Bloomquist and Bloomquist Light
Cairo’s game made me think about something. Sure, the last time Bloomquist had an extra-base hit was July 15th, 2007. But when was the last time he had more than one in a game?
I believe that it was July 6th, 2005, when he had three doubles in Kansas City. Before that, August 22nd, 2004 in Detroit. Then July 12th, 2003, against the Devil Rays (double, triple). And then September 22nd, 2002, when he had two doubles at home against the Angels. I scanned the gamelogs, so I might be missing one (or more).
I think that’s it. 514 career games, 4 of them had more than on extra-base hit, only one of which had three. So 52 games with any kind of extra-base hit.
Comments
11 Responses to “Bloomquist and Bloomquist Light”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Dude needs to eat a powerbar and light a weight or two. How many pitchers rank above him? I really need a B-R PI membership…..
The bizarre thing about his total lack of power is that while he’s not Richie Sexson or anything, he’s a decent sized guy.
MLB lists him at 5’11”, 195 pounds.
Ichiro, by way of contrast, is listed at 5’9″, 160 pounds…and has 16 extra base hits just this season.
Willie’s lifetime SLG is .324; Ichiro’s is .432.
In contrast, Pedroia had 4 XBH last night…HR, Triple, 2 Doubles…if only he could have gotten gritty like WFB he would have hit for the cycle…
In his defense, the last hit was his second double…I’m sure if they weren’t behind the Rays at that late point in the game, he would have stopped at 1B.
It’s not so much about having the back to put into it as it is the wrist speed and foot speed: turning on balls, hitting ’em where they ain’t, legging ’em out, beating out more throws.
Look at Griffey. He’s obviously the next weight class up, and 15 or 20 talent classes up. But compare him to his peers. Most of the longball hitters of his generation pack 20-40 pounds more muscle through their upper legs, core, and upper body.
But Griff’s The Natural; he knows right where the ball will be in a split second and right where the bat will be in a split second, so he hits a frillion line drives.
Compare that to McGwire and Thomas and even Bonds; Bonds hit more HR per AB or PA than anybody, ever, for a couple years, but, really, the line drive machine of the 90s and 00s is Griff.
What was the question? lol
I guess Bloomquist’s admirable foot speed either semi-moots my point in 4 or it isolates his lack of XBH to wrist speed.
He has *enough* bulk to hit some line shots to the corners that someone as fast as he could leg out to 2nd or 3rd.
“Fast as he” being key…I mean, Edgar led the majors in doubles for a while without exactly opening holes in spacetime on the basepaths.
Yeah, he runs reasonably well (although not quite as well as some people think); you’d think he’d get a leg-it-out double on a fairly routine basis, at least.
It really is just strange.
So, have we been wrong all year? Is Willy Ballgame actually “Cairo Light” (which sounds like a cigarette for some reason). Or, Is Cairo actually Bloomquist Heavy?
Maybe WFB isn’t getting more doubles despite his speed because he’s not scrappy? ‘The peasants recoil in shock and horror from the infidel, mumuring and pointing.’
Twilight Zone baseball lineups:
To date: Willie Bloomquist OPS+ = 75 Jose Vidro OPS+ = 62
Willie has no extra base hits and has managed a significantly better OPS+ so far this year.
The kicker: Vidro has started 58 games this year, his peak BA occurred on 5/25 when he reached .239. His position in the batting order:
2nd-4 games
3rd-16 games
4th- 5 games
5th- 23 games
6th- 1 game
7th- 9 games
9: That’s useful information. But going back years, the M’s have always based lineups on who can’t do what, rather than who should. Jay Buhner didn’t perform well when batting fourth, so he basically was never in the lineup at cleanup. Now Lopez has “failed” (a la Clement and Wlad) in small sample size while batting third, so since the rules of baseball require someone to bat after the no. 2 hitter, they stick in “proven” Vidro. And bunt with him in the early innings.
Of course, I’d have expect Cairo to be batting third tonight.
Vidro is a “professional hitter”. Bloomquist is a “scrappy white supersub”. Cairo is a “wily veteran”. Sexson is a “big slugger who can hit a ball a country mile”. These lineups aren’t based on ability or likely results — they’re based on pigeonholes.