Ah, the dread blog post jinx. Night Owl recently experienced this on his blog with Andre Ethier (which hopefully won't kill my fantasy team). I too jinxed a player, though one who isn't even in the majors - Mr. Tony Peña Jr. of the Richmond Flying Squirrels.
I started the Tony Peña Jr. Watch on May 5th, a few hours before the Flying Squirrels were set to take on the Altoona Curve. Peña entered as a pitcher in the top of the 7th with 2 outs, with that .69 era/.69 whip combination that I talked up so much.
Peña got that last out in the 7th (Chase d'Arnaud groundout) and made it through the 8th as well (two singles but two groundouts, including a double play). But then the 9th inning came up, and things did not go as well. After a quick groundout, Peña gave up a single to Alex Presley before serving up a two run homer to Héctor Giménez. He did settle down and finish the inning with a strikeout and another d'Arnaud ground out, but the damage was done. I had jinxed Tony Peña Jr. (sorry dude!)
Happily, Peña has bounced back since that game, with no runs and only two hits allowed over his last three appearances (4.2 innings). Peña even got a little 9th inning redemption vs. Altoona on Friday, as he got Hector Giménez to ground out as part of a scoreless 9th (though he did offer up a double to Presley). Maybe lefties are a bit of a problem for Peña, as all three runs Peña has given up have been to lefties like Giménez and Presley, and lefties have hit .259 off Peña as a whole. But with righties only hitting .122 off of Peña (5 hits in 12.2 IP), it looks like the guy is doing something right!
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