casey kotchman

certainly I don't watch as much baseball as I did when I was writing The Catcher, The Starting Pitcher and The Shortstop, but it's not like I've spent the last two seasons on a desert island or anything. and last night's showing by the Angels' Casey Kotchman was, I believe, the best single-game defensive performance I've ever seen by first baseman.
no less than five plays yielded a relatively unconscious "wow" to my lips, including nullifying a potential down-the-line extra base hit by Hideki Matsui and saving a teammate (shortstop Orlando Cabrera) from an embarassing throwaway.

and yes, I probably hold onto favorites for too long (like Ric Flair maintaining his title in case of a draw, countout or DQ) in some kind of old school deathgrip on better days past, but today Casey Kotchman officially replaces Doug Mientkiewicz (Paul Westerberg's favorite player when Doug was with the Twins) as my pick for best defensive first baseman in the game right now (though Mientkiewicz holds on to his "most difficult first baseman to spell" designation).

Kotchman also went three for five with a dinger and two RBI as the Angels whupped the Yankees 10-6.

and no, that didn't bother me a bit.