ANGELS NOTEBOOK: ECKSTEIN CUTTING A HIT RECORD, IN A WAY.Byline: Joe Haakenson Staff Writer KANSAS CITY Kansas City, two adjacent cities of the same name, one (1990 pop. 149,767), seat of Wyandotte co., NE Kansas (inc. 1859), the other (1990 pop. 435,146), Clay, Jackson, and Platte counties, NW Mo. (inc. 1850). , Mo. - Shortstop David Eckstein David Mark Eckstein, (born January 20, 1975 in Sanford, Florida), is a Major League Baseball shortstop for the St. Louis Cardinals. He is noted for his size, as he is a small (for professional sports) 5' 7", but weighs 175 pounds. has been hit by a pitch 16 times this season, one short of the American League American League (AL) One of the two associations of professional baseball teams in the U.S. and Canada designated as major leagues; the other is the National League (NL). rookie record of 17 held by Detroit's Heinie Manush  Henry Emmett Manush (July 20 1901 - May 12 1971), nicknamed Heinie , set in 1922.
Eckstein, who joked he would celebrate by icing if he broke the record, said it would be something in which he could take pride, just like any other record. ``I guess it would be nice,'' he said. ``That's my job, getting on base.'' Eckstein said he holds the school record at the University of Florida University of Florida is the third-largest university in the United States, with 50,912 students (as of Fall 2006) and has the eighth-largest budget (nearly $1.9 billion per year). UF is home to 16 colleges and more than 150 research centers and institutes. for getting hit by pitches, but he doesn't wear padding on his front forearm or elbow like many players do. ``I hate putting anything extra on my body,'' he said. ``I tried wearing padding one time but it feels like it slows my arm down.'' Eckstein also is approaching Angels' rookie records in batting average batting average n. Baseball A measure of a batter's performance obtained by dividing the total of base hits by the number of times at bat, not including walks. Noun 1. and hits. He is hitting .298 and has 142 hits; the rookie records are .290 and 172, both set by Wally Joyner ``It's something that would be nice but to tell you the truth, it's not about batting average, it's about helping the team win,'' Eckstein said. ``It's something everybody in the organization stressed ever since I've been here, on-base percentage is put over batting average.'' --Anderson sits: Garret Anderson Garret Joseph Anderson (born June 30, 1972 in Los Angeles, California) is a Major League Baseball left fielder who has played his entire career for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. flew home to Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, after Tuesday's game to attend to a family matter, then returned to Kansas City just before to the start of Wednesday's game. However, he did not play for the first time this season, missing a chance to become the first Angel to play in all 162 games since Don Baylor Scioscia said he would have used Anderson in the ninth inning if the Angels would have put two runners on base, making Anderson the potential tying run. But it didn't happen, even though Anderson said he could have played. ``Over the course of a season there are some days you're going to play when you're tired,'' Anderson said. ``It's not my decision why I didn't play. That's not to put anything on Mike. It's not a big deal.'' Anderson said the family matter has been taken care of and it won't be a distraction. ``I keep the family business at home and keep the baseball business here,'' he said. ``It can be (difficult to separate the two). You're only human. Things affect you to a degree but in this particular instance it's not going to affect me.'' --Lineup shuffle: With Anderson out of the lineup, Scioscia shuffled the batting order, moving Tim Salmon to the No. 2 spot for the second time this season and the second time in his career. Darin Erstad hit third and Troy Glaus hit fourth. Scioscia said Salmon hitting second was a consideration with or without Anderson in the lineup. Salmon went into the game hitless in his previous 18 at-bats, his average dipping to .218. But Scioscia thought Salmon was a good candidate to hit second because his on-base percentage is .357, second best on the team. ANGELS vs. KANSAS CITY Time: 5:05 p.m., at Kauffman Stadium. TV/Radio: Ch. 9; 570-AM, 1090-AM (Spanish). Matchup: Jarrod Washburn (11-6, 3.51 ERA) will start for Anaheim against Kansas City's Chad Durbin (7-13, 4.64). Washburn will try to keep the Angels from being swept in a series for the first time since the Mariners took three in Anaheim June 29-July 1. The Angels have been swept a total of four times this season, the three other times on the road in Seattle (four games), Baltimore (two games) and San Francisco (three games). - Joe Haakenson CAPTION(S): box Box: ANGELS vs. KANSAS CITY (see text) |
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