BASEBALL HUMORNotes and quotes about 15-minutes of baseball fame for a Reds player
.
The Big Red Machinist:
.
It takes a special mystery pitcher to make Josh Wilson the second most historic pitchin' magician of the year. But here's to Reds infielder Paul Janish. His two trips to the mound this year have definitely kept those scoreboard operators awake.
.
• May 6 vs. Milwaukee: 1 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 1 HR (to Prince Fielder).
• July 6 vs. Philadelphia: 1 IP, 4 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, 1 grand slam (to Jayson Werth).
.
Janish's claims to fame: He's the first position player to give up 11 runs in the same season since the aforementioned Willie Smith did it 45 years ago -- except it took Willie 11 appearances.
.
And Janish was the first position player to give up five runs or more in two different outings in the same season, according to Elias, since Johnny Lindell (another pitcher-utility man) did it in 1953 -- but over 32 appearances, not two.
.
----------------------
.
The Janish Quip Book
.
Being the magnanimous guy he is, Janish was cool enough to review his pitching exploits with Half-Year in Review.
.
On roaring into the books alongside Johnny Lindell:
"You know, records are made to be broken. And I'm definitely breaking records. They're just the wrong damn records."
.
On his picturesque delivery (as a former college closer):
"Yeah, it's smooth, all right. But apparently, 88-89 [mph] on a string is not going to work."
.
On his ERA (45.00 after his first outing, 49.50 after his second):
"When I came in there, I figured, well, the good thing is, at least I'll bring my ERA down. It started at 45.00, so it would be tough to go up -- but I found a way."
.
On whether he thought he could now pitch 31 straight shutout innings and get his ERA down into the 3.00s:
"I think I'm out of luck. … What I really need to do is talk to my agent to see if we can bring this up in arbitration: multi-faceted player."
.
On his proudest achievement as a pitcher:
"Well, I did get a standing O in Philly. And not many visiting players can say that."
.
====================
Image: wharf.co.uk
