Late 2000's Mets Pitcher: Claudio Vargas (2008)

-
Claudio Vargas was born on June 19, 1978 in the Dominican Republic. The six foot four right hander was signed by the Florida Marlins in 1995, and pitched in their system for seven years.

His best season there was in 2000 going 11-6 with a 3.36 ERA through all levels of A ball. In July of 2002 he was traded along with Cliff Floyd & Wilton Guerrero to the Montreal Expos for Carl Pavano, Mike Mordecai, Justin Wayne and Graeme Lloyd.  

In his first career game he debuted against the Houston Astros earning no decision. As a starter that year he went 6-8 with a 4.34 ERA. Over the years he would get used as both a starter & reliever. After two seasons in Montreal he moved on with the franchise to Washington D.C. going 0-3 in just four games in the teams first season. He was eventually placed on waivers getting picked up by the Arizona Diamondbacks .

He had his best year at Arizona in 2006, going 12-10 with 123 strikeouts in 167 innings, posting a 4.83 ERA. He got traded to the Milwaukee Brewers in the winter & followed up with an 11-6 record striking out 107 batters in 134 innings, posting an ERA of 5.09. The high ERA along with a rough spring training got him released at the end of March.  

In May of 2008, he was signed by the New York Mets & made his New York debut on May 14th at Shea Stadium against the Washington Nationals. Vargas pitched into the 7th inning, and left to a huge ovation after allowing just two runs on three hits while striking out six Nationals.

Unfortunately the Mets went on to lose the game 5-3, and he did take the loss. After a loss to the Braves in Atlanta, he earned his first Mets win in Colorado, pitching seven innings & allowing two runs on just four hits. He came back to Shea Stadium to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers on May 29th earning his third but last Mets victory.

Vargas was designated for assignment that July after pitching in eleven games ( four starts) going 3-2 with a 4.62 ERA. He struck out 20 batters walking 11 in 37 innings of work.

He pitched in the minors as AAA New Orleans for the rest of the year, going 5-2 but was released by New York in October.  

He went to the Los Angeles Dodgers (2009) and then back to the Milwaukee Brewers (2009-2010) as a middle inning reliever.

In his eight year career Vargas was 48-40 with one save 544 strike outs 294 walks & a 4.83 ERA in 764 innings over 217 appearances.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The 1970's Oakland A's Ball Girls- (MLB's First)

-
Image
In the days of the early seventies the Oakland A's won three straight Championships & changed the face of baseball forever.  The team's controversial owner was known to be cheap in paying his star players & known to meddle in the teams on field affairs. He drove managers crazy & even had Dick Williams resign after winning his second straight World Series. But Finley also revolutionized baseball in many other ways. He was instrumental in getting the designated hitter in the American League & have the World Series played at night, so fans could attend after work. He gave his players fancy names like Catfish, Blue Moon & True Blue.  When his star Reggie Jackson refused to shave his beard, he encouraged the whole team to grow facial hair by paying them $200 each.  The A's team even grew their hair long, a sign of the times. But before that baseball players had not had facial or long hair since the 1800's.  He introduced bright colored yello
Read more

Remembering Vixen Founder / Guitarist; Jan Kuehnemund (1961-2013)

-
Image
centerfieldmaz was shocked to learn of the sudden passing of Jan Kuehnemund, the founding member of the all female metal band Vixen. Jan was a fantastic guitarist, song writer & women pioneer in Heavy Metal. I am a huge fan of hard rock all girl bands & Vixen were one my long time favorites. Janice Lynn Kuehnemund was born November 18th, 1961 in St. Paul Minnesota. The female guitarist formed one of the first all female Metal bands in Minnesota with singer Janet Gardner while in high school in 1980. By 1985 they moved the band to Los Angles California, to be part of the Heavy Metal scene. In 1987 the classic Vixen line up of Jan Kuehnemund (lead guitar) Janet Gardner (vocals/ guitar) Share Pederson (bass) & Roxy Petrucci (drums) formed & released their debut album the following year. Vixen 1988 In a world of all male Heavy Metal bands during its heyday, Vixen were groundbreaking in being an all female metal band. The Runaways, with Joan Jett & Lita Ford
Read more

Remembering Bobby Ojeda's Tragic Boating Accident (1993)

-
Image
Steve Olin, Tim Crews & Bob Ojeda March 22 nd 1993: was an off day from Spring Training, for three Cleveland Indians pitchers; Former Mets 1986 World Champion pitcher; Bobby Ojeda, Tim Crews & Steve Olin. The three friends, took out an 18-foot open-air bass boat & went out fishing & gator hunting in the darkness of the evening on Lake Nellie in Clermont, Florida. Tragedy struck, when the boat rammed into a private dock that jutted out some 250 feet into the still waters. Two other Cleveland Indians personnel had arrived to meet the fishing party just as the horror took place. They heard Bob Ojeda saying they needed help. The two men jumped into the water and called out for someone to call 911. 27 year old pitcher; Steve Olin was killed instantly. 31 year old pitcher; Tim Crews was alive but was struggling to breathe suffering from massive head wounds. Bobby Ojeda was in & out of shock, he was suffering from head lacerations but was coherent. The
Read more

The Story of the New York Mets Logo

-
Image
On November 16, 1961 cartoonist Ray Gotto (1916-2003) unveiled the circular New York Mets logo, a symbol which has virtually gone unchanged since its birth 55 years ago. Gatto was the illustrator of the "Ozark Ike" & "Cotton Woods" comic strips as well as having drawn many classic sports cartoons for the Sporting News. He won a contest that the club sponsored in order to start up a fan base beating out over 500 other entries for his design. The prize was not only to have his logo used but also $1000.  Artist Ray Gotto The original New York Mets team colors are blue and orange, the colors represent the two former National League teams who left New York for the West Coast. The orange represents the former New York Giants & the blue represents the Brooklyn Dodgers. Blue & orange are also the official colors of New York State. T he logo design is a round baseball with orange stitching and the Mets orange script lettering outlined in white ac
Read more

Steve Dillon: Former Bronx Native Who Pitched in The First Night Game at Shea Stadium Then 58 Years Later at Old Timers Day at Citi Field (1963-1964)

-
Image
Stephen Edward Dillon was born on May 20th, 1943, in Yonkers, New York. He was raised in the Bronx & attended Cardinal Hayes High School.  T he five-foot ten left-handed pitcher was originally signed by the A.L. New York club in 1962. That year he was 14-7 in the Florida State League at Fort Lauderdale. In November of 1962 he was drafted away by the new National League team, the New York Mets in the first-year draft.  He pitched at AAA Buffalo going 4-6 with a 4.94 ERA in 31 games, making 22 starts.  Mets Debut: He got a September call up making his MLB debut on September 5th, 1963, in St. Louis. Dillon came in relief of Roger Craig the 6th inning with two men on & one out. He got Dick Groat & Bill White to both ground out.  In the 7th, he gave up three hits including a two-run triple to Tim McCarver, in the Mets 9-0 loss to the Cardinals. In 1964 he found himself on the Mets staff at the start of the year. He pitched one inning of relief at Pittsburgh on April 24th,
Read more