fine tuning
Chris Coghlan has changed his tune and, coincidentally perhaps, the direction of his season. The former Ole Miss standout, last year’s National League rookie of the year and the first Cool Papa Bell Award winner (see previous posts), got two more hits for Florida on Wednesday night to boost his average to .242. He is 14-for-37 (.378) in the first nine games of a 10-game homestand that ends tonight. Coghlan’s resurgence coincides with a switch in his walk-up song, from “Song of the South” by Alabama to Lecrae’s “Rebel Intro.” “I’m not a superstitious guy, but I definitely got tired of hearing ‘Song of the South,'” Coghlan told The Associated Press on Tuesday. Maybe he should buy into the superstition thing. Coghlan, who hit .321 last year, had been scuffling around the Mendoza Line much of this season until his recent tear.
P.S. Fred Lewis, the former Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College star from Wiggins, is now hitting .310 as the leadoff batter for Toronto, which acquired him in mid-April from San Francisco. Lewis’ 19 doubles rank among the American League leaders. And to think, it looked as though he might be done last year when he slumped with the Giants. … Former Mississippi Braves right-hander Todd Redmond made his first start on Wednesday since throwing a no-hitter last week. In a Gwinnett Braves game televised by CSS, Redmond (5-5) got the victory in a 2-1 win and struck out 10 Indianapolis hitters. The former Southern League pitcher of the year could be another option for Atlanta if it needs a starter down the stretch. And it just might.