Yankees issue no walks over 4+ games
Posted by John Autin on August 5, 2011
As noted by B-R reader Dave in another thread, the Yankee pitchers did not issue a walk in their recent 4-game sweep of the White Sox. That streak ended Friday in the 5th inning on a full-count walk to Jacoby Ellsbury by Bartolo Colon.
Sure, the White Sox are next-to-last in the league in walks drawn. But no other team in the last 2 seasons has gone even 3 straight games without issuing a free pass.
Since 1919, it matched the 3rd-longest walkless streak, and was just the 2nd 4-game, no-walk series sweep.
Here are the longest game streaks without issuing a walk since 1919:
| Rk | Strk Start | End | Games | W | L | CG | SHO | SV | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | HBP | WP | BK | Opp | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | NYY | 2002-09-05 | 2002-09-10 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 54.0 | 42 | 13 | 13 | 0 | 43 | 2 | 2.17 | 3 | 3 | 0 | DET,BAL |
| 2 | LAD | 1965-07-31 | 1965-08-04 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 42.1 | 39 | 18 | 17 | 0 | 35 | 4 | 3.61 | 0 | 0 | 0 | STL,MLN |
| 3 | NYY | 2011-08-01 | 2011-08-04 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 33.0 | 34 | 11 | 11 | 0 | 26 | 3 | 3.00 | 0 | 1 | 0 | CHW |
| 4 | OAK | 2000-09-08 | 2000-09-11 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 36.0 | 18 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 23 | 1 | 0.75 | 0 | 1 | 0 | TBD |
| 5 | KCR | 1992-09-29 | 1992-10-02 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 35.0 | 29 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 20 | 2 | 2.57 | 2 | 0 | 0 | CAL,MIN |
| 6 | PHI | 1976-06-04 | 1976-06-07 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 34.0 | 42 | 18 | 17 | 0 | 14 | 3 | 4.50 | 1 | 2 | 0 | SFG,LAD |
| 7 | BOS | 1968-08-05 | 1968-08-08 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 37.0 | 29 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 21 | 0 | 1.22 | 2 | 0 | 0 | CHW |
| 8 | STL | 1949-08-09 | 1949-08-13 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 36.0 | 30 | 9 | 8 | 0 | 15 | 2 | 2.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | CIN,PIT |
| 9 | CIN | 1933-07-21 | 1933-07-23 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 36.0 | 38 | 14 | 7 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 1.75 | 0 | 0 | 0 | BRO,PIT |
| 10 | CIN | 1932-08-04 | 1932-08-06 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 34.2 | 28 | 9 | 5 | 0 | 9 | 2 | 1.30 | 0 | 0 | 0 | BSN |
| 11 | BRO | 1931-05-30 | 1931-05-31 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 38.0 | 37 | 15 | 14 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 3.32 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NYG,BSN |
| 12 | STL | 1927-08-19 | 1927-08-23 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 36.0 | 36 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 1.00 | 2 | 0 | 0 | BSN,PHI |
| 13 | PIT | 1921-08-10 | 1921-08-12 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 38.0 | 41 | 17 | 15 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 3.55 | 1 | 0 | 0 | BRO,CHC |
-- The only other 4-game, no-walk sweep since 1919 was by the '68 BoSox, also against Chicago.
-- The 6-game walkless streak by the 2002 Yankees did include a 4-game series, but they only won 3 of 4.
-- Oddly, the 2002 Yanks used 6 different SPs in that streak: Orlando Hernandez, David Wells, Mike Mussina, Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte and Jeff Weaver. That's some turn through the rotation: The middle 4 each wound up with at least 239 career wins and averaged 276; the sextet averaged 216 career wins.
-- That 2002 streak reached 65.2 walkless innings, counting innings in the games on either end of the streak. The 2011 streak reached 44 IP.
Looking at it from the batting angle ... The White Sox matched the 2nd-longest streak of drawing no walks since 1919. The Phillies set the bar at 7 games spanning 1919-20; 5 of those games came in 1920, so they own the longest streak no matter how you slice it.
Here are the longest streaks since 1919 of drawing no walks:
| Rk | Strk Start | End | Games | W | L | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SO | BB | SB | CS | Opp | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PHI | 1919-09-28 | 1920-04-20 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 241 | 21 | 56 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 19 | 19 | 0 | 4 | 8 | .232 | .236 | .328 | .563 | NYG,BRO |
| 2 | CHW | 2011-08-01 | 2011-08-04 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 123 | 11 | 34 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 11 | 26 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .276 | .272 | .390 | .662 | NYY |
| 3 | ARI | 2009-08-18 | 2009-08-21 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 127 | 5 | 20 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .157 | .163 | .205 | .368 | PHI,HOU |
| 4 | DET | 2005-09-27 | 2005-09-30 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 134 | 10 | 36 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 32 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .269 | .267 | .388 | .655 | CHW,MIN |
| 5 | DET | 2002-09-05 | 2002-09-08 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 135 | 10 | 30 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 33 | 0 | 2 | 1 | .222 | .234 | .319 | .552 | NYY |
| 6 | TBD | 2000-09-08 | 2000-09-11 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 126 | 5 | 18 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 23 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .143 | .143 | .214 | .357 | OAK |
| 7 | KCR | 1992-09-01 | 1992-09-04 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 137 | 13 | 35 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 18 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .255 | .280 | .328 | .608 | TEX,CHW |
| 8 | MON | 1976-08-08 | 1976-08-11 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 131 | 15 | 36 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 15 | 17 | 0 | 3 | 1 | .275 | .275 | .382 | .656 | CHC,SFG |
| 9 | CHW | 1968-08-05 | 1968-08-08 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 135 | 5 | 29 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 21 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .215 | .226 | .259 | .486 | BOS |
| 10 | NYG | 1952-09-10 | 1952-09-12 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 150 | 19 | 43 | 4 | 3 | 8 | 18 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .287 | .287 | .513 | .800 | PIT,CIN |
| 11 | CHC | 1935-09-22 | 1935-09-27 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 142 | 14 | 42 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 14 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .296 | .296 | .423 | .718 | PIT,STL |
| 12 | CIN | 1934-09-20 | 1934-09-23 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 145 | 16 | 42 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 13 | 10 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .290 | .299 | .352 | .651 | NYG,PIT,STL |
| 13 | BSN | 1932-08-04 | 1932-08-06 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 128 | 9 | 28 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .219 | .219 | .305 | .523 | CIN |
| 14 | BRO | 1921-09-03 | 1921-09-05 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 131 | 22 | 47 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 21 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .359 | .353 | .511 | .865 | NYG,PHI |
| 15 | BSN | 1919-09-20 | 1919-09-24 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 133 | 5 | 32 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 20 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .241 | .252 | .301 | .553 | CHC,NYG |
Any thoughts on why so many of these streaks happened in the last 1/3 of the season? Of the 28 streaks listed above, all but 4 began on July 31 or later. (And that's not even counting the 1919-20 streak, since most of it happened in April 1920.)
August 6th, 2011 at 12:09 am
Mighty Micheal Young!
August 6th, 2011 at 12:36 am
Nicely put in an interesting context, JA.
Was about to ask why the Yankees' 2011 games only showed 33.0 IP, but then remembered the rain-shortened game with the White Sox not getting to bat in their half of the inning.
August 6th, 2011 at 1:02 am
I think the more impressive feat is the total number of consecutive walkless IP, rather than the number of games. For example, the 45 innings you mention for this year's Yankees and the 65.2 for the 2002 crew.
I'm assuming the Play Index doesn't let you search for streaks like this stretching across games, including partial games that meet the criteria, and being accomplished by different pitchers.
On the second list, JA, the distribution of walkless streaks across decades and seasons of the searchable era is interesting, but perhaps not significant. Four such streaks in the 2000's, half by the Tigers.
Should 1968, the year the offense died, be considered a surprise on the second list? I wonder if players and their managers realized at the time that they were in the ultimate smallball season and tried to work the pitchers for more walks?
And of course never more than one such streak in the second list in a season.
August 6th, 2011 at 8:33 am
Entry 11 on the 1st list, the Dodgers played 4 games in 2 days, going 3-0. What happened in the other game?
I'd expect HBP and WP to correlate with walks, as forms of wildness, but look at the 1st entry in the 1st list - 3 HBP, 3 WP, and no walks in 6 games.
Entry 11 in the 2nd list, the Cubs managed to go 4-0 despite not drawing a walk. Several teams in that 2nd list achieved the rarity of BA > OBP.
August 6th, 2011 at 11:12 am
@4, Gerry -- The 4th game was a tie, presumably called on account of darkness.
BTW, gotta love the pitchers in that doubleheader: Socks Seibold and Dolf Luque; Sloppy Thurston and Tom Zachary (a hero of the Senators' only WS championship).