José Lima

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José Lima

Kia Tigers — No. 17
Pitcher
Bats: Right Throws: Right 
Major League Baseball debut
April 20, 1994 for the Detroit Tigers
Selected MLB statistics
(through September 30, 2006)
Wins-Losses     89-102
Earned Run Average     5.26
Strikeouts     980
Former teams

José Desiderio Rodriguez Lima (a.k.a. "Lima Time") (born September 30, 1972 in Santiago, Dominican Republic) is a right-handed pitcher who last pitched for the New York Mets of Major League Baseball.

Contents

[edit] MLB Career

He made his Major League debut with the Detroit Tigers on April 20, 1994 at age 22. After three lackluster years in Detroit, he was traded to the Houston Astros, where he played for four and a half seasons before being traded back to Detroit in 2001. He gained recognition for winning 21 games in 1999 with the Astros, earning a trip to the All Star Game that year. He helped to increase his profile by flamboyantly celebrating his victories in the face of opponents. His dominance on the mound gave rise to the phrase "Lima time" whenever he pitched. A year later, however, Lima surrendered a league-leading 48 home runs, which was only two short of the single season record held by Bert Blyleven, and lost 16 games.

Since his stellar 1999 season, Lima has generally struggled to recapture his former success while playing for several different teams. He was released by Detroit during the 2002 season, proclaiming at the time, "If I can't pitch on this team--the worst or second-worst team in baseball--where am I going to pitch? If I can't start on this ballclub, I must be the worst pitcher on Earth." Thereafter, he played for the Kansas City Royals in 2003, the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2004, and in 2005, he returned to Kansas City. With the Dodgers, Lima was 13-5 with a 4.07 ERA, his best performance since 1999. Possibly the greatest moment of his career came on October 9, 2004 in the 2004 NLDS, when he pitched a 5-hit shutout against the St. Louis Cardinals. The sold out Dodger Stadium crowd was chanting his name before he got Cardinals outfielder Jim Edmonds to pop out to third baseman Adrian Beltre to end the game. It was the Dodgers first postseason win since Game 5 of the 1988 World Series.

Lima's 6.99 ERA in 2005 was the highest single-season total in baseball history for a pitcher with 30 or more games started. [1]

On February 14, 2006, Lima was inked to a minor league deal by the Mets and pitched for the Mets' AAA affiliate Norfolk Tides. He was called up to the Mets on May 7, 2006, and went 0-3 with an 8.79 ERA in three starts before being designated for assignment on May 20, 2006.

On July 4, 2006, José was again called up to the Mets, while Heath Bell was optioned back to the Norfolk Tides. [2]

Lima had another terrible pitching outing on July 7, 2006 against the Florida Marlins. After giving up a grand slam to opposing pitcher Dontrelle Willis, Lima was taken out. After the game Lima was designated for assignment back to the Norfolk Tides for the 2nd time during the 2006 season. Lima's 2006 stint with the Mets gave him a 0-4 record with a 9.87 ERA in 4 total starts.

In the Dominican Winter Baseball League he plays for the Águilas Cibaeñas.

In 2007, Lima played for Saraperos de Saltillo in the Mexican League.

A popular fantasy baseball strategy is named in his honor, the LIMA plan developed by Ron Shandler.

[edit] Korean Baseball League Career

For the 2008 season, Lima signed with the Kia Tigers, which has been nine-time champion in the Korean baseball league. Despite much expectation from his valuable career in Major League Baseball, Lima showed terrible performances in his several starting games. Since that, he was denegraded into Korean minor league, and lots of media reported the rumor that Lima would be released from Kia Tigers soon, However, after returning to the major entry, Lima got two consecutive wins against Woori Heroes with seven innings and no run, and Hanwha Eagles with five innings and three runs, diminishing the possibility that he can be released from the club.

[edit] Personal life

In December 2004, Lima was successfully sued by a woman who claimed she had contracted genital herpes from him. Faced with counts of assault and negligence, Lima may owe the woman as much as $950,000. He claims to have contracted the incurable disease while on vacation in the Dominican Republic. He has also made statements in his native Dominican Republic that after his baseball career is over, he would possibly like to pursue a career as a singer; specifically in the genre of bachata [3].

[edit] External links