Times photo
Romano has a nice piece on Mr Devil Ray:
Here, we have Aubrey Huff. A player in need of a reverse asterisk. By now, you should be familiar with his numbers. You should know, during the past two seasons, he has averaged better than 30 home runs and 100 RBIs while maintaining a .300 batting average. You should know only five other players have done that. Players such as Albert Pujols and Manny Ramirez. You should also know this: Huff's stats are skewed. They deserve to be better. You see, Huff is operating in something of a vacuum. He has been the lone power hitter in a lineup that is constantly evolving. He has had no one to protect him in the batting order. No other slugger to make opposing pitchers nervous. He has put up MVP-like numbers even though managers routinely pitch around him.
I heard the O's announcers mentioning this. That really there is no bat to really protect Huff in the lineup. I hope this year baseball finally gets it right and makes Huff an all-star "officially", as he has been playing like one for the past three years. As a fan watching these guys come through Durham as unheralded and becoming a star there is no greater thrill. First it was Huff who had to fight off Jared Sandberg. Look out now, because there is another uknown making a name for himself named Cantu. He was an after thought last year with Upton being the big name. Now, every media outlet knows his name. As opposed to the Sandberg/Huff competition, this Upton guy is also pretty good.