By BARRY LEWIS Sports Writer on Oct 29, 2012, at 9:24 PM Updated on 10/29 at 9:38 PM
PRO BASEBALL
Washington Nationals pitcher Ryan Mattheus, who pitched for the Tulsa Drillers from 2007-09, was placed on the disabled list ...
Roy Oswalt has finished his stint at the Colorado Rockies' extended spring training in Scottsdale, Ariz., and is set to join ...
Former Oklahoma State lefty Tyler Lyons will make his major league debut for the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday at San ...
It's about time that former Tulsa Drillers lefty Dave Righetti starts getting recognition as one of the great pitching coaches of the 21st century.
Righetti's pitchers have led the San Francisco Giants to two World Series titles in the past three years. The Giants' pitching was dominant in their seven-game winning streak that ended the postseason that culminated with the completion Sunday of a World Series sweep over the Detroit Tigers.
Righetti has been the Giants' pitching coach since 2000 -- the longest consecutive stretch of any current pitching coach with the same major league team.
Giants general manager Brian Sabean told World Series media that Righetti had “a huge effect” on San Francisco’s sweep. The Giants allowed only six runs in the Series and seven in their seven-game winning streak.
When Righetti pitched for the Drillers in 1978, he set a Texas League record with 21 strikeouts in a game before becoming one of the majors' elite closers with the Yankees. Although he had electrifying stuff when he was with Tulsa, he also pitched with an uncommon maturity for a 19-year-old, similar to Dylan Bundy in 2012. After talking to him early in his career with the Yankees, I thought he would make a good pitching coach someday. I was slightly wrong. He is a great pitching coach....
Earlier this year, Righetti's daughter, Natalee, authored an autobiography, "Beautifully Different," about the challenges of overcoming Cerebral Palsy and being a child of a major leaguer. Dave Righetti wrote the book's foreword. Natalee, 21, is a triplet who was born two months premature. The two daughters and one son are all doing well after overcoming early health problems...
The Giants and Tigers once played each other in an exhibition in Tulsa. On April 4, 1917, the New York Giants defeated Detroit 8-4. Jim Thorpe homered for the Giants, who would win the World Series that year. Harry Heilmann homered for the Tigers, who played without Ty Cobb that day...
Tulsa Drillers 2012 home run leader Kent Matthes went 3-for-4 with a homer on Friday in an Arizona Fall League game. Matthes is batting .319 with three homers and 12 RBIs in 12 games. Matthes batted .214 with 17 homers and 40 RBIs for Tulsa this year...
Two former Drillers are finalists for an American League Gold Glove Award. The winners will be announced Tuesday. The former Drillers nominees are Angels pitcher C.J. Wilson and Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira.
-- Barry Lewis
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