Jason Heyward's Golden Sombrero

A golden sombrero is awarded to a player who manages to strike out four times in a single game (real golden sombrero not included). It's quite the feat unless you're Ryan Howard or Mark Reynolds. Unfortunately, cycles and no-hitters are all the rage nowadays. Not for me, though. I will pour over the box scores to bring you the finest at swinging and missing.

It's only been five days since the last golden sombrero but it felt like a lifetime for me. Plenty of players have had three strikeout games in that time period and I feel confident that this will be the Summer of the Sombrero. Which is good because I just spent a lot of money on Off Base Percentage sombreros and, for some reason, a goat wearing a hat.

[thanks Blasphemous Bicycler]

Where were we? Oh right, Jason Heyward came through for me tonight and racked up four strikeouts. Heyward had a platinum sombrero just last Saturday in a nine inning game. He's quickly becoming one of my favorite players. Let's see what he was up to tonight...

Top 1st: Heyward struck out swinging against Francisco Liriano. Liriano also helped deliver Gabe Gross' golden sombrero on Sunday. Guess who's becoming my favorite pitcher?

Top 3rd: Heyward struck out swinging against Liriano again.

Top 6th: Heyward struck out swinging against Liriano for the MTD hat trick (striking out 3 times, the same way, against the same pitcher). I send Liriano a basket of muffins.

Top 9th: Heyward struck out swinging against Jon Rauch.

That's a lot of swinging and missing for one night, kid. If Heyward keeps this up, he might have some real competition for the ROY with that Strasburg guy. Or if Heyward keeps this up, he could be Off Base Perentage's Golden Sombrero Player Of The Year. And I think we all know which he'd prefer. Our trophy is made out of cheese!

Shin-Soo Choo's Golden Sombrero

A golden sombrero is awarded to a player who manages to strike out four times in a single game (real golden sombrero not included). It's quite the feat unless you're Ryan Howard or Mark Reynolds. Unfortunately, no-hitters and Brian Wilson's beard are all the rage nowadays. Not for me, though. I will pour over the box scores to bring you the finest at swinging and missing.

I can't believe I had to wait until the third day [Ed. - My bad, I missed Ryan Langerhans' GS last night *makes drinking motion*] of the season for the first Golden Sombrero. Oh, we've been close and it looks like I'll have another busy year tracking all of them down. Luckily for me and you, I have a partner in crime this season. My good friend Mike at (what else?) The Golden Sombrero shares my passion for swinging and missing. Good times ahead.

Shin-Soo Choo gets the dubious honor of the first Golden Sombrero of the young 2011 season. He had one on 9/29 last season but didn't get the full Off Base treatment so I feel like we should do something special for him today. Let's break out an old classic, pinata bloopers...



I could watch that all day. But we have some business to attend.

Bottom 2nd: Choo struck out swinging against Edwin Jackson. Choo drew a walk in the first but quickly decided that was boring.

Bottom 5th: Choo struck out swinging against Jackson again. But he did it in an impressive fashion. Three pitches: one looking, one fouled off and then one swinging. Nice.

Bottom 7th: Choo struck out swinging against Chris Sale. Again, it only took three pitches.

Bottom 9th: Choo struck out looking against Sergio Santos. Just three pitches. Choo, master of efficiency.

Ryan Zimmerman's Golden Sombrero

A golden sombrero is awarded to a player who manages to strike out four times in a single game (real golden sombrero not included). It's quite the feat unless you're Ryan Howard or Mark Reynolds. Unfortunately, cycles and no-hitters are all the rage nowadays. Not for me, though. I will pour over the box scores to bring you the finest at swinging and missing.

With all the strikeouts Stephen Strasburg has been racking up, the other face of the Nationals decided to get in on the act today. Ryan Zimmerman picked up a Golden Sombrero after striking out four times against the White Sox. This will probably be the only Sombrero I will get to hand out to the 25-year-old All Star third baseman this year so we'll have to make it special. While Zimmerman averages about 120 strikeouts over a full season, this is only his fourth career Golden Sombrero. He had one in each of 2006, 2007 and 2008.

In honor of Zimmerman's rare Sombrero, I've blended up some margaritas and put out the chips and salsa. Now let's all gather around and watch some pinata bloopers!



If you don't enjoy that, we can't be friends. Let's see how Zimmerman won that shiny, shiny hat.

Bottom 1st: Zimmerman struck out swinging against Jake Peavy. Remember when Jake Peavy was good? So did he today.

Bottom 3rd: Zimmerman struck out looking against Peavy. Maybe Peavy is just good against the National League.

Bottom 6th: Zimmerman struck out looking against Peavy. 3 pitches. Perhaps Peavy is just good against Ryan Zimmerman.

Bottom 9th: Zimmerman struck out looking against Peavy. 3 pitches. Oh okay, Peavy just owns Zimmerman. This is also an MTD Hat Trick (striking out 3 times, the same way, against the same pitcher). I haven't come up with a name for when a pitcher strikes out a batter 4 times in one game. I'm open to suggestions though. Comments?

Gabe Gross' Golden Sombrero

A golden sombrero is awarded to a player who manages to strike out four times in a single game (real golden sombrero not included). It's quite the feat unless you're Ryan Howard or Mark Reynolds. Unfortunately, cycles and no-hitters are all the rage nowadays. Not for me, though. I will pour over the box scores to bring you the finest at swinging and missing.

It's been busy for me today as I'm about to hand out my third sombrero. During the 14 inning strikeout fest between the Blue Jays and Yankees, I handed out a Golden Sombrero to Adam Lind and a Platinum Sombrero (or Olympic Rings) to Mark Teixeira. Usually, that would satiate my appetite for poor hitting but I had a feeling about today. In fact, I put Gabe Gross on notice...





I'd like to believe he saw that on his iPhone in the on deck circle right before he led off the 9th inning. I wonder what happened next. Let's find out in the recap.

Bottom 2nd: Gross struck out swinging against Fransisco Liriano. Bonus points are added because I own Liriano on my fantasy team.

Bottom 4th: Gross struck out swinging against Liriano again. I get a tingle up my spine.

Bottom 7th: Gross struck out for the third time swinging against Liriano. This is a true strikeout hat trick according to MTD. That's striking out three times, the same way, against the same pitcher. I really hope someone else didn't already claim that.

Bottom 9th: Gross struck out looking against Jon Rauch.

So there you go, the suspense is over. Gross got the Golden Sombrero. Although, you probably got that from the title of the post. I'm not much of a story teller. Let's go get tacos.

Paul Maholm's Golden Sombrero

A golden sombrero is awarded to a player who manages to strike out four times in a single game (real golden sombrero not included). It's quite the feat unless you're Ryan Howard or Mark Reynolds. Unfortunately, no-hitters and Brian Wilson's beard are all the rage nowadays. Not for me, though. I will pour over the box scores to bring you the finest at swinging and missing.

I missed writing up the 3 golden sombreros from Friday night because the weekend is when I meditate and focus on self-improvement. Or recover from hangovers if you want to be more specific/accurate. Plus my boy Mike at The Golden Sombrero does an excellent job recording every sombrero and it looks like we're going to have a ton of them again this season. But I won't miss the opportunity to write up a pitcher golden sombrero. There's something magical about them like a first kiss or remembering where you parked. I think it's because pitchers usually don't get 4 plate appearances in one game and there's a 74.3% chances they'll be bunting in one of the at bats.

But Pat Maholm on Saturday was just as terrible at the dish as he was brilliant on the mound. Maholm threw a 3-hit shutout while walking none and striking out 4. The same number of times he struck out at the plate. Just the perfect storm of dominance and futility. I'd totally send Paul an Off Base t-shirt if they weren't fictional. Let's check out Maholm's hitting prowess...

Top 3rd: Maholm struck out swinging against Randy Wells. He fouled one off and took two balls before going down swinging so better than what I would have done.

Top 4th: Maholm struck out swinging against Wells. Basically the same at bat he had in the previous inning.

Top 6th: Maholm struck out swinging against James Russell.

Top 8th: Maholm struck out looking against Scott Maine.

Ryan Howard's Golden Sombrero

A golden sombrero is awarded to a player who manages to strike out four times in a single game (real golden sombrero not included). It's quite the feat unless you're Ryan Howard or Mark Reynolds. Unfortunately, no-hitters and Brian Wilson's beard are all the rage nowadays. Not for me, though. I will pour over the box scores to bring you the finest at swinging and missing.

This Ryan Howard sombrero has me bummed out for two reasons. 1) I meant to place a wager with my fellow strikeout junkie Mike from The Golden Sombrero about whether Howard or Mark Reynolds would reach four K's in one game first. 2) Howard was so close to the 5K platinum sombrero. Come on!

Usually when either Howard or Reynolds records a sombrero, I reward my dear readers with a picture of a dog or mule wearing a sombrero but I'm too angry this time. So here's a cat in a hat...

Now let's all move along to Howard's futility at the dish...

Top 1st: Howard struck out swinging against Mat Latos. I think we're all on the same page here, right? Latos' parents had to be some kind of hippies to leave that other "T" off of his name. It really drives me crazy. Ugh, I hope Howard doesn't strike out against him again...

Top 3rd: Howard struck out swinging against Latos again. Son of a...

Top 4th: Howard struck out looking against Latos. Now he's just effing with me.

Top 7th: Howard struck out swinging against Cory Luebke. On three pitches.

Then, with no concern for my own jubilance, Howard grounded out in the top of the 9th.

This isn't over, Ryan...

Mark Reynolds' Golden Sombrero

A golden sombrero is awarded to a player who manages to strike out four times in a single game (real golden sombrero not included). It's quite the feat unless you're Ryan Howard or Mark Reynolds. Unfortunately, cycles and no-hitters are all the rage nowadays. Not for me, though. I will pour over the box scores to bring you the finest at swinging and missing.

What can I say about Mark Reynolds? He might be my favorite player. I've tried to reach out on Twitter and Facebook but even if he's there, I'm not sure he would want to be friends with a guy who chronicles his epic moment in striking out. But there is a chance I'm wrong. Reynolds didn't have a Golden Sombrero until June 17th, about two weeks after we started this blog. This is his third Sombrero in two weeks since then. So I'd prefer to think he was just waiting until I got this blog up and running before he went strikeout crazy. I do have a pretty high opinion of myself though.

And any time I get to hand out a Golden Sombrero to Mark Reynolds means the Drunk Donkey gets out of my shed and we go patrolling for babes. By shed, I mean the spare bedroom, he likes pillows and a mattress.

Alright, we've been taking shots of Costco Tequila, so it's time to take a look at Reynolds' strikeouts before the donkey throws up on my couch...

Top 2nd: Reynolds struck out swinging against David Price. That's former No. 1 pick David Price.

Top 5th: Reynolds struck out swinging against Price again.

Top 7th: Reynolds struck out swinging against Price for the MTD Hat Trick. I hope you guys know what that is by now, jerks. I held off on the Price is Right/Wrong jokes but this at least calls for the losing horn...



Top 9th: Reynolds struck out swinging against Rafael Soriano. Did I get a fantasy save? Somebody check my lineup.

Clayton Richard's Golden Sombrero

A golden sombrero is awarded to a player who manages to strike out four times in a single game (real golden sombrero not included). It's quite the feat unless you're Ryan Howard or Mark Reynolds. Unfortunately, cycles and no-hitters are all the rage nowadays. Not for me, though. I will pour over the box scores to bring you the finest at swinging and missing.

I skipped writing the last few Sombrero because they just happen so much more frequently than I thought they would. And I'm lazy. But occasionally one will spike my interest which brings us to today. Well, technically yesterday. Everything has to line up just right for a pitcher to record a Golden Sombrero. Clayton Richard threw a complete game and was responsible for 10 strikeouts. He struck out 6 Dodgers and tacked on 4 of his own at the dish. Let's go to the lowlight reel...

Top 2nd: Richard struck out looking against Chad Billingsley. Richard was dealt to the Padres with Aaron Poreda (and others) for Jake Peavy last year. The Padres are getting the better end of that deal and haven't gotten anything out of Poreda yet.

Top 4th: Richard struck out swinging against Billingsley. Okay, so maybe Richard isn't a wizard with the bat but neither are most of the other Padres.

Top 6th: Richard struck out swinging against Carlos Monasterios. Never heard of him.

Top 8th: Richard struck out swinging against Ramon Troncoso. I'd like to take this moment to thank Bud Black for resting his bullpen and the Padres' lineup for somehow scoring enough runs to put this game out of hand.

Fun fact: the last pitcher Golden Sombrero was Anibal Sanchez on 8/10.

Mark Reynolds' Golden Sombrero

A golden sombrero is awarded to a player who manages to strike out four times in a single game (real golden sombrero not included). It's quite the feat unless you're Ryan Howard or Mark Reynolds. Unfortunately, cycles and no-hitters are all the rage nowadays. Not for me, though. I will pour over the box scores to bring you the finest at swinging and missing.

This is an exciting, special edition of my Golden Sombrero segment. In case you missed it, I reference Mark Reynolds in the description of this post. Mark has missed a few balls the past couple of years. He led the National League in strikeouts in 2008 (204) and 2009 (impressive 223). He's kind of my hero. Tonight was Mark's first Golden Sombrero since we opened this site around a week ago. Shocking, I know.

In honor of this special, frequent occasion, I took four shots of Tres Generationes tequila and hired this donkey wearing a sombrero.

The donkey and I finished the bottle of tequila and are going to pick up some broads after I finish this post. So let's get to it.

Bottom 3rd: Reynolds struck out swinging against Chris Carpenter. Nothing to see here, move along.

Bottom 5th: Reynolds struck out swinging against Carpenter. He swung and missed at three straight. I try to purchase a Mark Reynolds Fathead of him striking out.

Bottom 7th: Reynolds struck out swinging against Dennys Reyes. Mmmm, Dennys.

Bottom 9th: Reynolds struck out swinging against Kyle McClellan. Reynolds was trying to air condition the Diamondbacks stadium all by himself. Who's looking out for ya?

Thank you, Mark Reynolds. I erected a Mark Reynolds statue out of mash potatoes but my drunk donkey ate it. Speaking of which, we're going to find some ladies. I'll post something tomorrow after I post bail.

Sam Fuld's Golden Sombrero

A golden sombrero is awarded to a player who manages to strike out four times in a single game (real golden sombrero not included). It's quite the feat unless you're Ryan Howard or Mark Reynolds. Unfortunately, no-hitters and Brian Wilson's beard are all the rage nowadays. Not for me, though. I will pour over the box scores to bring you the finest at swinging and missing.

The legend of Sam Fuld continues as he became the most recent leadoff hitter to record the golden sombrero. Fuld is hitting .365/.407/.541 this season, already good for a 1.2 WAR. But he ran in to the buzzsaw known as Ricky Romero for one pretty unproductive Easter Sunday...

Top 1st: Fuld struck out swinging against Romero.

Top 2nd: Fuld struck out looking against Romero. Fuld doesn't always get a sombrero, but when he does he likes to change things up.

Top 5th: Fuld struck out swinging against Romero.

Top 8th: Fuld struck out swinging against Marc Rzepczynski.

To be honest, this was a rather bland golden sombrero. Fuld worked the counts a little and just had one of those days. I prefer my futility to have bells and whistles. If you're going to strike out four times in one game, have the decency to do it in 12 pitches.

Xavier Nady's Golden Sombrero

A golden sombrero is awarded to a player who manages to strike out four times in a single game (real golden sombrero not included). It's quite the feat unless you're Ryan Howard or Mark Reynolds. Unfortunately, no-hitters and Brian Wilson's beard are all the rage nowadays. Not for me, though. I will pour over the box scores to bring you the finest at swinging and missing.

Your laptop dies for a week and you miss 15 golden sombreros. The golden sombrero used to be special but in this new era of terrible hitting and Charlie Morton, there's just a ton more guys swinging and missing. For full coverage, my good friend Mike does a great job of tracking these at The Golden Sombrero but I'll still try to make fun of as many as possible.

Xavier Nady was Wednesday night's lone giant hat wearer. It would have taken me at least 5 guesses before I got to Diamondbacks as Nady's 2011 team. Nady had a 3.2 WAR in 2008 but has otherwise been basically a replacement level guy. Slight tick above replacement level because his name is awesome. I like him because he strikes out a quarter of the time. Which eventual leads to this...

Bottom 2nd: Nady struck out looking against Madison Bumgarner. He took 3 straight balls before the 3 straight strikes. This might be my new favorite type of plate appearance.

Bottom 4th: Nady struck out swinging against Bumgarner. Nothing fancy about this one.

Bottom 6th: Nady struck out swinging against Bumgarner again. He fouled a pair off just to see what contact was like. He didn't much care for it.

Bottom 9th: Nady struck out swinging against Brian Wilson. 3 pitches. Fear of the beard is a real thing.

BJ Upton's Golden Sombrero

A golden sombrero is awarded to a player who manages to strike out four times in a single game (real golden sombrero not included). It's quite the feat unless you're Ryan Howard or Mark Reynolds. Unfortunately, no-hitters and Brian Wilson's beard are all the rage nowadays. Not for me, though. I will pour over the box scores to bring you the finest at swinging and missing.

What a difference a day made for Bossman Junior. Less than 24 hours after a walk-off home run followed by the celebratory chocolate and whip cream pie to the face, Upton picked up the Golden Sombrero in a rather spectacular fashion. He got rung up looking thrice and was none too happy about it. He had to be physically restrained from umpire Chad Fairchild who ejected Upton in the ninth as well as Jay's manager John Farrell in the seventh. Joe West also took part, ejecting Rays manager Joe Maddon in the seventh. I think somebody got into the tequila a little early yesterday.

Let's see what drew the ire of the elder Upton...

Bottom 2nd: Upton struck out swinging against Brandon Morrow. 3 pitches. It's not like his day got off to a great start.

Bottom 4th: Upton struck out looking against Morrow. This was a called strike on a 3-2 count.

Bottom 6th: Upton struck out looking against Morrow again. Another called strike but on a 1-2 count.

Bottom 9th: Upton struck out looking against Frank Francisco. He took all three strikes looking but this is the one that set him off. He was tossed and threw everything he could get his hands on while making his exit. Personally, I'd like to see more of that after a good Golden Sombrero.

Jason Kubel's Golden Sombrero

A golden sombrero is awarded to a player who manages to strike out four times in a single game (real golden sombrero not included). It's quite the feat unless you're Ryan Howard or Mark Reynolds. Unfortunately, cycles and no-hitters are all the rage nowadays. Not for me, though. I will pour over the box scores to bring you the finest at swinging and missing.

I didn't have to wait long for the first Golden Sombrero of the second half thanks to Jason Kubel. The Summer of Strikeouts continues! Kubel had a breakout/anomaly season last year hitting 28 home runs and .300/.369/.539. Kubel has taken a step back to his more normal .263/.343/.438 slash line this season. He went 1-5 last night with 4 strikeouts. This just happens to be Kubel's first career Golden Sombrero, so I think I owe him something special for his first time. I blended up some margaritas and now it's time for, wait for it, pinata bloopers...



My favorite was the girl that just kept hitting the wall with the broom. Now that we all had some laughs together, let's see how Kubel achieved hat history...

Bottom 2nd: Kubel stuck out swinging against John Danks. To Kubel's credit, he did single earlier in the 2nd inning. So 1-2 isn't so bad. It would not get that good again.

Bottom 5th: Kubel struck out swinging against Danks. He took ball 1 before it all fell apart over the next 3 pitches.

Bottom 7th: Kubel struck out swinging against Matt Thornton.

Bottom 9th: Kubel struck out swinging against Bobby Jenks.

Everybody has one of those days. Mine came in the summer of 1993. Jeff Young really had his stuff that day. His rising Wiffle Ball was unhittable and his off speed stuff was ridiculous. Even with my Wiffle ball bat filled with sand, I struck out swinging 4 times. See Jason, it happens to the best of us.

Ryan Howard's Golden Sombrero, Again

A golden sombrero is awarded to a player who manages to strike out four times in a single game (real golden sombrero not included). It's quite the feat unless you're Ryan Howard or Mark Reynolds. Unfortunately, cycles and no-hitters are all the rage nowadays. Not for me, though. I will pour over the box scores to bring you the finest at swinging and missing.

Any time you give Ryan Howard extra innings, you give me the opportunity to hand out a Golden Sombrero. While Howard is having a disappointing season, for me, at the dish with only 123 strikeouts (good for 10th), he did miss some time on the DL and should be able to rebound to finish in the top 5 in strikeouts in the NL. But if Howard gets and extra inning or two, he's almost a lock for the big Mexican hat. And that's exactly what the Padres gave him yesterday, resulting in a 1-5, 4 strikeout appearance. At the end of the season, we'll crown our first Off Base Golden Sombrero champion and I have faith that Howard will be in the mix with Mark Reynolds and Jason Heyward. Reynolds is the leader in the clubhouse with 4 and has the uncanny ability to put 2 up a week down the stretch. He wants it more.

Let's take a peek at Howard's at bats yesterday to see where everything went wrong...

Top 1st: Howard struck out looking against Mat Latos. Latos appears to be a stud in the making but Howard didn't even take the bat off of his shoulder for the 3 pitches.

Top 3rd: Howard struck out looking against Latos again. He watched one ball just for good measure.

Top 6th: Howard struck out swinging against Latos.

Top 12th: Howard struck out looking against somebody named Ernesto Frieri.

Jason Repko's Golden Sombrero

A golden sombrero is awarded to a player who manages to strike out four times in a single game (real golden sombrero not included). It's quite the feat unless you're Ryan Howard or Mark Reynolds. Unfortunately, cycles and no-hitters are all the rage nowadays. Not for me, though. I will pour over the box scores to bring you the finest at swinging and missing.

With on 6 games on Thursday, you'd think the odds on getting a Sombrero would be pretty low. Don't tell that to Jason Repko, he had plans of his own. Repko strikes out about 30% of the time so I was a little surprised it has taken him this long to record a Golden Sombrero this season. Then I realized he's only had 99 plate appearances this season and it all started to make sense. Jason is hitting .213/.286/.382 or what I like to call a mouth fart line. Repko went 1-5 with 4 strikeouts and a walk in 13 innings. Let's all rejoice under this Sombrero because it's probably the last time Repko will see more than 3 plate appearances in a game...

Bottom 2nd: Repko struck out swinging against Justin Verlander. There's no shame in that, Verlander has dominant stuff. Not for where I drafted him this year but that's another story.

Bottom 4th: Repko struck out swinging against Verlander. Repko bunted foul twice and then struck out swinging. Then he made the National League pitcher's walk of shame back to the dugout.

Bottom 10th: Repko struck out swinging Robbie Weinhardt. Weinhardt. Hehe.

Bottom 12th: Repko struck out looking against Jose Valverde.

Cody Ross' Golden Sombrero

A golden sombrero is awarded to a player who manages to strike out four times in a single game (real golden sombrero not included). It's quite the feat unless you're Ryan Howard or Mark Reynolds. Unfortunately, cycles and no-hitters are all the rage nowadays. Not for me, though. I will pour over the box scores to bring you the finest at swinging and missing.

Well look at that, another Golden Sombrero. This is starting to get out of hand. I'm running out of material for these. I'm out of pinata blooper videos and I can't keep drinking this much cheap tequila. But alas, I can't leave you guys hanging. I do suggest you start filming your own pinata blooper videos and email them to me. There's a nice hat tip in it for you! Alright, on to tonight's free swinging victim.

Cody Ross could have been a nice trade chip for the Marlins but they weren't blown away and held onto that .271/.323/.410 slash line. Good luck with that cornerstone of a franchise. Ross went 1-5 with 4 strikeouts. Let's take a look at his at bats and hand out a giant Mexican hat...

Bottom 3rd: Ross struck out swinging against Roy Oswalt.

Bottom 6th: Ross struck out swinging against Oswalt again. Oswalt showed some flashes of his former self. It's amazing what going to an actual contender can do for a player.

Bottom 7th: Ross struck out looking against Oswalt to barely avoid the MTD Hat Trick. I should probably look into making a glossary for some of our trademarked terminology. I'm pretty sure that's where the proverbial fat cash will come from.

Bottom 9th: Ross struck out swinging against Ryan Madson. Even though the game went extra innings, Ross didn't get another at bat which is a shame because he was well on his way to a Platinum Sombrero. I could use one of those for a change.

Tune in tomorrow, I'm sure there will be another Sombrero.

Golden Sombrero Of The Year Award

It's just about award season and we've created some of our own. I poured through box scores for much of the season (we were born on 5/30/2010) to bring you some of the finest swinging and missing baseball had to offer. And boy, were there a ton of Golden Sombreros. You can see the list I compiled here. I seemed to lose a little steam writing them up there at the end, mainly because I ran out of pinata blooper videos.

I mentioned Mark Reynolds and Ryan Howard in the intro to every Sombrero post I wrote because, well, they're my poster children for strikeouts. And they didn't disappoint. It was a close race but there can be only one Highlander. After I collected all of the ballots (I was the only one that had one) and crunched some numbers (took a nap), I have the winner. Ladies and gentleman, your 2010 Golden Sombrero of the Year Award goes to Mark Reynolds. *thunderous ovation of missed claps* Here's the official ballot in case you were afraid of any shenanigans.

1. Mark Reynolds
Reynolds led all of baseball in strikeouts for the third straight year. He's also gone over 200 strikeouts in each of the last three seasons. And he set a personal best, striking out 42.3% of the time. He notched four Golden Sombreros and had the decency to wait for me to start this blog before he struck out four times in one game. And for that, I'm bringing back the drunk donkey.

After I finish this post, the donkey and I are splitting a box of wine and going cruising for ladies. Look out women of Baton Rouge, you're on notice.

Congratulations, Mark. Email me your address and shirt size and I'll get your prize in the mail.

2. Ryan Howard
Howard missed some time so he only finished 11th in all of baseball with 157 strikeouts. He did still manage two Golden Sombreos to go along with his August 24th Platinum Sombrero. While Reynolds is the king, my money is on Howard to give me that damn elusive Titanium Sombrero. It might happen if the Phils meet the Rangers in the World Series and Cliff Lee pitches 14 innings. A boy can dream, can't he? By boy, I mean grown man sitting in a basement with way too much Cheeto dust on him.

Sorry Ryan, there is no free t-shirt for second place or a donkey in a sombrero. You'll have to settle with a goat.

Thanks Holy Taco, I'll be stealing from you all next season.

3. Pedro Alvarez
Another rookie beats out Jason Heyward on one of my ballots. Heyward and Alvarez both finished with three Sombreros and, although one of Heyward's was a Platinum, I wasn't writing here when Jason picked up his first GS on April 9th. Therefore, it doesn't count. Plus Alvarez racked up the four strikeout games at a more rapid pace when he finally got the call. All right Pedro, you deserve something. Hey look, a cat in a sombrero!

That should just about wrap up our coverage of Golden Sombreros for the year. Better luck next year to you crazy free swingers but as long as Mark Reynolds is still getting plate appearances, well, you're just playing for second.

Jeff Mathis' Golden Sombrero

A golden sombrero is awarded to a player who manages to strike out four times in a single game (real golden sombrero not included). It's quite the feat unless you're Ryan Howard or Mark Reynolds. Unfortunately, cycles and no-hitters are all the rage nowadays. Not for me, though. I will pour over the box scores to bring you the finest at swinging and missing.

You would think it would be pretty hard to strikeout four times in a 10-3 game when your team only bats in eight innings. Nope. And if I gave you one guess which Angel was capable of that, I assume you would say Brandon Wood. Wrong again. You're off to a poor start in this post. It was Jeff Mathis who donned the Sombrero. I don't blame you for not guessing Mathis, unless you are Mike Scioscia, you would never put Jeff Mathis in a major league lineup. Before I hammer on Mathis some more, Brandon Wood hit a grand slam, walked and struck out zero times. It was very confusing for me to watch.

Mathis, a career .204 hitter, doesn't actually strikeout that often. In fact, this is only his second major league Golden Sombrero. We should do something special. I know it's not new but everybody grab your margarita and let's watch that baby dance...



That baby probably gets so many more ladies than me. Oh well, at least I don't poop myself. Usually. Let's go to Mathis' strikeouts before I divulge anymore.

Bottom 3rd: Mathis struck out swinging against Jhoulys Chacin. Fun fact: Chacin's first name is pronounced "Bob."

Bottom 4th: Mathis struck out swinging against Chacin again. Mathis wasted no time to end the inning. Dude just loves to catch.

Bottom 6th: Mathis struck out swinging against Chacin. MTD Hat Trick. I need to learn how to build a glossary for this site because we make up a lot of stuff.

Bottom 8th: Mathis struck out looking against Franklin Morales. Brandon Wood hits a grand slam, I fall out of my chair.

Micah Hoffpauir's Golden Sombrero

A golden sombrero is awarded to a player who manages to strike out four times in a single game (real golden sombrero not included). It's quite the feat unless you're Ryan Howard or Mark Reynolds. Unfortunately, cycles and no-hitters are all the rage nowadays. Not for me, though. I will pour over the box scores to bring you the finest at swinging and missing.

Micah Hoffpauir gets credit for being one of my favorite names in baseball and making the least of his plate appearances. In his 30 PA this season, he has 5 hits and a walk to go with his 11 strikeouts. Brandon Wood nods his head in approval. It took Hoffpauir a mere 5 games with 4 or more plate appearances to record his first Golden Sombrero this year. Unfortunately, for me, the 30-year-old isn't going to be much more than a bench player so these Sombreros might be few and far between.

Usually in special Sombrero situation such as this, I try to break out a nice pinata bloober video but I'm out of them and college football is on. Let's take a quick look at Micah's anti-heroics at the dish yesterday...

Top 4th: Hoffpauir struck out looking against Dave Bush. 3 pitches.

Top 5th: Hoffpauir struck out swinging against Bush. 4 pitches. Micah was trying to get out of there with the quickness. He had the season premiere of Vampire Diaries recorded.

Top 7th: Hoffpauir struck out swinging against Brandon Kintzler.

Top 9th: Hoffpauir struck out swinging against Mark Rogers.

Good game Hoff. Can I call you Hoff?

Chris Valaika's Golden Sombrero

A golden sombrero is awarded to a player who manages to strike out four times in a single game (real golden sombrero not included). It's quite the feat unless you're Ryan Howard or Mark Reynolds. Unfortunately, cycles and no-hitters are all the rage nowadays. Not for me, though. I will pour over the box scores to bring you the finest at swinging and missing.

Oh, I had to look Chris Valaika up. We here at Off Base have a both coasts bias. We often overlook what's going on in your precious midwest. So I'll occasionally miss a prospect from Cincinnati or Milwaukee or Pittsburgh. Basically anyone from the NL Central. But we're bringing in an intern to help us out with the divisions we don't care about.

Valaika, a 25-year-old second baseman, was called up a week ago and wasted no time collecting his first Golden Sombrero. The Sombrero almost got past me because it was slightly overshadowed by Aroldis Chapman's debut and 103.9 MPH fastball. Aroldis couldn't have gotten to the bigs at a better time after baseball recently lost that pitching prospect for the Nationals. I already forgot his name. I want to say Sam Steinberg. Anyway, Chapman will be all the talk until he has surgery when his elbow explodes.

I guess we might as well take a look at Valaika's poor night at the dish before Chapman completely hijacks this post...

Bottom 3rd: Valaika struck out swinging against Yovani Gallardo. He actually singled in the first so the night was "Mark Reynolds terrible."

Bottom 5th: Valaika struck out looking against Gallardo. Gallardo gave up 8 runs in 5 innings but it was better than his last start. I assume he wasn't robbed at gunpoint again last night.

Bottom 6th: Valaika struck out swinging against Gallardo.

Top 8th: Chapman strikes out Jonathan Lucroy by ridiculousness. Lucroy might as well have been swinging a spoon against the last pitch.

Bottom 8th: Valaika struck out swinging against Todd Coffey.