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Posted by John Autin on July 15, 2011
[A light schedule is better than no schedule....]
-- Derek Holland began the 2nd half in Seattle with an ERA of 4.68 this year and 5.22 for his career, but also with 3 career shutouts in 49 starts, including a 4-hitter in his last outing a week ago. Tonight, Holland became the first Rangers pitcher with consecutive shutouts since Charlie Hough had 3 straight in 1983. The Mariners, who ended the 1st half on a 5-game skid and scored 18 runs in their last 9 games, went down 1-2-3 for the first 5 innings; Holland lost the perfecto and the no-hitter in the 6th, on a walk to Franklin Gutierrez (.218 OBP before tonight with 6 walks in 157 PAs) and a single by Chone Figgins (.183 BA), but he quelled that threat and powered through a pair of 2-out hits in the 9th to get Adam Kennedy for the last out and the shutout.
- Holland is the 4th pitcher with 3 shutouts this year, joining Cliff Lee (4), James Shields and Jason Vargas, his opposite number tonight.
- The Rangers and the Angels are the only teams who've gotten a shutout from 3 different pitchers.
- Jered Weaver is the only other visiting pitcher with a shutout in Safeco Field this year.
-- Heath Bell hadn't allowed a HR all year and had converted 19 straight chances since his only blown save of the year on May 6. But leading off the 9th, Aubrey Huff fouled off two 0-2 pitches, then parked one in the RF seats to tie the game and spoil the 2nd straight scoreless game by Aaron Harang. The game is tied in the 12th at this writing.
- Since taking over the closer job in 2009, Bell leads the majors with 115 saves and has blown just 11, for a 91% conversion rate.
- Madison Bumgarner (1 run in 6 IP) had his 9th start of 6+ IP and 1 ER or less; he's 2-4 with 3 NDs in those starts.
-- Blue Jays 16, Yankees 7: The Yanks allowed 16 runs -- 5 more than their previous season high -- and 20 hits (+4), while suffering their largest margin of defeat since a 14-1 loss to Boston on August 22, 2009. (That 3-game series saw a total of 58 runs.)
- Jose Bautista left the game after turning an ankle sliding into 3rd base, and is listed as day-to-day.
- It's the first time since Sept. 2009 that the Blue Jays scored at least 8 runs without a HR.
- Andruw Jones had his 2nd 2-HR game this year. Since 2009, 13 of his 42 total HRs have come in multi-HR games. In that span, Jones has batted just .220 BA -- but his OPS+ is over 105, thanks to 100 walks and those 42 HRs in 760 PAs.
-- A gruesome 9th by the Cubs' bullpen led to a 6-3 home loss to Florida. Carlos Marmol began the inning with a 2-0 lead, but he walked the first 3 batters on 13 pitches before a 3-run double by Greg Dobbs put the Marlins on top and gave Marmol his 7th blown save in 26 tries. Marmol then walked Emilio Bonifacio on 4 pitches and was sent to the showers ... or perhaps the woodshed. Kerry Wood walked Omar Infante to load the bases (still no outs), and all 3 of those runners would eventually score.
- Although Marmol is known for his wildness, it was the first time this year that he gave more than 1 walk in a game. His walk rate was "just" 4.7 BB/9 in the first half, down from an average of 6.9 over the past 2 years -- but his hits are up sharply, from 4.9 H/9 for 2009-10 to 6.9 H/9 this year.
-- The Orioles have now allowed 70 runs in their 8-game losing streak. Jeremy Guthrie fell to 3-13; his 56 losses since 2008 are the most in baseball, although his combined ERA+ for that period is about 104.
- Cleveland nosed percentage points ahead of idle Detroit in the AL Central race.
Colorado set a season high with 20 hits while beating Milwaukee, 12-4, knocking the Brewers a half-game out of 1st.
- The Rockies' top 3 hit totals, and 13 of their top 17 this year, have come at home.
- Chris Iannetta is batting .220, but with a .373 OBP, thanks to 51 walks (and 47 hits)
- Milwaukee fell to 16-30 on the road.
July 15th, 2011 at 2:11 am
Why on earth did Jones get taken out for a pinch-hitter? I can't remember the last time I saw somebody pinch-hit for a DH, much less pinch-hit for a DH sitting on a 2 HR game.
July 15th, 2011 at 2:33 am
Jo-Jo Reyes of the Jays, the guy who couldn't buy a win earlier this year, is now picking up Ws with lines like tonight's 5.1 IP, 7 ER, 10 H, 2 HR.
He had a 4.70 ERA for his first 10 starts, when he went 0-4 and had 3 quality starts. Since then (including tonight), he is 5-3 in 9 starts, with a 5.17 ERA and 3 more quality starts.
Seems the only thing that's turned around for Reyes is his luck.
July 15th, 2011 at 2:48 am
Odd play in tonight's Mariner's game. In the 6th, after Seattle broke up Holland's no-hit bid, they had runners at 1st and 2nd with 1 out, and Ichiro hit a semi-sharp grounder right at Beltre at 3rd base. Inside of trying for two, Beltre just stared down Guttierez (the runner at 2nd who had stopped halfway to third), before finally tagging him out after several seconds.
Evidently, Beltre didn't feel he had any real chance at two with Ichiro running, and so was making sure he got the lead runner. But shortstop Elvis Andrus apparently felt otherwise and engaged Beltre in an extended and quite animated discussion on the field, right after the play.
Time have changed. Don't think in years past you would have ever seen 22 year-olds (even good ones like Andrus) show up established veterans like that.
July 15th, 2011 at 3:59 am
@1, Jones is being used only as a platoon player now. He has more than 75% of PA vs LHP. Reyes is a lefty so Jones started, he was pinch hit for against the righty Camp.
July 15th, 2011 at 4:18 am
@1 "I can't remember the last time I saw somebody pinch-hit for a DH, much less pinch-hit for a DH sitting on a 2 HR game."
You must not watch a lot of baseball. It's happened 47 times THIS YEAR, and only 12 of those are from NL teams, which I bring up because they might be using a bench player and (again) might be more prone to the righty/lefty platoon. So, 35 times in 3+ months... about 10 times a month, or once every 3 days it happens.
Granted, some of those happen because of injury, but surely not all...
July 15th, 2011 at 4:39 am
Ah, Minny.........guys, you screwed up, had it all laid out, headed towards a very high draft pick, and, finally rebuilding, hopefully, into a team, that had more than rag-armed "control" (no G. Madduxes in this bunch) pitchers- a team that could (maybe) challenge for a title. But no. Instead, you threw that away. Ah.
WELL, now that you're at this point, you might as well finish the deal, and win the Central. Never mind, that there's no shot to win in the playoffs, or that 15-20 GB, at this point, would not be unrealistic, if MN bordered the Atlantic. You threw away tomorrow, might as well make the regular season dramatic. Again. (And '09 was INSANELY AWESOME !!)
Won tonight, 6 back.
(I write this, feeling badly, for Neil L., and other TOR fans, who would prob have celebrated a Central title or two, by this point, were it not for geography.)
July 15th, 2011 at 4:40 am
oops misplaced my tags, sry:(
July 15th, 2011 at 8:42 am
The game is tied in the 12th at this writing.
Here’s why being a Padres fan is so frustrating this season.
Luke Gregerson, back from a recent rehab assignment, came in to pitch the top of the twelfth in a 1-1 tie.
Things began badly. Ross walked on four pitches. Burriss pinch-ran for Ross and stole second. Crawford walked on four pitches. Whiteside was safe at first on a sacrifice plus Gregerson's fielding error, loading the bases with nobody out.
But then Tejada, pinch-hitting for Casilla, fouled out to third, and Torres struck out. Two outs now. Hey, maybe Gregerson will get out of this!
No.
Fontenot walked on four pitches to score Burriss. 2-1 Giants.
Sandoval singled to left to score Crawford and Whiteside. Fontenot went to third. 4-1 Giants, and with the current state of the Padres’ offense, ballgame. Enter Ernesto Frieri, who has failed to retire the first batter about half the time this season.
Schierholtz singled to left to score Fontenot. 5-1 Giants. Both runners moved up on a passed ball.
Huff eked out an infield single, scoring Sandoval and sending Schierholtz to third. 6-1 Giants, all five runs unearned.
Burriss finally ended the inning with a fly to right. The Padres got one back in the bottom of the inning on a sacrifice fly.
Three four-pitch walks, a fielding error, a passed ball, a couple of seeing-eye singles, an infield squibber, and four straight batters reaching base with two outs. Yes, Mr. Reagins, Mr. Hoyer will take your call regarding Mr. Bell.
July 15th, 2011 at 9:03 am
It seems like there should be play index tool to answer this question, but I don't know how to do it.
Today, Justin Verlander is expected to start his second consecutive Tigers game in a row, due to the longer all-star break some teams experience this year (and the fact that Jim Leyland thinks he's a horse!) When was the last time that happened in the regular season?
July 15th, 2011 at 9:13 am
@6
Nash, thanks for the sympathy!
However, Toronto fans get to watch Jose Bautista on a daily basis which makes up for a lot of things. For your sake, I'm glad for Minny this season. What a great turnaround. I'm looking forward to an awesome AL central race, especially if the Twins can keep it together. I think the Tigers and Indians are catchable.
July 15th, 2011 at 9:16 am
@1
Zachary, when Posada pinch hit for Jones in the top of the eighth, the Yankees were down by six runs. I think Girardi was conceding the game, not making a serious strategic move.
July 15th, 2011 at 9:30 am
@8
Kahuna, indeed a heart breaker for San Diego.
I think fans of every team could point to similar "what-ifs?". Toronto blew a 4-0 lead at Cleveland on July 7th going into the bottom of the ninth. They lost 5-4 but at least it was a quick death by grand slam instead of the prolonged agony Padres' fans endured. Which was a worse loss?
Interestingly, looking up that (painful) game again, I notice that Travis Hafner has had two 0.800+ WPA games this year.
July 15th, 2011 at 9:57 am
@9
Just doing a manual check, I figured this probably happened a few times due to the week-long layoff after 9/11. I found four pitchers who started two consecutive games for their teams bookending this period:
Jon Lieber (Cubs)
Roy Oswalt (Astros)
Hideo Nomo (Red Sox)
Freddy Garcia (Mariners)
Though I wouldn't be totally surprised if this hasn't happened in an All Star break more recently than 2001....
July 15th, 2011 at 10:27 am
Lots of reliever walks last night. KC's Blake Wood helped turn a 1-run deficit into a 5-run hole with a sequence of single, walk, sac, walk, walk, HBP.
There have been 17 games this year in which a reliever gave at least 3 walks while getting 1 out or less, including 2 each by Aroldis Chapman and KC's Jeremy Jeffress, and 1 by the aforementioned Ernesto Frieri.
Marmol's 4 walks were 1 shy of the live-ball record for most walks by a reliever who didn't retire a batter. Craig Minetto is the only one to issue 5 passes in a 0-IP outing:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/play-index/share.cgi?id=ZYrDT
July 15th, 2011 at 11:54 am
@13
Thank you! Good recall on your part.
July 15th, 2011 at 12:00 pm
Another point about the Padres game. Is there a rule that closers can only pitch one inning. I am not saying this to be anti-Heath Bell. But he was not pinch hit for and could have pitched another inning. They were one pitcher deeper in the bullpen in the 12th than they would have been otherwise.
July 15th, 2011 at 12:57 pm
@Detroit Michael
Also, Wilbur Wood famously started both ends of a double-header.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYA/NYA197307201.shtml
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYA/NYA197307202.shtml
I'm sure it wasn't planned that way, but since Wood got shelled in the first game without recording an out, the manager figured he might be good to go again a few hours later. Didn't work out though - he got shelled again in the 2nd game, but at least lasted into the 5th inning.
July 15th, 2011 at 1:02 pm
@16, Stan Cook -- I see your point, but I would move the question up by an inning: Why take out Mike Adams after 1 inning? As good as Bell has been over the last few years, Adams has been even better; Adams is their best pitcher.
July 15th, 2011 at 1:10 pm
Good point #18. I guess you are more likely to get criticized for leaving in the 8th inning guy and having him give up a run than you are by doing what every one else does.
July 15th, 2011 at 2:43 pm
Lincecum at Petco tonight! I can't wait.
July 15th, 2011 at 3:34 pm
I wonder why Cheese is so pleased....
Lincecum at Petco, career: 8 starts, 1.80 ERA, 74 Ks in 55 IP.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.cgi?id=linceti01&year=Career&t=p
July 15th, 2011 at 7:04 pm
John, Stan: Adams has experienced quite a few arm and elbow problems over the years, probably because of that killer slider. The coaching staff monitors Adams' pitch count and workload minutely. You'll almost never see Adams go more than one inning.
July 15th, 2011 at 8:04 pm
Kahuna, thanks for the insight of a SD fan.
BTW, the Baseball Tonight gang last night was encouraging the Pads to go back to their "classic" brown and yellow(?) uniforms. What do you think?
July 15th, 2011 at 9:23 pm
I thought I remembered a doubleheader involving the Orioles in the late 1980s in which the starting pitcher got knocked out early and then was given the start in the 2nd game, in which he performed better and possibly was even the winning pitcher. I just looked at the 1988 and 1989 game logs for Baltimore, quickly eyeballing the Attendance column for the value of 0 to find the doubleheaders, but I didn't see any likely candidates. Most of the pitchers who got decisions for the Orioles in those games were starters, with no one getting decisions in both games. If I find it, I'll follow-up with this information.
July 15th, 2011 at 9:41 pm
@24 .... if you're going to just scan a list (like the attendance) you might want to just go to the defensive lineups page and scan the starting pitcher column...
July 17th, 2011 at 1:08 am
@17,
I was at that doubleheader and at 12 years old, didn't grasp the significance, except being disappointed that the Yankees swept (being no fan of theirs). They finished well out of the running that year anyway. Ah, the good old days.
In an interview years later, Wood stated exactly what you supposed. The second outing wasn't planned. It happened because he was knocked out so early in the opener. Search "wilbur wood started both games 1973" and it will turn up.
July 17th, 2011 at 1:33 am
@17 / @26 -- Any idea whether Wilbur Wood is the only pitcher with back-to-back seasons featuring 20+ saves in one and 20+ wins in the other?
I lived in the Chicago 'burbs at the tail end of Wilbur's career, and I've always been fascinated by his years from 1968-75:
-- From 1968-70, he appeared in 241 games, 33 more than any other pitcher, and all but 2 in relief. His 400 IP in that span was also the most among relievers.
-- From 1971-75, he started 224 games, 23 more than anyone else, and also led in innings (averaging 336 IP) and was 2nd in Wins (106, 5 behind Catfish Hunter, who was blessed to be on 4 straight division winners).
It would have been fun to see Wilbur's career play out if it hadn't been for the line drive Ron Leflore hit off his kneecap; he was never the same after that.
July 17th, 2011 at 8:02 am
Wilbur in 1973 was in the midst of a fascinating era, just after the Year of the Pitcher, when many new managers such as Chuck Tanner and Billy Martin had apparently decided that a pitcher could do just about anything he had a mind to. Add the Designated Hitter and they were just going wild.
That was the year of the Nolan Ryan 383 strikeouts. Within 20 years he had completely blown out his arm.
It was Wilbur's second consecutive 24 win campaign. I believe he started 49 times.
July 17th, 2011 at 1:02 pm
"Within 20 years he had completely blown out his arm....."
Lol..........maybe he should have started throwing a knuckler??
July 17th, 2011 at 1:08 pm
@28, natS -- Savage quip!
@29, Nash -- No, if Ryan had adopted the knuckler, he would have gotten fat and blown out his knee.
July 17th, 2011 at 10:01 pm
@27 I belive Derek Lowe is the only other pitcher with 20 Saves and 20 Wins in back-to-back seasons
July 17th, 2011 at 10:36 pm
@31 -- Good one, Charles; I should have remembered D-Lowe!
July 17th, 2011 at 10:48 pm
Charles --
Wilbur Wood and Derek Lowe are, indeed, the only pitchers with 20 saves and 20 wins in consecutive seasons.
While checking that, I was reminded of:
-- Mudcat Grant, won 21 games with the '65 Twins, then had 24 saves for the '70 As (and led the majors with 80 games pitched).
-- Jonny Sain, 22 saves as full-time closer for the '54 Yanks, 4 years after the last of his four 20-win seasons with the Braves.
-- Ellis "Old Folks" Kinder won 23 for the '49 BoSox, and 2 years later led the majors with 14 saves (and went 11-2), then led again with 27 saves 2 years after that.
July 19th, 2011 at 7:19 pm
Shoulda been paying attention earlier.
@9 http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/gl.cgi?id=sabatc.01&t=p&year=2008
Sabathia started consecutive games for the Brewers that sandwiched the ASB.