Short Porch

Friday, August 17, 2007

Short Porch
Currently Listening
Jane's Addiction
By Jane's Addiction
see related
With all they Hype over Erik Lis' recent home run streak (7 in the last 11 games) one fact is not generally mentioned in the news articles. He's hitting in smaller parks.
Miracle catcher Allan De San Miguel mentioned that little bit about Legends' field yesterday. "Dirty" is on the DL, having broken his pinky finger. He had surgery to have it pinned. He was not wearing a brace when I saw him.
"Aren't you supposed to be..."
"Shhhhh," he says, looking around. "I wear it at night when I sleep. I don't really need it now."
Granted, it's not the most comportable thing in the world. In any case, we got to talking about the current Miracle win streak, naturally.
I said the Miracle were good, as long as Lis kept hitting home runs to which Dirty replied that Tampa is a good place to do it in.
"It's a 312 shot down the line." I had not remembered that little fact. He goes on to tell me it's built to the exact dimensions of Yankees Stadium in New York. Only they don't have as much seating. He'd know. Dirty is a real smart kid.
He could be a rocket scientist, if he wasn't busy being the best defensive catcher in the Twins organization.
So, okay, I looked the stats for this last streak.
Daytona (RF 325)
Erik Lis homers (10) on a fly ball to right center field.
Erik Lis homers (11) on a fly ball to right field.
Erik Lis homers (12) on a fly ball to right field.
What's interesting is the short porch in Jackie Robinson is left field (317 feet), but Lis hardly ever hits out to left.
Tampa (RF 314)
Erik Lis homers (13) on a fly ball to right field.
Erik Lis homers (14) on a fly ball to right field.
Erik Lis homers (15) on a fly ball to right field.
Erik Lis homers (16) on a fly ball to right field.
I'm not sure I wanted to look up all of them for the season, but curiousity got the better of me:
April 13 at Fort Myers (404) Erik Lis homers (1) on a fly ball to center field.
April 20 at Tampa (314) Erik Lis homers (2) on a fly ball to right field.
May 18 at Tampa (314) Erik Lis homers (3) on a fly ball to right field.
June 4 at Jupiter (325) Erik Lis homers (4) on a fly ball to right field.
June 6 at Fort Myers (330) Erik Lis homers (5) on a fly ball to right field.
June 14 at Fort Myers (330) Erik Lis homers (6) on a line drive to right field.
July 6 at Dunedin (325) Erik Lis homers (7) on a fly ball to right field.
July 16 at Vero Beach (340R/300C) Erik Lis homers (8) on a fly ball to center field.
July 27 at Fort Myers (330) Erik Lis homers (9) on a fly ball to right field.
He likes those right field walls, doesn't he? Unless of course center field is a shorter reach.
I also said it was kind of funny, because at the beginning of the month, the guy hit 4-in-21 and could contact hardly anything.
"It's always streaky like that," Dirty says. "You get one and it gets your confidence going and they all come after that."
And of course, playing in short parks doesn't hurt either. It will be intersting to see how he fairs in the much larger Joker Marchant Field tonight.
Which is not to diminish his accomplishment in any way. Dirty, for example, has only hit 5 home runs in his career, and none of them were at Tampa.
As for how Dirty is doing otherwise. He saved off his mustache as you can see.
"Delaney says you're a whimp," I inform him.
"Oh, Delaney," he says, brushing it off. "It was time for a change, I had the thing long enough."
"About the only ones left are him and Hawes." I think about this for a moment. "And Aselton."
"And Kevin," he says.
"No, Bolesy shaved his off. Said it was too hot on Florida." Boles is a whimp, but that's neither here nor there. "We call Delaney and Hawes the Bobbsy Twins, they're always together."
"Well, they live together," Dirty tells me. That's even scarier. You'd think they'd want to get away from each other once in a while.
Meanwhile Liam still has his, but still can't get the piece in the middle. "I have a black sharpie," I offer. "You can draw it in."
He says no, he'd look too much like Hitler if the did that. Foxy kind of looks like Hitler on the mound with the mustache.
"It kind of fades out on the sides," Liam says of Fox's mustache.
"And it's darker in the middle," I agree.
"Do you still have your blog," Dirty asks.
"Yeah, well...I do the Miracle one and the GCL one daily, and I try to keep up with the regular one when I can."
"It keeps you busy." So do little Aussie catchers on the DL.
"My goal is to have the parents rue the day their son's move to Elizabethton, because the coverage won't be as good."
He rolls his eyes.
"The photos are better here," I offer.
"I wouldn't know, I never played in Elizabethton."
"I know, and the girls will never let me forget it either. It's not my fault you were too good for them."
I'd much rather have Dirty catch for us than sit on the DL though. Still it's nice to see him, either way.
At this point there is no indication that Hurricane Dean is headed to SW Florida. However, we should start seeing some weather from it by Monday, just in time to mess with the 3 game homestand against Dunedin. Hopefully it will NOT mess up the sunday's games as well. I'm quickly running out of baseball. I really hate this time of year.
I need to go to Rainbow Records today after work and pick up the new Chevelle CD.