Unremarkable, but amazing

I’ve never been a fan of Marco Scutaro.  In fact, when he played with the Oakland A’s and A’s fan would chant “Mar-co…. Scoot-a-row” like one would chant “Mar-co Po-lo,” I found the practice annoying.  In turn, I would do my own version of that by saying “Mar-co…” and then follow it up with a nice quick “sucks.” 

Childish?  You bet.  Hey, sometimes you have to find ways to amuse yourself.

Well, that was then and this is now.  I’m not here to bash Marco Scutaro in any way.  Instead, I’m here to say that I like it when guys like Scutaro grab the spotlight come play-off time.  I’m a fan of the unpredictable, especially when an unsung ball-player does something to garner the attention of everyone watching for all the right reasons.

Scutaro is 36 years old.  He’s never been an all-star. He’s never won a batting title or even a Gold Glove.  He’s been grinding out a career since 2002, an unremarkable career at that.  He never hit more than 12 HR’s, has had just one double-digit stolen base season (14 in 2009), and has only made one other post-season appearance (2006 with Oakland).

For Scutaro to shine the way he did in the NLCS is amazing.  He became the first player to ever have six multi-hit games in the championship series.  He hit a whopping .500 in 28 AB’s.  To say he was in the zone is an under-statement.  His  NLCS MVP award is the first award he’s ever won in the big leagues.

I love it. Don't you?

He may not do anything in the World Series and it won’t matter because his team wouldn’t be in it without him.  That’s right – the Giants probably wouldn’t have made it to the World Series without Marco Scutaro.  That’s crazy when you think about it.

Think about this – he started the season in Colorado and was traded (with cash) to the Giants for Charlie Culberson on July 27.  Who’s Charlie Culberson?  He’s a second baseman with a minor league career batting average of .262 over six seasons.  His career OPS is a mere .695. 

Again... who’s Charlie Culberson?  He’s a former first round pick of the Giants (51^st overall pick in 2007).  Perhaps Culberson will go on to have a solid MLB career.  Perhaps not.  In any case – he will be the answer to the trivia question “Who was traded for Marco Scutaro in 2012?” for years to come.

What's funny is that most people probably thought the acquisition of Hunter Pence was the big splash the Giants needed.  Who would have thought that it would be Scutaro who had the biggest impact after all?

Scutaro has been traded for the likes of Kristian Bell, Graham Godfrey, Clayton Mortensen and others.  He could have gone his entire career without really being noticed, but now – now, he’s the toast of San Francisco.

Isn’t baseball great?  Think about it.  Marco Scutaro waited ten years to have the biggest moment in his career.  He’s a singles hitter; in fact – he led the NL in singles with 147.  It’s the first time in his entire career that he ever led a league in any offensive category what-so-ever.

You can’t make this stuff up.  Isn’t his story, great? 

Now, I don’t anything about Scutaro, the man – but his name has to be well known to baseball fans everywhere by now.  In a an era when some players make what seems like $6 million a game, Scutaro made that for this season (his biggest contract ever).  Good for him.

So here we are… I’m an Oakland A’s hating Angel fan, who remembers Scutaro from his days in Oakland well.  I used to mock him whenever he came to Anaheim and here I am singing his praises. Go figure. Go Scutaro!