The Perils of Poikilothermia

A week ago Ryan and I reached an historic agreement.  I’m not talking about the ELF Defense Pact divvying up first place between us — I am beginning to wonder if Ryan is ever going to keep his part of that deal.

No, we agreed that we would be happy if Leonys Martin turned into a hitter who could compile a .750 OPS over a season.

This was an historic agreement for many reasons.  First, because Martin is a Tornado.  We are not particularly Tornado fans.  But there we were, saying we would be happy if a Tornado played well.

Second, because neither of us cared much about Martin six months ago.  But then Jerry Dipoto made a slightly odd trade to get an all-glove, no hit outfielder.  And now we do care.  We don’t exactly love Leonys like God loves him, but it’s a step in that direction, isn’t it?

But the biggest reason our agreement has turned out to be historic is this:  Martin immediately transformed himself.

Last year he batted .219, .264, .313.  At the end of April he was batting .200, .288, .429 — better than any previous season’s line.  People were beginning to wonder if he’d found something, and maybe he could keep his OPS over .700.  But then he spent the first half of May going 9 for 49 with one homer and three walks, dropping his season totals to .200, .271, .365. So by the time we got to watch Martin in person in his next game, on Tuesday, May 17 in Baltimore (during the M’s 10-0 rout of the Orioles), I was beginning to doubt Martin really had turned any corners.  We talked about a .750 OPS wistfully, without much real hope.

Martin went 1 for 4 in the 10-0 blowout. The unremarkable performance barely changed his season line.  Here’s a chart of Leonys’ hitting numbers, beginning with the game where we sent him our wistful best wishes (2016 batting lines in parentheses):

Tues, May 17:  1 for 4 (.202, .271, .361)  (.632 OPS)

Wed, May 18:  1 for 4, hr.  (.203, .270, .382)

Thu, May 19:   2 for 3, hr, w (.214, .284, .413)

Fri, May 20:  2 for 2, 2b, 2 w (.227, .303, .430)

Sat, May 21: 1 for 2, hr, 2 w (.231, .315, .454)

Sun, May 22: 4 for 5  (.252, .331, .467)

Mon, May 23:  2 for 4 (.259, .335, .468)

Tue, May 24:  1 for 5, hr (.259, .337, .483) (.820 OPS)

Also, that last homer was his 9th of the season.  His previous best in a season was 8.

Also, that homer came with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, the M’s down 4 – 5, Nori Aoki on second base,  2 strikes on the batter. The blast turned a loss into a win.

Ryan Madson threw the pitch Leonys crushed.  Madson does not look happy in the video.  But I believe pretty much everyone else is happy.  I know I am happy, and Ryan Mock — who in every respect other than, possibly, the EFL Defense Pact, is a man of his word — is no doubt happy, too.  And any time someone finds the key to this much human happiness, that’s historic.