MLB Betting: Around the Horn

Prince Fielder thinks tofu and broccoli are good for the body, but what about his bat?

May 5, 2008

By Kevin Woodley
Bodog Nation Contributing Writer

It can’t be easy in the land of beer and brats, but Milwaukee Brewers first baseman Prince Fielder decided to become a vegetarian a few weeks before the season after his wife gave him a book detailing the less-appetizing aspects of the meat processing industry.

"After reading that, (meat) just didn't sound good to me anymore," the still oversized slugger (he’s listed at 5-foot-11, 270 pounds) told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel at spring training. "It grossed me out a little. It's not a diet thing or anything like that.”

Fielder insists that he doesn’t miss meat, but there’s no denying the Brewers have been missing his power since he stopped ingesting it.

Fielder's new diet is big news in Milwaukee. (AP Images)

The only question is whether the two are related. After becoming the youngest player, at age 23, to belt 50 homeruns last season, it took Fielder 54 at-bats and until April 17 to hit his first dinger this year. His estranged father and fellow fatty, Cecil, was the last one to hit 50 homers one season and go so far into April without one the next, but the locals are blaming his son’s new diet, not his old genetics.

Milwaukee manager Ned Yost pointed out that Fielder only had one homerun in 15 games last year, too, but hit 13 in May. It’s early, but he’s 0-for-May so far and with just four round-trippers all season, is hearing about the need to put some of the sausages that race around the Brewers ballpark back into his diet. Never mind the fact pitchers are approaching him a lot differently this season.

“That's his business,” said Yost while admitting he has no idea what tofu is. “It doesn't have anything to do with his performance. Everybody wants to make a big deal about a young man trying to eat healthy. It doesn't have anything to do with it. You can grease up all you want. It's not going to help you hit home runs. It's natural talent and ability. He's every bit as strong as he was before. There's nothing behind that; it’s just talk.”

Unless it quiets soon, the next thing Fielder’s wife might want to ask him to read is a menu … in a steakhouse.

1. Cubs plate patience: Looking for reasons the Cubs are suddenly among baseball’s best hitting teams? Look no further than the impact of newcomers Kosuke Fukudome and Reed Johnson, whose patience at the plate has become contagious in Chicago, a place previously known as much for its free swinging team as its shirtless free spirits in the bleachers.
   
   
   Fukudome's patience has been great for the Cubbies. (AP Images)
   
   After finishing in the bottom half of runs scored seven of the past eight seasons, Chicago’s rise to the top of MLB in runs scored (189) can be traced to being first overall in on-base percentage (.373) and second in walks (150), both of which have been linked to infectiously selective swings of Johnson and Fukudome, who is also second in baseball in pitches per at-bat.
   
   Of course it doesn’t hurt to have a healthy Derrek Lee raking like it’s 2005, when he made a run at the Triple Crown and the NL MVP.
   
   
2. Chipper’s average: The Braves are probably done with John Smoltz moved out the starting rotation so he can nurse his sore shoulder out of the bullpen, but Chipper Jones is doing his best to make sure they go down swinging. Since the calendar turned to May, Jones is 7-for-13 with a homerun and six RBIs, raising his league-leading average .425, more than 50 points up on his nearest competitor.
   
   
3. Blue Jays Pitching: Ace Roy Halladay was going well for a while, throwing four-straight complete games before lasting into the eighth inning on Sunday. But now the former Cy Young winner has company. Toronto hurlers have allowed just 12 runs in their last eight games, including consecutive shutouts and a 24-inning scoreless streak, four shy of a 23-year-old team record.

1. Longoria against lefties: Tampa’s hyped-up rookie Evan Longoria is doing everything expected against right-handed pitchers (.306, 3 HR, 10 RBI in 49 at-bats), but the right-hitting third baseman is being dragged down badly by the league’s lefties (.091, 0 HR, 1 RBI in 22 at-bats). Longoria was actually better against lefties in AA last year, but struggled against them during a short promotion to AAA.
   
   "The guys that are in the big leagues that are left-handers, they're pretty good -- they're not just normal, everyday lefties," Longoria said. "They're doing things that you're not used to seeing."
   
   
2. Paying back big contracts: Yankees Second-baseman Robinson Cano rewarded the Yankees four, $32-million contract extension with a .151 batting average through April. In Colorado, shortstop Troy Tulowitzki responded to the Rockies’ six-year, $31-million deal with a .152 average before suffering a torn left tendon that is expected to keep him out until the All-Star break.
   
   "Just goes to show, you can never get too high,” Tulowitzki said.
   
   
3. Jose's math skills: After foreclosing on his Los Angeles area home, Jose Canseco, who made $45 million in salary by the time he was 37, blames his financial problems on two ex-wives and the taxman. “People have to understand that the $35 million (it’s actually $45), you're paying the government 41 percent, that leaves you with about 17 or 18, not even,” he said. Let’s see, 18 divided by 35 … carry the 1 … even by his underestimated salary numbers, Canseco should have cleared more than $20-million, and by our salary count the number jumps closer to $27-million. At least the missing millions explain his need to make more by fingering other players in print.

We spent a large chunk last week extolling the virtues of Arizona, so we’re not about to call the Diamondbacks overrated this week.

Brandon Webb has ignited Arizona's hot start. (AP Images)

We did, however, point out they’re uncharacteristically prolific stats at bat were due for a correction – when you’re pitcher Micah Owings is blasting pinch-hit homeruns, as he did last week, you know you are just on a roll – and it figures to come as their opponents get tougher.

After dominating an April loaded with scuffling teams from within their own division, the Snakes lost two-of-three to the Mets over the weekend, and now play four against Philadelphia, followed by three against the Chicago Cubs, who unlike the Phillies, have an experienced pitching staff as well as a potent attack. There are good odds to be had betting against Arizona winning either series.

Last week: (0-for-2 with a walk) We’re giving ourselves the base on balls because we didn’t say that Indians and Rockies would win (OK, in the Indians case maybe we did), just that lefties C.C. Sabathia and Jeff Francis were pitching better. And they continued to – they just didn’t get any run support … again … which we should have noted.

- White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen on a pre-game display of bats, blow-up dolls and sex toys on the clubhouse couch Sunday. The bad news is they didn’t prevent a fifth straight loss, but at least he didn’t have to explain how he knew how much it might cost.

3: Number of pitchers with at least 10 years of big-league service without a single stint on the disabled list after Tom Glavine made his first trip to the DL last week. That leaves only Livan Hernandez (356 games), Javier Vazquez (328) and Derek Lowe (505).

It’s also the number of hitters since 1950 to reach 2,000 hits faster than Angels’ slugger Vladimir Guerrero, who did so in his 6,171st at-bat. Wade Boggs (5,832), Rod Carew (5,965) and Tony Gwynn (6,094) were the only ones to get there faster.

TOP PHOTO: Prince Fielder, vegetarian. (AP Images)