Game Snippets for Friday, June 10: Ho-Hum, Halladay
Posted by John Autin on June 11, 2011
-- Placido Polanco hit a grand slam that sent Carlos Zambrano to the showers having allowed 7 ER on 7 hits and 7 walks in 6.2 IP. Polanco has never struck out in 18 PAs against Zambrano; only James Loney (21) has more K-free faceoffs with Zambrano, but then, Loney doesn't have an extra-base hit, either. (Surprise!) Roy Halladay left with a 7-0 lead after 7 IP, and the bullpen barely hung on to preserve his 9th win. Halladay whiffed 9 without a walk, giving him 106 Ks against 14 BBs this year. Including the 2010 postseason, Halladay has pitched 6+ IP in 40 straight starts, and has not walked more than 2 in any of his last 24 starts. (Pop quiz: Can you name the starter with a longer active streak of 2 BBs or less? Answer at the end of the post.)
-- Ichiro Suzuki (8 for his last 67) sat for the first time this year. It's a rare day when a healthy Ichiro sits; he has played about 98% of Seattle's games in his 10+ seasons. Ichiro has missed more than 5 games just once in his 10 full seasons, and has played more games than anyone over the previous 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 seasons. His replacement in the leadoff spot tonight was the man with the lowest OBP among qualifying batters this year, Chone Figgins (.232). The Mariners beat Detroit, 3-2, keeping the Tigers from gaining a share of 1st place.
-- Jhoulys Chacin threw 8 scoreless innings at home against LA, but was lifted after 112 pitches with a 6-0 lead. It's too bad; he might have become the first Rockies pitcher ever with 2 CG shutouts in Coors Field. Tom Glavine is the only pitcher with 2 shutouts there (1995 and '97), out of 13 career starts. (Pat Rapp threw 1 shutout at Coors Field and 1 in Mile High Stadium, both as a visitor.) Colorado almost blew the game, as the Dodgers scored 5 times in the 9th on 5 hits and an error. Matt Kemp, a late scratch, started the rally with a pinch-hit HR, giving him 19 HRs for the season and 7 HRs and 18 RBI in his last 10 games.
-- What looked like a laugher in the Bronx became a late-inning nightmare for the restructured Yankee bullpen. SP Ivan Nova went 7 strong and handed over an 11-2 lead. Kevin Whelan, just up from AAA (where he had 18 saves, a 1.67 ERA and 5 to 1 K/BB ratio) walked 4 batters in the 8th, the last 3 in a row to force in a run. Whelan was bailed out by Amauri Sanit, who got the last out of the 8th. But Sanit found his own trouble in the 9th, allowing 4 straight 1-out hits, which brought Lance Pendleton out of the bullpen with the bases loaded. When Pendleton promptly walked in a run, Joe Girardi decided not to take any more chances; he called in Mariano Rivera with a 6-run lead, and after a 2-run single, Mo closed it out. Sanit was charged with 4 runs, giving him a 12.86 ERA in 7 IP this year; at AAA, Sanit had a 5.21 ERA this year, 7.75 last year, and 5.99 for his career. Whelan's outing was just the 2nd debut since 1919 by a Yankee allowing at least 4 walks without completing an inning; Karl Drews did it in a start in 1946.
-- Dillon Gee (now 7-0) is a win away from tying Dwight Gooden's Mets record for most wins without a loss from the start of the season. In 14 career starts, Gee is 9-2, 2.48. Tonight he broke into the NL top 10 in WHIP, at 1.10 in 62 IP; he threw 73 strikes, 31 balls, over 8 IP. Halladay's doppelganger, Charlie Morton, did not pull off a great imitation tonight, allowing 7 runs on 9 hits in 4 IP, and fell to 6-3. The Pirates were charged with just 2 errors, but played as bad a defensive game as I've seen all season. Jose Reyes hit his 2nd HR of the season among his 3 hits.
-- KC's Mike Moustakas went 1 for 3 with a walk in his MLB debut, and the Royals beat the Angels, 4-2, for just their 7th road win in 23 tries. Joakim Soria pitched a perfect 9th for the save, fanning 2.
-- Led by Jake Arrieta on the mound and 6 RBI by Nick Markakis (including a grand slam), the Orioles notched their 5th team shutout of the season. They had 7 shutouts all of last year, and 7 combined in the 2 years before that. Baltimore has won 4 straight and is 1 game below .500, but that's only good for last place in the AL East.
-- Milwaukee moved a season-high 8 games over .500 and pulled within 1.5 games of 1st-place St. Louis with an 8-0 win, as Chris Narveson went 8 strong. Narveson, who runs hot and cold, had a 10.66 ERA over his 3 previous starts; he has a 4.32 ERA, but has 4 scoreless outings of at least 6 IP -- tied with Clayton Kershaw for the MLB lead in that department. Bernie Brewer celebrated "splash hits" by Ryan Braun and Cory Hart. Milwaukee has won 20 of their last 27 games.
-- Oakland trailed by 2 runs in the 9th with 2 out and the bases empty, but came back to beat the White Sox, ending a 10-game skid. Sergio Santos lost control of the wheel, walking 2 and hitting a batter before Grady Sizemore's 3-run double. Santos had allowed just 4 runs in his first 29 IP this year, but has been raked for 7 runs in his last 2 games, both Sox losses.
-- Another losing streak was snapped, by a pitcher who found his control: Anibal Sanchez, who began this year with a career walk rate of almost 4 BB/9, took a shutout into the 7th and collected 8 Ks without a walk tonight; it took 4 relievers to get the last 7 outs. Sanchez is 5-0 in his last 7 starts, with 7 walks and 55 Ks in 50.2 IP.
-- Boston snapped the 2-game win streak of Jo-Jo Reyes, as Clay Buchholz and 2 relievers held the Blue Jays to 4 singles.
-- There were no remarkable triples that I am aware of.
Quiz answer: Ted Lilly has not walked more than 2 in his last 25 starts.
June 11th, 2011 at 2:26 am
There was a semi remarkable triple. Scott Rolen hit one. Remarkable for the fact that a guy who just got over from strep throat and a bad back is able to leg it out for the head first slide
June 11th, 2011 at 2:51 am
"Halladay has pitched 6+ IP in 40 straight starts".
I'm guessing the 40 games must include post-season. Play Index shows Halladay's current regular season streak at 36 games, extended tonight to 37. Halladay has previously had such streaks of 32, 26, 25, 23 and 21 games.
The longest such regular season streak: 78 games by Bob Gibson, who also had streaks of 53 (4th longest), 30, 27 and 23 games, for good measure.
June 11th, 2011 at 3:39 am
One possible bright note for the Blue Jays tonight was Frank Francisco. Franks's play this year has ranged from disappointing to disastrous, converting only 5 of 8 save opportunities and entering tonight's game sporting a 6+ ERA with 1.8 WHIP and 5 BB/9.
He did look good tonight, though, coming in with 2 on and 1 out in the Boston 9th, and striking out Youkilis and Lowrie to end the threat. Something to build on, at least.
June 11th, 2011 at 5:29 am
The Mariners' win was largely fueled by Ichiro's replacement in right field: Carlos Peguero. Peguero tripled to the wall in right-center, then scored the tying run, in the fifth.
In the seventh, he hit a towering home run down the right field line, fair by just a few feet.
In his last seven games, Peguero seems to be harnessing his talent. He is 9-21, with a double, triple and three home runs, and nine runs scored. He has walked twice, been hit twice, and has fanned just three times.
Remember, he struck out 22 times in his first 59 at bats previously.
June 11th, 2011 at 6:44 am
Again, love the write-ups!
BTW, that was Scott Sizemore knocking the bases-clearing double in the 9th for Oakland last night, not Grady. (Unless I missed a really big trade!)
June 11th, 2011 at 7:13 am
Halladay is so clearly the best starter in baseball over the last 10 years and it's not even close. Other pitchers can compete with him for a year or 2 or 3 here or there, but his durability, effectiveness, and consistent dominance is in a class of it's own. His only off year starting from 2002, was a year in which he was injured and still managed a 115 era+
June 11th, 2011 at 8:41 am
Craig Counsell had a great game for the Brewers. He hit a triple and a double, made an incredible spinning tag to catch a runner stealing and scored with a headfirst, backdoor slide on a squeeze play. It's always great to beat Tony La Russa and the Cards!
http://pinetarandbrickbats.blogspot.com/2011/06/cards-la-russa-hard-to-like.html
June 11th, 2011 at 9:29 am
I wonder when we're going to see a "Roy Halliday and the Hall of Fame" post -- or when some schlimiel is going to accuse him of 'Roids>
June 11th, 2011 at 10:26 am
Something I noticed about Halladay (apologies if this has been brought up before)
In 2005 Halladay did not qualify for the ERA title (141.2 IP), yet still managed to lead the AL in complete games with 5. Has there been anyone else to lead in CGs while not qualifying for his league's ERA title?
June 11th, 2011 at 11:37 am
@ Donburgh
In 2008 Sabathia pitched 253 innings (130.2 for MIL and 122.1 for CLE) so he obviously didn't qualify for the ERA title in either league but he led the majors in complete games (10), shutouts (5), as well as leading the NL in both complete games and shutouts but only leading the AL in shutouts.
June 11th, 2011 at 12:23 pm
@2, Doug -- Why guess? The sentence about Halladay begins, "Including the 2010 postseason...." 🙂
Thanks for bringing in Gibson's streaks for a point of reference. The most famous aspect of his '68 season is, of course, the 1.12 ERA, but to me the most impressive feat was that he nearly had 20 straight complete games. Gibby had 13 straight CG (12 of them wins), a streak broken by an 11-IP effort that ironically would have been another CG had his mates not rallied to tie in the bottom of the 11th. Then he reeled off another 6 straight CG (5 wins).
In the expansion era, only 1 pitcher has a streak of 20+ CG -- Rick Langford, 22 straight in 1980.
June 11th, 2011 at 12:26 pm
@5, KJ -- Thanks for the correction, and apologies to Scott Sizemore (the former Tiger). On the bright side for me, at least I confused him with a current player, rather than Ted Sizemore, the St. Louis 2B of the '70s (whom I also used to confuse with his teammate, Ted Simmons).
June 11th, 2011 at 12:29 pm
@4, Seajaw -- Good point about Peguero's recent performance. I previously expressed great doubt about his ability to last in the majors, based on his minor-league walk and strikeout rates. I haven't seen much of Peguero, except for a couple of HR highlights; he sure does have a max-effort swing. But I would love to be wrong about him, as M's fans could use some good news in the batting order.
June 11th, 2011 at 2:45 pm
@13, John Autin -- Thanks. It does appear he is looking over more pitches, rather than just flailing away. He says he is starting to feel more comfortable.
He has gone five consecutive starts -- 17 PA's -- without striking out.
Peguero certainly does have a "max-effort swing," and he's fun to watch, when he gets full extension. There is so much speed and power in his stroke.
What's also promising is a couple of jam-job pitches that he still managed to muscle into right field for singles. They had been trying to pitch him tight, so he couldn't get that extension.
It's also fun to watch him run. He has surprising speed for such a big man.
I fully understand that one great week doesn't make a career, but it shows he is adapting to the league better than the league is to him.
His advanced batting number are looking good. His RC/G is at 5.2, and his neutralized batting stats give him an 18-point bump over his current .238 average, along with an OPS of .871.
Remember, too, that 16 of his 26 games have been played at Safeco Field, so that will deaden hitting stats somewhat. In three games at other large ballparks in San Diego and Detroit, he has a double, two triples and a home run.
On the road, he is at .294/.351/.618/.969 (albeit, in just 39 PA's). In those games, his BAbip is .320, and his sOPS+ is 172.
June 11th, 2011 at 6:54 pm
@6, Jimbo -- I agree that Halladay is the best pitcher over the last 10 years combined, by virtually any measure.
If there's one thing missing from his resume (besides a championship), it's a monster season.
In the past 20 years (1991-2010), there have been 23 pitcher seasons with a higher WAR value than Halladay's best mark of 7.5.
-- Randy Johnson had 6 such years, with a high of 8.8.
-- Pedro Martinez, Greg Maddux and Roger Clemens each had 3 such seasons (with highs of 10.1, 8.8 and 10.3, respectively).
-- Kevin Appier (!) had 2, with a high of 8.4.
-- Six other pitchers had 1 each, led by Zack Greinke's 9.0.
This may be the year Halladay joins that group; he's on pace for over 10 WAR.
June 11th, 2011 at 8:17 pm
One of the most remarkable aspects of Gibson's '68 might be that he was never knocked out of a game -- i.e., Red Schoendienst never went to the mound and took him out.
June 11th, 2011 at 9:12 pm
@16, John Lowe -- Would you dare take him out? I know I wouldn't.
The numbers he posted in '68 were staggering.
Gibson's ERA was .99 after throwing a 10-inning, 1-0, shutout against the Reds on Sept. 2.
Busch Stadium was known as a pitcher's park, but Gibson's ERA for the season was actually lower on the road (1.41 H/.81 R).
His ERA in his nine losses was 2.14. In 17 of his 34 starts, the Cardinals scored two runs or less. In those 17 games, his own ERA was 0.97.
All told, St. Louis scored just 3.029 runs per game for Gibson, and 3.75 for everyone else.
Imagine if he had the run support of Juan Marichal (4.895). San Francisco scored seven or more runs 10 times for their ace, including 13 twice.