Larry Brown Sports

Padres center fielder Cameron Maybin walked despite only having three balls called on him during a 5th inning at-bat Saturday night, and he ended up scoring the game’s only run. True story.

Here’s how Maybin’s at-bat against pitcher Doug Fister went:

- First pitch: Called strike, 0-1
- Second pitch: Swinging strike, 0-2
- Third pitch: Foul ball, 0-2
- Fourth pitch: Ball, 1-2
- Fifth pitch: Foul ball, 1-2
- Sixth pitch: Ball, 2-2 (scoreboard jumps to 3-2 here)
- Seventh pitch: Ball, 3-2 (Maybin jogs to first base and nobody says anything)

Maybin says he got lost because of the foul balls, and he just followed the scoreboard after it said the count was full. Padres manager Bud Black seemed to have noticed but said “I wasn’t about to argue.”

Read The Rest of the Story…

Cameron Maybin has never been a guy that plays by the rules — just check out his wacky at-bat music if you don’t believe us. The young outfielder was traded to San Diego from Florida this off-season, and he may have already gotten himself into a little hot water by criticizing ownership indirectly. Padres fan site Gaslamp Ball picked up on a tweet by Maybin Tuesday where he complained about the food at Panda Express:

The one word blacked out was minor profanity, but you could imagine what it says. Ordinarily you might not think anything of the tweet, but some astute Gaslamp Ball readers made the connection that one of the team’s minority owners — Tom Davin — was also the CEO of Panda Express from 2004-2009. It’s not the worst thing that could happen, but I’m sure it may result in a phone call from Mr. Davin. And if Chris Denorfia is starting in center on opening day, we all know why.

UPDATE: Maybin has now tried to make nice, tweeting “Man just got back on the wagon panda express was great today, now I’m ready for action…. Best oriental cuisine around… Let’s go…!”

The Florida Marlins opened up the season taking two of three from the Mets in Flushing. It wasn’t until Friday night that they debuted in front of their home crowd in Miami against the Dodgers. Florida took two of three in that series as well, taking advantage of some Dodgers bullpen mismanagement. That’s not the concern here however. What is of concern is a little matter of at-bat music — the song that plays throughout the stadium as a player approaches the batters box to hit. As my co-worker Marcas Grant pointed out to me, the Dodgers announcers were having a ball joking about Cameron Maybin’s at-bat song which happens to be Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the USA.” The Palm Beach Post actually had an inkling that the song would turn some heads before the season began.

Pitcher Chris Volstad told them, “[The song] goes against that grain a little bit but I think more people will like it than won’t like it. It’s one of those popular catchy songs people like. It’s hardly the motivating-type song but maybe it puts him a good mood.’’

Either Maybin’s going to have to change up his song or wear some headphones at all times because he screwed up pretty badly on Sunday. Not only did Maybin misplay a ball in center field leading to the Dodgers first two runs but he also got picked off first base by pitcher Charlie Haeger. If he keeps playing that way there won’t be much more Miley Cyrus around Sun Life Stadium and that would just be a shame for everyone. Just for kicks because we kind of have to at this point, here’s the hit song:

Sources:
Florida Marlins walk-up hit: Cameron Maybin ready to “Party in the USA” [The Palm Beach Post]