Recapping Monday 9/12/11: No one’s clinched yet
Posted by John Autin on September 13, 2011
-- Rays 5, Orioles 2: Reason #755 why I don't bet on sports: This seemed like the classic "trap" game: Coming off a sweep of Boston, facing the last-place O's (who are sneakily respectable at home) while the Red Sox are idle, and throwing one of their lesser pitchers, Jeff Niemann, who'd been rocked in 2 straight games. What I missed: The Rays are just playing too well right now in all phases and are too hungry to let down against a team that's playing out the string.
- Ben Zobrist had 3 hits, 3 RBI, his 45th double and his 17th SB.
- Joel Peralta subbed for the ailing Kyle Farnsworth and struck out the side for the save. He's allowed 1 run in his last 13 games.
- Tampa trails Boston by 3 games with 16 left for each. (Does Big Panic Papi know that the schedule favors Boston?)
-- Pirates 6, Cardinals 5: Reason #756 ... : THIS was the trap game! The Bucs scored 3 in the 8th for a 6-4 lead, and the Cards' last-gasp rally ended when Corey Patterson struck out -- did you guess "breaking ball in the dirt"? -- with the lead run on 2nd and Albert Pujols on deck. Patterson is now 8 for 47 with St. Louis since arriving in the Colby Rasmus deal; reliever Marc Rzepczynski, another part of that package, was charged with 2 runs and the loss in 1/3 of an inning. What I missed: Never in my wildest dreams of Tony LaRussa's downfall did I imagine that a do-or-die situation would be left up to Corey Patterson.
-- Marlins 5, Braves 4: Atlanta tied the game in the 8th -- about the time the Cards fell behind in their game -- but missed a chance to win it in the last of the 9th with the bases full and 1 out, as Brian McCann looked at strike 3 and Martin Prado bounced out. Florida scored in the 12th on Mike Stanton's pinch single.
- Chipper Jones batted #2 for the 4th time this month; he hadn't started a game there since 1996, his 2nd full season. Chipper went 2 for 5 with a double, his 1,014th extra-base hit, tying Craig Biggio for #30 on the career list, 1 behind Mike Schmidt; George Brett (1,119) is the only other 3B higher up the XBH list. (Would you have guessed that Biggio had more XBH than Chipper?)
-- Tigers 14, White Sox 4: Detroit beat up on John Danks for the 2nd time this month and won their 10th straight. It's the club's first double-digit win streak since an 11-gamer in September 1968. That streak started with a Mickey Lolich 2-hit shutout, and carried through a home sweep of the Yankees that clinched the pennant. (Good times!) The current streak started with Justin Verlander's 21st win in their other Danks dunking. Detroit leads the division by 11 games with 15 left on their schedule.
- It was the 12th time this year that every Tigers starter had at least 1 hit; no other team has more than 9 such games. They joined the Yankees as the only teams with three 20-hit games this year.
- In their last 4 games with Chicago, Detroit has outscored them 49-15 and out-hit them by 71-35.
- Brent Morel hit 2 HRs for the 2nd time in 5 games; he had 3 HRs in his previous 105 games this year.
-- Oakland 6, Angels 3: The A's routed Joel Pineiro in 3+ innings. Pineiro has an 8.31 ERA in 11 games (8 starts) since the Break, with 14 Ks and 13 walks in 43.1 IP.
- Josh Willingham has 25 HRs and 88 RBI. He has had an OPS+ between 115 and 129 in each of his 6 full seasons, but has never driven in 90.
-- Nationals 3, Mets 2: Say, who remembers this thread? -- "Tyler Clippard may set the Holds record. (Don't laugh.)" I guess you can laugh now. That was posted on August 19, after Clippard had notched his 32nd Hold. Twenty-two Nats games later, Clippard had the same 32 Holds. The Nats went 8-14 in that span, with just 1 save in the 8 wins; Clippard pitched 9 times, going 1-0 with no Hold chances. BUT ... he broke the schneid tonight, tossing 2 perfect innings with a 1-run lead. Probably too late to get the record -- which, as you all know by now, is 40, set by Luke Gregerson last year.
- R.A. Dickey made his 10th straight Quality Start, with a 2.73 ERA in that span, but just a 4-4 record; the Mets averaged 2.9 runs in the 10 games.
-- Astros 5, Phillies 1: With their ships of state steaming on opposite courses, Brett Myers postponed the inevitable by shutting down his former team again, yielding 1 run in 8 innings; he's held the Phils to 4 ER in 22 IP since joining the Astros.
- Houston's next loss will set a record for the 50-year-old franchise; the Phils need 8 wins in their last 18 games to set a record in their 129th season. Philly leads the all-time series, 285-273.
- Philly missed its 1st chance to clinch a playoff berth outright.
- The Phils are now 44 games over .500 this year -- and 1,053 games under .500 all-time. (... said the bitter Mets fan.)
- Since coming off the DL, Roy Oswalt has allowed 61 hits in 47 IP over 7 starts.
- Carlos Lee has at least 50 extra-base hits in each of his 13 seasons; no active player has more than 11 straight seasons at that level.
-- Yankees 9, Mariners 3: New York beat Felix Hernandez (6 runs in 6 IP) for the first time since 2008; he had won 5 of his last 6 starts against them, including a 2-hit shutout last year.
- Mark Teixeira hit his 37th HR, closing in on his 2nd 40-HR season and 1st since 2005.
- Robinson Cano equaled last year's RBI total of 109, moving into the #2 spot in the AL, 2 behind Curtis Granderson. Cano has never led the league in any offensive category.
-- D-backs 7, Dodgers 2 (8th): Arizona's come-from-behind mojo was in force again. After falling behind on Matt Kemp's HR in the 1st, and getting 1 hit off Ted Lilly through 5 innings, they scored 5 in the 6th.
-- Cubs 12, Reds 8: Could the Great Dontrelle Experiment be on its last legs (again)? Dontrelle Willis allowed 8 runs in 3.1 IP, on 9 hits and 3 walks, with no strikeouts, for a career-worst Game Score of 7. Dontrelle is 0-6 with a 5.04 ERA in 12 starts. He did go 1 for 1 at bat, though; now 11 for 27 this year, with an OPS over 1.000.
September 13th, 2011 at 1:13 am
You know that scene in Secretariat where the Jockey rounds the corner and looks over shoulder to see who is following him and no one is there. That's the Phillies right now.
September 13th, 2011 at 2:09 am
1968? Surely the '84 Tigers won at least 10 in a row on their way to 35-5.
Nope. Two streaks of nine and two streaks of seven.
September 13th, 2011 at 2:18 am
I would've guessed Biggio had more XBH's than Jones. Biggio always hit a ton of doubles, and Jones always walked alot.
I haven't seen any mention of the fine season Reed Johnson has put together, albeit in limited duty. He's always been an interesting player, hardly ever walks but hits by pitch a ton, a strange combo.
September 13th, 2011 at 2:24 am
Texeira moves a step closer to 40 HR. As pointed out in a blog a week or so ago, he and Granderson could become the first pair of Yankees to hit 40 since Mantle and Maris in 1961.
Those two plus Cano have 25+ homers. Surprisingly (to me), only three Yankee teams have had more than 3 guys at that level, and two of those teams were last year and the year before. If Nick Swisher (on 22) can get hot down the stretch, they could make it 4 guys to tie last year's team as well as Dickey/DiMaggio/Gehrig/Gordon of the '38 team.
September 13th, 2011 at 2:34 am
@2 and Tigers streaks.
The current 10-game streak is the Tiger's 6th of exactly that length, but the first that has not involved beating the Browns. They need 4 more wins to match their longest-ever streak set in 1934 when they (you guessed it) beat the Browns.
September 13th, 2011 at 3:43 am
@5 - the '68 streak didn't involve the Browns either. The Browns relocated in '54 and became the Baltimore Orioles. The Tigers beat the Angels, A's, Yankees, and Senators during their streak in 1968. I believe that the Senators were a brand new outfit, not relocated from anywhere else, then shlepped off to Texas in the 70's.
September 13th, 2011 at 5:48 am
Dunno if this counts as an offensive category, but Cano is the current AL leader in extra base hits. He is tied with Upton for the MLB lead.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/2011-batting-leaders.shtml
(If its not updated yet, Cano had 2 doubles last night, none of the other leaders had any.)
September 13th, 2011 at 5:49 am
Boston has to be scared, with all that money spent to bring in the big guns and lowly TB is within 3 games. It really is incredible what they've done down there in St. Pete. I'm not a big believer in Moneyball and all that, but if someone told me the Rays have a new movie coming out that details their formula for success I would go see it in a heartbeat.
September 13th, 2011 at 6:48 am
@1
Secretariat won the Belmont Stakes by 31 lengths.
The Phillies lead their division by 12 games.
The Tigers lead their division by 11.5 games.
The Phillies have lost 50 games this year.
The 1998 Yankees lost 50 games for the entire year - including the playoffs.
If the Phillies win their next 31 games in a row, and finish the season 125-50, then we can talk Secretariat. I actually think the Phillies have the pitching to match-up with the 1998 Yanks - certainly better than any other team did that year.. But to compare them to Secretariat at the Belmont is a bit hasty.
September 13th, 2011 at 9:47 am
Seems convenient that both the Braves (3-9 last 12) & Red Sox (2-9 last 11) have gone cold at the same time. Just in time to tighten up the wild card races for a league trying to avoid its 4th consecutive year of lower attendance. Reason #2 why I don't bet professional sports.
September 13th, 2011 at 10:39 am
So Dontrelle for DH? He has always been a good hitter...
September 13th, 2011 at 10:40 am
^^^ on a different team of course
September 13th, 2011 at 10:48 am
I'm sure Dontrelle could handle a corner outfield spot about as well Reds-era Adam Dunn, and at this point he's apparently a better hitter.
September 13th, 2011 at 10:55 am
@6, Nigthfly.
Yes, I know that 11-game '68 streak didn't involve the Browns/Orioles.
That's why I talked about streaks of "exactly" 10 games. 🙂
September 13th, 2011 at 10:59 am
@10 Scott, I'm not saying that Bud wouldn't do just about anything, but why have the Tigers bury the AL Central, and the Snakes push aside the sentimental favorite Giants?
September 13th, 2011 at 11:32 am
Johnny John Autin:
Pujols, Holliday, and Berkman are all 150+ OPS+ and qualified for the batting title. Has this trifecta ever happened before? Obviously, I haven't renewed that Play Index subscription yet.
Also, you make note of the Phils-Astros all-time record. In 1962 the Phillies went 31-5 against expansion Astros & Mets to help mature a young bunch that was "coming into its own" (what the helll does that mean?). They ended up 81-80 after a horrid 1961
September 13th, 2011 at 12:19 pm
@16, Paul E -- I guess the "E" is for "economizing" ...
Before I answer, I'll predict that it's been done many times, particularly by the Yankees.
September 13th, 2011 at 12:19 pm
@15 The Al Central was tight for most of the year. Only Al defending champ & 1st place Rangers have better attendance improvement than Indians who battled Tigers most of season. Giants don't need help. They have biggest attendance improvement in National league. On the other hand wild card hopeful Rays and Cardinals are both running behind last years attendance. Might be enough to get overall attendance up. It's close. ( Just a theory) But truly one of the reasons I don't bet the pros.
September 13th, 2011 at 12:23 pm
#16. If I remember correctly the Phillies won the first 17 against Houston. The sweep was prevented in the last game. Not positve-it has been a while. I seem to recall Bob Bruce pitching a big game.
September 13th, 2011 at 12:23 pm
Followup to #17 -- I was mostly right in the first part, mostly wrong in the second.
Teams with 3 qualifying batters with OPS+ of at least 150:
-- 2011 Cardinals -- Pujols, Holliday, Berkman
-- 2004 Cardinals -- Pujols, Edmonds, Rolen
-- 1996 Mariners -- Griffey, Edgar, A-Rod
-- 1963 Giants -- Mays, McCovey, Cepeda
-- 1929 Yankees -- Ruth, Gehrig, Lazzeri
-- 1925 Tigers -- Cobb, Heilmann, Al Wingo
-- 1919 Tigers -- Cobb, Veach, Ira Flagstead
September 13th, 2011 at 12:29 pm
Nice work, John. I'm going to propose that any list of "greatest fluke seasons" that does not include Al Wingo, 1925, and Ira Flagstead, 1919, has been underresearched.
September 13th, 2011 at 12:37 pm
Timothy P-
There is a big out about the Rays called "The Extra 2 Percent".
September 13th, 2011 at 12:49 pm
W20, JA, doesn't meet the criteria, but the 27 Yankees had Ruth at 225, and Gehrig at 220. Then Coombs at 141, for an absurd aggregate of 586.
September 13th, 2011 at 12:49 pm
@21, Kahuna -- No doubt that Al Wingo's 1925 was a fluke, as measured by his other MLB seasons.
But ... for that one year, his play was no mirage. All his splits are balanced -- home/road, lefty/righty, 1st half/2nd half.
And he was a pretty darn good hitter in the high minors, too. Check out his 1922-23 in the IL and 1929-30 in the PCL.
(I must defend my Tigers, flukes and all!)
September 13th, 2011 at 1:14 pm
On a tangent, David Schoenfield's "SweetSpot" today has a good deconstruction of LaRussa's jumbled bullpen moves last night, as well as the folly of an intentional walk that wound up as the difference in the game:
http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/16076/la-russa-hates-losing-loves-overmanaging
The money lines:
"Lefty Marc Rzepczynski was brought in to face switch-hitting Ryan Doumit. Like Dotel, Rzepczynski has a big platoon split ... Doumit doubled into the right-field corner to tie the score.
"Now came the interesting part. The Pirates, of course, have plenty of options on the bench as well. Lefty Garrett Jones was due up, but Ryan Ludwick pinch-hit; La Russa walked him intentionally to bring up lefty-hitting Pedro Alvarez. Except the Pirates don’t let Alvarez hit; Josh Harrison comes up instead. Harrison strikes out, but Jason Jaramillo, hitting for the pitcher, walked to load the bases. Rzepczynski, owner of that sizable platoon split, faced four batters, none of them left-handed.
"La Russa finally brought in Fernando Salas, who recently lost his closer job, despite a 2.08 ERA and .179 average allowed since July 1. Rookie shortstop Pedro Ciriaco grounded a two-run double past Albert Pujols for a 6-4 lead. When the Cardinals scored a run in the top of the ninth, that meant the winning run turned out to be the Ludwick intentional walk -- an intentional walk that was the completely unnecessary, as nearly every intentional walk is.
"Here’s my argument: Why put an extra runner on base in that situation? ... the only reason La Russa walked Ludwick was to get a platoon advantage he should have known he wasn’t going to get: The Pirates weren’t going to let Alvarez face Rzepczynski, not in an important situation like this and a slew of pinch-hitters available on a September roster."
September 13th, 2011 at 2:08 pm
#20 - John:
7 times in ~ 2300 team seasons isn't exactly a common occurrence, but thanks much for the research.
#19 - Cookie:
9/4/62 - Bob Bruce goes the route for the Astros sole victory in the season series in game 18 of 18. Great memory...years ago, I was reading the Baseball Encyclopedia and noticed Astros' catcher Dave Adlesh had 1 career homer. Not exactly a momentous event, but I was there with the local little league - one of the knotholders. Cigar smoke, stale beer, empty stands, .....ahhhh, Connie Mack Stadium !!
September 13th, 2011 at 2:13 pm
@16, @17, @20 - trios of team mates over 150% OPS:
One small criticism I have of this method of separating out great offensive seasons, is that it's easier to put up a high OPS+ with less games played/ plate appearances. I believe the technical term is "regression to the mean"; i.e., given more games played over any season, a player will return to his career performance levels.
Pujols, Holliday, and Berkman have all missed some games this year (15, 28, and 17 games respectively). Ira Flagstead had only 97 games/342 PA in 1919, Al Wingo 130 games in 1925, and both barely made the 150% threshold.
Perhaps OWAR or Adjusted Offensive Wins would be a little more useful.
September 13th, 2011 at 2:27 pm
Wasn't there a Robert Bruce in Scottish history?
September 13th, 2011 at 2:46 pm
@29, Stan- Robert the Bruce, King of Scots in the early 14th century. Swung (with the axe) left-handed. Cited by English High Constable Bud of Seligshire for head covering infringement in 1325. Amount of fine (along with those of 102 others) lost to history when fire destroyed records. Revered in Scotland.
September 13th, 2011 at 3:05 pm
I guess I always slightly wondered about names that may have been descended from royalty. John Tudor? Or the actor Dick York. A weird thing to wonder about, I admit.
September 13th, 2011 at 3:57 pm
#30 - Stan
Cook - descended from a long line of itinerant military chefs ?
Price - LHP Tampa - sorry, had to be a hooker in there somewhere ?
Carpenter - RHP St. Louis - traces roots to 1st century AD Palestine; Mozeliak deems him "Messiah" and extends contract when "millenial kingdom" fails to surface in summer 2011
Holliday - LF St. Louis - family ran vacation tours in Old West
@ 29 Mike L: Re Robert the Bruce, If 14th century lore is to be believed, that was hanged, drawn, and quartered, with barbecue entrails to follow
I better stop
September 13th, 2011 at 4:12 pm
Paul E, William Wallace was drawn and quartered (Mel Gibson's thing when it comes to movies). Robert the Bruce died of natural causes (probably a letter from a barrister representing the predecessor of MLB). Skip the entrails