|
"I was never really a power hitter," are words David Castle will not be able to say again with adding to the end, "before June 29, 2013." Castle hit 8 HR on the weekend to bring him to 10 on the season, tied for third in the league. It began to seem as if the fourth of July came a couple days early on Sunday, as nearly every time he took a swing the ball was launched skyward over the left or center field fence. In fact, David's final three at-bats on Sunday were all home runs. "Jesus, Eureka! Do you do anything else?" rang out from the Balls dugout at one point. The answer: yes, he does. While putting on this early fireworks display, David hit .370, slugged 1.259, had 13 RBI, 11 RS, and added one stolen base to his now league leading 17. On the mound he went 2-0 with a 2.22 ERA in 9 innings - 4 of which came in relief. The comparison that may best showcase the weekend Castle had is this: He allowed 4 runs, more than tripled that in runs batted in, and doubled that with times he scored while standing in the batter's box. Beast mode.
|
|
Nicco had a bit of everything going this week: lucky mushrooms, stories about fantastic defensive alignments, a story about standing and watching a "no-doubt" home run off his bat that hit the top of the fence to cheer his teammate up after doing the same, nearly getting a perfect-game throwing pitcher killed while distracting him behind home plate, a giant welt complete with Wiffle holes... That is a five-tool player! What really stands out on the week, though, are Nicco's bat flips, tosses, and smashes. One of the more impressive whips went end-over-end a dozen or so times as it ran the 40 yard dash; no one had a clock on it, but we estimate it challenged Chris Johnson's time of 4.24. The ultimate (literally, for the bat pictured) bat smash came after another swing-and-miss K on an inside pitch in game two. Lollio whirled around, drove the bat head straight into the ground, and split it straight across the seam over the top. Luckily for Nicco, it was not his beloved, skunk-striped "boom stick."
|
