The New Dickson Baseball Dictionary attributes the coinage of "hot corner" as a synonym for third base to one Ren Mulford, who employed it while discussing Cincinnati's Hick Carpenter in 1889. As the 2011 season approaches, a more appropriate term to use in the NL West might be "lukewarm corner."
In San Francisco, the World Champion Giants hope that Pablo Sandoval remembers his nickname is "Kung-Fu Panda" and not "Kung-Fu Randa." Although Sandoval never will be mistaken for Craig Horner (Bob Horner, maybe), that doesn't matter so long as he hits... which he didn't last season.
After a breakout 2009 campaign that had Sandoval looking like the new Jim Ray Hart, expectations were understandably high for the young slugger. Instead of building on his success, however, Sandoval went from prince to sandfrog, doing his best Scott Spiezio impression. There's nothing wrong with having a guy who hits like Spiezio on your ballclub; it ...
Original Story:
