Short & Sweet

Jason Budden: Un-Common Sense?

With the holiday weekend, I wanted to keep it simple, so here's a few random notes of interest.

Short

Jon Rauch is 6’11”, the tallest player in the big leagues. David Eckstein is 5’7”, the shortest. Estimating a 6’11” wingspan for Rauch, and Eckstein standing at 5’0” when crouching down in his batting stance, Rauch would release the ball a good 4 ½ - 5 feet above Eckstein’s head when delivering a pitch to the Blue Jays shortstop. (Eckstein comes off the DL on Tuesday, May 27)

Jimmy Rollins (5’8”) is on pace to tie the Major League record for doubles in a season, and that is with an early season stint on the DL. Rollins is hitting .321, which is 43 points higher than his career average, and has 14 doubles on the season in 29 games played. With 109 games remaining in the Phillies’ schedule, Rollins is on pace for 67 doubles. At the same time, the ankle injury that sent him to the DL is clearly still affecting his power. He has hit only one homerun in the 17 games since returning from the DL and is currently on pace for 14 homeruns this season (he hit 30 in 2007). If he keeps hitting .321 with a double every other game, the Phillies shouldn’t be too concerned.

Sweet

Magglio Ordonez is up to it again. Over the past week, he is hitting .478 (11/23) with three homeruns, seven runs and nine runs batted in. Twelve games into the season he was hitting .234 with one homerun and three RBI, but he has turned it on and has raised his average to .328. The Tigers have not followed his lead, but it is still early.

How sweet it is? Just ask Scott Kazmir. He has recovered quite nicely from the strained elbow he suffered to start the year. Since returning from the disabled list, Kazmir is 4-1 with a 1.50 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, 32 K’s and only 10 Walks. Last week he went 2-0 striking out 18 batters in 14 innings while giving up only seven hits and two runs. During that stretch, the Tampa Bay Rays are 5-1 and recently moved into first place in the AL East.

Finally, talk about "Sweet," the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship bracket was announced over the holiday weekend. 64 teams are still alive to dogpile in Omaha.