One of the constants of baseball over the years is that when it comes to crunch time and pennant races, teams take greater comfort in fringe veteran players than young players from their farm systems. That's why contending teams retread players like Garret Anderson, Miguel Cairo, Carlos Delgado and Jim Edmonds. Sometimes they work out, sometimes they don't. In the latest of a long line of retread roster moves, comes word that the Dodgers have mercifully dumped Anderson and called up Jay Gibbons. Jay Gibbons??
Yeah, it is that same one that used to play for the Orioles. Gibbons was a Rule V steal by the Orioles who hit 121 homers for them in parts of seven seasons. But then he got hurt, got suspended and admitted he used PEDs and he has not played MLB since the end of the 2007 season. Allegedly, he wrote to every team asking for a second chance and nobody wanted him. He played independent ball last year. But somehow, he got a shot by the Dodgers who signed him to a minor league deal. He responded to his Triple A assignment by batting for an .879 OPS to go along with a bunch of homers and runs driven in.
Now, in what is probably the most improbable story of the season, Gibbons is back in the majors. Unbelievable. Of course, he got a hit his first time up and drove in a run. So what do fans do when faced with an improbable story like Gibbons? Well, if they are anything like this Fan, you root like heck for them. Heaven knows why, it's just what we do.
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