Posts Tagged ‘baseball’
July Sports Illustrated
Why Nomar Should Have Been the Dodgers’s Shortstop in the Playoffs
A career .314 hitter in the regular season, .318 in the playoffs, 6-time All-Star, 2-time batting champion, has hit 233 home runs (including postseason shots), hit .435 with a .533 on-base percentage, .870 slugging percentage, and 1.403 OPS in September, hit .309 in July, season average would have been .350 if he had not been robbed of a hit 14 times, career highs for average and home runs in a full season are .372 and 35, resepctively, holds approximately 17 baseball records including one for most RBIs in one ALDS, has great range and a strong, accurate arm, is an intelligent base runner, is willing to do whatever it takes to help his team, has insisted on playing when hurt, was called the best National League signing of 2006 by Sports Illustrated because of strong offense and defense, has been charged with 20 errors in the past three seasons (at least seven were undeserved), was the one player the New York Times pointed out as not being part of the Dodgers’ defensive problems. Or, a career .286 hitter, .228 in the postseason, has hit 85 total home runs, hit .286 in May, hit .222 in September (.300 OBP, .222 SLG, .522 OPS), career high for average in a full season is .300, career high for home runs is 15, has a strong arm but is very wild, was worried that returning too soon would hurt his free agent stock, was called the NL’s worst signing of ‘06 for being an overpaid, bad fielding leadoff hitter who struck out too much and didn’t get on base enough, has made 50 errors in the past three seasons, when the New York Times said that Dodgers’ biggest weakness was their defense, they used him as the prime example. Which would you pick? Joe Torre picked the second one. The first player is Nomar Garciaparra; the second, Rafael Furcal.
Both missed substantial time to injuries this season, but Nomar played more games. In this case, it is important to look at the circumstances surrounding their DL stints. First Nomar: hit by a pitch, (and if the extent of the damage had been correctly evaluated, he would have waited longer to start batting practice, which aggravated the microfracture and lengthened the recovery time) strained calf because of compartment syndrome (was reported as being only slightly sore after a little more than two weeks, but he was put on the DL to make room for Terry Tiffee), minor knee sprain (happened because a low throw from James Loney forced Nomar, who was covering third, to go to his knees to keep the ball from getting away and because Lastings Milledge slid into him spikes-first; injury was so insignificant, Torre said he probably could have stayed in that game and that he only pulled him as a precautionary measure; was put on the DL to make room for Manny Ramirez; was fine in less than a week). Now Furcal: he sprained his ankle when he caused a collision between himself and an outfielder in 2007 Spring Training, last September, he started having back pains because he had been favoring that unhealed ankle, and, ultimately, a sprained ankle suffered over a year ago, made him need back surgery. In addition, the back injury led to nerve damage which caused him to strain his hamstring. Furcal admitted the pain was hurting his running and defense. Nomar played parts of April, July, August, and September, and he could have played more. Furcal played most of April but only little bits of May and September.
Nomar more deserves to be playing because he did more for the team. These are just some of the things he did to help LA get to the playoffs: hit two home runs and got another hit to drive in four runs in one game (vs. Arizona), made a tremendous leaping catch to save a double and two runs in the ninth inning of a September game in which he had hit a sacrifice fly to give the Dodgers the lead (vs. Arizona); hit a walk-off home run to put the team back into first place; made great plays deep in the hole to rob opponents of hits; was willing to play multiple positions and made outstanding plays at every one he played; was on fire in September; hit home runs in back-to-back games late in the season, the first of which was a three-run blast that second baseman Blake DeWitt said really lifted the team up, etc. Furcal’s only real contribution was his .367 average in April, but that did not really aid the team as their April record was an even .500 at 13 wins and 13 losses. Furcal does not deserve to be the starter because he did not play from May 6th through September 23rd. In his first at-bat in his return to action, he struck out. In that AB, he took a horrible, awkward swing and looked like he was still in a great deal of pain. The only hits he got after that were two singles, and he was caught in his only attempt to steal a base.
When Nomar went back to shortstop for the first time since 2005, there was some question about how his defense would be after such a long time off from the position. However, he immediately showed he could still handle it and looked as if he had never left. Some announcers said it was like he was back in his prime Boston days. Another said he seemed to be drinking from the fountan of youth. The following words and phrases were among the many compliments his defense at shortstop was given: “outstanding”, “impressive range”, “dazzling”, “very beautiful”, “terrific”, “great”, “very good”, “perfect play”, ”flawless”, and so on. On www.si.com, David Sabino wrote, “1.000–Fielding percentage for Nomar Garciaparra since he assumed starting shortstop duties for the Dodgers on July 4. Manning a position he hasn’t played since 2005 with the Cubs, the former All-Star SS has flawlessly fielded all 44 chances that came his way and has a range factor during that span better than those of [other shortstops] like Jimmy Rollins, Jose Reyes, and Orlando Cabrera. His success in the field has translated to the plate too. Since Independence Day, Garciaparra ranks second in slugging percentage, tied for third in home runs and fifth in RBIs and batting average among major league shortstops. Multiple times, Dodgers’ announcers Rick Monday and Charley Steiner would have lengthy discussions detailing how impressed they were with Nomar’s defense. During one of those chats, Monday said, “He has really been an eye-opener at shortstop…his throws have been right on the money, even when he goes deep in the hole to backhand it.” After an inning in which Nomar got all three Phillies out by making very good plays, Vin Scully said that he “put on a fielding clinic”. A reporter spoke of how he had “made some great plays defensively in the hole”. I am not a Dodgers fan, but I live in southern California, and Nomar is my favorite player, so I watch or listen to LA’s games when he is in the lineup. So often, the announcers were praising some spectacular play he had made deep in the hole and/or far to his right.
Nomar really should be the starting shortstop, but he also deserves to play more than Loney and Casey Blake. Loney is fine for a young hitter, but a dismal September in which he hit .209 dropped his season average to an only decent .289. Also, Loney is young and has plenty of time ahead of him to reach the playoffs again. Blake did well when he first joined the Dodgers, but it did not last as he only hit .251 for the Blue Crew, including .220 in September. In addition, he would not even be a Dodger if Nomar had not moved from third base to shortstop.
Joe Torre clearly disagrees, but Nomar Garciaparra should have been the starting shortstop for the Dodgers in the entire postseason.
About the Author
Nomarfan18 originally published this article at rootzoo.com, an online sports social network. He’s a huge baseball fan and is always on top of the latest fantasy baseball news.
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