[外電] It's a night of firsts for Wieters
http://tinyurl.com/ntb6ne
It's a night of firsts for Wieters
Orioles catcher nets first homer, RBI, curtain call
By Brian Eller / MLB.com / 06/17/09 11:12 PM ET
BALTIMORE -- As he sat in the Orioles' dugout in the second inning on
Wednesday, Matt Wieters' teammates began to pester him.
They were all instructing the rookie to do the same thing -- "Go out there."
"There" was the top step of the Orioles' dugout. And with more than 30,000
fans still roaring from Wieters' first career home run, it was clear the
crowd wasn't done congratulating him without a curtain call.
Seconds later, a gracious and somewhat timid Wieters moseyed out of the
dugout, helmet raised in the air, sending the already-raucous crowd into an
even bigger frenzy.
After 13 games and 49 appearances at the plate, Wieters had done what so many
Orioles fans had been waiting for.
In the bottom of the second, Wieters blasted his first career home run -- a
lofted two-run shot to left field -- and earned his first two RBIs, putting
the Orioles ahead, 3-1, and checking off two items on his to-do list.
"It's a good feeling," Wieters said after the O's defeated the Mets, 6-4. "A
good feeling first to get that zero out of the RBI column. To be able to give
us a lead early is a good feeling, for sure."
The 366-foot shot was Wieters' first home run in 47 career at-bats. He took a
first-pitch offering from Mets starter Tim Redding to left, where the ball
hung in the air, allowing left fielder Fernando Martinez to back up against
the wall to try to make the catch.
The ball had just enough to fall into the first row of the stands, allowing
Wieters to keep jogging around the bases, and head in for his fifth run of
the season.
"Home runs are accidents," Wieters said. "Home runs are doubles that sort of
carry farther. I hit the ball well and was able to get it to carry over the
fence for me."
After the curtain call, the crowd simmered down, only to give Wieters a
standing ovation when he came to bat in the fourth inning. Wieters finished
the game 1-for-3 with a walk, but he helped the Orioles defeat the Mets.
Wieters' debut in the Major Leagues had been arguably the most highly
anticipated for a position player since Cal Ripken Jr. in 1981. Twenty-seven
years ago, Ripken hit his first career home run against Kansas City, also a
two-run shot in the bottom of the second inning.
The home run for Wieters was one of three in Wednesday's game, and two hit by
the Orioles. Aubrey Huff, who had struggled at the plate over the past few
series, broke a seventh-inning tie by blasting his ninth home run of the
season onto the flag court.
After the game, Huff admitted it was good to see Wieters get the home run,
but what was more important was to see the offense begin to find some luck at
the plate.
"You can look at the whole team," Huff said. "We've all been struggling. I
think everybody came in here and expected so much out of [Wieters]. I'm sure
it's been a grind for him as far as all the hype that's been going on. Get
that one out of the way, go out there, relax and play baseball now."
Orioles center fielder Adam Jones, who appears to be the team's official pie
distributor, made sure Wieters didn't get away without receiving one last
congratulatory gesture -- a pie in the face.
"Anytime you can get a shaving cream face," Wieters said, "that means you won
a ballgame. It's always an honor to get one of those things, and I'll take as
many of those as they want to give me."
--
※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc)
◆ From: 61.217.32.108
Orioles 近期熱門文章
PTT體育區 即時熱門文章