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Outside of Dodgertown
2003-03-10 08:54
One time, my Dad predicted that Marcus Allen would rush for 243 yards in a game - and got it exactly right. Best prediction of the 1980s. One time, at a bar, I bet my good friend John Egan a dollar, at 100-to-1 odds, what song the band would play next. He called "Twist and Shout" - and won the bet. Best prediction of the 1990s. I think we have a winner of the award for the 2000s. On March 4, Will Carroll wrote the following on Baseball Prospectus: Simply stated, Phil Nevin is reaching a point where injuries and an exceptionally odd career path have taken some sort of toll. Last year, Nevin suffered through two arm injuries that may or may not be connected. Nevin was initially out with a strained elbow and returned, only to break his humerus near the shoulder. The injury was initially believed to be a bruised muscle, but an MRI broke the bad news. Nevin's had a history of shoulder problems and even after his return, Nevin was clearly not at full strength. Reports coming from San Diego have Nevin still not at full strength. Add in a positional change to left field, a push past the prime years, and a history of injury, and suddenly Nevin becomes not a feared hitter, but a risky player that you don't want to build a team around. I'll either look like a genius or moron with this, but I expect Nevin to have some sort of season-ending injury in the early stages of the season. Three days later, Nevin dove for a ball, dislocated his shoulder, and will miss the entire 2003 season. Genius. The other non-Dodger comment I wanted to make was on Garret Anderson. In response to a question he often gets, about why he so rarely dives for balls, Anderson told the Bill Plaschke of the Times, "I study hitters. I have an idea of where the ball is going. I don't dive because I don't have to." The same line of thinking was attributed to Joe DiMaggio. To me, this defies credibility. The ball doesn't always go where it's supposed to. Are we to believe that every ball that Anderson has not caught landed 10 feet away from him? Are we to believe that Darin Erstad dives for balls because he has no idea where they're going to go? Look, I like Anderson. My first feature as a full-time reporter for the Daily News was a story on a hot-shooting Kennedy High School basketball player, who also had done some good stuff on the diamond, named Garret Anderson. I have fond memories of him from a long time ago. He's not all-everything, he doesn't walk much, but he has some great skills and seems like a decent guy. But I think he needs to come up with a new explanation. Or admit he's just saving himself. Because just like in boxing, everyone's got to take a dive once in a while.
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