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player ready...If Brian McRae’s season is finished because of a hand injury, he sure ended it with a flourish.
McRae, troubled for months by tendinitis in his hand, swung through the pain Sunday when he beat the Pirates 3-2 with his 10th-inning home run.
“For the last three days, I’d just been guiding the bat. It was frustrating,” said McRae. “I just decided to swing and hit it. I hope that was not my last at-bat of the season, but it could be.”
McRae will see a hand specialist Thursday. The doctor will determine whether McRae can play in the final series of the season against Houston.
McRae ranks among the National League’s top 10 in five offensive categories with 89 runs, 163 hits, 37 doubles, seven triples and 51 multi-hit games.
Saluting Sammy: Sammy Sosa was presented with the Andersen Consulting “Hustle and Muscle” player of the year award in a pregame ceremony. Sosa’s 36 home runs, 116 RBIs and 31 stolen bases earned him the award.
Nearly there: Shawon Dunston returned to the lineup Tuesday after missing a game because he was hit in the right forearm with a pitch.
Dunston, who has never batted .300 in the majors, was over .300 most of the season and went into the game with a .294 average.
“I’d rather have 70 RBIs than hit .300,” said Dunston. His RBI total was 66.
Wife watching: Frank Castillo learned one thing on the day after he lost a no-hit game on Bernard Gilkey’s two-out, two-strike triple in the ninth–his wife Tracy is more easily identified than he is. TV cameras zoomed in on Tracy while her man battled for the no-hitter in the ninth.
Castillo worked a no-hitter into the seventh inning against the Giants earlier this season. “I won’t get a no-hitter,” he said at that time, “because I’m not a power pitcher.”
Castillo pitched one no-hitter in the minor leagues for Charlotte in 1990.