Quick recap for Thursday 9/15/11: Rays win, but will they run out of time? (**with Bonus Notes not seen in theaters!**)
Posted by John Autin on September 16, 2011
-- Evan Longoria kick-started Tampa's assault on Fenway with a 2-out, 3-run HR in the 3rd. A couple weeks ago, the Mets' outstanding TV man Gary Cohen (not an old-fashioned sort) surprised me by saying on the air that Longoria was "not having a good year at all."
It wasn't true then, it isn't true now: Despite a .239 BA, Longo began tonight with a 132 OPS+ and 5.0 Wins Above Replacement (the latter ranking 8th among AL hitters), thanks to his power, plenty of walks, and his usual excellent defense; he's leading MLB third-sackers in DPs for the 3rd straight year. Longoria is 3rd in AL WAR over the past 2 years, behind Jose Bautista and Miguel Cabrera, and he tops the junior circuit in WAR over the past 3 seasons.
- Jeremy Hellickson labored -- 117 pitches and 4 walks in 5.2 IP -- but held Boston to 1 run and earned his 13th win, buoying his ROY chances.
- The Rays have won their last 6 games with Boston by a combined 42-12. They're 10-5 against the BoSox this year, 21-12 in the past 2. Boston is 3-11 since Josh Beckett's last win, a worse 14-game stretch than their panic-inducing start of the season. But I still think they'll win the wild card. Dropping 2 of 3 in Baltimore was catastrophic for Tampa; unless they sweep 3 more in Fenway, they'll leave town at least 2 games behind, with 7 of their last 10 against New York. Boston has 7 of their last 10 with the O's.
-- For the 2nd time in about 2 weeks, Cliff Lee fell one strike short of a shutout. Tonight, on an 0-2 pitch to Jose Lopez, Lee missed his target badly and Lopez clocked a game-tying solo HR, depriving Lee of his 17th win and 7th shutout. He whiffed 12 without a walk, his 4th game this year with at least a dozen Ks and his 9th in double-figures -- both tops in the majors.
- On August 31, Lee was 1 out from a shutout and had 2 strikes on the last 2 batters, but walked one and hit the other with an 0-2 pitch, leading to his exit with the tying run on base.
- The Phils still won both halves of a day-night doubleheader, cutting to 2 their magic number to clinch the division.
- Both Lee and Roy Halladay have 219.2 IP in 30 starts. If not for the HR, they would have identical 2.34 ERAs.
-- Behind 6 blank verses from Alexi Ogando, Texas finished off a sweep of Cleveland and upped their lead to 3.5 over the idle Angels. Josh Hamilton homered in all 3 games.
- Michael Young hit his 40th double and reached 100 RBI for the 2nd time in his career. He's 3 hits from his 6th 200-hit season, 2 runs from 1,000 for his career.
- Adrian Beltre has a 19-game hitting streak that dates to just after the Break; it was interrupted by a 37-game DL stint. He's hitting .397/1.130 in the streak, with 5 HRs, all in his last 5 games. Despite the missed time, Beltre has been worth 4.6 Wins Above Replacement this year, and 10.7 WAR over the past 2 years -- 5th in the AL.
-- As Jim Caple noted in this delightful column last month, we should ban the phrase "a triple short of the cycle," since that's the hit lacked by most would-be cyclists. Nevertheless, tonight in Denver, Pablo Sandoval (1 triple this year) found himself with that very shortage in the 6th inning ... and he got it. They say that triples are made between home and 1st, but the Panda thought he'd gotten all of it, and he lost a few steps in admiration before reality set in.
- It was the 2nd cycle this season, by hitters with a combined total of 3 triples. Two of last year's cycles featured the hitter's only triple of the year.
- The Giants went 1-15 with RISP, but won the game, 8-5.
-- In his 363rd career start -- 4th in White Sox history -- Mark Buehrle allowed a career-high 15 hits in 6.1 IP against the Royals.
- The Royals edged closer to becoming the first team ever to get 20 HRs and 40 doubles from 4 players. Alex Gordon is already there (22, 45); Melky Cabrera (18, 41), Jeff Francoeur (18, 45) and Billy Butler (19, 38) are close.
-- Jay Bruce, an 8th-inning defensive replacement, ended the game with his 31st HR in the 11th. Bruce has 99 HRs in his first 4 seasons, raising his total each year; he ranks 38th in MLB history through age 24.
- Carlos Pena hit his 28th, reaching that mark for the 5th straight year. His 172 HRs since 2007 are tied with Mark Teixeira for 4th in that span; his .237 BA is tied with Mark Reynolds for the worst in that span among hitters with 2,500 PAs.
-- It was "Getaway Day" for the Mets -- or, as their fans put it after a 10-1 debacle, "Good Riddance!" The Nationals came to town with a 26-44 road record, then swept 4 from a Mets team that looked worse than it has all year and now sits in 4th place with a 31-44 home record. It was the first road sweep of any duration for the Nats this year, and the first time they won 4 straight on any road trip.
Too many faults to list them all, so let's just hit the major lows:
- 0-11 with RISP today, 1-22 in the last 2 games, 5-37 in the series; 17-85 in a homestand that ended 1-8.
- 7 runs allowed in the last 2 innings by Pedro Beato and Manny Acosta.
- David Wright continued his September routine with his daily error; he has 18 miscues (and only 7 DPs) in 90 games at 3B this year, and owns the worst fielding pct. of any NL 3B with at least 25 games. Not to ignore the saberists, he's also in the bottom 3 of the major advanced metrics, too. And to round things out, he has his worst full-season offensive and overall WAR numbers.
-- It'll take a lot of 9th-inning mojo to overcome a 5-run deficit and extend Detroit's winning streak....
____________________
BONUS NOTES:
-- Before last night, Ross Ohlendorf had 110 career PAs without a HR, extra-base hit or even an RBI. Then he hit a 3-run HR off Dana Eveland, who had only allowed 1 run in 15 IP this year. Ohlendorf had been the active "Null Leader" (most PAs without) in RBI; the new leader is Gavin Floyd, 59 PAs. Other active Null Leaders:
- Extra-Base Hits: 313 PAs by Ubaldo Jimenez. (Clayton Kershaw is moving up fast, #3 with a bullet at 250 PAs.)
- Home Runs: 1,014 PAs by Reggie Willits.
September 16th, 2011 at 1:55 am
[Longoria]'s leading MLB third-sackers in DPs for the 3rd straight year.
I'm sure he's a good defender (I've not seen him enough to have any personal opinion) but I wonder how much of this is due to TB's great team defense. I think there's a good post to be written about TB's great defense. The Rays have made a name for themselves in the past few seasons with more extreme shifts than other defenses. Their DER this season is .724, easily the best in the majors, and the highest since Seattle 2001. How much of that is due to raw defensive ability, how much to superior positioning, and how much to pitching, I can't say.
***
Josh Hamilton homered in all 3 games.
Too late for him to make a repeat-MVP case? Yeah, I suppose so. Too many viable candidates ahead of him. Will he get any votes? I'll guess yes.
***
David Wright continued his September routine with his daily error;
Not Wright-related, but I saw him charged with two errors in the game I attended last Saturday, and it reminded me Jose Reyes was also charged with two errors. The second was legit, and costly. The first was a bad call. I just checked the B-R boxscore, and it's still counting as an error. (If scorers change their calls, anyone have a clue how long it takes to filter through the B-R records? I assume it does....) The batter hit a line drive. Reyes jumped and it ticked off the top of his glove. Error charged. My friend I kept looking all game to see if the call would be reversed.
As a reminder, a player shall be charged with an error when "the fielder could have handled the ball with ordinary effort." Anecdotally, I don't remember errors being charged when a player had to jump for a line drive. The boxscore describes it as "Line Drive to Deep SS."
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN201109100.shtml
I found the video; as JA knows it's difficult to figure out how to direct-link to some MLB.com videos. Anyway, the replays aren't satisfactory, but you can see Reyes jumped, the ball was hit like a bullet, and the announcers assumed it was a "hit."
http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=19042431&query=%26game_pk%3D289067
September 16th, 2011 at 2:01 am
Mojo ran out. Tigers' steak is over at 12 games, the second-longest in team history (since 1919), behind only a 14-game streak in 1934.
In addition to running 1-2 with Bautista in WAR, as Jeff H pointed out on yesterday's recap, Miguel Cabrera has also almost joined Bautista in the 100/100/100/1.000 club (Runs,Walks,RBI,OPS). Miguel picked up two walks tonight bringing his season total to 100, and edging his OPS up to 1.001. Cabrera now needs just 3 more RBI to get to 100/100/100. Of course, to stay in the club, he'll also have to keep his OPS at or above that 1.000 line the rest of the way.
September 16th, 2011 at 2:53 am
@2
Cabrera will be the only player this year in the 100/100/100/1.000/.10 club.
September 16th, 2011 at 2:59 am
@3, I laughed!
September 16th, 2011 at 7:24 am
I don't think Michael Young gets near the pub he should. Texas has jerked him from position to position for years, last off season publically trying to trade him and all he does his bang 200 hits, hit .300+ and win the occasional batting crown, and knock in 90-100 runs with pretty good defense.
September 16th, 2011 at 7:32 am
And to add to Young...with recent talk about Johnny Damon being a potential HoFer, what about Young? If he puts up a couple more 200 hit seasons he'd have 8 total (which is 3rd or 4th all time I believe), 2500+ hits, 1200 runs, 1100 RBI, career average over .300...?
September 16th, 2011 at 7:37 am
@4: Guilty. I did too.
September 16th, 2011 at 8:04 am
JA
Just noticed this and thought you might find it interesting.
Although the Phils are known for their pitching this year, they can hardly be called slouches with the bat, yet they can end up winning 102-105 games without a regular who hit .300 (Victorino .291) no hitter with 150 hits (Victorino (135) only one player (Howard 33/113) over 20 HR/100RBI (most 100 win teams had at least 2) no players with 100 R (Victorino (89) no player with 100 BB (Howard 72) no player with 30 steals (Rollins 28) no 30 2B (Ibanez 29).
I checked 100 win seasons, and found at very few with one of the above mentioned, nevermind all of them (so far, as far as I checked, no team won 100 without a player without a 150 player. Granted, a few of those milestones might be past come Oct, but the Phils might rest their regulars and Rollins might be reticent to steal when his team owns a 15 game lead.
September 16th, 2011 at 8:26 am
And I thought I'd just stick this into Timmy P's cereal this morning. Juan Pierre stole base # 27 for the year last night, but has been caught 16 times.
Chase Utley has just 103 SB for his career, but just 13 CSs. Juan P has been CS at least 12 times every year of his career. Utley is a hair under 90%. That's pretty darn good. But 8 of his CS were in his first 4 years, when he was just seeing pitchers. If you look at Chase's last 5 years, he's been caught just 5 times in 76 chances or 94%. Juan is a 65% rate this year and 75% for his career. But one must ask one's self (and I'm sure WPA can tell us) but how many bases are = to an out? 65% ouch!
If it makes you feel better, Brett Butler (who I can't figure why is not on JP's similarity score) has nearly identical hits and average and SB, but was caught about 80 more times.
September 16th, 2011 at 8:33 am
Pablo Sandoval can't get enough love as far as I'm concerned. One of those players I just love to watch. His reaction here is priceless:
September 16th, 2011 at 8:34 am
Forgot to post the link...
September 16th, 2011 at 8:34 am
OK I suck at HTML: http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=19212537
September 16th, 2011 at 8:47 am
@Duke, I believe the break-even rate for stolen bases is about 75% - 80%.
September 16th, 2011 at 8:47 am
@9 Remember that way back in April Juan went on a streak of getting thrown out like 8 times in a row. He had 6 SB and 9 CS and 5 errors in left field in early May, so he's turned it around. I think Juan will be headed back to the NL next year where he might be a good fit for the Marlins, Brewers, or Nats.
September 16th, 2011 at 9:01 am
I don't think the Rays are out of time at all, as a matter of fact I think they like the position they're in. If they take 2 of the next 3 games against the chowders they'll be only 2 games out.
September 16th, 2011 at 9:03 am
I've got a big date tonight!
September 16th, 2011 at 9:28 am
I heard on SC that it's the first time a Washington team has swept a 4-game series in NY since 1924. The Mets are lost at sea.
PS - It's chowdas!
September 16th, 2011 at 9:52 am
@16 She's about 350 lbs.
September 16th, 2011 at 10:00 am
@17 Larry R.
I used to have season tickets to the Mets. But when they built Citi field, after 12 years of consistent patronage, they didn't offer me my same section for season tickets, didn't even call me. Pissed me off.
Then I had a son 23 months ago, so the tickets stopped bothering me so much, so now when I go to the game, I buy a semi-luxury box type seat, called the GOLD BOX; it has a private (clean) restroom, an inside bar restaurant, so I can keep my son from the weather/sun and change him/feed him, and a play area. Its expensive, but worth it if you have a kid.
But since the Mets stink so bad and are barely drawing 20,000 a game, I got a call from a senior sales rep yesterday. He assured me he was very high up the ladder in the front office and they are now taking on a 'hands on approach' with their fans. Reaching out, if you will. The guy was so greasy, practically begging me, at a bargain price, to take my 'old' season tickets back. When I said an emphatic NO!, he started trying to sell me more GOLD BOX seats, this time in packages of 4-10 games. He was nearly giving them away. It was sad.
He then asked me what gets me to the games, how can they improve and why have I begun to loose interest in the club?!!?
I asked if he was kidding. And told him Reyes was the only reason I watch the team and I know he will be gone next year and wished him luck selling in a post Reyes world. So he tells me that Duda, Murphy, Davis, Turner, Tejada and Pagan are the future and will make me forget Reyes and they will be in the playoffs in 2-3 years.
Deluded. I know he was selliong, but deluded nontheless.
We are doomed for years to come.
When Mike Pelfry goes # 1 all season, you've got problems.
September 16th, 2011 at 10:09 am
As a Red Sox fan, I'm not sure I've ever been this disappointed in a baseball team. I stopped being doom-n-gloomy in 2004, but at this point, I wouldn't be a bit surprised if we see a four-game sweep this weekend.
Lots of us up here are already talkin' Patriots.
September 16th, 2011 at 10:10 am
This is fantastic stuff, Autin, Among your best yet.
September 16th, 2011 at 10:15 am
@1, JT, on that Reyes error -- I agree that it was an unusual scoring decision. On the other hand, I'm not sure he really had to jump for the ball; or maybe he mistimed the jump -- something looks odd about the play. Unfortunately, the clip never shows the start of his jump. Anyway, that is rarely called an error, and the ball was certainly smoked.
By the way, I figured out (I think) how to get a direct link to a specific MLB video clip. The URL has to look like this one (the Reyes "error"):
http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=19036017
The only way I can get that URL form to be in the address bar (for easy copying) is this:
-- In the thumbnail (still shot) of the video, right-click on the image and choose "Open Link in New Tab" (or "New Window"). Then switch to that tab/window (the focus doesn't switch automatically, for me) and copy the URL.
I hope that works for others.
September 16th, 2011 at 10:23 am
@3, Thomas (Traffic) Court -- That was a sly and brilliant one!
Have you calculated his Wine Probability Added?
September 16th, 2011 at 10:26 am
@13, RJ -- Thanks for the Panda clip. I was a bit surprised to see him back on his feet so quickly after making the throw. 🙂
September 16th, 2011 at 10:32 am
@19, Duke -- I hear (and share) your frustration with Mets management.
For a slightly different perspective on the season ticket sales effort, though -- A friend of mine who has had medium-price season tickets for years says that the club has been extremely accommodating in various ways over the last half of 2010 through this season, throwing him a number of perks and upgrades.
I think the sales experience varies a lot depending on who your rep happens to be. But it doesn't surprise me that Duke's had a bad one.
September 16th, 2011 at 10:36 am
@17, Larry R -- On the other hand, it's only been 8 years (to the week) since a future Washington club swept 4 in the Mets' house:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/tgl.cgi?t=p&team=MON&year=2003#0,84,154,155,156,157,sum
September 16th, 2011 at 10:38 am
@15, Timothy P -- 2 games out with 10 to play, given their respective schedules (as noted in the post), wouldn't look good to me. Tampa's last 10 are 7 with the Yankees and 3 with Toronto. Boston has 7 with Baltimore and 3 with the Yanks.
The Boston-Baltimore games might all be around 15 to 12, but I see the Sox taking 5 of them.
September 16th, 2011 at 10:51 am
Duke:
I started with the 100 win dead ball era teams and found the 1907 Cubs (107-45) with Harry Steinfeldt leading the team in hits at 144, no one coming close to most of your other thresholds, except stolen bases, where they had 3 guys get over 30. The 1909 Cubs finished 2nd with 104 wins and had Solly Hoffman hit 150 hits on the nose and reached none of your other thresholds (their top 3 pitchers had ERAs of 1.31, 1.42 and 1.78 respectively)
September 16th, 2011 at 11:01 am
On the topic of triples and cycles : could you produce a list of players who lacked a double for the feat, only to leg out a triple in their last AB? Would be interesting to see who chose hustle and productivity over a seemingly cheap place in history.
September 16th, 2011 at 11:40 am
@13/ Buddy: "@Duke, I believe the break-even rate for stolen bases is about 75% - 80%."
Buddy, the "break-even" rate for SB% varies quite a bit, according to the run-scoring environment; in lower-scoring years, it's lower, in higher-scoring years, it's higher.
Another way of stating this is that as runs/game go down, each individual run becames more valuable, and the break-even point for SB% goes down. As runs/game go up, each run becames less valuable, and the break-even point for SB% goes up.
I've seen a lot of different numbers thrown around, but I'd say the consensus is that the break-even SB% is less than 65% in low-run eras, about 70% in average run-scoring eras, and in the low seventies in high scoring eras. Extreme conditions may change this. In the lowest dead-ball era, it may have been just over 50%.
One result not accounted for is that a SB attempt frequently results in an overthrow or missed throw to second, that allows the base stealer to advance to third.
September 16th, 2011 at 11:46 am
I believe the break-even rate for stolen bases is about 75% - 80%.
No. It depends on the circumstances but it's usually more like 65-70%.
On the other hand, I'm not sure he really had to jump for the ball; or maybe he mistimed the jump -- something looks odd about the play.
That's true. At the game it just looked like he went straight up and couldn't reach it. It does appear a little odd on the replay, but it isn't clear enough to be sure. It still doesn't seem to me it should have been caught with "ordinary effort."
September 16th, 2011 at 11:58 am
@29, Keith M.
Re: legging it out or getting a cycle.
Not exactly the scenario you described, but the same idea.
Sam Fuld of the Rays needed only a single for his cycle and instead legged out a 9th inning double, just getting in under the tag. Rays were leading 14-4 at the time.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS201104110.shtml
September 16th, 2011 at 12:16 pm
@29, Keith M -- I'll meet you halfway. Here's a list of the 11 batter-games with 2 triples, a HR and a single. You can check the play-by-play (for those game links that have PBP) to see if anyone did it the way you specified.
P.S. I forgot to restrict the search to "doubles = 0"; you can ignore the Hoot Evers game, since he got the cycle plus an extra triple. (Hell of a game, though.)
September 16th, 2011 at 12:19 pm
Er ... HERE's the list:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/play-index/share.cgi?id=3yTBc
September 16th, 2011 at 12:24 pm
Behind 6 blank verses from Alexi Ogando, Texas finished off a sweep of Cleveland and upped their lead to 3.5 over the idle Angels.
(Through an interpreter)
I’m glad I made it through the second — whiffed
the eighth and ninth guys after walking two.
My heat was veering left. I fixed it, though.
Both Skip and Maddux cooled me down. We talked
and got me focused. After that — four, smooth.
This win was big for us to stay ahead.
September 16th, 2011 at 12:44 pm
@24 John Autin. Haha, actually he doesn't bother getting up onto his feet most times, here's another clip from the same game: http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=19209949
Who needs feet when you can make a throw like that from your knees?
September 16th, 2011 at 12:45 pm
@35, Kahuna -- If you're gonna keep knockin'em outta the park like that, I'm gonna keep takin' the base on balls in front of you!
September 16th, 2011 at 12:47 pm
@27 I didn't say we like the position they are in, I said I think they like the position they're in, meaning that Joe Madden is a mutant and his club has been mutated! He came out and said his team is in the playoffs now! Madden really feeds off this stuff, and he's got his guys believing. This really is exciting and I've been hot on the Rays for a long time now. The way Madden thinks, why not play the Yankees down the stretch, and that Boston Baltimore series will be fun with Buck having a shot to knock out the Red Sox. Buck's crew played well against the Rays a few days ago. My dates name is Margy
September 16th, 2011 at 12:50 pm
@36, RJ -- Another great Panda play! But I was afraid we'd have a "giraffe does the splits, gets stuck" situation after that one....
I kid, because I'm so glad to see his career back on track. And it looks like he's making a lot of those good defensive plays this year, too.
September 16th, 2011 at 12:54 pm
@17 Larry, actually it's my understanding that you would refer to an individual from Massachusetts as a chowd. No offense meant.
September 16th, 2011 at 1:09 pm
Kahuna, be prepared -- I'm stacking tonight's lineup with stanzas, quatrains, couplets, limericks, and even a sestina or two.
(I'm saving Kahuna's Haiku Korner for the offseason.)
September 16th, 2011 at 1:41 pm
John, I used to frequent Baseball Primer when The Baseball Bard was posting there. His poems brought posts of "Bravo!" and general genuflection. I'm just hoping to inspire a chuckle or two.
Your "assignment" was easy, and I had time, opportunity, and motive to tackle it. The name "Alexi Ogando" contains two mellifluous amphibrachs, and IMO it practically cries out to be put into poetry. I wish my Spanish were good enough to allow me to compose blank verse.
be prepared -- I'm stacking tonight's lineup with stanzas, quatrains, couplets, limericks, and even a sestina or two.
[*rubs hands, then breaks into a sweat*] You gonna send me an advance reading copy, or do you expect me to post rhyming verse that's up to the standard of your prose? That's a tall order, my friend! (-;þ
September 16th, 2011 at 1:56 pm
@15, @17, @40 - Timothy P., Larry R. -
Native New Englanders do not refer to the Red Sox or themselves as "chowders" or "chowdas" or "chowds"; also, they never call Boston "Beantown". That seems to be done by out-of-town writers and sports media members to indicate their alleged familiarity of local Boston-area language.
...and the natives never say "pahk the cah in Havad Yahd" because, well, there IS NO PARKING FOR CARS in Harvard Yard.
September 16th, 2011 at 2:46 pm
Well, you can park your car in Harvard Yard, but it'll get towed.
September 16th, 2011 at 3:07 pm
@34.
Re: eschewing cycle to get a second triple.
1950-09-07, Hoot Evers, Tigers.
- Nope. Got his cycle with a HR, single finish in his last two ABs. Single was not tainted, as runner ahead (Vic Wertz) stopped at second. Part of 2-run rally in 10th to preserve 13-13 tie, as game suspended after that inning (rain? darkness?)
1958-05-13, Willie Mays, Giants.
- Yes. Second triple with bases empty in final AB in 8th. Needed only a double for cycle. Giants were leading 15-8 at the time. Was on deck when Giants made last out in 9th.
1962-09-23, Eddie Mathews, Braves.
- Yes. Second triple with bases empty in final AB in 8th. Needed only a double for cycle, and Braves were leading 10-2 at the time.
2003-05-06, Dmitri Young, Tigers.
- Yes. Second triple with man on first in final AB in 9th. Needed only a double for cycle, but drove in winning run with triple.
2000-04-18, Conor Jackson, D-Backs.
- Yes. Second triple with man on 2nd in 6th inning. Needed only double for cycle, and D-Backs were leading 7-0 at the time. Jackson had another chance in 9th with D-Backs ahead 9-0, but had a GIDP.
That's it for the PBP games.
September 16th, 2011 at 3:13 pm
That last game @45 should be 2008-04-18.
September 16th, 2011 at 5:06 pm
Jason Bay is now at an OPS for the season of .710 and an OPS+ of 98. Those are poor numbers for a left fielder. But what I find astounding is that Jason with those numbers would have been a better-than-average left fielder in the American League this season. AL left fielders as a group this season have produced a ridiculously low OPS of .701, which gives them a collective OPS+ of 93. AL left fielders this season have hit worse than AL middle infielders, for gosh sakes (AL second basemen collectively are at a .712 OPS, shortstops at .702). Maybe the Mets can find a taker for Jason's contract over in the AL this season -- he could actually be a step up for a lot of teams.
September 16th, 2011 at 5:36 pm
So the mets have already given up on Jason Bay and David Wright ever being stars again?
September 16th, 2011 at 5:51 pm
"The only way I can get that URL form to be in the address bar (for easy copying) is this:"
It doesn't have to be in the address bar. If it's in the playlist, just right click the link and choose "copy link location". It might be different depending on what browser you're using.
September 16th, 2011 at 6:04 pm
The Royals edged closer to becoming the first team ever to get 20 HRs and 40 doubles from 4 players. Alex Gordon is already there (22, 45); Melky Cabrera (18, 41), Jeff Francoeur (18, 45) and Billy Butler (19, 38) are close.
The 2011 Royals are already the first team ever to have 3 outfielders with 40 or more doubles (Gordon, Francoeur, Cabrera).
NOTE: They've each played at least 95% of their games this season in the outfield. I have to drop the percentage all the way down to 1% to find another outfield trio (1936 St. Louis Browns).
Since the 1938 Red Sox, the only teams with 3 outfielders to collect 35 or more doubles are the
1996 Cleveland Indians (Albert Belle, Kenny Lofton, and Manny Ramirez) and 2003 Houston Astros (Lance Berkman, Craig Biggio, and Richard Hidalgo).
(using 80% as the requisite amount of outfield games)
If I reduce the requirement down from 80% to 50%, then two more teams make the list.
1998 Anaheim Angels (Garret Anderson, Darin Erstad, and Jim Edmonds)
2000 Anaheim Angels (Garret Anderson, Darin Erstad, and Tim Salmon)
If I reduce the requirement down to 33%....
2004 Boston Red Sox (Johnny Damon, Kevin Millar, and Manny Ramirez) come in at 37%
September 16th, 2011 at 6:24 pm
Here's a funky observation I made.
Tim Wakefield hit a home run in 1993. He hasn't hit one in 18 years since.
What is the most years a player remained in the league after hitting a home run, without hitting another one. I feel like he may have this record.
September 16th, 2011 at 6:30 pm
Did anyone see Shelley Duncan's 3 leaping catches against the wall on 3 consecutive plays in the same exact spot? Here is the article. The embedded video is priceless.
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/Indians-8217-Duncan-makes-three-straight-ident;_ylt=Am7gW_7aEnWf28a9X3EZb4yFCLcF?urn=mlb-wp19567
September 16th, 2011 at 6:46 pm
Jimbo, pretty sure Wilhelm homered in his first AB and never again.
September 16th, 2011 at 6:47 pm
The Original Jimbo - "...Tim Wakefield hit a home run in 1993. He hasn't hit one in 18 years since.
What is the most years a player remained in the league after hitting a home run, without hitting another one. I feel like he may have this record."
Hoyt Wilhelm? I think he hit a HR in his first game in 1952, then did not hit a HR the rest of his career, which ended in 1972.
Duane Kuiper deserves an honorable mention.
September 16th, 2011 at 6:56 pm
Most seasons to not hit a HR was Jesse Orosco's 26. He never hit one in a grand total of 76 PA.
Most seasons without a HR for someone who did hit one at some point is Nolan Ryan's 25. He hit one in each of two other seasons.
Wilhelm ended his career with 20 straight homerless seasons. Haven't checked all possibilities to see if that's the record.
September 16th, 2011 at 7:10 pm
The Royals edged closer to becoming the first team ever to get 20 HRs and 40 doubles from 4 players.
There's your quatrain, John. (-;þ
September 16th, 2011 at 8:15 pm
JA & others,
Your "Null Leader" board has a glaring omission. Mariano Rivera has played in 1037 games = 0 hits, 0 2B, 3B & HR.
He may be the first Hall of Famer (player) without a hit!
September 16th, 2011 at 8:18 pm
@52, Brett -- Thanks for the video link.
Anyone remember Shelley's younger brother, Chris, getting defensively exposed in the playoffs back in 2006? Shelley wasn't quite graceful in those 3 catches, but I'm not sure Chris would have gotten any of them....
September 16th, 2011 at 8:29 pm
The picture of (Shelley) Duncan jumping against the wall on Hamilton's grand slam is comical! It's like he thinks the ball is gonna magically land in his glove for a 4th time.
September 16th, 2011 at 10:30 pm
@57, Duke -- I don't want to spoil the fun, but the Null Leaders (as I invented them) are based on PAs, not games.
And at least Mo has a ribbie! Surely we all remember that moment, courtesy of a currently disgruntled Milwaukee setup man:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN200906280.shtml
September 16th, 2011 at 10:35 pm
@51 - homerless seasons: as noted, Wilhelm finished with 20 straight homerless seasons but he barely batted his final 7 seasons and really didn't bat a whole lot in any season in his career with only 4 seasons over 30 PA
Charlie Hough finished with 17 straight homerless seasons but literally did not bat even once for 12 of those seasons.
Jerry Reuss only managed 1 HR in 22 seasons but it came smack in the middle of his career. Same with Joe Niekro. Tommy John finished with only 1 in his last 21 seasons but it too was in the middle of that stretch.
September 17th, 2011 at 10:58 pm
Some other pitchers with only 1 HR in a long career
- Bobo Newsom, 1929-53, homered in 1937
- Curt Simmons, 1947-67, homered in 1952
- Danny McFayden, 1926-43, homered in 1927
- Stan Coveleski, 1912-28, homered in 1916
- Rube Marquard, 1908-25, homered in 1911
And, just for fun:
- Fred Carisch, 1903-23, homered in 1903 (not a pitcher, and played only 8 seasons in those 21 years)
September 17th, 2011 at 11:06 pm
Flip side of pitchers with only 1 career homer, are pitchers homering every year.
- Warren Spahn, 17 straight seasons, 1948-64
- Red Ruffing, 16 straight seasons, 1928-45
- Walter Johnson, 16 of 19 seasons, 1909-27
September 18th, 2011 at 12:27 am
Eric Hosmer had 43 doubles and 20 home runs last season in 137 minor league games (A+ and AA). This year he has 31 doubles and 20 home runs. (Totals include 5 and 3 at AAA.)
Mike Moustakas had 41 doubles and 36 homeruns last seasons in 118 minor league games (AA and AAA). -Even more impressive than Hosmer-. This season, however, he has only 29 and 14. (Totals include 15 and 10 at AAA.)
Among Francoeur, Butler, Gordon, Cabrera, Hosmer, and Moustakas, only Cabrera isn't under contract or arbitration bound through 2013. He's a free agent at the end of this season. Just saying, the Royals will likely make a run at 4 players with 40 doubles and 20 homeruns for at least the next 2 seasons, and probably for more years after that.