who the hell gets on base enough times to attempt 162 steals? He’s hitting .315, so he’s getting on fairly regularly, but holy cow. Has he ever reached first base and not stolen? To have that many attempts, he would basically have to steal every time he reaches base. He might even have to steal first once and a while.
He’s chasing “Vince Coleman’s minor league steal record” of 145 steals, which is kind of like chasing the money title on the Nationwide Tour or the “most tacos eaten in a single sitting at Taco Bell” award. It’s not exactly…relevant. It reminds me of those people who get really, really into minor league pennant races without taking into account that the team they’re rooting for exists only to make the Major League team better – and that half the players are going to be taken away and brought up to the Major League team in September, just in time for that intense chase for the International League championship to really heat up.

Does he have to write a letter to the Coleman family if he breaks the record? Will the Coleman family be in the crowd for every one of Hamilton’s games going forward, just so they can see in person their beloved Vince’s record fall?

I hope Hamilton’s hair starts falling out like Roger Maris’s did when he got closer and closer to Babe Ruth’s record in 1961. I want the immense pressure of potentially passing Vince Coleman’s illustrious minor league mark just to take a toll on Hamilton, and Billy Crystal to make a movie called “Billy.”

“Billy is the story of a young man in the minor leagues who fought to overcome all odds…and himself. The most highly-anticipated minor league base stealing movie in decades, Pixar presents…Billy.”

So how does this translate, anyway? Can he steal 100 bags in the majors? Will he try to steal and continually get thrown out by 20 feet, driving him towards a lifetime of hardship in which he was never the same after his magical 2012 campaign that saw him become the darling of Bakersfield, California? I’m sure he’ll be a September call-up for Cincinnati, which has championship hopes, so we’ll get the answer to that question soon enough.

I just wish the guy who was stealing 140 bases was a little bit faster. He should be Usain Bolt fast, but it just seems like he’s Carl Crawford fast instead – and I mean Crawford now, not Crawford when he was stealing 50 bases for the Rays. Who knows though, maybe Hamilton will become Rickey Henderson 2.0, start stealing tons of bases, talking in the third person, leaning over the plate, playing the game until he’s 53, somehow having the most walks of all-time and just genuinely being a strange, strange man.

That’s something to aspire to.

Hamilton was 0-4 in the first game of a double header. No thefts in game 1.

Can't steal first.

Nope !

Well who cares, if he hits it over the wall? OOOOPS wait, sorry, wrong Hamilton.

seagull wrote:

Look at these latino cheerleaders, they are ho....... hmmmm ..... come to think of it, maybe I shouldn't be using the ignor feature....?

I assume you would like to see the latina cheerleaders.

But then again..........

ROFL!!!


I think you with your AZ connections Seagull, and I with my four years of Ohio taught Spanish from a native West Virginian, have a little advantage over a guy from Southern Ohio and Northern Montana when it comes to remembering the masculine and feminine forms of Spanish nouns....

Well maybe it could be "latino cheer" leaders.

Go ahead, laugh it up fellas. Hell, I can't even manage to master the english language let alone something else. I can order a burrito and a margarita at a mexican restaurant. That's all I need.

Hillbilly wrote:Go ahead, laugh it up fellas. Hell, I can't even manage to master the english language let alone something else. I can order a burrito and a margarita at a mexican restaurant. That's all I need.

They need not be latina (o), but they do need to be female!

Hillbilly wrote:Go ahead, laugh it up fellas. Hell, I can't even manage to master the english language let alone something else. I can order a burrito and a margarita at a mexican restaurant. That's all I need.

I usually get the vegetarian burrito. Not that I am a vegetarian, but it is normally a good base for lower calories and lower fat consumption.

For margaritas, I walk out the door without ordering and look for another place if I see they have a pre fab "margarita machine" ready to serve me.

If I went to Meigs County, I would know jack about the local agriculture.

Reds win again, on a walkoff sac fly. If you are looking for a team to follow in addition to the Tribe, I'd recommend the other Ohio team.

Melky Cabrera Launched Fake Website to Fight Positive Test

By Adry Torres

Published August 19, 2012

San Francisco Giant's All-Star outfielder Melky Cabrera could now be in hot water after the New York Daily News reported in its Sunday edition that Cabrera's camp created a bogus website to fight off the 50-game suspension that was handed to him by Major League Baseball on Wednesday.

According to the newspaper report, Cabrera and his camp hurriedly tried to explain why his testosterone level went up. The All-Star's associate, Juan Nuñez, termed in the paper by Cabrera's agents Seth and Sam Levinson as a “paid consultant”, allegedly spent $10,000 to set up of the outrageous site.

The Levinsons sent an email to the tabloid in which they claimed that Nuñez is not an “employee” of the agency that represents some of the games biggest stars.

Nuñez told the Daily News yesterday that he indeed was at fault for the failed plan and that the agents had nothing to do with the website.

The plan was to set up a path of “digital breadcrumbs” that would claim that Cabrera ordered the supplement that led him to fail the drug test. In doing so, Cabrera would have used a clause that is part the drug program in the collective bargaining agreement that exists between MLB and the player's union to show that while he did take the substance, he did it unknowingly.

According to an anonymous source, the Daily News also reported that special agent Jeff Novitzky with the Food and Drug Administration and other special investigators have been already studying the absurd plan that was foiled last month.

Novitzky is the same agent that spearheaded the BALCO case and led to the indictment of baseball's all-time home run leader Barry Bonds.

Cabrera, who will be a free agent at the end of the season, will miss 45 games and the suspension could extend itself onto the postseason if the Giants make it to the playoffs. The MVP of this season's All-Star game in Kansas City is leading the National League with 159 hits and is second for the league batting title crown behind Pittsburgh's Andrew McCutchen.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities ... DIQBGt5mK0

A nine-month old baby has witnessed two perfect games

One might consider a Chicago White Sox fan living in Seattle to have bad luck. It rains a lot, your team doesn't visit often...and so on.

Then Paul Dockal decided to bring his 9-month-old son, Bode, to Safeco Field for his first baseball game on April 21. Paul treated his son and his wife, Jennifer, to first-row seats behind the opposing dugout.

And that's when the good luck started for Paul. Scratch that. For Bode. The family witnessed Phil Humber's perfect game for the White Sox in Bode's first-ever baseball game. Talk about good luck.

"It's one of those things that, I don't think he could understand how important it was for me to be with him until he has a son of his own," Paul told MLB.com. "The first thing I said to my wife was, 'This is the best day I've ever had with my son.'"

So after lightning struck once, there's no way it could happen again, right?

Wrong.

Paul took Bode to another game when his uncle wanted to catch a game on Aug. 15. Felix Hernandez was pitching. And just like that, Hernandez threw a perfect game and Bode witnessed history AGAIN. You can't make these things up.

Just like that, Bode Dockal has already seen more in his nine months on earth than most die-hard baseball fans have in a lifetime.

There have been only 23 perfect games thrown in nearly a century and a half of pro baseball history, and Bode has seen two already. Too bad he won't remember either game.

Good luck charm?

Duh.

We've seen the corny movies about luck in sports. Angels in the Outfield. Rookie of the Year. Luck of the Irish (Disney Channel Original Movie, people). But for something like this to happen in real life? Crazy.

If you're a pitcher, wouldn't you want to invite this kid out to the game?

Although, considering the Tampa Bay Rays have witnessed three perfect games in four years, baby Bode still has some work to do in the witnessing-perfect-games department.

And now that Bode has become the "Perfect Game Baby," does this mean he'll be blessed with good luck for the rest of his life or will he be the kid who can't hit to save his life in tee-ball?

BayBears Top Wahoos 5-2

Blue Wahoos Take Bay-to-Bay Series Despite Loss

By Andrew Green / Pensacola Blue Wahoos08/19/2012 12:56 AM ET

Owings (2-3, 1 R, 1 BB) was the lone BayBears batter to record a multi-hit effort, while SS Billy Hamilton (3-4, 1 SB) collected three hits and LF Donald Lutz (2-4) tallied a pair of base knocks. Hamilton stole second in the first inning to increase his season total to 143, which places him two away from tying Vince Coleman's record and three from setting a new mark.

Roger Clemens to return with small-town Skeeters
By Jorge L. Ortiz, USA TODAY Updated 41m ago

The last time he attempted a pitching comeback, Roger Clemens was amply compensated monetarily but found little reward on the field.

Now he's seeking that satisfaction with little immediate financial incentive.

Clemens, 50, who last pitched in the majors with the New York Yankees in 2007, will return to the mound Saturday night when he starts for the Sugar Land (Texas) Skeeters of the independent Atlantic League against the Bridgeport Bluefish.

His agent, Randy Hendricks, confirmed the decision to USA TODAY Sports. Clemens has scheduled a news conference for this morning.

Clemens will be on the Hall of Fame ballot for the first time in December. But he could reset the clock on that vote if he pitches in the major leagues. There is a five-year eligibility waiting period after a player retires.

Former Houston Astros general manager Tal Smith, a consultant for the Skeeters, said Clemens looked impressive in a Monday workout and still yearns to pitch. The Astros also attended the workout, but owner Jim Crane told the Houston Chronicle they had no current plans to sign him.

Clemens scored a major legal victory in June when he was acquitted of charges he had lied to Congress under oath when he denied using performance-enhancing drugs.

After Clemens' acquittal, Crane said he'd welcome Clemens back to the Astros organization. Could that now occur in a playing capacity?

Hendricks would not elaborate on whether Clemens' ultimate destination could be Minute Maid Park, where the 39-83 Astros are on pace to draw less than 2 million fans for the first time in the stadium's 13-year history. Clemens pitched for the Astros from 2004 to 2006.

"It is at this point a fun, local, one-time kind of thing," Hendricks said via e-mail. "If he does well, he will probably make at least one more home start. He threw 87 mph today with four pitches working, so he looks good to go at this point."

Said Smith: "Roger is in superb condition. He's got a great deal of pride; he's got a great deal of love (for baseball)."

Clemens' 10-week trial was the culmination of a saga that began in December 2007, when the Mitchell Report accused Clemens of using steroids and human growth hormone.

Clemens had concluded his storied career in undistinguished fashion two months before the Mitchell Report was released. After signing a $28 million contract to come out of retirement, the seven-time Cy Young Award winner went 6-6 with a 4.18 ERA for the Yankees, then gave up three runs in 2⅓ innings in his only playoff start.

The path to Clemens' return, Smith said, was laid by conversations the pitcher had with Skeeters manager Gary Gaetti, the former major league third baseman who served as the Astros hitting coach from 2004-2006. Clemens pitched for the Astros during those years.

Clemens will be joining a pitching staff full of ex-major leaguers, including Scott Kazmir, Gary Majewski, Tim Redding, Saul Rivera, Jeff Farnsworth and Pedro Liriano, plus former outfielder and now pitcher Jason Lane.

Smith compared the quality of play in the Atlantic League to Class AAA for hitters and AA for pitchers.
Players typically make between $1,500-3,000 a month, so remuneration probably was not much of a factor for Clemens.

"That's a very minor consideration,'' Smith said. "He's not doing it for the money; he's doing it for the opportunity.''