Jody Gerut… the latest player to hit for the cycle that I will forget about

Jody Gerut had the game of his life last night in Phoenix as the Brewers outfielder hit for the cycle, going 4-6 with 4 RBI in Milwaukee’s 13-3 win against the Snakes.

Good for him.

And I guarantee I will forget that he did that in a week or so.

How do I know this?

Because last August I wrote a post about how I never seem to remember who hits for the cycle unlike no hitters which I tend to remember.

I made a joke in the post about Felix Pie hitting for the cycle.
I wrote “I do know this: In 3 years I will be saying “Felix Pie hit for the cycle? Really? Why don’t I remember that?“

Well guess what? I re-read my Hitting for the Cycle post after hearing Jody Gerut did it last night. And when I saw Felix Pie’s picture I thought “Felix Pie hit for the cycle? Really? Why don’t I remember that?”

That was only 9 months later.

Congrats Jody.
Just remind me that that you hit for the cycle next time I see you.

I call to the stand… DODGERS OWNER FRANK McCOURT

Remember when Frank McCourt had the stones to say the divorce is not affecting the team?

Not to use legalese because no doubt he is hearing a LOT of that these days…
But to refute that, all I have to do is point to two games being played in the National League last night.

EXHIBIT A: Randy Wolf

In 2009 he leads the NL with 34 starts, gives the Dodgers 214 innings and an ERA of 3.23.

The Dodgers desperately need pitching depth going into 2010.
Wolf is not even OFFERED a contract and he signs with Milwaukee. (Because usually big markets like Milwaukee can out bid tiny media markets like Los Angeles.)

Last night Wolf beat Arizona, throwing 6 innings and 3 runs. It was a blowout game, so two relievers got in some work. He ERA rose to a still respectable 3.95.

EXHIBIT B: Charlie Haeger

The Dodgers starting pitcher went into last night’s game with eye popping stats… eye poppingly horrible.

The knuckleballer took an 0-3 record with a 6.56 ERA to Chavez Ravine to take on division rival Colorado. He had started 3 of the Dodgers most lopsided losses of the year. But he’s a knuckleballer! You live by them and you die by them!

Well tonight was more death.
He faced 5 batters.
All 5 reached.
All 5 scored.
He didn’t retire a batter.

As a starter he threw 0 innings. Usually I hate it when someone says “I could have pitched better than that” but in this case, how could I have pitched WORSE?

And when Joe Torre realized that not only was he down 6 runs before his team came to bat but that he was dipping into his bullpen for 9 innings, I wonder if he glanced over and saw what was happening with the Brewers and the nice start they got from Wolf.

Halladay, Lackey and Lee all changed uniforms this past off season and the Dodger front office is making moves that remove the Randy Wolfs of the world from the team and puts in the Charlie Haegers… on a team that made the NLCS each of the last 2 seasons.

Would a team, especially the biggest team in the second biggest media market in the country, make personel decisions like that if the owners weren’t involved in a divorce that makes the Tiger/Elin situation look like an amicable split?

Your honor… I rest my case.

Sully Baseball Salutes Cliff Dapper

In my post for Ernie Harwell that I wrote earlier this week, I brought up the fact that Harwell’s broadcasting contract was traded to the Dodgers for backup catcher Cliff Dapper.

I made a little joke about how Dapper never made it back to the show.
But there are no idle thoughts on the internet and I wanted to see Dapper’s stats in the big leagues.

So naturally I looked up his page on Baseball Reference, the greatest website in the world.

The guy played in 8 big league games for the Dodgers in 1942. He got 8 hits including a homer and a double. He drove in 9 runs in those 8 games and batted .471 with an OPS of 1.232.

He was supposed to fill in for Mickey Owen and was ultimately sent down to the minors.

He was 22 years old in 1942 and most fit 22 year old men didn’t stick around Brooklyn then. He served three years in the Pacific Theater and made back alive.

He never played in the bigs again. He made it all the way to Montreal, the Dodgers top farm club, when his contract was traded to the Atlanta Crackers minor league team in exchange for their announcer Ernie Harwell.

What an 8 games those were. It’s hard to believe that with so many top players enlisting into the service that year that Dodgers manager Leo Durocher couldn’t find a little bit of playing time for a kid who came out of the gate swinging.

Alas, he didn’t.
But any man who made the best of his big league cup of coffee and went on to defend our country and then be traded for a Hall of Famer is worth at least a salute on line.

Somewhere Cliff Dapper is still alive. If any of you know him, drop me an e mail at info@sullybaseball.com