Some comments on a couple of games that ended after I went to bed last night...
The Reds are on a west coast trip, so their games are starting around the time east coast games usually end. They won. They're playing Padres - a really bad team - but still. The pride of Rice University, Paul Janish, started at SS and went 1 for 5 with a walk and 2 RBIs. The hit was a single in the bottom of the 9th...off former Yankee Sean Henn.
The Pirates-Cubs game went 14 innings. Former Red Phil Dumatrait started for the Bucs, and did a fine job. Jason Bay is out of his slump, hitting a home run, and eventually, the walkoff single. But the most memorable performance of the game for me was that of former Yankee Doug Mientkiewicz.
Minky was considered a long shot to make the team at the start of the year, but the Pirates really liked what they saw in spring training - not just on the field, but in the clubhouse. He proved himself to be a leader, and a good mentor for younger players, and so made the Bucs' 25-man roster. Though he's known as a first baseman, he ended up the lefty half of a 3B platoon, with the struggling Jose Bautista as the righty half.
With righty Jason Marquis on the mound, it should have been Minky's start last night, but he was deathly ill with the flu. I'm kind of surprised they even had him dressed and in the dugout. Usually when someone is that sick, they send him home so he won't spread the germs. But Minky was there, and eventually, they had to put him in:
"He was sick as you can be," manager John Russell said. "He really gutted it out. I'm telling you. I didn't want to use him, but I had to in the ninth, and we ended up being stuck leaving him out there."
The discomfort was visible for all 29,929 to see in the 13th, when Mientkiewicz tried but failed to beat out a grounder, then took nearly a full minute to walk in an apparent daze back to the dugout.
Minky entered the game in the bottom of the 9th in a double-switch. He was hit by a pitch, and eventually scored on a single, sac bunt, and sac fly. His run tied the game, 4-4...which meant they had to go to extra innings, and he had to play. He ended up playing five innings while sick as a dog, poor guy.
I always liked Minky when he was with the Yankees. Glad to see he's doing well with his new team, and I hope he feels better soon. Even if he is a
Red Wings fan. ;-)
