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DeRosa: Long balls at a record pace

August 8th, 2009 • Category: Cardinals History, Mark DeRosa • Tagged as , , ,


On Friday night in Pittsburgh, St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Mark DeRosa blasted his eighth home run of his short Cardinals career. The fourth-inning shot to centerfield was part of a three-hit night for the 34-year-old, his best game since joining St. Louis from Cleveland for relievers Chris Perez and Jess Todd on June 27.

It is unknown the extent that DeRosa’s swing is being hampered by his bad left wrist that will require off-season surgery to repair a torn tendon sheath. The right-handed hitter is currently batting just .212 as a Cardinal, but is making his hits count. Half of his 18 safeties have gone for extra bases.

Friday marked DeRosa’s 22nd game wearing the Birds on the Bat. His eight homers in that span put him in a three-way tie for the fastest home run start for a new Cardinal since at least 1954. The others are Dick Allen (1970) and Reggie Sanders (2004).

It was DeRosa’s first home run in five contests after he earlier set the team mark for fastest to seven long balls (in 17 games).

DeRosa, a free agent-to-be, would need to hit another long ball on Saturday to capture a share of the mark for fastest Cardinal to nine home runs in at least the last 55 years. That record is owned by re-born outfielder Rick Ankiel in 2007. Allen was also the fastest to ten homers, in his first 26 games, followed by Mark McGwire in 27 contests (1997).

The table below, courtesy of Tom Orf, is sorted by the fastest to eight home runs.

New Cardinals fastest to one through ten home runs in games (1954-2009)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Allen 1 5 7 8 15 16 18 22 25 26
Sanders 5 5 11 11 14 15 18 22 32 49
DeRosa 7 7 8 12 13 14 17 22
Ankiel-2 1 3 3 9 17 19 22 23 23 39
Pujols 4 7 9 11 18 18 20 23 29 30
McGwire 8 11 12 12 14 20 20 24 25 27
Edmonds 2 6 8 9 10 13 21 25 26 28
W.Clark 2 3 4 5 20 22 22 26 32 45
Walker 5 6 9 14 21 22 27 27 32 35
P.Wilson 1 5 9 12 17 21 30 31 48
Spencer 7 8 10 12 14 27 32 33 50 72
J.Clark 1 5 15 21 26 29 32 33 44 45
Paquette 1 8 11 13 17 26 33 34 35 36
Brunansky 4 5 5 11 26 30 35 38 60 64
Drew 2 7 7 12 12 24 27 41 47 50
Gant 2 4 9 13 29 31 34 42 44 46
R.Smith 10 10 18 19 25 26 32 42 43 45
Cepeda 1 6 10 11 18 34 36 44 47 47
Boyer 1 16 24 27 31 38 38 44 44 55
Cunningham 1 2 2 7 14 23 45 46 54 55
Torre 4 7 12 21 29 43 45 46 50 56
Rolen 12 13 25 26 35 37 40 46 47 47
Duncan 9 10 15 25 33 39 40 49 53 55
Moryn 11 21 29 30 34 40 43 49 50 57
Guerrero 13 19 38 41 43 45 49 50 68 82
Mather 7 20 26 28 30 36 39 54
Gaetti 6 11 17 24 39 47 47 55 69 69
Encarnacion 20 24 25 26 34 48 50 55 65 65
Tatis 10 12 22 27 35 38 48 55 56 57
Jeffries 3 4 4 21 22 28 48 56 58 64
Hendrick 3 17 26 30 35 36 41 56 57 64
Whiten 3 11 12 15 21 28 57 59 66 76
T.Martinez 27 27 38 42 43 50 57 61 76 78
Glaus 25 40 56 57 60 61 63 67 70 75
Ludwick 24 27 31 33 41 41 50 69 70 76
B.White 10 13 14 24 27 57 63 71 106 112
Rasmus 20 30 33 34 41 46 54 71 74 75
Ankiel 13 14 54 56 56 62 70 72 75 76
Dunston 2 19 21 32 39 63 67 75 95 104
Van Slyke 6 7 9 15 44 54 60 77 103 137
Lindeman 2 23 23 25 43 44 70 79 93 102
Brock 7 25 26 64 66 67 79 80 83 84
Jordan 19 21 23 28 29 75 79 84 89 89
Spiezio 7 14 22 58 62 81 83 84 98 99
Galarraga 39 40 53 55 58 73 79 86 91 94
Hague 2 33 39 49 62 64 84 87 108 108
Zeile 3 32 44 54 68 81 84 88 92 108
Flood 11 22 38 44 49 69 88 89 96 97
M.Anderson 6 10 11 13 49 66 96 103
T.Howard 2 19 85 86 88 89 103 104 107 133
Freed 3 23 30 36 48 56 57 108 119
Shannon 32 57 64 70 83 111 112 115 117 121
Grudzielanek 17 24 32 66 83 97 105 117
Lankford 15 22 24 69 90 112 119 119 120 131
E.Perez 16 24 30 31 81 91 93 127 128 129
Molina 45 51 83 91 114 115 116 127 139 149
Marrero 9 10 18 44 57 82 111 128 129 140
Renteria 34 47 47 54 68 118 129 134 135 139
Jose 7 9 16 31 39 119 148 148 159 168
Eckstein 37 45 99 102 107 126 130 149 173 275
Simmons 14 54 76 129 140 147 195 202 210 213
Luna 1 12 75 125 151 166 176 207
Schumaker 29 98 108 158 172 208 210 214 218 254
Gibson 80 122 133 152 177 180 233 243 256 260
O.Smith 7 15 226 229 268 307 429 453 492 504
Holliday 7 9 9 13
Cedeno 1 6 10 14 16 27
Laga 3 6 18 19 38
Nunez 3 15 18 22 76
Plantier 1 5 18 25 40
Musial 8 15 19 26 26 42
Ryan 8 12 26 31 197
J.Rodriquez 3 5 10 34 50 118 123
McNertney 4 10 13 34
Bonilla 4 8 21 38 48
K.Greene 11 13 40 41 42
LaRue 19 25 29 42 68
Lopez 19 20 29 42
Groat 2 3 37 46 70 113 306
Bennett 41 43 45 46 80 117
Hart 6 40 41 48
Belliard 15 42 45 49 49
Barden 31 34 35 61
Wise 17 57 58 61
Wainwright 17 84 100 136
Lugo 1
T.Greene 5 12
Stavinoha 41 61
Thurston 21
McDonald 1 2 5
Simpson 3 5 23

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2 Responses to “DeRosa: Long balls at a record pace”

  1. CariocaCardinal says:
    August 8, 2009 at 1:19 pm

    You highlight Ankiel as the fastest to 2 Homeruns but it appears McDonald actually has the record.

  2. Brian Walton says:
    August 8, 2009 at 2:25 pm

    Glad you like the report as always, CC. Correction made.

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