Felix Pie hit for the cycle against the Angels last night--the heroic way, saving the triple for last. For the Orioles, the cycle till recently was a rare and rarefied feat, for Hall of Famers only: Brooks did it in 1960 and Cal did it in 1984, and that was that.
The list of Orioles with cycles to their credit got a lot less illustrious in 2007, when Aubrey Huff got one (also against the Angels). Now Pie has caught up with Huff--in more ways than one:
AVE / OBP / SLG
.254 / .312 / .394
.257 / .323 / .411
Neither stat line is good. But the first line belongs to a 24-year-old part-time outfielder making $410,000 this year. The second line belongs to a 32-year-old full-time first baseman making $8,000,000.
Felix Pie has been having a difficult year. Nolan Reimold, with his keen batting eye and his instant production, has seized the starting left-field job and knocked Pie down to the fourth-outfielder spot, as both of them deserve.
Aubrey Huff, meanwhile, has been hitting cleanup. Or rather, not-hitting cleanup. That .734 OPS sits at the heart of the lineup--or, more accurately, in its lungs, like a sucking chest wound, as the Orioles gurgle their way to a deep-last-place finish.
Fans would burn down the Warehouse if Felix Pie were being stuck out there in the lineup as the cleanup hitter day after day. Well, guess what? He is.
