Lance Berkman’s hot streak
Posted by Andy on April 18, 2011
Lance Berkman has been on fire the last 5 days. Check out the longest streaks in 2011 (through Friday's games) where the player had at least 1 hit and 1 run scored:
| Rk | Strk Start | End | Games | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SO | BB | SB | Tm | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jonathan Herrera | 2011-04-08 | 2011-04-15 | 7 | 26 | 8 | 12 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 4 | .462 | .600 | .692 | 1.292 | COL |
| 2 | Chris Young | 2011-04-06 | 2011-04-13 | 7 | 31 | 10 | 11 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 11 | 5 | 1 | 0 | .355 | .364 | .774 | 1.138 | ARI |
| 3 | Troy Tulowitzki | 2011-04-10 | 2011-04-15 | 6 | 22 | 7 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 1 | 6 | 0 | .545 | .643 | 1.182 | 1.825 | COL |
| 4 | Lance Berkman | 2011-04-11 | 2011-04-15 | 5 | 21 | 9 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 12 | 2 | 1 | 0 | .476 | .500 | 1.333 | 1.833 | STL |
| 5 | Alex Rodriguez | 2011-04-08 | 2011-04-15 | 5 | 16 | 7 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | .563 | .636 | 1.125 | 1.761 | NYY |
| 6 | Jose Reyes | 2011-04-09 | 2011-04-14 | 5 | 23 | 5 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | .391 | .440 | .826 | 1.266 | NYM |
| 7 | Angel Sanchez | 2011-04-09 | 2011-04-13 | 5 | 23 | 6 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | .478 | .500 | .696 | 1.196 | HOU |
| 8 | Shane Victorino | 2011-04-06 | 2011-04-10 | 5 | 23 | 8 | 13 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 2 | .565 | .565 | .870 | 1.435 | PHI |
| 9 | Drew Stubbs | 2011-03-31 | 2011-04-06 | 5 | 21 | 6 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 2 | .381 | .435 | .667 | 1.101 | CIN |
| 10 | Joey Votto | 2011-03-31 | 2011-04-06 | 5 | 18 | 8 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 0 | .389 | .500 | .667 | 1.167 | CIN |
| 11 | Jose Tabata | 2011-04-01 | 2011-04-05 | 5 | 18 | 7 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 1 | .389 | .476 | .444 | .921 | PIT |
| 12 | Mark Teixeira | 2011-03-31 | 2011-04-05 | 5 | 18 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 0 | .333 | .455 | 1.000 | 1.455 | NYY |
A few players have had longer streaks but check out Berkman's HR and RBI totals. Not bad for a washed-up 35 year old cast off.
April 18th, 2011 at 10:07 am
Berkman's line in those 5 games: 9R, 10H, 6HR, 12RBI, 475/500/1333
Berkman's line in 14 total games: 14R, 16H, 6HR, 13RBI, 308/368/692
Doesn't really mean anything, but it's interesting to see how he has basically done ALL his damage this year in these 5 games.
April 18th, 2011 at 4:36 pm
I personally hope it continues, though I can't imagine his legs are going to hold out through the years. A similar analysis for Albert Pujols:
First 10 games: .150/.222/.275 for a walloping .447 OPS; 2R, 6H, 1HR, 4RBI, 1XBH
Next 5 games: .435/.456/.870 for a much more serviceable 1.328 OPS; 10R, 10 H, 3HR, 6RBI, 4XBH
Small sample size. I hope both keep on rocking though. The NL Central is still pretty weak.
April 18th, 2011 at 9:22 pm
Speaking of Yankees castoffs ... Notice the quietly splendid start by Jose Tabata of the Pirates: Counting his first 4 trips tonight, he's at .328/.438/.541 with 14 runs in 16 games, and 8 steals in 9 tries. After hitting 4 HRs and 21 doubles all last year, he already has 3 HRs and 4 doubles.
Tabata was one of 4 players sent by NYY to Pittsburgh in the 2008 deadline deal for Damaso Marte and Xavier Nady. The other 3 who went to the Pirates have done little, but Tabata alone makes it a good deal for Pittsburgh, especially considering what Marte and Nady have done since (and at what price).
April 18th, 2011 at 9:38 pm
BSK, your comment @1 got me thinking.
First, I would dispute the idea that Berkman's done almost all his damage in those 5 games (out of 14 total). Yes, he had no HRs and just 1 RBI in the other 9 games, but he did score 5 runs, which is pretty good for any 9 games, much less this subset that's already missing his best 5 games.
Second, I suspect that most sluggers have the great bulk of their run production in maybe 40% of their games. I just looked at Berkman's last big season, 2008, when he scored 114 and drove in 106. He played in 159 games, but had all his RBI in just 65 games; his 23 multi-RBI games accounted for over 60% of his season RBI. His runs were a little more spread out, but still, his 24 multi-run games produced almost half his season run total.
Granted, the subject of the thread is a 5-game streak, not just his best 5 games out of 14. But at this stage of the season, is there any meaningful difference between doing what Berkman did in 5 consecutive games, and putting up the same numbers in 5 scattered games?
April 19th, 2011 at 7:33 pm
Berkman is a helluva hitter. When guys like him get hot they are nearly unstoppable. Thats what makes great hitters so fun to watch and why we buy jersey's with an allstars name on the back of them instead of jerseys of guys that are just average.
It really is fun to watch an allstar slugger when he's on fire like that though, I remember watching ARod at the end of 2009 when he was just unconscious... it was awesome. Looks like that Jed Lowrie kid from the RedSox is in a zone like that too (and Sox might have found another allstar if last years numbers in 66 games are any indication, 900-plus OPS) It almost doesn't even matter who's pitching (unless you got a Lincecum or Lester on the mound who also happens to be "in the zone", LOL). Damn i love baseball!