Notes for Saturday 7/23: Dog days’ journey into night
Posted by John Autin on July 24, 2011
-- Season debut for Tampa's Desmond Jennings: 3-2-2-1, 2 walks, 3B, 2B, SB, field littered with comic-book "swoosh!" lines. In his last 3 years in the minors, Jennings had 106 SB and just 12 CS.
- Jennings is the 6th player this year with a 3B, 2B and SB in a game; only Jose Reyes has 2 such games.
-- Koji Uehara notched his 13th straight scoreless inning, with 20 Ks, 3 hits and 2 walks. He has at least 1 strikeout in 14 straight appearances, the 5th longest relief streak this year. (David Robertson logged his 15th straight today; Sergio Santos had the longest streak this year, as reported by Andy.)
- Uehara leads all relievers this year with a 0.69 WHIP and a 7.38 SO/BB ratio (min. 40 IP). Over the past 2 seasons, his SO/BB ratio is a near-Eckerslevian 8.77 (114 SO, 13 BB).
- His career SO/BB ratio of 6.44 is the best ever pitching from 60' 6" (min. 100 IP).
-- Eric Hosmer's late-inning legend grows. He doubled home the game-winner in the 10th, his 3rd hit of the game and 2nd walk-off hit of the year. He also has three 9th-inning HRs that each tied the game or put his team ahead. In the 9th inning and beyond, he's 14-43, 4 HRs, 3 doubles, slugging .674.
- Hosmer is just the 4th Royal age 21 or under ever to get 250 PAs in a season, and his 113 OPS+ through Friday is the best of the lot (George Brett, Clint Hurdle, Billy Butler).
-- Justin Upton (5-2-3-6, slam, 2B) is the 116th player since 1901 to amass 1,800 PAs through age 23. His 116 OPS+ through Friday ranks 49th in that group. How has that group fared in HOF voting?
- OPS+ over 130: 17 of 22 HOF-eligibles have been inducted, with Ken Griffey (yes) and Juan Gonzalez (no) likely to make it 18 of 24.
- OPS+ 100 to 130: 13 of 50 HOF-eligibles made the Hall of Fame, with Tim Raines and Gary Sheffield still on the ballot.
- OPS+ < 100: 6 of 29 made the HOF, with Alan Trammell still eligible.
-- Kosuke Fukudome had a pinch-hit triple. ("So what?") It was just the 5th PH triple this season, and one was hit by pitcher Jonathon Niese. In each of the past 10 seasons, there were between 14 and 25 PH triples (counting only games in which the PH had exactly 1 PA). There were 22 PH triples last year. The last season with fewer than 10 PH triples was 1972, with 9.
-- Move over, Chipper: The torch has been passed to a new generation of Mets-killer. Gaby Sanchez (4-2-3-4, 2 HRs, 2B) has hit .394 and slugged .707 in 99 ABs over 25 games against the Mets, with 22 RBI and 19 Runs.
- Since 2008, the Marlins are 16-9 against the Mets with Gaby in the lineup, 19-17 without him.
-- As noticed by B-R reader Doug N., Texas SP Matt Harrison allowed a cycle to the first four Blue Jays he faced in the 6th inning: J.P. Arencibia HR, Yunel Escobar 2B, Eric Thames 3B, and Jose Bautista (of all people) with a broken-bat bloop 1B.
- The rookie Thames (4-2-2-1, 3B, 2B) is hitting .302 and slugging .518 in 37 games -- very close to his minor-league numbers over 3 seasons.
- Bunting wizard Elvis Andrus squeezed home the tying run in the 9th, his 6th bunt RBI in 3 seasons. In 86 career bunts, Andrus has 42 sacrifices and 20 hits.
- The Rangers' winning 2-run rally featured 3 sac bunts: the first was thrown away, and the second set up Andrus. Michael Young singled home the game-winner after an IBB to Josh Hamilton.
- Blue Jays fans may not agree that good closers are overrated. Toronto's 9th-inning ERA is now 4.94.
-- Ted Lilly, a .103 career hitter, had 3 RBI on a safety squeeze and a 2-run double, equaling his RBI output of the past 2 years.
-- Through June, Alex Avila had a .303 BA, .538 SLG. This month, he's 8 for 50, no HRs. How much of that is reversion to the mean, and how much is from starting 17 of their last 18 games behind the plate?
-- Speaking of Detroit "catchers" ... Victor Martinez hasn't homered in his last 36 games, the 2nd-longest outage of his career. He's batting .331 since that HR, but 36 of 44 hits were singles.
-- Although his 2-week DL stint took the starch out of my projections, Jose Reyes is back to smacking extra-base hits. He hit his 16th triple Thursday, a double Friday and a HR Saturday. He's back on pace for 26 triples this year, which would tie the 2nd-highest total in modern history.
- Despite missing 15 games this year, Reyes still leads the NL in BA, Runs, Hits and Triples; he's 2nd in Total Bases and SB, 3rd in Wins Above Replacement.
- And who knows; the time off may actually improve his chances of being the first Met to win a batting title.
-- Congratulations, Bert, Roberto & Pat. Enjoy your party ... but be home Blyleven.
-- Congrats also to Terry, who's managed a nice career for a 1B/OF who inherited his power on his mother's side.
July 24th, 2011 at 2:41 am
The Mariners tied their franchise record with a 14th consecutive loss tonight to the Red Sox.
Nothing's going right for the M's right now. They were skunked in Toronto despite an offensive explosion (by their standards), as their usually stellar pitching took it on the chin.
Tonight, they took the lead with a homer by suddenly hot Mike Carp (6 for 18, with 2 HR and 2 2B in his last 4 games), but then gave it up right away as their pitching suffered a 7th inning implosion for the second night in a row.
When the streak started, the Mariners were at .500 and only 2.5 games out of first. That evidently was an illusion as their extended skid has left them still only a game or two shy of their Pythag record. Reality is not kind for the Seattle.
July 24th, 2011 at 3:09 am
Re: Blue Jays closers.
Another blown save tonight to bring their season's save conversion rate down to 54%. We're into coin flip territory now - yikes!
Since Frank Francisco was demoted (again) from the closer role after the July 9 debacle in Cleveland (Jays gave up 5 in the 9th to lose 5-4), the closer role has bounced around, although Jon Rauch (who started the season as closer) is getting the nod most often. But, tonight, with a 1-run lead, John Farrell turned instead to lefty Marc Rzepczynski to start the 9th to face minor-leaguer Chris Davis, just called up to replace injured Adrian Beltre. Ron Washington thanked his lucky stars and countered with Mike Napoli who walked. It unravelled from there as JA related above, and Farrell then turned to Rauch who couldn't close it out.
Seems like Jays' closing nightmare is starting to get to John Farrell too.
July 24th, 2011 at 5:12 am
The Toronto Blue Jays showed little heart in losing to the Rangers tonight, and they can start thinking about next year and start trading away what little talent they have.
July 24th, 2011 at 8:25 am
The Rangers are a fine ball club. Their best player is obviously Hamilton, but I think their MVP is Michael Young no doubt. In last nights game he hit a pitch way out of the strike zone for the game winner. Young would be a great place to start a debate over the merits of taking a walk or hitting away. He doesn't like to walk and piles up hits. 30 doubles, 67 RBIs, 130 hits, .330 average, he will have a career low in SOs. Getting ready to surpass 200 hits real quick here also.
July 24th, 2011 at 8:38 am
@4 I meant 2000 hits of course for MY, and also wanted to mention that Texas has a great pitching staff this year. 5 solid young starters including Derek "Dutch Oven" Holland. Best nickname in baseball. Derek was born in Ohio and I'll check Wikipedia Duke, but I'm pretty sure Ohio was not Nazi occupied when Derek was born.
July 24th, 2011 at 12:12 pm
Are you telling me this map doesn't show Ohio full of Germans?
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/Census-2000-Data-Top-US-Ancestries-by-County.svg
And the cop who pulled me over on I-80 last year exhibited many features consistent with the Nazis.
July 24th, 2011 at 12:15 pm
I'll admit things may have been different when Holland was born, but let's not overlook the signs of Nazis gaining a toehold in the heartland.
July 24th, 2011 at 1:27 pm
I hate
IllinoisOhio Nazis.July 24th, 2011 at 5:41 pm
Glad to see David Robertson get a mention.
He once again loaded the bases and then got the third out via K.
He has an era of 1.14 and a WHIP of 1.297.
That has got to be the highest whip of anyone with an era that low...
July 24th, 2011 at 6:35 pm
...oh, and course he gets smacked around in Today's game...
July 24th, 2011 at 6:43 pm
@9, Voomo -- That's a fascinating find -- a pitcher with an ERA lower than his WHIP. Off the top of my head I'll guess that's never been done in a season of 50+ IP. [goes off to look it up...]
July 24th, 2011 at 6:47 pm
I lose!
ERA<WHIP (in 50+ IP) has been done 8 times since 1901, most recently by Brad Ziegler in 2008. Another notable was Dennis Eckersley, 1990.
Most IP with ERA<WHIP was 77.2, by Bob Veale in 1963.
The only one with no unearned runs was Rob Murphy, 1986.
July 24th, 2011 at 7:00 pm
@7 What are you talking about Twist? There aren't any Nazis in the midwest, much less a "toehold".
July 24th, 2011 at 7:06 pm
@6 That's an interesting map Twisto, did you notice all those large swaths of places in the South that people call themselves regular Americans? I can tell you there are no Nazi's in Wahoo Nebraska, or Boys Town Nebraska! Especially Boys Town.
July 24th, 2011 at 11:17 pm
I was a Pirates fan in the early 70's so I had to find out about Bob Veale's year.
Bob Veale was 27 in his second season in the majors Bob in 1963. How good was he?
His last 7 games were starts, he had 3 Complete games with 2 Shutouts. Pittsburgh was 4-3 He went 4-2. In 4 of his starts he gave up no runs. In another he gave up 3 runs, all unearned. In 52 innings he gave up 6 ER (11 total) for an ERA of 1.04.
He and Elroy Face combined for a 4-0 shutout of the Dodgers on Sept. 22. Veale was removed after walking two batters with 1 out in the 9th. This was the first shutout of the Dodgers in 80 days and prevented them from clinching the pennant.
For 27 relief appearances he was 1-0 (in a blown win), He had 2 Holds, 3 saves and a blown save. Not bad considering the Pirates were 9-18 in those games, so you'd suspect he was the relief pitcher when they were behind, with Elroy Face and Al McBean getting 27 of the team 32 saves. What is interesting is that as a releiver he was only charged with 4 runs (2 earned) but of 42 inherited runners 18 scored !!. Elroy Face inherited 42 and 5 scored.
In Eckersley's year he had 29 IR with 4 scoring. Those were in 2 games and he still got the save. The team was 60-3 in his appearances.
July 24th, 2011 at 11:45 pm
did you notice all those large swaths of places in the South that people call themselves regular Americans
Yes, it's something that troubled me about that map when I first saw it. Obviously it's not Native Americans, Andrew Jackson made sure of that.
July 24th, 2011 at 11:51 pm
... and we have our first "Old Hickory" reference!
BTW, I just posted about the Red Sox having 4 of the top 5 in AL position-player WAR:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/blog/archives/13368
July 25th, 2011 at 6:26 am
@8: LMAOOOOOOOOO