At the 2001 trading deadline, the San Francisco Giants needed a starting pitcher. The Pittsburgh Pirates had one available, Jason Schmidt. The two teams struck up a conversation, and a deal was reached, sending outfielder Armando Rios and pitcher Ryan Vogelsong to the Pirates in exchange for Schmidt. Vogelsong was drafted out of a eastern Pennsylvania by the Giants, and the 24 year old would be returning to the state where he played his college ball. He wasn’t a great prospect, but he was having a good year for AAA Fresno: a 53:18 strikeout to walk ratio in 58 innings and a 2.79 ERA is pretty solid. He got some time in the Giants bullpen as a reliever. After the trade, he continued to perform well in AAA for the Pirates, but struggled in the majors. In 2002, he only threw 59 innings, all in the minors, due to injury. He got time in the majors and AAA in 2003 and struggled. He spent the next three seasons in the majors, and struggled in all three while dealing with injury issues. The Pirates didn’t want him back once he became a free agent. Vogelsong went to Japan.
He spent 2007 with the Hanshin Tigers, and struggled as a starter. 2008 was an injury plagued year with Hanshin that was also filled with hard times on the mound. In 2009, Vogelsong worked in relief as a member of the Orix Blue Wave. He actually had really good peripherals, striking out more than a batter per inning, but had a bad ERA. 2010 came along, and Vogelsong was stateside again. He spent the entire year in AAA, the first half of which was with the Phillies, and the second half with the Angels. He struck out a lot of batters, but also walked a ton. It appeared he had no future.
Then, a funny thing happened. This past offseason, he signed with the Giants, to go back to where it all began. He started the year at AAA Fresno (again), and had two dominant starts, striking out 17 in 11 1/3 innings. Injuries took their toll on the Giants, and Vogelsong was called up, ten years after being traded from the Giants, and five years from his last major league appearance.
Coming into Tuesday night, Vogelsong had a 1.77 ERA in the Giants rotation and 32 strikeouts in 40 2/3 innings. He started on Tuesday against the Cardinals, and limited one of the most potent offenses in the National League to one run in five innings. He was in line for his fourth win of the season, before the Giants bullpen blew a 3-1 lead in the eighth inning. Vogelsong’s career has come full circle, and the man who will be 34 years old in July is finally consistently performing at the major league level. Vogelsong is a great story, and it’s good to see him finally to have a solid spot locked up in the majors.
Elsewhere…
The Twins are 19 games under .500 at the end of May … The Nationals beat the hell out of Cliff Lee … The Reds lost again
What To Watch Tonight
Roy Oswalt looks to get his ERA under Roy Halladay’s … Ubaldo Jimenez looks for his first win of the season (again) … Brian Matusz makes his season debut for the Orioles
Quick Laugh of the Day
Credit to the guys over at Awful Announcing for this one… Chris Berman, who was announcing the Giants-Cardinals game on ESPN for some inexplicable reason, tries to talk about walk-off wins. And fails, miserably.
