Holliday giving Bay a run for NL honors
PITTSBURGH – One of the bright spots for the Pirates this season has been left fielder Jason Bay, who is a legitimate N.L. Rookie-of-the-Year candidate. One of Bay’s competitors for that award, another left fielder who also is a bright spot for his team, is 24-year-old Matt Holliday.
Holliday is the son of Uniontown graduate Tom Holliday, who played four years of college baseball and spent one year in the Pirates organization before going into coaching.
That wound up being a wise move, as the elder Holliday has since been an assistant coach at Miami, Fla., Arizona State (where he helped the Sun Devils win a national championship in 1977) and Oklahoma State. He eventually took over as head coach at Oklahoma State, but has since moved on to be pitching coach at Texas.
The younger Holliday, whose brother Josh is an assistant coach at North Carolina State and whose uncle Dave Holliday is a special assignment scout at Colorado, was a surprise for the Rockies at spring training this year, hitting .321. He was the last player sent out to Class AAA Colorado Springs.
Not long after that, however, Rockies outfielder Preston Wilson was injured and placed on the disabled list. Holliday, who was hitting .364 at Colorado Springs, got the call to the big leagues on April 15 and was in the starting lineup against the St. Louis Cardinals on April 16.
Holliday drew a walk against Matt Morris in his first major-league at bat, then grounded out three times. He went 0-for-4 the next day before finally collecting his first major-league hit on April 18 with an infield single against Woody Williams. He wound up going 3-for-3 that game with an RBI double in an 8-5 Rockies win.
That began a six-game hitting streak for Holliday that included five multiple-hit games. It also included his first big-league homer, a two-run shot off Jose Lima on April 22.
Holliday’s second homer might have been even more memorable to him.
Facing Roger Clemens on April 24, Holliday struck out swinging in his first at bat in the second inning, but then singled in the third and drilled a 1-1 pitch for a two-run homer in the sixth off the future Hall-of-Famer, who still wound up earning career win No. 314 that day.
Holliday has been in the starting lineup ever since.
Holliday got to play in front of his father, grandmother and many aunts, uncles and friends during a recent weekend series at PNC Park in Pittsburgh against the Pirates. He went 4-for-13 in that series.
At the end of this past week, Holliday was hitting .283 with 101 hits in 357 at bats covering 109 games. He had 24 doubles, three triples, 12 home runs, 48 RBIs and three stolen bases.
Meanwhile, Bay, who will turn 26 on Sept. 20, was hitting .301 with 89 hits in 296 at bats covering 90 games. He had 19 doubles, two triples, 20 homers, 60 RBIs and two stolen bases.
One of Bay’s most memorable days this season came on July 2 when the Pirates swept a doubleheader against the Brewers at PNC Park by scores of 8-1 and 13-2.
Bay drove in eight runs for the second time in his short career (also did it in Sept. of last year) in the second game when he smacked three doubles and a homer.
In the first game, Jack Wilson hit an inside-the-park home run and Oliver Perez got the win with seven strong innings, allowing just one run while striking out 11.
It’s interesting to note that it was Uniontown Day at the ballpark for that thrilling twinbill, and a group from Uniontown was in attendance as arranged by Bailey Park’s Colleen Watson.
Alex Hamborsky, a 10-year-old player for the Lions of the Bailey Park Midget League, threw out the first pitch, and Uniontown graduate Sarah Howarth sang the national anthem for the opener.
They also may have witnessed the beginning of a great baseball career with the Pirates in Bay.
Perhaps those who saw Holliday at PNC Park will be able to say the same someday.
Assistant Sports Editor Rob Burchianti can be reached at rvburchianti@hotmail.com