ST. LOUIS (AP) – Rick Ankiel’s left arm, strong enough to get him to the major leagues as a pitcher at age 19, has lost none of its zip now that he’s in the outfield.
Just like the bad old days, he doesn’t always know where the ball is going.
The center fielder’s attempt to nail Kaz Matsui at the plate on Carlos Lee’s first-inning single Tuesday night ricocheted off the screen behind home plate.
It was a flashback to the 2000 playoffs, Ankiel’s rookie year, when he uncorked five wild pitches in one meltdown inning and then nearly struck the New York Mets’ mascot while warming up for a relief appearance. It was a meltdown that ultimately led to his radical position switch in 2005 and his triumphant return to the majors last summer.
Manager Tony La Russa said the ball slipped out of Ankiel’s hands, although it certainly traveled a long way off a loose grip. Ankiel, more realistically, blamed the throw on a “bad transfer.”
“Sometimes, you know, when that happens you can make up for it and you’re able to come up with a good throw,” Ankiel said. “The footwork was already there and I didn’t have a grip on it.
“I tried to make the throw anyway, but it just didn’t happen.”
Earlier this month in Colorado, Ankiel made a pair of dazzling throws to throw out unsuspecting baserunners in the same game, each time airmailing it to third baseman Troy Glaus’ glove from the warning track. First he caught Willy Taveras trying to tag up from second on a fly out and the real stunner was cutting down Omar Quintanilla going for a triple with a cannon from the warning track.
That evening, they were the Nos. 1 and 2 highlights on SportsCenter.
So manager La Russa is not about to put a leash on Ankiel, in his first full year as the starting center fielder. The error on the wild throw was only his second of the season.
“He just lost the ball,” La Russa said. “He’s been aggressive and we like his aggressiveness. It’s something that makes no sense when you call him on it.
“You don’t want him to go out there and be afraid to make a mistake.”
Ankiel had a second ill-advised throw, contributing an unearned run to a four-run first in Houston’s 8-2 victory. He was on-line and again reached Glaus on the fly at third, just like the assists earlier in the month.
But he was late trying to catch Michael Bourn going for third on a flyout.
“I felt like I got back on it good and was coming in good enough that I had a shot,” Ankiel said. “But his speed is overwhelming, and just no chance there.”
The runner at first, Matsui, also moved up a base on the play.
La Russa said if the runner isn’t Bourn, who leads the major leagues with 23 steals, he’s another highlight out to add to Ankiel’s collection. But in this case, La Russa admitted, “actually, it’s not the smartest throw.”
If Ankiel’s rapid transition is any indication, there’ll be less of that as time goes by. In the field he’s fast enough and athletic enough to outrun occasionally taking the wrong angle on balls. He just missed his ninth homer with a drive off the top of the left-field fence on Tuesday, has seven go-ahead hits and batted cleanup 20 times.
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