My apologies to "The Hawk"

During a drunken Twins discussion this past weekend with a couple Minnesota sports fans, former Twin LaTroy Hawkins name came up as it is bound to do around 12:30 on a Saturday night. For some reason I had it stuck in my mind that LaTroy was an underachiever who never developed into either the starting pitcher or the closer we wanted him to be and was a waste during his years on our roster. My colleagues argued that while he never became what we had envisioned (still amazes me that Eddie "can you believe I am now in the Ranger's bullpen" Guardado stole the closers role from him) he actually was a dominant set-up guy in 2002 and 2003 to the point that Cubs fans were mocking us for letting him go so easily. In a haze of cheap booze I tabled the discussion until further review (i.e. when I get to work on Monday so I can look at LaTroy's numbers and blog about it) and it looks like I was wrong.

While Hawkins' 56 and 76 record and 4.68 ERA over 14 seasons in the majors (9 with your Minnesota Twins) is rather pedestrian, it really is how he evolved into a steady middle reliever that legitimizes his career with the Twinkies and in MLB. His early years with the Twins were spent trying to break into the rotation were futile at best - from 1997 - 1999 he started 86 games going 23 and 40 and posted a 5.91 ERA. When Hawk was moved to the bullpen, he fared much better; from 2000 - 2003 he pitched 295 innings and his ERA dropped to 3.11. Those years were highlighted by his 2.13 ERA in 2002 and in 2003 his ERA dropped to 1.86 and he struck out 75 batters in just 77 and 1/3 innings. This is where the argument of my drunken friends on Saturday night caught up with me. I remembered the "starting pitcher" LaTroy not the "set up man" LaTroy. So to you LaTroy No Middle Name Found During My Research Hawkins I apologize, you weren't as crappy as I thought you were.

As we know, LaTroy went to the Cubs in 2004 and was consistenly booed during his tenure with the Northsiders. Granted, he did blow 9 saves when he played for them 2 of which came in September and crushed their Wild Card chances (oh Cubs fans will you never learn, it's your fault the team keeps losing.) However over the 98 games in a Cubs uni his ERA was a respectible 2.76.

Just two items of note that I found about LaTroy on Wikipedia (America's Encyclopedia):

1. "On July 8, 2007, Hawkins was the only Colorado player to help the groundskeepers and the entire Philadelphia ballclub with the tarp during a heavy storm in Denver."

This is why I love Wikipedia. Makes all the other Colorado players sound like douchebags (which is probably true.)

2. Now with the Yankees "He is the first player since outfielder Paul O'Neill to wear the jersey number 21 for the Yankees. However, after returning from a road trip on April 16, he changed his number to 22 in response to the fans' booing, yelling, and calling O'Neill's name when he took the field."

Reason #4,132 why I hate the Yankees and their fans