Recapping Tuesday 9/13/11: No margin for error
Posted by John Autin on September 14, 2011
On a night when both wild-card leaders won, each pursuer blew a lead in the bottom of the 7th with an ace on the hill and 2 outs -- St. Louis on Andrew McCutchen's 2-run HR off Chris Carpenter, Tampa on a pinch-hit double by Jake Fox off David Price. Only one would keep pace with their quarry.
-- The Rays lost to Baltimore, 4-2, when J.P. Howell (interesting choice) gave up a 2-out, 2-run HR to Matt Wieters in the 8th, and lost ground as Boston routed Toronto, 18-6, using a barrage of extra-base hits to overcome an early deficit and hand Tim Wakefield (5 ER in 6 IP) his 200th win at last.
- Dustin Pedroia hit 2 HRs (he has 20) and 2 doubles (34); 4 extra-base hits tied the Red Sox live-ball record. Pedey now has 3 of their 20 4-XBH games since 1919; no other player has more than 1. He had a chance to set a new record, but flied out in his last AB.
- Jose Bautista hit his 42nd HR and reached 100 RBI and 100 Runs. He's the 1st player this year to reach 100/100 and 100 walks; he and Albert Pujols were the only players to do that last year.
-- The Cards pulled it out with 2 runs in the 9th off Joel Hanrahan, keeping pace with the Braves (and Brewers) as another day melted off the calendar.
-- Atlanta beat Florida, 7-1, behind 3-run HRs from Brian McCann and Dan Uggla in the 6th and 7th. McCann was hitting .197 since the Break; Uggla had no RBI in the Braves' 4-game loss streak.
-- It's been a subtly great year for Cole Hamels, but his longshot CYA hopes likely perished in Houston, when Clint Barmes hit a 3-run HR that led to a 5-2 Astros win. (And here's why we still bring our gloves to the ballpark.)
- Houston has won the first 2 games of the series, twice denying Philly a chance to clinch a playoff berth. The Phils hadn't opened a series with 2 losses since June 3-4 in Pittsburgh -- which is also the last time they lost 3 games in a row.
-- Detroit began the night with an 11.5-game lead, then rolled a couple more elevens -- their 11th straight win, 5-0 over Chicago, and the 11th straight start won by Justin Verlander, tying the franchise record shared by Hal Newhouser (1946) and Earl Whitehill (1930).
- The Tigers have just 2 longer win streaks in their history, 14 games in 1909 and 1934 -- both pennant seasons.
- Verlander is the 1st pitcher with 23 wins since 2002, when Randy Johnson (24), Curt Schilling and Barry Zito all turned the trick. He shaved his ERA to 2.36, tied for the MLB lead. He'll likely get 2 more starts this year. With an eye towards October, he was lifted after 7 IP and 106 pitches tonight, his 3rd-lowest pitch count of the year.
- In his last 21 starts, Verlander is 19-2 with a 1.83 ERA and 0.89 WHIP.
- Victor Martinez provided the muscle with a 3-run HR. Since the Break, he's hitting.335 with 44 RBI in 54 games, but just 5 HRs.
-- Texas clubbed the Indians, 10-4, despite 2 HRs by Carlos Santana. David Murphy went 4 for 4 with 2 HRs and a 2B, Josh Hamilton hit his 20th of the year and Adrian Beltre hit his 20th at home (24 total). The Rangers are slugging .500 at home, .405 away; they average 6.03 R/G at home, 4.40 away.
-- Angels 4, A's 3 (in the 9th): The Halos blew a 3-0 lead, but went up again in the 7th. They need a win to stay 3 games behind the Rangers -- a nice, round target in light of their season-ending home series with Texas.
-- Yankees 3, Mariners 2: A season-high 11 Ks for A.J. Burnett in his 1st Quality Start since June 29. Mariano Rivera got his 600th save when Ichiro Suzuki was caught stealing 2nd base with 2 outs and a 1-0 count on Dustin Ackley; Rivera is 1 shy of Trevor Hoffman's record.
- Burnett set a Yankee season record with his 24th wild pitch. Rivera has thrown 13 wild pitches in his career, never more than 2 in a year.
- Robinson Cano's HR and 2 RBI gave him the MLB lead with 74 extra-base hits, and a share of the AL lead with 111 RBI (1 off Ryan Howard's MLB pace).
- Jesus Montero, batting 5th behind Cano, is 2 for 3 with his 1st double.
-- Bruce Chen blanked the Twins on 2 hits over 8 IP, and became the 2nd Royals pitcher since 1999 to reach 11 wins twice.
- Royals 3B Mike Moustakas hit his 1st big-league HR in his 2nd game; 75 games later, he hit his 2nd. Moustakas batted .322 and slugged .630 last year at AA/AAA, but he began tonight with a .231 BA, .287 SLG and 59 OPS+ in over 300 PAs; Chone Figgins is the only 3B with 300 PAs and a lower OPS+.
-- Nationals 3, Mets 2: The Mets aren't good enough to overcome mental errors or bad fundamentals by their players or coaches. With men on 2nd and 1st and 1 out in a tie game, Jose Reyes fielded a grounder a few steps from 2nd base and elected to take it to the bag himself, rather than feed the waiting Ruben Tejada. Reyes misjudged how close the baserunner was, and they intersected just as he was about to throw to 1st, causing Jose to withhold the throw. That was the right call in that moment -- an error would have brought in the lead run -- but it just highlighted the misjudgment of the initial decision. The winning run scored moments later, when Ryan Zimmerman ripped Bobby Parnell's 2nd pitch into LF.
- Another mental mistake came from 3rd-base coach Chip Hale, who waved catcher Josh Thole around 3rd with 1 out on Reyes's hard ground single into CF in the 5th, with the game scoreless. Chip, check out any video of Rick Ankiel's arm, eh? His throw was a little up the line, but it was hard and on the fly, and Thole was dead at the plate (especially since he declined contact). The Mets went on to score twice that inning, but the missing run proved costly.
- Thole was on 2nd rather than 3rd because Dillon Gee struck out trying to sacrifice after Thole's leadoff double. The Mets' pitchers surely deserve all the criticism they've gotten for their chronic bunting failures this year.
- Reyes went 3 for 4 and reclaimed the batting lead at .333. But each time, he was on 1st base with 2 out and no one else aboard, when a run would mean a lead or a tie -- and he never ran. Reyes has not attempted a SB in 14 games, the longest such streak of his career, and afterwards he admitted that he does not have full confidence in his hamstring. In 16 games since his 2nd DL stint, he's hitting .308 but with just 3 XBH (doubles) in 65 ABs.
- Mets are 1-6 on their penultimate homestand (four 1-run losses). They're 31-42 at home this year, 13th in the NL; their 40-35 away mark is 3rd-best.
- Nats' reliever Craig Stammen singled in his 1st AB of the year and scored the winning run. He's now 16 for 70 in the majors (.229).
September 14th, 2011 at 1:44 am
I knew Moustakas hadn't played well but didn't realize how overwhelmed he'd been. Seems like the Royals would have been better off leaving him at AAA. It's always a fine line between letting a guy stagnate at a level he should no longer be at, and crushing him with a promotion when he's overmatched. Any Royals fans with insight on Moustakas's development and future? Maybe he's better off getting some more time in Omaha next season.
***
The winning run scored moments later, when Ryan Zimmerman ripped Bobby Parnell's 2nd pitch into LF.
If I've counted correctly, that's his 14th career walkoff hit and 9th walkoff homer. He's 27 in a couple weeks. Most underrated player in the game? My early darkhorse MVP candidate for 2012 (having spent approximately 2 seconds thinking about it).
***
A couple of your video links don't seem to working correctly.
September 14th, 2011 at 1:47 am
To all WARriors: Zimmerman is considered a superb defensive 3Bman by all accounts, except Total Zone's. Give him some +20 defensive performances, and B-R would have him with a couple ~7-WAR seasons.
September 14th, 2011 at 2:23 am
"4 extra-base hits (by Pedroia) tied the Red Sox live-ball record."
Actually, it would tie every team's record, except the Braves, Dodgers, Indians and Pirates who have had 5 XBH games.
Despite being thown out to end tonight's game, Ichiro's actually done reasonably well scoring runs this year, especially for a Seattle team that can't score. His 74 runs match last season's total, despite reaching base (to date) 67 fewer times than in 2010. His rate this year of scoring 36.3% of the times he reaches base is only slightly below his 38.0% career rate.
September 14th, 2011 at 2:23 am
Being a lifelong Royals fan, and seeing what happened with Kila and how he just never produced in the majors after being held back by Mike Jacobs, yes just read that again. I think Mous needs to stay in the majors and being in the starting lineup next opening day, he has got to prove he can hit i the majors, sure he can go down in the minors and do well but if they happens and he comes back and still struggles he'll never be able to get over that. Okay, there is my Royals rant.
September 14th, 2011 at 2:35 am
Amazingly during Verlanders 11 straight wins his ERA has actually increased from 2.29 to 2.36. No blow up starts of course... just remarkable consistent.
September 14th, 2011 at 3:50 am
Break up the Astros! Cooling off the Phils two nights in a row. Who'd have thunk it.
Philadelphia, with a prior loss to the Brewers, has now lost 3 straight for only the 3rd time this year, and the first since a 4-game skid (their longest) May 31-Jun 4.
For their part, the Astros have won two straight for only the 10th time this season. By way of comparison, Houston has 24 one-game win "streaks". Their longest win streak is only 4 games (done 3 times). They have been above .500 in a stretch of 10 games or more only once, going 9-6 from Aug 16-31.
September 14th, 2011 at 4:34 am
"the 11th straight start won by Justin Verlander, tying the franchise record"
Never mind the Tigers, Verlander's into some pretty heady company all-time. For consecutive starts won within a single season, there are only 10 longer streaks since 1919. If Verlander should win his projected two remaining starts, he would would be tied at 13 with Lefty Grove (1928), Wes Ferrell (1930) and Ellis Kinder (1949), and trailing only Lefty Grove's 21 straight starts won in 1931 (if there are records that are never going to be broken, that's probably one of them).
September 14th, 2011 at 4:40 am
@7.
Missed one. If Verlander does get to 13 consecutive starts won this year, he would also be tied with Carl Hubbell (1936). Hubbell extended his streak with 6 more winning starts to begin the 1937 season.
September 14th, 2011 at 7:55 am
You cannot recap 9/13/11 without mentioning that Dream Theater released their newest album today.
A Dramatic Turn of Events
This is their first album with new drummer Mike Mangini. He has tough shoes to fill since previous drummer Mike Portnoy was named "Progressive Drummer of the Year" fourteen times by Modern Drummer magazine.
Some more info. on DT:
Their guitarist and bassist (John Petrucci and John Myung) both went to the Berklee College of Music in Boston.
The aforementioned drummer Mike Mangini gave up his teaching position at Berklee to join the band.
Their keyboardist Jordan Rudess went to Julliard - when he was 9.
Quite simply... the best band you've NEVER heard of.
Now back to baseball!!!
September 14th, 2011 at 9:39 am
And, speaking of 9/13, in 1965 the Beatles released "Yesterday" and won their first Grammy for Best New Artist in 1964 (ya think?).
September 14th, 2011 at 10:28 am
@1, JT -- Bad description by me of Zimmerman's hit:
(a) Not a HR; it was a single that he "ripped ... into LF."
(b) Not a walk-off -- so I should have said "the eventual winning run."
September 14th, 2011 at 10:29 am
@1, about the (intended) MLB video links -- Not to shift the blame too much, but their website structure stinks. Isn't it reasonable to assume that If I'm viewing a video on MLB.com, the URL points directly to that video? But it doesn't, not at all. [Sigh.]
September 14th, 2011 at 10:34 am
...and just to keep this thought alive, the Jays record returned to 0.500 for the 31st time this season.
September 14th, 2011 at 10:42 am
Ryan Braun hit a walk-off HR for the Brewers to lead off the 11th inning. Number 8 lowered the Brewers NL Central magic number to 8 with the win.
September 14th, 2011 at 10:48 am
@14, Topper -- Great AB by Braun!
I'm just starting to become familiar with his swing -- looks like a savage yet controlled uppercut, with a sharp upward tilt in the follow-through. I can't think of another player with a swing like that; do you have any thoughts?
September 14th, 2011 at 10:49 am
(Of course, my web-tech skills stink, too. But I think I have the video links directed properly now.)
September 14th, 2011 at 10:51 am
@2, JT re: Zimmerman's defensive value -- This year, he's been playing with some lingering injury that significantly limits his throwing. So I think, for this year at least, his 0 dWAR may be more in line with his perceived performance.
September 14th, 2011 at 11:42 am
Braun uses a big heavy bat that he whips through the zone and has power to all fields, I guess he looks a little bit like this guy
http://video.app.msn.com/watch/video/babe-hits-first-hr/121s9vq7?cpkey=ff47294e-e08a-4839-bdb7-effacfa0704d||||
Braun only has 3 walk-off dingers and 5 total walk-off hits compared to Zimmerman's 8 walk-off HRs and 12 total hits (yesterday was not a walk-off job). These 2 will be compared their entire careers because Zimmerman was taken 4th in the '05 draft and Braun was taken 5th.
So far in 832 games Zim has 19.4 WAR and in 716 games Braun has 21.4 WAR.
September 14th, 2011 at 12:00 pm
On Moustakas, he actually has improved the last few weeks. His nadir was on August 16, when he was at .182/.237/.227. In the 24 games he has played since, he has raised his OPS 114 points.
September 14th, 2011 at 12:22 pm
Moose isn't doing as bad as it seems. He is historically a slow starter. It took him a while to get going in AA and AAA. He seems to be picking it up now; since August 17, he is hitting .337 and has raised his BA by about 50 points.
September 14th, 2011 at 12:43 pm
JA/11, I was coming on to post a retraction as I just realized it wasn't anything close to a walkoff homer. The game wasn't even in DC! I just read your post too quickly and jumped to conclusions. So that was about the wrongest post that's ever been made. (Except that Zimmerman *does* have a lot of walk-off homers in his young career.)
JA/17, thanks. I knew he was hurt earlier but didn't remember the details or realize it was still affecting him.
September 14th, 2011 at 1:28 pm
the Jays record returned to 0.500 for the 31st time this season.
The Blue Jays finish their season's work against the Red Sox this afternoon, and I'll bet they're ready. The Sox have defeated the Jays by margins of 12 runs or more in four games this season. In 17 previous games against the Sox, the Jays' staff has yielded 133 runs, or a bit less than eight runs per game.
If they end up above .500, the 2011 Blue Jays will be only the second plus-.500 team to lose as many as five decisions by 12 or more runs. The other team is the 1930 Indians, who finished 81-73 but went 3-7 in games decided by 12+ runs. The Indians lost three of those games to the Yankees, including both ends of a July 4 doubleheader (14-2 and 13-1). Rough day at the office. They also defeated the eventual world-champion Athletics three times by scores of 15-0, 15-2, and 25-7.
Most losses by 12+ runs in a season is 10, by the 1936 Stu Flythe Athletics, who went 53-100. That team lost three games apiece by 12 or more runs to the Indians and Yankees. I haven't researched whether the 2011 Jays' four such losses to the Red Sox is the most ever in one season to one team.
September 14th, 2011 at 2:05 pm
@22 Tuna,
Stu Flythe...nice.
I was trying to come up with something positive about good old Stu. The best I could find was his 1936/career 0.1 batting WAR (to go along with his -2.9 pitching WAR).
September 14th, 2011 at 2:25 pm
@23.
"I haven't researched whether the 2011 Jays' four such losses to the Red Sox is the most ever in one season to one team."
I checked out the 1927-39 Yankees. The '36 Yanks had 3 wins by 12+ runs against both the As and Browns.The '31 team had 2 wins by 12+ runs against each of the Indians, Tigers, As and Browns. But, no four-time whippings found.
September 14th, 2011 at 3:30 pm
Thanks for looking at those Yankees teams, Doug. I'd have expected one of those teams and one of the noodle-armed Browns teams of the late '30s to play some lopsided games. Just not four of 'em, it seems.
I ran through the game logs of the 1935-37 Browns and the 1938-41 Athletics, representing seven of the 35 team seasons in which one team lost five or more games by 12+ runs. The Browns lost three such games to the Tigers in '35, '36, and '37, and (as noted) to the Yankees in '36. The A's lost three such games to the Yankees in '39.
Then I checked the 1930 Phillies because . . . well, because the agony of pitchers long dead no longer troubles us and because lists with lots of big numbers can be fun. And I found that the 1930 Phillies lost games to the Cubs by scores of 21-8, 17-3, 17-4, and 16-2. So, presumably to Canada's deep sorrow, we now know how the 2011 Blue Jays are like the 1930 Phillies.
September 14th, 2011 at 3:53 pm
John A:
Take it easy on the Mets players and coaches...it's all the front office's fault 🙂
September 14th, 2011 at 7:25 pm
@25, Kahuna.
Those '36 Browns - you have to feel for them. Three 12+ run losses to both the Tigers and Yanks, plus they had another 11-run loss to the Yanks, so nearly joined the '30 Phils and 2011 Jays with four whippings by the same team.
For good measure, they also lost by 16 to the Senators, and by 13 to the White Sox. Total of eight 12-run losses, including 12-0 and 14-0 in a doubleheader against Detroit in the last week of the season. Not fun - yet, somehow, starters Tommy Thomas (11-9) and Chief Hogsett (13-15) managed respectable W-L records on a 55-97 team.
BTW, this is a good use for the Game Results chart at the top of the Team pages - really easy to pick off extreme games like this.
September 14th, 2011 at 8:34 pm
@6 and Astros.
"The Astros have been above .500 in a stretch of 10 games or more only once, going 9-6 from Aug 16-31."
As a point of comparison, the infamous 2003 Tigers (43-119) had three such .500 stretches (May 3-14, 6-4; May 22-Jun 4, 7-5; Jun 30-Jul 17, 8-6). Plus, they closed out the season 5-1 to avoid finishing with a worse record than the '62 Mets (funny how at little motivation can produce results).
September 14th, 2011 at 8:42 pm
@28.
And, speaking of the '62 Mets, they, like the Astros, had only one .500+ stretch of 10 games or more (May 6-20, 9-3). Other than that stretch, they went 31-117, a .209 clip.
September 15th, 2011 at 1:46 am
Hey John - this is way off topic but I'm wondering if you can comment on this anyway.
MLB Network's Sunday night plays of the week featured, at #1, Jeff Francoeur leaping and reaching way over the wall to rob a home run.
Using my own personal dvr slow motion, I confirmed my hunch that just before the ball ended up in Francoeur's glove, it ricocheted off of a fan's glove. You can see the outer portion of the inside of the fan's glove flap way open as the ball hits, and then you can see the ball deflect by about 25 degrees into the palm of Francoeur's glove.
My questions is...what is the official rule regarding a play like this! ?
It cannot be "fan interference" since the fan did not reach over onto the field of play. But, should the play be "dead" and ruled a "home run" when the ball deflects off the fan's glove? My intuition tells me that if the umpire feels the fielder would catch the ball with or without the deflection, then the catch counts!
September 15th, 2011 at 1:18 pm
@30 -- Hey, Brett -- I've now seen the video clip online, and the fan definitely deflected it and it was beyond the wall at the time. My off-the-cuff recollection of the rules is that the fan has every right to the ball once it crosses the imaginary vertical line of the fence extended, and therefore it should have been a home run. But I'll try to find some guidance in the MLB rules. (Wish me luck -- the rules aren't nearly as well written as they should be.)
September 15th, 2011 at 2:05 pm
@30, Brett -- The Francoeur catch clearly should have been disallowed. The ball was out of play (and thus a HR) as soon as it was legally touched by a spectator
Rule 2.00(d):
"Spectator interference occurs when a spectator reaches out of the stands, or goes on the playing field, and (1) touches a live ball or (2) touches a player and hinders an attempt to make a play on a live ball."
-- Clearly, this did not occur.
Rule 3.16 Comment:
"There is a difference between a ball which has been thrown or batted into the stands, touching a spectator thereby being out of play even though it rebounds onto the field....
"No interference shall be allowed [i.e., "called"--J.A.] when a fielder reaches over a fence, railing, rope or into a stand to catch a ball. He does so at his own risk."
September 16th, 2011 at 5:28 pm
John - thanks for following up on this!
Thank you specifically for pointing me to the relevant rules in the rule book! I guess no one (umpires/players/managers) thought to review the play! I wonder if, at this point, anyone other than you or I are aware of the mistake.
But, is it a mistake?
On second thought, upon reading through rules 3.15 and 3.16 a few times, including the entire set of 3.15 and 3.16 comments, I'm not sure either rule could be used to overturn Francoeur's catch or to rule the play a homerun initially. Neither the rules nor the examples provided seem to apply to the play in question.
The portion of the 3.16 comment that you quote may be specifically for cases when the ball rebounds back into the field of play. Since this didn't happen with Francoeur's catch, the 3.16 comment may not apply. Perhaps a new rule / rule comment should be added to address Francoeur's play!
I am guessing that a play is ruled "dead" at the moment a fan touches the ball so that runners cannot keep advancing at their own discretion. In our example, Francoeur made the catch so the runners couldn't advance anyway (except on a tag-up) - then again, it's not an example of intereference, so the whole "dead at the moment of interference" rule does not apply.
Nowhere does it say that when a ball travels over the wall it is "dead" at the moment a fan touches it (Except when the ball rebounds back into the field of play). So, perhaps for this reason alone, the Francoeur catch should stand as called!
Side note:
The new rule should also address what happens if a fan reaches over onto the field of play, deflects the ball, and the catch is still made. - will the play count as an out?
I believe in this case it would be up to the umpire to decide if the fielder would have still caught the ball had the fan not deflected the ball. This opinion is based on rule 3.16. (I've bolded what I believe is the portion of the rule relevant to this case.) You could also probably make a strong case that rule 3.16 is already sufficient for a ruling on play like this.
3.16 When there is spectator interference with any thrown or batted ball, the ball shall be dead at the moment of interference and the umpire shall impose such penalties as in his opinion will nullify [i.e., "cancel out"--B.E.] the act of interference.
Thus if a catch is made that otherwise (without the interference), would not have been made, the play should not be ruled as a catch. But, if the umpire believes the fielder would still have caught the ball without the interference, then the play should be ruled as a catch/out.