JUPITER, Fla.The knock on Jose Iglesias has been that he is all glove and no bat. Performances like the one he showed in Thursdays 9-3 loss to the Cardinals, while not completely erasing those kinds of reports, are at least helping to dispel them.
Batting ninth, Iglesias went 1-for-4 with a three-run triple in the eighth. He sliced a shot down the right field line, tying the game before the Cardinals struck for six runs in the bottom of the inning. Manager Bobby Valentine was pleased with Iglesias other at-bats, too.
I think the other at-bats, as well, Valentine said. He didnt get results out of his second and third at-bat, a fly ball to center field and a line drive that he hit, wind was blowing in. But he took the first pitch in the eighth, bases loaded and he got another fastball in and really nice swing. Hes really been staying close to being decent.
Iglesias, as hes done so often, also impressed in the field. He made a nice back-handed play on the Cardinals David Freese in the second inning, and snared a Matt Carpenter liner in the fourth to start a double play.
Josh Beckett was the beneficiary of Iglesias defense early in the game.
That was a great play on Freese, Beckett said. That was one of the balls that was scalded, that freese hit. Yeah, hes pretty sick. I can see why they gave him all that money.
Its nice when fielders make the great play but I think when a guy hits a ball that hard, if hed have missed that, I think I would have been able to understand. It was hit pretty hard.
Asked who Iglesias compares to, Beckett replied:
I played with Alex Gonzalez for about seven years. He was pretty good. I havent seen Jose enough. I know I saw Alex Gonzalez for a long time. He was pretty good, pretty special.
Yeah, Iglesias is really, really good.
But he still has work to do.
Hes erasing some of the preseason reports, Valentine said. Trying to erase them. Hasnt erased them yet.