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Stoneman made the deal because the Angels were crowded in the outfield and needed a solid second baseman, which Kennedy has certainly become, as well as a starting pitcher. January 10, 2011 Seattle Mariners signed free agent 2B Adam Kennedy to a minor league contract and invited him to spring training. July 26, 2012 Los Angeles Dodgers placed 2B Adam Kennedy on the 15-day disabled list. August 10, 2012 Los Angeles Dodgers activated 2B Adam Kennedy from the 15-day disabled list.
No Angels second baseman since has led the league in fielding. Try to guess who was the first player to hit three homers in a postseason. Now that the Angels have reached the World Series for the first time in franchise history -- the team debuted in 1961 as the Los Angeles Angels -- only two franchises have gone longer without a trip to the World Series.
MLB Home Runs Hit by Adam Kennedy | Baseball Almanac
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Benji Gil, who shares second base with Kennedy, instructed Kennedy to open his mouth. When Kennedy did, Gil poured a river of tequila into it. The victory propelled the Angels to their first World Series appearance ever. Game 1 is Saturday at Edison against the Giants or Cardinals.
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His 12 total bases and four runs scored were also records at the time. Chris Taylor was greeted by Albert Pujols at home plate after one of his three home runs on Thursday. Pujols hit three homers in a World Series game in 2011. Armed with the lead, the Angels buried the Twins just like they did the Yankees in the fifth inning of the ALDS Game 4 when they scored eight runs.
The Chicago White Sox last made it in 1959 and the Chicago Cubs last made it in 1945. That's 100 seasons of Chicago baseball with no World Series games. A year ago, Salmon couldn't have been more discouraged, both for his team and himself. The Angels finished 41 games behind AL West champion Seattle. Salmon bottomed out with a .227 batting average, 17 homers and 49 RBIs -- all career lows. Ruth remains the only player to homer three times in a postseason game twice, and he did it when the postseason consisted of only one round per year.
Summary of 80 Home Runs
He attended Cal State Northridge, where he played shortstop for the Matador baseball squad. He set school records in career hits, RBI and batting average and was a three-time All-American. In 1996, he played collegiate summer baseball with the Falmouth Commodores of the Cape Cod Baseball League. Today, he is in the record books with Babe Ruth, Reggie Jackson, George Brett and Bob Robertson as the only players to hit three homers in one post-season game. He made his MLB debut on August 21, 1999, for the Cardinals against the New York Mets at second base. His first MLB hit was a three RBI double to left field on August 22 off of Orel Hershiser of the Mets.
All images are property the copyright holder and are displayed here for informational purposes only. The homer triggered a 10-run inning that put the game out of reach. But a surge in home runs across the board, and an expansion of the playoffs, meant a golden age was about to begin. Through Kennedy, the feat had been performed six times. But everything has gone right for Salmon and the Angels this season, despite slow starts by both. He hit .182 in April and the Angels got off to a franchise-worst 6-14 start.
Fittingly, the first player the Angels’ manager saw in the celebration was Tim Salmon, the right fielder who endured the dark years. February 19, 2009 Durham Bulls signed free agent Adam Kennedy. February 12, 2010 Washington Nationals signed free agent 2B Adam Kennedy. January 13, 2011 Tacoma Rainiers signed free agent Adam Kennedy.
Much of the play-by-play, game results, and transaction information both shown and used to create certain data sets was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by RetroSheet. He attended John W. North High School in Riverside, playing baseball and basketball. He is the son of Tom Kennedy, who teaches Health at North High School. ''The reports on him were he was a good offensive player, with work he could become a good defensive player,'' Stoneman recalled. The deal was one of Bill Stoneman's first major moves as Angels general manager, and was extremely unpopular for some time with local fans because Edmonds became an even bigger star for the Cardinals than he was with Anaheim.
In Game 4 of the 1926 World Series, Babe Ruth became the first player to hit three home runs in a postseason game. On December 1, 2011, Kennedy signed a one-year contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers. In 86 games with the Dodgers, mostly as a pinch hitter , Kennedy hit .262. A strained right groin put him on the disabled list and ended his season early, on September 11. The 2002 campaign established Kennedy as a fixture in the Angels infield.
His first MLB home run came on August 31 against Brian Meadows of the Florida Marlins. He appeared in 33 games for the Cards with a .255 batting average that season. On August 11, 2007, Kennedy was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a torn medial meniscus in his right knee, an injury that would sideline him for the remainder of the season. He was in 87 games prior to the injury, and hit only .219. The national spotlight shone briefly on Kennedy on August 16, 2006, when he took part in a bench-clearing brawl in the ninth inning of a game between the Texas Rangers and the Angels.
September 11, 2012 Los Angeles Dodgers placed 2B Adam Kennedy on the 60-day disabled list. October 29, 2012 Los Angeles Dodgers activated 2B Adam Kennedy from the 60-day disabled list. Scott Spiezio and Bengie Molina singled in the seventh before Kennedy came to the plate. He fouled off a sacrifice bunt attempt before manager Mike Scioscia let him swing away. Many historical player head shots courtesy of David Davis.
Adam Kennedy began the 2000s revival of three-homer postseason games when he connected for his, while batting ninth, in the 2002 A.L.C.S. No one matched Ruth until the 1970s, when the unheralded Bob Robertson hit three for the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1971 N.L.C.S. He is the only person to add another extra base hit in the same game as his homers, a double. Robertson’s story was heightened because he had missed an entire season for kidney surgery; he was trumpeted as a “medical marvel.” Not enough star power for you? Willie Mays also hit a home run in the game for the San Francisco Giants at age 40. The first time came with the Yankees in Game 4 of the 1926 World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals. One of the blasts reached the center field bleachers of Sportsman’s Park, which only two men had previously reached.
This time it was 10 and after 42 seasons of trying the Angels were in the World Series. The left handed-hitting Kennedy, who bats ninth, hasn't played against left-handed pitchers much recently, but he stayed in to sacrifice against Santana. Another solo homer by Spiezio in the fifth put the Angels on top 3-2 before the Twins scored three runs in the seventh for a 5-3 lead. Jose Altuve had three for the Houston Astros in the 2017 division series. “I told him the last time I’ve seen three home runs in a game was Pablo Sandoval, and I gave up two of them, so I’m glad there’s somebody new that’s done it,” said the Astros starter Justin Verlander, formerly of Detroit. It is notable that those home runs came in Houston in the season in which the Astros have admitted to employing a complex sign-stealing operation.
