When 21-year-old Christian Arroyo of the San Francisco Giants stepped in against Cincinnati Reds 40-year-old starter Bronson Arroyo on Friday night, a Major League Baseball first occurred.
Never before had two players with the last name Arroyo faced each other. That all changed when Christian muscled up and homered against the veteran 19 years his senior in the second inning, but that's just the latest layer to a bond that has grown over the past few years.
The first thing that comes to mind when seeing that matchup is the two players have to be related somehow.
As Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News writes, that's not true at all. The Arroyos are not kin, but they did attend the same high school, Hernando High in Brooksville, Fla., which is an hour north of Tampa.
The Arroyos played there at much different times. In fact, Christian was just 6 days old when Bronson was drafted by the Pirates in 1995. But they played for the same coach, Tim Sims, who helped build a relationship between them.
They connected for the first time in 2013 prior to Christian being selected 25th overall in the MLB first-year player draft by the Giants out of high school. And Bronson was among the first to congratulate Christian after his promotion two weeks ago, texting that "Everybody in 'Brooks-Vegas' will be watching."
Despite the support, Bronson probably didn't envision their first on-field meeting going the way of the long ball.
Don't feel too bad for Bronson, because he didn't make many mistakes Friday. He ended up with the victory in Cincinnati's 13-3 victory, allowing 3 runs (2 earned) on 5 hits over 51/3 innings. He also retired Christian in their subsequent matchup on a fly ball to left field.
To most watching, the Arroyo-Arroyo matchup probably felt like a coincidence more than anything, but it's just another quirk that makes baseball special to those who love the sport.
No reunion
According to LSU head football Coach Ed Orgeron, this year's LSU vs. Alabama matchup almost had a lot more intrigue.
The reunion of Orgeron and former Alabama offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin was going to happen, and then Florida Atlantic University came calling with an offer to make Kiffin the next head coach of the Owls.
Kiffin and Orgeron were assistants together on Pete Carroll's USC staff, then reunited at Tennessee when Kiffin was named the Vols' head coach. The two moved together from Tennessee to USC when Kiffin switched jobs, and Orgeron was later named the interim coach for the Trojans in 2013 after Kiffin's early season dismissal.
When Orgeron was named LSU's permanent head coach, it was widely reported that Kiffin was the top target as the team's next offensive coordinator. Kiffin's time with Nick Saban at Alabama had reached a conclusion, and Orgeron said early signs had pointed to Kiffin making the jump from one SEC West rival to another until FAU offered him a job as a head coach.
"We were looking at Lane Kiffin. He was going to come. He got a head job," Orgeron told attendees of the Northwestern State Legends Gala on Friday, according to The Advocate newspaper.
For now, one can only wonder what Kiffin would have cooked up against Saban, the coach who decided it was best they part ways before last season's national championship game.
Sports on 05/07/2017