welcome back... to a blast from the past

by moboiler on May 15, 2008 11:52 AM EDT

it seems like just yesterday that fernando tatis posted a .298/.404/.553 line as a 24-year-old 3rd baseman back in '99. walt jocketty looked like a genius prying the young stud (along with decent LHP darren oliver) from the rangers for the aging todd stottlemyre and the disappointing royce clayton, and rightly so. then tatis got hurt in 2000 (hamstring, wasn't it?), struggled upon his return, and was shipped off the following fall in the hermanson/kline deal, which yet again made walt jocketty look like a genius. as an expo in his age 26-28 seasons, he struggled mightily - his .259/.339/.359 line in an injury-shortened 2001 marked his best efforts in each of the slash categories in montreal. britt reames, his counterpart in that trade, also had a rough go of things up there. yikes. must be something in the water.

anyway, with the exception of an expanded-roster cup of coffee with the regretfully bad 2006 orioles, fernando hadn't seen meaningful at-bats in the major leagues since flaming out as an expo way back in '03... until now! yes, he's back! as a met, to be specific. and in his first game after being called up, he roped a pinch-hit single to right field off the nationals' john lannan. (yes, it was a rope; i happened to be watching on TV at the time.)

good to see you back in the bigs, fernando. here's to a long-overdue string of success, even if it is for the pond scum.

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Somewhere

Somewhere, Chan Ho Park is curled in the fetal position, sobbing.

by blove121 on May 15, 2008 12:17 PM EDT reply actions

I'll never forget...

that game…WOW!

by cardzfanbub on May 15, 2008 12:27 PM EDT up reply actions

man

i forgot how much he ruled in ‘99

34 homers, 100+ rbis, 21 SB, .298 AVG

wow.

by stlcardinalsfang on May 15, 2008 1:22 PM EDT reply actions

...record that might never be broken...

And with, oh say, 5 or 6 more decent pitchers with ERAs under 5.00 and Jordan still in the fold, that 99 team cudda ruled! Plus, a young pre-meltdown Ankiel threw 33 innings that year…

.....but Tatis was breathing some other kinda air in 99..

by cardschinmusic on May 16, 2008 4:57 AM EDT up reply actions

Only MLB player to hit 2 grand slams

in the same inning, right?

by ncgostl on May 15, 2008 3:00 PM EDT reply actions

yup

go cards, o's, and phillies.

...boiler up.

by moboiler on May 15, 2008 3:38 PM EDT up reply actions

Off the same pitcher no less...

That’s where the Chan No-Pitch reference came in above. Chan Ho was the poor sap who gave up the two grannies. Talk about being left out to die. That’s 8 runs in an inning on two swings of the bat, plus all of the runs scored in between. Rough night, one of many for Mr. Park.

BTW…Interesting topic. That guy was an absolute beast for one year.

"Your Holiness, I'm Joseph Medwick. I, too, used to be a Cardinal."-Joe Medwick, to Pope Pius XII.

by redbirdnation8206 on May 15, 2008 5:26 PM EDT up reply actions