Keeping Score – Numbers Indicate Rodriguez Didn’t’ Tip Pitches With Rangers – NYTimes.com
Posted by Sean Forman on May 18, 2009
Keeping Score - Numbers Indicate Rodriguez Didn’t’ Tip Pitches With Rangers - NYTimes.com
We did a little work for Dan Rosenheck who wanted to look into the pitch tipping allegations around A-Rod. I looked at it as per his requests and sent him what I found. I've seen many comments that said something to the effect that this doesn't prove anything as the nefarious behavior may have taken place with only one or two other players and therefore it wouldn't show up in the overall numbers.
So that said, here are the 30 at bats I've found where the score differential was six or higher, 6th inning or later, and A-Rod had either an extra-base hit or a line drive. I'm offering these without comment.
| pitcher | second_base | shortstop | date_game | inn | sc | RoB | play | play_desc | +--------------------+------------------+-------------------+------------+------+------+------+---------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Esteban Loaiza | Homer Bush | Alex Gonzalez | 2001-08-17 | 8 | -9 | 000 | HR/78 | Home Run (LF-CF) | | Armando Almanza | Luis Castillo | Alex Gonzalez | 2003-06-15 | 8 | -7 | 000 | S8/L | Single to CF (Line Drive) | | Chris Bootcheck | Trent Durrington | Alfredo Amezaga | 2003-09-20 | 6 | 7 | 000 | HR/89/L | Home Run (Line Drive to CF-RF) | | Ramon Ortiz | Adam Kennedy | Benji Gil | 2001-06-25 | 7 | -7 | 000 | HR/8 | Home Run | | Aaron Taylor | Bret Boone | Carlos Guillen | 2003-07-28 | 7 | 6 | 110 | S9/L.2-3;1-2 | Single to RF (Line Drive); Young to 3B; Blalock to 2B | | Travis Miller | Luis Rivas | Cristian Guzman | 2001-08-28 | 8 | 9 | 000 | 7/L7 | Lineout: LF | | Matt Wise | Adam Kennedy | David Eckstein | 2002-06-25 | 6 | 6 | 110 | S7.2-H;1-2 | Single to LF (Line Drive); Young Scores; Rodriguez to 2B | | Ben Weber | Adam Kennedy | David Eckstein | 2003-07-24 | 8 | -6 | 010 | S9/L.2-3 | Single to RF (Line Drive); Blalock to 3B | | Alan Levine | Benji Gil | David Eckstein | 2001-04-12 | 7 | -10 | 000 | D7 | Double to LF (Line Drive to LF Line) | | Travis Driskill | Brian Roberts | Deivi Cruz | 2003-05-25 | 7 | -6 | 000 | HR/8/F | Home Run (Fly Ball) | | Omar Daal | Brian Roberts | Deivi Cruz | 2003-05-30 | 8 | -7 | 100 | D7/G.1XH(762) | Double to LF (Ground Ball thru LF Line); Blalock out at Hm/LF-SS-C | | Kerry Ligtenberg | Brian Roberts | Deivi Cruz | 2003-07-22 | 9 | -6 | 000 | S8/L | Single to CF (Line Drive) | | Randy Choate | Alfonso Soriano | Derek Jeter | 2001-08-02 | 7 | 6 | 000 | S8 | Single to CF (Line Drive) | | Orlando Hernandez | Alfonso Soriano | Derek Jeter | 2002-07-29 | 6 | -7 | 000 | S7 | Single to LF (Line Drive) | | Sterling Hitchcock | Alfonso Soriano | Derek Jeter | 2002-07-31 | 7 | 8 | 110 | 9/L9.2-3 | Lineout: RF; Catalanotto to 3B | | Mark Wohlers | Alfonso Soriano | Enrique Wilson | 2001-08-02 | 8 | 8 | 100 | S9.1-2 | Single to RF (Line Drive); Velarde to 2B | | Armando Benitez | Joe McEwing | Jose Reyes | 2003-06-11 | 9 | -6 | 000 | 4/L | Lineout: 2B | | Gary Glover | Ray Durham | Jose Valentin | 2001-05-12 | 9 | 8 | 110 | HR/7.2-H;1-H | Home Run; Greer Scores; Velarde Scores | | Jorge Sosa | Antonio Perez | Julio Lugo | 2003-07-20 | 6 | -12 | 000 | S7/L.B-2(E7) | Single to LF (Line Drive); Rodriguez to 2B/Adv on E7 | | Joe Slusarski | Jose Vizcaino | Julio Lugo | 2001-06-09 | 6 | 8 | 000 | S8 | Single to CF (Line Drive) | | Mike Venafro | Frank Menechino | Miguel Tejada | 2002-04-11 | 8 | 6 | 000 | D7/7D | Double to LF (Line Drive to Deep LF) | | Mike Magnante | Mark Ellis | Miguel Tejada | 2002-07-26 | 8 | 8 | 000 | D7 | Double to LF (Line Drive to LF Line) | | Rodrigo Lopez | Jerry Hairston | Mike Bordick | 2002-07-07 | 6 | -8 | 100 | HR/7.1-H | Home Run; Catalanotto Scores | | Jeff Tam | Orlando Hudson | Mike Bordick | 2003-04-30 | 6 | 6 | 000 | S8/L | Single to CF (Line Drive) | | Jay Powell | Todd Walker | Neifi Perez | 2001-07-13 | 7 | 6 | 000 | S8 | Single to CF (Line Drive) | | Rolando Arrojo | Mike Lansing | Nomar Garciaparra | 2001-08-05 | 6 | -6 | 000 | HR/7 | Home Run | | Jason Phillips | John McDonald | Omar Vizquel | 2002-08-11 | 6 | 8 | 000 | HR/78 | Home Run (LF-CF) | | Jason Beverlin | John McDonald | Omar Vizquel | 2002-08-11 | 8 | 6 | 100 | S7.1-2 | Single to LF (Line Drive); Catalanotto to 2B | | C.C. Sabathia | Ricky Gutierrez | Omar Vizquel | 2002-05-05 | 7 | -7 | 110 | S7.2-H;1-2 | Single to LF (Line Drive); Murray Scores; Greer to 2B | | Livan Hernandez | Jose Vidro | Orlando Cabrera | 2003-06-06 | 7 | -8 | 000 | S9/L | Single to RF (Line Drive to CF-RF) |
I then took these 30 AB's and looked at the cases where the opposing keystone combo had an extra-base hit or line drive in the same setting. Note that A-Rod was pulled for a lot of late innings in blowouts, so there are fewer PA's to check here. Here is what we get.
| batter | pitcher | date_game | inn | sc | RoB | play | play_desc | +-----------------+-------------------+------------+------+------+------+-------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Mike Bordick | Jay Powell | 2002-07-07 | 7 | 6 | 010 | S/89.2-H | Single (Line Drive to CF-RF); Gil Scores | | Homer Bush | Kevin Foster | 2001-08-17 | 7 | 8 | 000 | S7 | Single to LF (Line Drive) | | Orlando Cabrera | Rosman Garcia | 2003-06-06 | 7 | 8 | 000 | S7/L | Single to LF (Line Drive) | | Luis Castillo | R.A. Dickey | 2003-06-15 | 6 | 6 | 000 | S8/L | Single to CF (Line Drive) | | Jerry Hairston | Anthony Telford | 2002-07-07 | 6 | 6 | 100 | T/78.1-H | Triple (Line Drive to LF-CF); Mora Scores | | Adam Kennedy | Todd Van Poppel | 2002-06-25 | 8 | -7 | 001 | S8.3-H | Single to CF (Line Drive); Salmon Scores | | John McDonald | Danny Kolb | 2002-08-11 | 8 | -7 | 000 | S8 | Single to CF (Line Drive) | | Frank Menechino | Doug Davis | 2002-04-11 | 9 | -7 | 100 | 5/L5 | Lineout: 3B | | Alfonso Soriano | Francisco Cordero | 2002-07-31 | 8 | -9 | 000 | D7 | Double to LF (Line Drive to LF Line) | | Jose Valentin | Jeff Zimmerman | 2001-05-12 | 7 | -7 | 000 | HR/9 | Home Run | | Omar Vizquel | John Rocker | 2002-05-05 | 8 | 6 | 100 | D7.1-3 | Double to LF (Line Drive to LF Line); Diaz to 3B | | Omar Vizquel | Jay Powell | 2002-08-11 | 6 | -7 | 111 | S9.3-H(UR);2-H(TUR);1-2 | Single to RF (Line Drive); Fryman Scores/unER; McDonald Scores/Team unER; Diaz to 2B | | Todd Walker | Rick Helling | 2001-07-13 | 7 | -7 | 000 | HR/89 | Home Run (CF-RF) | | Enrique Wilson | Pat Mahomes | 2001-08-02 | 8 | -9 | 100 | S9.1-2 | Single to RF (Line Drive); Williams to 2B |
Make of it what you will.