Sunday Notes: Saskatchewan, Siddall, Smoltz, Moore, and much more

Like many broadcasters, Joe Siddall had a playing career before picking up a mic. Uniquely, he bridged the interim years as a batting practice pitcher for the team he rooted for growing up in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Siddall now works alongside the legendary Jerry Howarth in the Toronto Blue Jays radio booth.

Windsor is across the river from Detroit, and the 47-year-old Siddall was a big Tigers fan. He attended a lot of games at old Tiger Stadium, and listened to Ernie Harwell and Paul Carey call many more. A lasting memory is being in the eighth grade and having his teacher confiscate his transistor radio. The future broadcaster was clandestinely attempting to listen to the game on opening day, in 1980.

Thirteen years later, Siddall was playing for the Expos. The first of his 24 big-league hits came in Montreal, against Frank Tanana, a former Tiger. His only home run came in 1998, wearing the uniform of his boyhood team.

“I hit it off the facade of the second deck, at Tiger Stadium,” recalled Siddall “The ball caromed back onto the field and Ken Griffey, Jr., who was playing center field, tossed it up into the stands. He had no idea it was my first career home run. The Tigers staff tried to get the baseball, but the fan didn’t want to give it up because Ken Griffey, Jr. had thrown it. After a bunch of negotiating, he finally did give it up.”

In 2000, the journeyman catcher called it a career. He and his wife had four kids, and after 13 professional seasons, mostly in the minor leagues, it was time to move on. Siddall was playing part time in Triple-A Pawtucket when he made the decision.

“I arrived at the ballpark planning to go into the manager’s office and say I was packing it in,” explained Siddall. “This was at the beginning of June. When I got there, I saw I was in the starting lineup, so I decided I’d catch one more game, and tell him after it was over.

“Toma Ohka threw a perfect game that day. There was lots of celebrating afterward, so I decided to wait. The next day, I came to the ballpark early and let them know I was going home.”

——

Andrew Albers is one of only eight players born in Saskatchewan to wear a big league uniform. The 27-year-old appeared in 10 games for the Twins in 2013, and this past Friday he took the mound for the Blue Jays. Prior to his arrival, Terry Puhl, who hails from Melville, had been the last to represent the Canadian province in MLB. He played his last game in 1991.

The SEC is a far cry from amateur baseball in the Great White North. Albers attended the University of Kentucky, where he received a hard lesson in talent-level geography. His ERA as a freshman was 5.24, and it wasn’t until his senior season that it fell below 4.75.

“As a small-town guy from Saskatchewan who’d always been pretty dominant, it was a learning experience,” admitted Albers. “I got kicked around a little bit, especially as a freshman, but they stuck with me while I went through my bumps.”

The Padres didn’t stick with Albers. San Diego drafted the southpaw in 2008, only to release him less than two years later, after he underwent Tommy John surgery. Albers spent the 2010 season with Quebec, in the independent Can-Am League, then was signed by Minnesota. On August 6, 2013, he won his major league debut, making him the first from his province to earn a W since Swift Current’s Reggie Cleveland, in 1981.

Albers wasn’t alive when Cleveland pitched that day. Had he been, it’s unlikely he’d have seen the game. His hometown of North Battleford has a population of just under 14,000, and isn’t exactly a media mecca. It was even less of one in his formative years.

“Basically, all of Canada has the Blue Jays games,” Albers told me. “That’s who I grew up watching. We used to get two channels. and CTV used to broadcast a bunch of their games. Farmer Vision is what we used to call it, because you couldn’t get cable out on the farms back in the day. We just had the two, and one had the Jays.”

Toronto now has a native of Saskatchewan on their roster. He got there in a circuitous way – his travels include a year pitching in in Korea – and against steep odds. From a baseball perspective, where he came from is a long way from everywhere.

“Area-wise, you’re looking at a place bigger than Texas,” said Albers. “It’s not a large population, about 1.1 million, but it’s a large area. I knew there hadn’t been a guy from my area – from all of Saskatchewan – in a long time, but at the same time, you always feel like you can be that exception.”

——

Things haven’t gone as planned for Scott Moore. The 31-year-old infielder/outfielder has played 152 MLB games, with three teams, over parts of five seasons. A lot more was expected. The Detroit Tigers took him eighth overall in the 2002 draft.

Moore hasn’t been in the big leagues since 2012, but he’s still active. For the second consecutive season, he’s suiting up for the Cardinals Triple-A affiliate, the Memphis Redbirds. Late in spring training, I asked him if his career has been a disappointment.

“Without a doubt, it could have been more successful as far as major league time goes,” admitted Moore. “But it’s a numbers game. There are 25 guys on the roster, and sometimes you’re the 26th player. If you look at my numbers, I don’t think you could say they’ve been bad. Could we all do a better job? Sure. For whatever reason, things just haven’t gone my way all the time.”

Moore told me he doesn’t like to dwell on what has and hasn’t happened. He said he doesn’t have any regrets, and even if he did, they wouldn’t do him any good. Rather than look back and lament, he prefers to focus on his future. As for whether he’d like to coach someday, that’s a question he’s not ready to ponder.

“I haven’t thought that far forward,” said Moore, who is well-respected in the clubhouse. “I’m just concentrating on where I’m at, and hopefully these are some successful seasons ahead of me. I wouldn’t rule it out, but I don’t know yet. Maybe I could be Waldo’s assistant?”

I’m not sure who he was referring to – maybe Tyler Waldron? – but whomever it was had just walked over to the adjoining locker from the shower. “Waldo” had a suggestion, which Moore responded to with a request.

“Yes, I do like to golf,” said Moore. “Put some pants on.”

——

Blake Swihart made his major league debut yesterday. The top prospect in the Red Sox system caught all nine innings against the Yankees, at Fenway Park. After the game, I asked New York catcher Brian McCann if it brought back memories of his own debut, with the Braves in 2005.

“Absolutely,” said McCann. “Same thing when Christian Vazquez came up last year. They’re both going to be in this game for a long time. Yeah, it brings me back. That’s 10 years ago, which is kind of crazy.”

The veteran had some kind words for the rookie rival.

“I went up to him when we were warming up the pitchers in the outfield,” said McCann. “I congratulated him. My first time up, I did it again when I got into the batter’s box. It’s great to see great young catching.”

——

Earlier this week, I asked Blue Jays hitting coach Brook Jacoby about his three-home-run game against the White Sox in 1987. His third of the day, a three-run shot in the eighth inning, gave the Indians the lead in a game they ultimately lost 14-9.

I was surprised by what the former all-star said stands out about his memorable performance.

“I made an error,” Jacoby told me. “I took my defense really seriously and I cost our pitcher a couple of runs. I was so ticked off about the error that it tarnished three home runs. We were a bunch of young, hungry players who wanted to win. Accolades were second.”

His response to my follow up – “What about the home runs themselves?” – was notable for what he doesn’t remember.

“The first two were off a lefthander,” recalled Jacoby. “I think (Floyd) Bannister was the pitcher. Then I hit one against someone else. I forget who it was. That was a long time ago.”

The first two home runs were actually off Bill Long, a righthander. The third was against Jim Winn, another righthander. A long time ago indeed.

——

Yankees hitting coach Jeff Pentland had a unique playing career. In three minor league seasons, he made 29 pitching appearances, despite not being a pitcher. Twenty of them came in 1970, when he was the primary first baseman for the Triple-A Salt Lake City Bees.

“I mopped up a lot,” explained the 68-year-old Pentland. “In other words, when we were getting beat bad, I was the position player that threw. I was with an expansion team, San Diego, and we had a lot of pitchers in Triple-A who were in A ball the year before. They got hit around a bit.”

Pentland was a decent hitter – .267/.368/.370 as a pro – and he was passable as a pitcher. In 73 innings, he had a 3.82 ERA. Based on his amateur days, he arguably should have pursued a career on the mound. A member of Arizona State University’s sports hall of fame. Pentland went 32-12, 2.25 as a Sun Devil.

“People tell me I probably should have pitched,” said Pentland. “But shoot, I never liked it, I was just good at it. I started one game in the minor leagues, in Double-A, and lost 1-0. I went all nine innings, because we didn’t have pitch counts back then.”

Pentland, who was hired by the Yankees in January, has spent four decades as a coach. Seventeen have been spent as a big league hitting coach. His biggest influence has been The Splendid Splinter.

“My (role model) was Ted Williams,” said Pentland. “I’m old enough to have watched him, and the way he swung the bat – the mechanics of his swing – were way ahead of his time. I never did get to talk to him. I wrote him some letters, trying to get a hold of him, but he didn’t respond. That’s OK.”

——

I recently wrote about how Koji Uehara was throwing his splitter close to 90% of the time (he’s currently down to 75.2%). John Smoltz was at Fenway Park on Friday, so I took the opportunity to ask if he had any similar extremes in his Hall of Fame career. It turns out he did.

“I remember pitching in the playoffs against the Reds in 1995,” said Smoltz. “They had a lot of right-handed hitters and saw a lot of sliders from me, so I threw 34 or 35 straight fastballs. The thought was to get through the early innings just attacking, and to keep them guessing, ‘When is the slider coming?’

“It worked out really well – I had a shutout going into the fifth – but the point is, I did something different. I created a different pattern. When the history of a pitcher shows he’s going to primarily throw his strikeout pitch, or sliders, they’re more apt to look for it. You can surprise them, because they’ll be thinking, ‘There’s no way he’s going to throw another fastball.’ Sometimes it works. In 2005, facing the Astros, I did the opposite. I basically threw all sliders in the first inning, then went to the fastball.”

——

Pedro, by Pedro Martinez and Michael Silverman, comes out on Tuesday. Not surprisingly, the book includes some fantastic stories. In classic Pedro fashion, many are colorful and blunt.

In November, 1993, the Dodgers – the team that originally signed him – dealt Martinez to the Expos for Delino DeShields. Two decades later, the Hall of Famer remains resentful. In an early chapter, Martinez refers to “distrustful coaches” and the club’s belief he physically wouldn’t hold up as a big-league starter. In his words, “The Dodgers gave up on me. They turned their back on me, which is why, to this day, my back is turned on them.”

In October, 2003, Red Sox manager Grady Little left Martinez in too long. He has some pointed opinions on that, and many other things, as well.

——

RANDOM FACTS AND STATS

On July 13, 1945, Pat Seerey of the Cleveland Indians hit three home runs, including a grand slam, and a triple against the New York Yankees. On July 18, 1948, playing for the Chicago White Sox, Seerey hit four home runs against the Philadelphia Athletics. Over his career, Seerey hit .224/.321/.412 with 86 home runs.

Freddie “The Flea” Patek, a 5-foot-5, 148-lb. shortstop for the Royals, hit three home runs against the Red Sox, at Fenway Park, on June 20, 1980. For his career, Patek homered 41 times in 5,530 at bats.

Through Friday, catchers have combined to steal six bases. Two of them belong to Colorado’s Mike McKenry, who prior to this season had no steals in 250 games.

Through Friday, Miami’s Justin Bour was 4 for 4 as a pinch-hitter. On the season, he had six hits in seven at bats.

Per Bill Chuck of Gammons Daily, Mookie Betts took 109 called strikes in April, the most in the majors. Pablo Sandoval chased 85 pitches out of the strike zone, also the most in the majors.