| Scott Essman. 4th May, 2007 - 2:35 pm
 Where has this guy been? Damion Easley, one-time prospect and long-time journeyman, hit a ninth inning one-out three-run go-ahead home run on Thursday night in Arizona, leading the Mets to a 9-4 victory against the Diamondbacks. In a parallel situation nine days ago, he hit a two-out two-strike home run to tie the game in the tenth inning in New York, leading the Mets to a eventual win over the Rockies.
Easley is now 37 and has been knocking around baseball for 15 years at 2B and SS. A New York native, he's a career .251 hitter who has been on six teams. It has been that kind of career for Easley, now enjoying success in his waning years.
His first four and a half years in the majors, starting in 1992 on the Angels, he didn’t exhibit much power or ability to hit for average. The Angels shipped him to Detroit in mid-1996. His first full season for the Tigers, 1997, saw him hit 22 homers, though he hadn’t hit as many as ten previously. In fairness, he had not played a full season on either the Angels or Tigers prior to 1997.
Then, in 1998, he hit his peak, belting 27 homers and driving in 100 runs for the Tigers, for whom he played three more mostly full seasons. His last complete year was 2001 and hasn't hit higher than .240 since then, jumping around to four different teams.
Perhaps Easley has found his niche as a pinch-hit specialist as other former stars end up. Cesar Cedeno comes to mind. A star on the Astros teams of the 1970s, Cedeno wound up on the contending St. Louis Cardinals of late 1985.* A perennial Met-killer, Cedeno hit .434 in 28 games for the Cardinals, predominantly as a pinch hitter. He hit six home runs and drove in 19 in 76 at-bats, nearly all of them in September of that year. Met fans would love to see Easley hit that stride for their ascending team.
* Footnote: Oddly, after being on fire during the season, in 27 postseason 1985 at-bats, Cedeno only got four hits in the Cardinals playoff win and World Series loss. He played three months for the Dodgers in early 1986, hitting .231 in 37 games before ultimately retiring at age 35. |
