Miracle catcher Allan De San Miguel mentioned that little bit about Legends' field yesterday. "Dirty" is on the DL, having broken his pinky finger. He had surgery to have it pinned. He was not wearing a brace when I saw him.
"Aren't you supposed to be..."
"Shhhhh," he says, looking around. "I wear it at night when I sleep. I don't really need it now."
Granted, it's not the most comportable thing in the world. In any case, we got to talking about the current Miracle win streak, naturally.
I said the Miracle were good, as long as Lis kept hitting home runs to which Dirty replied that Tampa is a good place to do it in.
"It's a 312 shot down the line." I had not remembered that little fact. He goes on to tell me it's built to the exact dimensions of Yankees Stadium in New York. Only they don't have as much seating. He'd know. Dirty is a real smart kid.
He could be a rocket scientist, if he wasn't busy being the best defensive catcher in the Twins organization.
So, okay, I looked the stats for this last streak.
Daytona (RF 325)
Erik Lis homers (10) on a fly ball to right center field.
Erik Lis homers (11) on a fly ball to right field.
Erik Lis homers (12) on a fly ball to right field.
What's interesting is the short porch in Jackie Robinson is left field (317 feet), but Lis hardly ever hits out to left.
Tampa (RF 314)
Erik Lis homers (13) on a fly ball to right field.
Erik Lis homers (14) on a fly ball to right field.
Erik Lis homers (15) on a fly ball to right field.
Erik Lis homers (16) on a fly ball to right field.
I'm not sure I wanted to look up all of them for the season, but curiousity got the better of me:
April 13 at Fort Myers (404) Erik Lis homers (1) on a fly ball to center field.
April 20 at Tampa (314) Erik Lis homers (2) on a fly ball to right field.
May 18 at Tampa (314) Erik Lis homers (3) on a fly ball to right field.
June 4 at Jupiter (325) Erik Lis homers (4) on a fly ball to right field.
June 6 at Fort Myers (330) Erik Lis homers (5) on a fly ball to right field.
June 14 at Fort Myers (330) Erik Lis homers (6) on a line drive to right field.
July 6 at Dunedin (325) Erik Lis homers (7) on a fly ball to right field.
July 16 at Vero Beach (340R/300C) Erik Lis homers (8) on a fly ball to center field.
July 27 at Fort Myers (330) Erik Lis homers (9) on a fly ball to right field.
He likes those right field walls, doesn't he? Unless of course center field is a shorter reach.
I also said it was kind of funny, because at the beginning of the month, the guy hit 4-in-21 and could contact hardly anything.
"It's always streaky like that," Dirty says. "You get one and it gets your confidence going and they all come after that."
And of course, playing in short parks doesn't hurt either. It will be intersting to see how he fairs in the much larger Joker Marchant Stadium tonight.
Which is not to diminish his accomplishment in any way. Dirty, for example, has only hit 5 home runs in his career, and none of them were at Tampa.
