Jewish Baseball News

JEWISH BASEBALL NEWS — Pardon me if you’ve already seen this classic 2006 video, in which comedians Denis Leary and Lenny Clarke discover during a Boston Red Sox broadcast that 1B Kevin Youkilis and outfielder Gabe Kapler are Jewish.

Actor Mel Gibson, whose anti-Semitic remarks during a 2006 DUI arrest were a national story at the time, takes the brunt of the comedians’ rant.

The video ends, fittingly, with Youkilis’ successful pick-off of a Detroit Tigers baserunner at first base. “Mel Gibson, eat your heart out!” yells Clarke.

Thanks to writer Bruce Lowitt for bringing this video to my attention. To see Lowitt’s 2007 article on growing up a “short, fat and Jewish” baseball fan in Bensonhurst, click here.

— Scott Barancik

JEWISH BASEBALL NEWS — Rookie 1B Ike Davis hit two HRs Friday night to help the New York Mets defeat the San Francisco Giants 6-4.

Davis, 23, hit solo home runs in the 2nd (vide0) and 4th (video) innings. His 9th-inning walk turned into a run when Rod Barajas followed with a walk-off HR to win the game.

Davis also contributed a key defensive play in the top of the 9th inning. With the score tied 4-4 on a pinch-hit home run by John Bowker, the Giants had men on first and third bases with two outs when Giants 3B Pablo Sandoval hit a pop fly in foul territory. Davis nabbed the ball while carthwheeling into the Mets’ dugout to end the threat (see video).

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JEWISH BASEBALL NEWS — New York Mets 1B Ike Davis was the first Jewish player called up from AAA this season. Who will be the second?

You’d have to know a lot more about MLB depth charts than I do to make a truly educated guess. Being psychic helps, too; unexpected injuries often are the catalyst for calling up a player. (Mets 1B Daniel Murphy’s injury helped bring Ike Davis to Queens, for example.)

But player performance obviously matters, too. Here’s how AAA Jews are doing through Wednesday’s (5/5/2010) games:

• Scot Drucker, 27, relief pitcher with the Toledo Mud Hens (Detroit Tigers). Has a 2-and-1 record with 1 save, 9 walks, 13 strikeouts and a 1.83 ERA.
• Sam Fuld, 28, left fielder with the Iowa Cubs (Chicago Cubs). Batting .179 with 1 RBI and a .333 on-base percentage.
• Ben Guez, 23, center fielder with the Toledo Mud Hens (Detroit Tigers). Batting .128 with 2 RBIs and a .244 OBP.
• Jason Hirsh, 28, starting pitcher with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees (New York Yankees). Has a 2-and-3 record with 12 walks, 17 strikeouts and a 3.06 ERA.
• Adam Stern, 30, left fielder with the Nashville Sounds (Milwaukee Brewers). Batting .227 with 1 RBI and a .292 OBP.
• Josh Whitesell, 28, first baseman with the Syracuse Chiefs (Washington Nationals). Batting .253 with four homers, 18 RBIs and a .377 OBP.

As a whole, Jews aren’t exactly tearing up AAA. The player closest to being on a hot streak these days is Hirsh, a former Houston Astro and Colorado Rockie who has pitched two consecutive one-hitters, including this near no-hitter.

I hadn’t noticed until today, but AAA is a little less Jewish these days. The Columbus Clippers (San Francisco Giants) released left fielder Brian Horwitz, 30, in late April.

— Scott Barancik

JEWISH BASEBALL NEWS — As we reported earlier this morning, Boston Red Sox 1B Kevin Youkilis was scratched from Sunday’s game (5/2/2010) due to a condition the local news media alternately described as a “sore left groin,” “strained left groin” or “groin pull,” none of which sounded particularly fun. (Especially “groin pull,” which sounds a little too much like tractor pull for our tastes. We won’t even get into the question of “pulled pork.”)

So what, exactly, is a groin pull? Does it involve a medical event in the body proper or in, shall we say, an extremity? Is it an injury of the muscle, tendon or something else entirely? And how exactly does one pull a groin?

We, the medically uninformed personnel at Jewish Baseball News, beg your reply via our Facebook page. The Most Medically Convincing and Most Creative answers will win our admiration, as we have nothing tangible to award you.

— Scott Barancik

JEWISH BASEBALL NEWS — What’s new in the world of Jewish baseball players:

• Scott Schoeneweis retained his tenuous hold on a roster spot last week when the Boston Red Sox chose to release fellow lefty reliever Alan Embree in order to make way for starter Daisuke Matsuzaka, who was returning from an injury.

• Red Sox 1B Kevin Youkilis was scratched from the lineup shortly before Sunday’s game against the Baltimore Orioles due to a groin pull. The Red Sox went on to lose the game as well as the series. Manager Terry Francona said he’s hopeful that Youkilis will be on the field for tonight’s game against the Los Angeles Angels.

• Among New York Mets fans, affection for rookie 1B Ike Davis continues to swell. Davis, who was called up from AAA when the cellar-dwelling Mets were 4-and-8, is given at least partial credit for inspiring the team to a 10-and-3 record since. According to a column in the Philadelphia Inquirer:

No place creates legends as easily or as effectively as New York. And Davis’ resume hasn’t hurt the hype. He’s the son of a former Yankee (reliever Ron Davis). He broke Arizona State records set by another of New York’s beloved lefthanded sluggers (Reggie Jackson). His mother, like a large chunk of the club’s fan base, is Jewish. He’s likable, accessible, and as he has displayed on several occasions, has a dramatic flair. Davis singled in his first big-league at-bat. Two nights later, he cartwheeled into the home dugout after a spectacular grab of a foul pop-up. And two nights after that, he belted his first home run, a 450-foot bomb to a previously unreached corner of vast Citi Field.

• In a Washington Post blog filed Saturday, Adam Kilgore mused on the reasons behind the Washington Nationals’ recent turnaround. Among them: that starting pitcher Jason Marquis had been placed on the disabled list. Marquis is 0-and-3 with a 20.52 ERA and twice as many walks as strikeouts.

Nationals starters began the year with a shaky start. That’s changed for a few reasons. Most basic, an apparently injured Jason Marquis is no longer inviting calamity every fifth day. Also, the staff has had more time to build a rapport with catcher Ivan Rodriguez.

• In off-the-field news, Milwaukee Brewers left fielder Ryan Braun has opened a restaurant in that city. A college newspaper says the eatery is only the latest in a series of business ventures by Braun.

Ryan Braun is not your average professional athlete. He doesn’t just play for the Milwaukee Brewers and call it a day. Braun has got his hands in everything from his own T-shirt line to commercials for Remington’s ShortCut clippers, Muscle Milk, and Dick’s Sporting Goods, as well as numerous endorsement deals. Last summer he received (and turned down), an invitation from ABC to appear on The Bachelor. Braun’s latest business venture, though, hits closer to home. Ryan Braun’s Waterfront Grill opened its doors a few weeks ago…

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— Scott Barancik

JEWISH BASEBALL NEWS — After missing the first 22 games of the season with a sprained right ankle, Texas Rangers 2B Ian Kinsler returned to the lineup Friday (4/30/10) and made a key contribution in the Rangers’ 2-0 win over the Seattle Mariners.

The Mariners had the bases loaded with one out in the bottom of the 10th inning when pinch-hitter Mike Sweeney grounded into a SS-2B-1B double play to end the threat. The Rangers went on to win in 12 innings.

Kinsler singled in his second at-bat and went 1-for-5. According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, he predicted he’ll resume stealing bases — he stole 31 in 2009, to go alone with 31 home runs — but hasn’t fully recovered from his injury:

The pain that Ian Kinsler continues to feel in his right ankle isn’t a constant companion, but it’s not going away for good anytime soon. The pain, though, is no longer an inhibiting factor, and hasn’t been for about a week. The ankle passed every test Kinsler gave it while rehabbing in Arizona and Frisco, and it was put to a big-league test Friday night.

Kinsler prepped for his return with a three-game stint for the AA Frisco RoughRiders, where he went 3-for-9 with 3 RBIs.

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JEWISH BASEBALL NEWS — Jason Hirsh hasn’t pitched in the major leagues since 2008. He lost his first three games of the 2010 season with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees, the New York Yankees’ AAA team.

His fourth game of the year was a different story. Hirsh, a towering right-hander who stands 6’8″ and weighs 250 pounds, threw 7-and-2/3rds innings of no-hit ball Tuesday (4/27/10) before giving up a solo home run on the way to a 2-1 victory over the Louisville Bats.

According to MiLB.com, Hirsh was MLB.com’s AAA Pitcher of the Year in 2006 with a 13-and-2 record and 2.10 ERA. But his three seasons in the bigs (2006-08) were less than stellar. He amassed an 8-and-11 overall record and 5.32 ERA with the Houston Astros and Colorado Rockies before Colorado sold him to the Yankees in July 2009.

Tuesday’s game raises hopes that Hirsh will may yet mount a comeback.

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JEWISH BASEBALL NEWS — As Jewish baseball fans well know, Chicago Cubs reliever John Grabow has had a tough season so far.

An article in yesterday’s Chicago Tribune offered some insight:

Before Tuesday night’s game, left-handed hitters were batting .385 against (fellow reliever Sean) Marshall and .143 against Grabow, but right-handed hitters were batting .455 against Grabow and .240 against Marshall.

The Trib’s comment suggests a simple solution: don’t let Grabow, a lefty, pitch to right-handed batters.

As I dig a bit deeper into the data, however, the solution isn’t so clear. True, across nine games this season, right-handed batters are hitting .440 against Grabow, while lefties are hitting just .111. In fact, Grabow hasn’t given up a single earned run against lefties.

But the discrepancy narrows when you add walks to the mix. Because Grabow has walked more lefties than righties this year, lefties have an on-base average of .385 against him, versus .462 among righties. In other words, Grabow’s propensity to walk lefties has kept their batting average and earned-runs production deceptively low.

Here’s another reason to doubt the wisdom of limiting Grabow’s exposure to lefties: history. From his debut with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2003 through the 2009 season, Grabow did slightly worse among left-handed batters (.263 batting average) than among righties (.254). Thus, Grabow’s current trouble with righties may well be temporary.

Overall, Grabow seems to be coming out of his slump. In the last three appearances, his ERA has dropped from 9.53 to 7.04 and he’s earned two holds.

Unfortunately, Grabow contributed to the Cubs’ 3-1 defeat Tuesday (4/27) with a throwing error that led to an unearned run.

At least it didn’t hurt his ERA.

— Scott Barancik

JEWISH BASEBALL NEWS — Jason Marquis, whose debut with the Washington Nationals this season has marked a low point in his 11-year pitching career, has been placed on the disabled list due to bone chips in his right elbow.

Marquis, a right-handed starter, was put on the team’s 15-day disabled list but may be out as long as six weeks. He is 0-and-3 this season with a bloated 20.52 ERA.

No word on whether the bone chips might have affected his pitching.

Marquis is Jew No. 3 on the disabled list this season. He joins Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Brad Ausmus, who earlier this month went on the list for the first time in his 18-year career, and Texas Rangers second baseman Ian Kinsler, who has been on the disabled list since Opening Day.

Kinsler’s recovery took a step forward Monday (Apr. 26) when he played his first game for the AA Frisco RoughRiders, going 0-for-3 with a walk. He’s expected to rejoin the Rangers’ active roster on Friday.

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JEWISH BASEBALL NEWS — New York Mets first baseman Ike Davis hit his first big-league home run in style Thursday (4/23/10).

In just his fifth game since being called up from AAA Buffalo, Davis crushed a Kenshin Kawakami pitch 450 feet to right-center, tying the game at 1-1 against the Atlanta Braves (see video).

The New York Times (4/23/10) said Davis has “brought a noticeable boost in spirit around Citi Field in his first big-league week.”

With Friday’s win, the Mets are 5-and-1 since the arrival of Davis, who is hitting .350.

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JEWISH BASEBALL NEWS — Jewish position players are batting a collective .318 this season, compared to .256 for their peers. But Jewish pitchers are struggling.

How bad are things?

• Relief pitcher John Grabow (0-2, 9.00 ERA) and the rest of the Chicago Cubs’ bullpen have been so ineffective that manager Lou Piniella decided this week to move ace starter Carlos Zambrano into a middle-relief role. Zambrano is in the middle of a 5-year, $91.5-million contract.
• Washington Nationals starter Jason Marquis (0-3, 20.52 ERA) helped kick off Jewish Community Day at Nationals Park this week by giving up seven earned runs in the first inning — and becoming the first pitcher in team history to be pulled from a game before recording a single out. Marquis, whom the Nationals picked up during the off-season and given a two-year, $15-million contract, was supposed to rescue the team’s beleaguered pitching staff. (Maybe he should start brushing up on his pinch-hitting skills.)
• Collectively, MLB’s five Jewish pitchers are 1-7 this season with a 7.98 ERA. In 2009, seven Jewish pitchers amassed a 47-34 record with a relatively svelte ERA of 4.01.

Having said all this, it’s early yet. We’re less than one-tenth of the way through the 2010 season. And there’s a chance that I’m just projecting a little bit here. Allow me to share my own recent humiliation on the diamond.

I used to be a pretty good softball player. Competent in the field, strong at the plate, aggressive baserunner. In my flaccid mind, I still am. But years of parenting, couch-surfing and not playing appear to have caught up with me.

A couple months ago I joined a local, co-ed softball league. And in a game this week, I did something you might’ve thought impossible. After lining — okay, dribbling — the ball to the pitcher, I began sprinting for first base but soon ran into an unexpected obstacle: my own bat, which I conveniently had tossed in the basepath.

From one humiliated, bruised mess to another: I’m rooting for you, pitchers.

— Scott Barancik

JEWISH BASEBALL NEWS — It didn’t take long for the the New York Mets to call up 23-year-old first baseman Ike Davis.

Davis, the 18th overall pick in the June 2008 amateur draft, hit a blistering .480 with three home runs, three doubles and 10 RBIs in just 25 at-bats during the Mets’ Spring Training this year. The team sent him to the AAA Buffalo Bisons anyway to get some more plate experience, but an injury suffered by Mets starter Daniel Murphy helped pave the way for Davis’ swift return.

Davis wasted no time contributing. In his first MLB game Monday night (4/19/2010), he went 2-for-4 with one RBI in a 6-1 Mets victory over the Chicago Cubs.

Davis’ father, relief pitcher Ron Davis, played for five teams during an MLB career that stretched from 1978 to 1988.

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JEWISH BASEBALL NEWS — With two out, a man on second and the score tied 7-7 in the bottom of the 5th inning Wednesday, the Washington Nationals weren’t thrilled about rookie reliever Jesse English coming up to bat.

True, earlier in the game English had acquitted himself quite well at the plate with a successful sacrifice bunt. But that was English’s first and only Major League at-bat. The Nats decided to go with a better bet: Jason Marquis.

As pitchers go, Marquis isn’t bad a bad hitter. In 505 career at-bats through 2009, he’d amassed 5 home runs, 48 RBIs and a .202 batting average — along with an abysmal strikeouts-to-walks ratio of 123 to 13. Twenty-six of his at-bats came as a pinch hitter, during which he hit .231.

On Wednesday, Marquis got a chance to hike that average when the Nats called on him to pinch-hit for English. Marquis didn’t get a hit — he lined out to the shortstop to end the inning — but he did force Philadelphia Phillies reliever Nelson Figueroa to throw six pitches.

The Phillies won, by the way, 14-7. Figueroa, the Phillies’ reliever, hit a double and went 2 -for-2.

— Scott Barancik

JEWISH BASEBALL NEWS — A summary of the latest info on Jewish baseball players:

• Opening-day pitcher Scott Feldman helped guide the Texas Rangers to a 5-4 comeback win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday. It wasn’t easy: Feldman gave up two early home runs, and Toronto no-hit the Rangers through 6-and-1/3 innings. But Feldman calmed down, yielding three runs, five hits and no walks over seven innings, and Rangers C Jarrod Saltalamacchia hit a bases-loaded single to win the game.
• ESPN.com columnist Jim Reeves is a Scott Feldman admirer. “Feldman is the essence of what the Rangers are all about. He’s a gutty overachiever who doesn’t awe opposing teams until they realize he’s just beaten them.” (ESPN.com)
• Milwaukee Brewers LF Ryan Braun went 2-for-4 with two RBIs in a 5-3 opening-day loss to the Colorado Rockies.
• 1B Kevin Youkilis is the Boston Red Sox’ “most productive” hitter, averaging 2.36 hits, walks and/or RBIs per game in a simulation. (Accuscore.com)

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JEWISH BASEBALL NEWS — A summary of the latest scuttlebutt on Jewish baseball players.

• LF Sam Fuld, who plays for the Iowa Cubs (AAA), is the best defensive outfielder in the Chicago Cubs’ organization, according to Baseball America. (Bleacherreport.com)
• 1B Kevin Youkilis, who hit two doubles and a triple in the Boston Red Sox’ 9-7 win over the New York Yankees last night, is the first Red Sox player to hit three extra-base hits in a season opener since Carlton Fisk did it in 1976. (Boston.com)
• Texas Rangers 2B Ian Kinsler is starting the season in an unfortunate way: on the 15-day disabled list. Kinsler sprained his right ankle on March 12. (USAToday.com)
• Kinsler, by the way, is the Rangers’ “most productive” hitter, averaging 2.05 hits, walks and/or RBIs per game in a simulation. (Accuscore.com)
• RHP Scott Feldman will be the Texas Rangers’ starting pitcher in today’s Opening Day game against the Toronto Blue Jays. Feldman recently signed a two-year, $13.3-million contract extension that will keep him with the Rangers through at least 2012. (Reuters.com)

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JEWISH BASEBALL NEWS –The Boston Red Sox rallied from a 5-1 deficit in Sunday night’s AL season opener to defeat the New York Yankees 9-7.

Both of the Red Sox’ Jewish players were instrumental to the victory. New York had already scored three runs in the 5th inning when LHP Scott Schoeneweis was brought in to relieve starter Josh Beckett with two on and two out. Schoeneweis struck out Curtis Granderson to end the inning and retired both batters he faced in the 6th before being replaced.

1B Kevin Youkilis went 3-for-4 at the plate with two doubles and a triple. His offensive effort was arguably eclipsed by 2B Dustin Pedroia’s clutch two-run home run, which tied the game at 7-7 in the 7th inning.

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JEWISH BASEBALL NEWS — Joke about minyans if you must, but when the 2010 Major League Baseball season debuts on Sun., Apr. 4, 10 Jewish players will be featured on league rosters.

There were some close calls. Scott Schoeneweis was released by the Milwaukee Brewers on Mar. 23, and the 36-year-old relief pitcher declined an option to play for the team’s AAA squad. But the Boston Red Sox scooped Schoeneweis up soon after, and on Apr. 2, the Sox reportedly gave him the final spot in their bullpen.

Ike Davis nearly was Jew #11 on MLB rosters. The 23-year-old first baseman had a phenomenal spring training with the New York Mets, batting .480 with three home runs and 10 RBIs in only 25 at-bats. But the team sent him down anyway, keeping him there even after starting 1B Daniel Murphy sprained his knee on Mar. 30.

— Scott Barancik

JEWISH BASEBALL NEWS — Fresh from being jettisoned by the Milwaukee Brewers, pitcher Scott Schoeneweis has signed on with the Boston Red Sox. The 36-year-old lefty was given the final spot in the team’s bullpen.

From ML B.com:

“You know, the cliché of things happening for a reason or whatever, this could turn out to be a really excellent situation,” Schoeneweis told MLB.com. “Like I said, my mom is from Newton (Mass.). I grew up going to Fenway. I’ve always pitched well there. It’s a special place. If anyone asks me what my favorite place to play is, I don’t even blink an eye — that’s what it is. I’m excited. This is exciting for me.”

Boston will be Schoeneweis’ sixth MLB team in an 11-year career, during which he has assembled a 46-and-57 record and 4.97 ERA. Schoeneweis was a starting pitcher during much of the first half of his career but became a full-time reliever in 2005 with the Toronto Blue Jays.

Schoeneweis’ signing makes him the second Jewish player on the Red Sox’s 25-man roster, after All-Star first baseman Kevin Youkilis.

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JEWISH BASEBALL NEWS — The New York Mets sent Ike Davis to their AAA squad, despite a phenomenal Spring Training that saw the 23-year-old first baseman hit .480 with three home runs and 10 RBIs in just 25 at-bats.

From the New York Post:

“We brought [Davis] into the room and let him know how impressed we were with him this spring training,” GM Omar Minaya said. “He showed us a lot of good things. He needs to go to Triple-A and get at-bats.”

Davis, the 18th pick overall in the June 2008 amateur draft, was promoted to AA ball midway through the 2009 season. He hit .309 for the Binghamton Mets (AA), with 13 home runs and 43 RBIs in 207 at-bats.

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