Mr Hitter

Among the former ballplayers I enjoy checking in on occasionally on twitter are Fergie Jenkins and Rod Carew.  Reading seven time batting champ Carew's feed yesterday I was reminded of a game in Fenway in which Rod got three hits and made it look easy.

What I remembered

Mike Torrez was the starting pitcher for the Red Sox

Rod Carew was with the Angels

Carew had three line drive hits and made one out on a hard hit liner

It was a night game

With the assistance of Baseball-reference.com I was able to find the game, which took place on September 3, 1980.  I was working in Cambridge at the time and decided that afternoon to head over to Fenway after work to see the game.  Only needing one ticket allowed me to score a seat perhaps 10-15 rows behind home plate - plenty of seats were available, attendance was only 22,340.

Carew had a relaxed stance in which he leaned back in a crouch (he began crouching because it was the only way he could handle Nolan Ryan's fastball). His batting stroke was level and smooth and looked the same in all his at bats.  He always looked calm and under control.

Here's what Rod did that night (I include the description of the at bat from Baseball-reference):

1st - Hit a 2-run homer to "deep RF" off Mike Torrez.  I remember it as a line shot that did not seem to elevate a lot.

4th - "Lineout CF".

5th - "Single LF" driving in his third run of the game.  Another line shot which I remember as going to Left-Center.

8th - "Single CF".  Another line shot.

The Angels won the game easily, 7-2 and it only took 2:38 to play.

Read a ESPN article explaining Carew's batting brilliance.