rick ankiel, the head case pitcher who lost his mind, and turned a promising career into an inability to throw near the catcher, has really resurrected the living **** out of his career as an outfielder. a 3 run homer in his first game as a position player, and now two more tonight. what an athlete this guy is. he might become a star as a 27 year old rookie outfielder after being a rising star pitcher and and then falling apart. amazing. this is how ankiel fared in his appearance in the 2000 playoffs: Ankiel threw a wild pitch (Maddux to second); Ankiel threw a wild pitch (Maddux to third); A. Jones walked; Ankiel threw a wild pitch (A. Jones to 2nd); C. Jones was called out on strikes; Galarraga walked (Maddux scored on wild pitch by Ankiel; A. Jones to 3rd); Jordan singled to Lankford (A. Jones scored, Galarraga to 2nd); Ankiel threw a wild pitch (Galarraga to 3rd, Jordan to 2nd); Sanders walked; Weiss singled to Lankford (Galarraga scored, Jordan scored, Sanders to 2nd) that is as serious a meltdown as you can ever hope to see in a sporting event.
Unfreakinbelievable. This reminds me of when Aaron Brooks rushed for 208 yards and caught 2 TD passes to help the Cleveland Browns win the Super Bowl.
I was able to watch the game yesterday and it was quite an impressive display of baseball skills by Ankiel. Not only did he have the two homers but he had an incredible catch in the game too. He's been able to step right in and basically be great in every aspect of the game. His story is special in other ways too. He's had some extreme family issues with his father. It really does make ya feel good to see Rick have success. It's odd but within just a few days the whole attitude of the team and our fans has changed. Not thinking playoffs, but it sure would be nice to finish the year with a winning record. Then again, it's not like the Brewers are perennial division champs. As for the Cubs, we all know they can choke at the end of a season. The sad part though is that it's taken several months of baseball for Cardinals fans to have anything to get fired up about.
just been a down year for the cards. happens when pujols looks almost human. ankiel is a great story and should be a solid outfielder but his plate discipline is horrendous. 86k's to 24 BB is going to be his downfall once pitchers throw him more breaking stuff. his obp was like .317 or so @ memphis which is terrible. so he will be all or nothing i suppose. strikeout 2 times a game and a bomb every few. kinda like jack cust for the A's. both are 28 year old sluggers in their power primes though relatively new to the majors as hitters.
The Ankiel story is one of the best sports stories I can recall. What an incredible comeback for this guy. I'm not a Cards fan, but will root for him.
ankiel reminds me of that that dude who used to compete with tiger woods all the time, what was that guy's name? he fell off the planet and lost it. other good headcases: zack greinke, chuck knoblauch, mark wohlers. it must be terrifying to have a skill that you worked on for your entire life, that could earn you millions and millions, and it just goes. all of a sudden you cant toss a ball from 2b to first, you cant putt, you cant throw a fastball to the catcher, whatever. after being the justin verlander of 2000, ankiel was so bad, he went to triple a, and check out this line: In 4.1 innings, Ankiel walked 17 batters and threw 12 wild pitches 12 wild pitches in 4 innings! 12! that is just incredible. you have a professional catcher, that spent his whole life perfecting his ability to stop pitches, and you manage to wildly fling it past him 12 times in 4 innings, that is talent.
Considering all that this guy has had to deal with, I wouldn't bet against him or be surprised by anything he accomplishes. Saw him earlier this year playing for Memphis. Dude can swing a bat. Great baseball story.
It happened to me in high school. It came out the blue one game while pitching. Hit 3 batters the first inning and threw more to the backstop than to the catcher. Didn't make it out of the first inning. Finished the season at first base, then gave up the game. To this day I can't accurately throw a baseball from 10 feet away. Funny thing is I have no problems tossing a football accurately from short distances. Fortunately, I wasn't very good and it didn't cost me millions. But talk about embarrassing playing catch with my son back in the day.
i had one of those knoblach moments, too. three throws from 3rd to 1st over the fence in one game. all in the mind, obviously. my coach's solution was to close my eyes during the throwing motion and open them real quick to find the target again. that way you dont have time to think about the throw. it worked for the next game and then i didnt have the problem anymore.
