The 2015 season was the final season of right-hander Dan Haren's excellent career. He went 153-131 with a 3.75 ERA (110 ERA+) in parts of 13 seasons with the Cardinals, Athletics, Diamondbacks, Angels, Nationals, Dodgers, Marlins and Cubs. Most players dream of having a career like that.
On Monday, while riding an exercise bike, the now retired Haren opened up about his career on Twitter. His handle: @ithrow88. Gives you a good idea about his sense of humor.
Some of Haren's tweets were fun and light-hearted, for example:
I had to take Imodium most days I pitched to plug myself up.
— dan haren (@ithrow88) January 4, 2016
I would count out the days about a month in advance to see if I was gonna pitch in Coors field.
— dan haren (@ithrow88) January 4, 2016
Some of it was a bit more serious though:
There's was atleast 3-4 times I thought the team plane was gonna crash.
— dan haren (@ithrow88) January 4, 2016
Haren also opened up about his favorite moment of his career. It happened in the batter's box, not on the mound:
One of my favorite moment ever was hitting a homer off Chris carpenter. I took my time running the bases.
— dan haren (@ithrow88) January 4, 2016
Haren and Carpenter were teammates with the 2004 Cardinals, so I'm guessing that long jog around the bases was as much about ribbing a pal as it was enjoying the moment. Hitting a home run would be pretty much the coolest thing ever. I'd take my time running the bases too.
Haren also discussed some pitching stuff because, well, he was a pitcher:
I gave up so many homers cause I didn't wanna walk people. That and cause I threw 85 mph meatballs sometimes.
— dan haren (@ithrow88) January 4, 2016
Sometimes when the count was 3-1, I would just throw it down the middle and hope for the best. People pop up in batting practice right
— dan haren (@ithrow88) January 4, 2016
I only hit like 5-7 people on purpose.
— dan haren (@ithrow88) January 4, 2016
Why the hell did Bj Upton hit so many homers off me..... This probably ties into the last tweet as well. I did much better facing Melvin
— dan haren (@ithrow88) January 4, 2016
Upton went 12 for 40 (.300) with six home runs off Haren in his career. All six dingers came as B.J. Upton though. He went 1 for 3 with a strikeout against Haren as Melvin Upton in 2015.
To wrap it all up, here's one tweet that stood out to me:
I went into almost every start the last few years thinking... How the hell am I gonna get these guys out
— dan haren (@ithrow88) January 4, 2016
I wonder how many veteran pitchers feel the same way. Not even veterans, I'm sure many young guys feel the same way. Baseball is hard.
