Pigskin and Pine Tar

The Triple Crown is something many of us thought we would never see again. How many players can measure up to Carl Yastrzemski? If hte past, we’ve had Josh Hamilton, Alex Rodriguez, Adrian Gonzalez all striving for it and having great seasons, but falling well short in one category, The Triple Crown will be whispers in people’s minds, a back burner on SportsCenter, but no one has really had a chance. Until Miguel Cabrera. What he did is so rare, that I will be proud to say in 50 years, “I saw that happen.” Cabrera has always been able to hit, ever since he broke into the league with the Marlins in 2003. There have been complains about his speed, or his weight, or his attitude. But hte fact is, MIguel Cabrera can swing the bat with the best of them. If you can beat out someone who’s being called “The next Mickey Mantle” in an MVP race, you’re pretty darn good. I remember watching a Giants-Tigers interleague game a couple years ago, and the announcers said he had the best swing in baseball, with all respect to Albert Pujols. I remember thinking nahh, you’ve got Jeter, Hamilton, Braun…But the fact of the matter is, he really is the best in baseball. What makes him that? His consistency. Pujols became a forgotten name this year. Jeter came roaring back once again, showing he has plenty left in the 38 year old gas tank. But Cabrera didn’t come roaring back because he was already on top. He has one the batting title, led the league in RBI’s, and won the home run title in seperate years before, so the only two player who could manage winning the Triple Crown right now are Migule Cabrera and Pujols. But if you look at the numbers, Cabrera has always had a higher batting average than by Pujols by about 10 points. What makes Miggy so dangerous is his ablility to cover the whole plate. You want to pitch him inside? That’s too bad, he’s a deadly pull hitter. You’re going to go paint the black on the outside corner of the dish? Well he’ll just let the ball get deep and drive it into the right center field gap or even over the fence. There are no holes in his swing, no flaws in Miguel Cabrera when he is inside the batter’s box. He is the most complete hitter since, well, Carl Yaztzemski.

The trade deadline is one of the most exciting times of the baseball season. It forces teams to make decisions and trades, and it outlines the future for many teams. The Cubs and Phillies are both dealing some of their best players, looking to rebuild. The Giants are acquiring players for the now. Whatever the strategy may be, it is the climax of the season for many teams. Are they going to look to rebuild and be content with losing for a few years in order to build for the future? Or are they going to go all out this year, looking for the one and done? The trades are sometimes minor, other times shocking. If you ask a 10 casual baseball fans to name 5 players on the Mariners, almost every list would start with Ichiro. He has been their stalwart, the cornerstone of the franchise for 11 years. A perennial All-Star, he was traded like extra baggage. Most fans would probably throw in Felix Hernandez, and a few baseball nuts like me could probably name Mike Carp, Justin Smoak, Franklin Guitierrez. But this is Ichiro we’re talking about. And he’s not the only one. Hanley Ramirez, Hunter Pence, Shane Victorino. Big names are being dealt this deadline. Some teams decide to play it safe, shopping a relief pitcher for a couple of average minor leaguers. No risk, no reward. At the same time, the Giants shopped their best pitching prospect for a 2 month rental of Carlos Beltran, and they didn’t even make the playoffs. In late July, teams have their needs clearly established, and that’s the smartest move. Don’t go for the gold, don’t tiptoe around, just get players you need. The Giants did that, and it’s working out alright. A 35 year old middle infielder who was at best average in his prime for your top second base prospect doesn’t look all that great up front, but it fills a need, as Pablo Sandoval is hurt again and Ryan Theriot can manage for the next couple of years. The Pence trade could turn out to be dynamite for them if Angel Pagan rediscovers his stroke. He was hitting over .300 at one point and although it has dipped to .275, he is very streaky. An outfield of a red-hot Pagan, Melky, and Pence looks very promising for the Giants. Hanley could work out well for the Dodgers, if Dee Gordon proves he’s not ready for the big show yet. Gordon’s fielding needs serious work, putting it mildly. The Yankees need speed and the top of the order and if old Ichiro shows up, the  first 6 batters of their lineup is the 2008 All-Star team. So who knows? These trades will have a big impact, whether it’s now or 5 years down the road.

Baseball has migrated from the days of McGwire and Bonds, with players swinging for the fences and trading 10 homers for 30 batting average points. Now, you see more teams playing small ball, advancing runners, sac flies, bunts. (Shhh. Don’t tell Adam Dunn or Mark Reynolds.) With contact hitting emerging as the way to win ballgames in 2012, I figured I’d put together a list of the best contact hitters in the game today

1. Ichiro

Going out on a limb here, but I would say he is the best contact hitter ever. Better than Pete Rose, Ty Cobb, Willie Wee Keeler. (Yes, that’s his real name.) Ichiro’s entire game is based on contact hitting. Naturally right handed, he taugh himself to bat lefty to be able to get out the box quicker. His stride takes him towards first base, leading him to beat out more infield hits than anyone else. He has faded recently, but let’s not forget this is a guy who batted .372 one year and owns the MLB record for most hits in a season, with 272. If he hadn’t started his career in Japan he would certainly have 3,000 hits with ease, and if he could play for as long as Rose, there’s no telling the numbers he would rack up.

2. Melky Cabrera.

Melky certainly doesn’t have the consistency Ichiro has, only emerging as one of the leagues best contact guys last year, and really turning up the heat this year. Plain and simple, nobody in 2012 puts the barrel on the ball like the Giants left fielder. He’s hitting .364 this year and has 119 hits by the midpoint of the season. That means he’s on pace for 238 hits. Insane. I don’t think anyone saw this coming in his years in New York. At 27, he has plenty of time to contiue his dominance of pitchers for the next 10 years or so. That’s the beauty of a contact hitter. Most guys can’t put the same oomph into the ball at 40 as they did at 25. But when you are a contact hitter, you don’t have to kill the ball. Because it’s more of an art and not a talent, people can ressurect their careers with this style of hitting. I’m not saying it’s easy, only that it can be learned, unlike power hitting, where the raw potential has to be there to start.

3. Derek Jeter.

For years, the AL would open the All-Star game with Ichiro and Jeter batting first and second. Ichiro’s last AS season was in 2010, but Jeter just keeps on hitting. He has 3,000 hits and is a lock for the Hall of Fame with a lifetime batting average of over .300 and a knack for clutch hitting. Jeter’s specialty-taking inside pitches to right field by inside-outing the ball- has won him a lifetime of bloop singles. That’s not all he does though. Jeter has perhaps the best bat control we’ve seen in 20 years. I read a stat the other day that said Jeter has more hits than Rose did at his age. Jeter probably won’t play until he’s 45 as Rose did, and another 1,000 hits at 38 is a tall order. But if you need a hit, Jeter’s your guy. Any situation, he’s more clutch than Kobe Bryant. (Not saying Kobe chokes-just saying Jeter’s better.) He delievers from Opening Day to Game 7 of the World Series.

4. David Wright.

David Wright is a guy who has been able to consistently hit .330 with his batting average throughout his career. He sprinkles in a little power and speed too, but as 3rd basemen go, he is the one who, when healthy, performs the best. People are going to say Miguel Cabrera, A-Rod, Adrian Beltre. But I like Wright over all of them. Cabrera’s overweight and actually switched to first base. A-Rod has had a rash of injuries lately and has really been a .280 hitter for his career. Plus, Alex Rodriguez was on steroids for the best years of his career. Adrian Beltre (And this is true for all of them) hits with a ton of protection in the lineup with Hamilton, Kinsler, Nelson Cruz, and Elvis Andrus. People have to pitch to him. Wright has no help in New York. People could pitch around him all the time, but he consistently gets base hits. Wright is also the best doubles hitter of the first 4, hitting with some power too, without swinging for the fences. Melky and his AT&T Park gappers could probably give him a run for his money, though.

5. Robinson Cano and Ian Kinsler.

I spent a long time thinking about this, and I just couldn’t give one of them the edge. They are both 2nd basemen with .300 plus batting averages and with similar doubles power, so I couldn’t give an edge there. They both hit in star-studded lineups, so they both have maximum protection in the lineup. The biggest difference? Cano bats lefty, while Kinsler is right handed. Really, both of them are the best 2nd basemen in the game right now. They are both table setters, getting on base for the big guns, Texiera and A-Rod for Cano, Halimton and Beltre for Kinsler, and they can both bring people home and salvage a 2-out ralley with a base hit. They can both take something out of their swing, as all these guys can, and just try to make contact and get it out of the infield rather than trying to jack one over the 400 sign in center. 2 star second basemen, similar in every way, and rivals.

We’ve all seen it,  in all sports. A player comes out of nowhere and catches fire, surging adreniline into a faltering team. It sends up an instant spark around the area and people come up with all kinds of nicknames and monikers. This happened with Jeremy Lin for the Knicks, Cody Ross for the Giants. Then, just as quickly, they’re gone. Ross hasn’t done anything similar to his 2010 postseason run. A knee injury downed Lin. But others have been consistent, such as Victor Cruz for the Giants, or who could forget Tim Tebow last year? The trick is staying consistent, whether it be for a month, for a year, or for 10 years. We’ve seen the best fall. At one point, Andruw Jones had 6 Gold Gloves, a 51 homer season, and seemed a lock for the Hall of Fame. Now? He’s a backup outfielder with the Yankees. I recently read a book on Jim Abbot. 8th overall pick, went straight to the majors, great story about him and how he made it to the bigs and eventually pitched a no-hitter with just one hand. But at age 28, in his prime, at his peak, he lost 10 mph off his fastball. He never gained it back. What happened? We may never know what causes monoliths to fall and what makes rookies play at an All-Star level. Look at Tim Lincencum.He won 2 Cy Young awards, a World Series, a 4 time All-Star, and last year had his best non Cy Young season. In fact, if he had gotten more run support and therefore more wins, it was probably as good as one of his award winning seaons. This year, his ERA is 6.00. Every time the Giants say he’s close, he just can’t close the gap and get back to what he was. There’s flashes of the old timmy. But that’s all they are, fleeting memories of a a great pitcher. I’m not saying he’s done. He is only 29. But so was Abbot when he lost it. Unlike Abbot, though, Timmy hasn’t lost his fastball. It looked like it at one point, when he was struggling to throw 90 when he once breezed in 96. In the past couple of years, he has lowered his fastball to the 91-94 range, as Matt Cain has to conserve arm strength but still have enough to get hitters out. Recently, he’s been hitting 93 on average, so he seems to have gotten that back. He gave up 2 home runs in the first inning yesterday, then seemed to find it, mixing a nasty curve and following it up with pretty good heat. Then, as always, around the 5th or 6th inning, he began to lose his control, leaving pitches out over the plate and getting hit hard. There is another thing, too. Just watching the game on TV,  I could see his shoulders heaving with fatigue. When Matt Cain pitched his perfect game, or any game, he always seems perfectly controlled, calm, and unflappable. I’ve never seem Bochy pull him because of fatigue, only because of a high pitch count which could lead to tiredness late in the season. But it’s different for Lincencum. Lincencum stands 5’11 and tips the scale at 185 soaking wet. Cain is 6’4, Bumgarner 6’5, Voglesong 6’3, and Barry Zito 6’2, and Zito relies on off speed pitches. So to generate the same velocity as the Giants other All-Stars, Lincencum has to rely on his unorthodox delivery which looks as if requires much more effort than the easy 92 of Bumgarner. This could be wearing on him. The effort to get to 93 in the early innings could be costing him, but it shouldn’t be, not this much, not at this age, not this early in the season. Lincencum conditioned well in the offseason, dropping 15 pounds by laying off In-n-Out. So maybe a little rest would serve him well. Maybe he’s mentally frustrated and is trying  too hard. So what is it that causes players that were so good for so long to drop into these funks, and how do they get out of them, as Albert Pujols has? I think it’s a physical or mental issue, nothing serious, just enough to drop their performance slightly, and that starts a mental trend, confidence issues, and overall performance problems. It’s a catch .22, the only way out is to get lucky. A good start against a bad team may be all Lincencum needs to snap out of this funk, the way Pujol’s first homer got him started. It would be wise for phenomenoms to bask in the glory for a little while. Because everyone eventually falls.