Toronto’s Frank Thomas figured out what was wrong with his swing: a bad helmet.
A notoriously slow starter, Thomas struggled at the plate this spring and decided his helmet was to blame, demanding a new one from Toronto’s equipment manager.
“I had that same helmet all spring and it didn’t work out,” Thomas said. “I had to get rid of it.”
Thomas went two for four with a two-run homer after switching batting helmets before Saturday’s game.
Yeah, that’s too bad
As Newman once noted on “Seinfeld:” “There’s karma, Kramer.”
Baseball fans may not believe in karma, but take note that the top three AL teams in payroll stand 5-11 on the young season.
Boston (No. 3) is 3-3 and the Yankees (No. 1) are 2-3. Detroit (No. 2) is even worse, falling to 0-5 with a 5-3 loss to the White Sox.
In that game, Detroit’s Dontrelle Willis gave up only one hit but walked seven in five-plus innings. The last time the Tigers were 0-5 was in 2003, when it opened 0-9 en route to an AL-record 119 losses.
“We’re a good ballclub. When I was here early, early in my career, those teams had to battle to just win a game,” said Brandon Inge, who was on the 2003 team. “This team isn’t like that.”
Money well spent
The Cubs won the Kosuke Fukudome sweepstakes (yeah, there was one) during the offseason by giving the Japanese star a four-year, $48 million contract. He’s been worth every penny.
Fukudome hit a tiebreaking two-run double in the seventh inning of a 9-7 win over the Astros. Fukudome is now eight for 16 with five RBIs.
“Oh man, that’s a good looking ballplayer right there. Doing everything for us, getting huge hits, having great at-bats. I get the luxury from watching it from the best seat in the house,” said Mark DeRosa, who bats behind Fukudome.
Upon further review …
An apparent inning-ending double play turned into a run-scoring single for the Mets in an 11-5 loss to Atlanta. The umpires initially ruled Jose Reyes hit into a fly ball double play with the bases loaded in the fifth. Replays showed center fielder Mark Kotsay dove and trapped the ball.
On the play, baserunner Angel Pagan rounded third and ran past Ryan Church, who stayed near the third-base bag when he saw umpire Bruce Dreckman make the initial out call.
The umpires conferred and overruled the call, awarding Reyes a run-scoring single.
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