Saturday, October 8, 2011

Jerry Hairston, Jr., 2002 Upper Deck Vintage #60

Tell me if you saw this coming: Jerry Hairston could be on his second World Series-winning team in three years. A deadline deal in July 2009 saw the Yankees acquire Jerry from Cincinnati to bolster their bench, and he ultimately appeared in a half-dozen postseason games. He played the final five innings of New York's Game Six Series clinching win against the Phillies. After spending 2010 with a Padres club that missed out on the playoffs, he began the 2011 season with the non-contending Nationals and received unexpected playing time at third base due to a Ryan Zimmerman injury. Once again a late-July trade sent him to a top team, as the Nats swapped him to the Brewers, who were getting zilch-and-a-half out of incumbent third baseman Casey McGehee. Jerry played 45 games for Milwaukee in the last two months of the year, finishing with perfectly acceptable overall numbers of .270/.344/.383. Now he's started all five games in the Brewers' tense NLDS win over the underdog Diamondbacks, collecting six hits (including a pair of doubles) and two walks for a line of .375/.400/.500 with three RBI. In yesterday's 10-inning, 3-2 Milwaukee win he was robbed of several runs batted in by some sparkling Arizona defense. Now Hairston and the Brew Crew will face their division rivals the Cardinals in the National League Championship Series. If the last few days of the regular season and the first round of the playoffs are any indication, it should be a lot of fun to watch.

No comments:

Post a Comment