"It's a great group of individual talent that played a team sport," said Whitecaps manager Matt Walbeck, who by all indications will be the manager at Double-A Erie next season. "We won the first half, the second half and then the whole thing. That doesn't happen very often. "
Well, except for last year when South Bend did it, but aside from that...
It's Rattler Alum Day in the M's Notebook today:
A couple of T.J. Bohn's good buddies didn't even have to bother phoning in their congratulations after his first major-league home run Friday night.
Bohn had plenty of telephone calls after ripping a 435-foot, ninth-inning blast into the left-field bullpen off Royals relief pitcher Scott Dohmann. But two of his former teammates from Hutchinson Community College, a two-hour drive from here in nearby Kansas, were actually on hand at Kauffman Stadium to witness the longball.
The pals decided to drive out for Friday's game after skipping the series opener the night before. Bohn wasn't in the starting lineup, but the Class AAA call-up entered as a pinch-hitter in the ninth and made the most of his at-bat.
"It was pretty cool for them to be there to see it," Bohn said of his homer. "I went out with them afterwards, met their wives. They're family men now."
and
J.J. Putz had his game face on in the clubhouse Saturday as he and some teammates watched the Michigan-Notre Dame football clash. Putz attended Michigan and has followed the Wolverines as a fan since back in the Bo Schembechler era, which ended in 1989.
The Mariners closer even leaped to his feet and ran a victory lap around the clubhouse, arm raised, when Michigan wide receiver Mario Manningham caught a 22-yard pass in the end zone for his third touchdown of the day to give his team a 34-7 lead late in the first half.
Michigan went on to win 47-21.
Hail to the Victors, JJ.
I really liked Tom Hardricourt's column at JSonline.com today. Here are two items that caught my eye.
Shortly before the July 31 trade deadline in 2004, the Philadelphia Phillies brain trust actually entertained the notion of trading first baseman Ryan Howard, then a minor-league prospect whose path to the majors was blocked by Jim Thome. But nobody was bowling them over with offers.
"One club told me that lots of guys hit home runs at Double-A," former Phillies general manager Ed Wade told the Philadelphia Daily News.
"Sam Horn (a one-time Boston phenom who never made it big) was mentioned."
The Phillies ended up keeping Howard, making way for him by trading Thome to the Chicago White Sox last winter. It turned out to be a very wise decision, with Howard putting the finishing touches on an astonishing year of power and run production (56 homers and 139 RBI, entering the weekend).
and
Houston second baseman Craig Biggio is determined to get to 3,000 career hits, and Astros management wants him to do it in their uniform.
Team owner Drayton McLane reiterated that he wants Biggio to stay in Houston in 2007, when he should reach the 3,000-hit plateau and virtually guarantee a Hall of Fame berth. Biggio, 40, who can be a free agent after the season, entered the weekend only 84 hits shy of that magic plateau.
"We certainly want him back," McLane told the Houston Chronicle. "Next year will be historical. We want him to get his 3,000th hit with the Astros, and we've made that clear. That is not an issue and hasn't been an issue. No one has meant more to our community development department than Craig and Patty Biggio."
Biggio, in his 19th season with the club, was moved by McLane's comments. "It means a lot," he said. "It gives you confidence, and I've always had confidence that things would work out."
The quote of the article though has to do with three members of the Padres not taking the team charter to Cincinnati after mechanical problems and catching a commercial flight the next day:
"If Buddy Holly would have known of vibration problems on his plane, he would have gotten off, too," [Scott] Linebrink told the San Diego Union-Tribune, referring to the singer who died in a plane crash in Iowa in 1959.
Stay classy, Scott Linebrink.
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