Two Firsts

I was privy to a couple of first tonight in the Rockies 12-4 win over the Royals at Coors Field. First, Justin Huber, obtained by the Royals in July of last season from the Mets, picked up his first major league hit and RBI. He was called up on 6/21 and was hitting .332/.420/.517 with 17 doubles and 9 homeruns in the Texas League (AA). He hit a fly ball down the right field line that hit the scoreboard in the 6th inning that scored Ruben Gotay. It'll be interesting to see how Huber develops. He'll turn 23 on July 1st and although he started out as a catcher he'll likely end up at first base in the long run. I'm not sure why, once again, Allard Baird decided he needed to play in the majors and start his service time clock running but he's here now. There must be something that Allard doesn't like about Omaha...

Also tonight I saw Jimmy Gobble strike out the side in the 6th inning. He was topping out at 90mph but was very aggressive in the inning getting Atkins, Helton, and Wilson in order. That was the first time Gobble had struck out the side in his major league career. It's surprising because he has such a low career strikeout rate - just 81 Ks in 201.7 career innings coming into tonight. I wrote last year about how pitchers with such low strikeout rates don't generally have long careers. In one game I scored last year Gobble did not have one swinging strike in 5+ innings of work. That may be a record as well. It would have been nice if the Royals could have unloaded Gobble last season but who knows, maybe he'll look decent in a long relief role and that will generate some value that Royals can trade on.