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Notes from last night’s Phillies/Nationals game

Posted by Andy on April 15, 2010

This was quite an interesting game. Here are a few tidbits.

First of all, when you hear that the final score was Philadelphia 14, Washington 7, don't you feel like it was an Eagles/Redskins matchup?

It's not a terribly rare score. Here are games with a final score of 14-7 dating back to 2005:

Date Tm Opp Rslt PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF ROE GDP SB CS WPA RE24 aLI LOB #
2010-04-14 PHI WSN W 14-7 43 36 14 14 3 1 3 14 5 0 4 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0.814 9.937 .894 5 16
2009-09-04 STL PIT W 14-7 49 42 14 17 4 0 4 13 6 0 5 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0.848 9.651 .611 8 18
2009-08-28 ARI HOU W 14-7 43 37 14 16 3 0 3 13 5 0 6 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0.724 9.659 .596 5 14
2009-07-09 FLA ARI W 14-7 49 44 14 17 3 2 3 13 5 0 4 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0.761 9.115 .922 8 18
2008-05-04 ATL CIN W 14-7 53 41 14 19 6 0 2 14 8 0 7 1 2 1 1 0 0 0 0.521 10.000 .405 15 18
2007-09-09 SEA DET W 14-7 51 45 14 19 4 2 1 14 4 1 4 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.796 8.947 .651 10 12
2006-08-19 CIN PIT W 14-7 39 36 14 16 5 0 2 13 3 2 8 0 0 0 0 1 2 1 0.672 9.507 .660 1 16
2006-08-19 LAD SFG W 14-7 45 38 14 17 3 2 0 12 3 1 5 0 1 3 1 3 0 0 0.465 9.139 .405 4 16
2006-08-11 TEX SEA W 14-7 46 37 14 14 2 0 3 12 8 0 2 0 0 1 2 1 0 0 0.438 9.535 .364 8 10
2006-07-21 TBD BAL W 14-7 43 38 14 15 3 0 4 14 5 0 7 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0.561 9.625 .404 5 10
2005-08-06 COL ARI W 14-7 51 43 14 16 4 0 3 12 6 0 6 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 0.651 9.299 .837 10 14
2005-06-16 SFG MIN W 14-7 51 43 14 18 4 1 0 14 6 0 6 1 0 1 2 2 1 1 0.790 9.159 1.574 10 9
2005-06-04 BAL DET W 14-7 49 43 14 16 3 0 3 11 4 0 5 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 0.645 9.340 1.034 8 11
2005-05-13 SEA BOS W 14-7 45 38 14 15 4 1 3 14 5 2 4 2 0 0 0 1 1 0 0.897 9.989 .668 7 10
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 4/15/2010.

That's 14 games out of about 11,500 since 2005 (0.12%).

A couple of strange things happened in this game. Shane Victorino missed a cycle by just a double, which rang a bell since Will Venable did the exact same thing a few days ago. (By the way, I know I'm getting old because every time I think to write abotu Venable, I start typing "Max" and have to go back and change it...)

Way back in July 2007 when this blog was only about a month old I wrote about frequency of players missing the cycle by each type of hit. As you can see from that result, missing the cycle by a double is a fairly rare event, much rarer than missing it by a homer and way, way rarer than missing it by a triple.

How rare is rare? Well on 41 occasions last year, a player missed the cycle by a double. So far this year, Victorino and Venable are only half of the players to do it:

Rk Player Date Tm Opp Rslt PA AB 1B R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF ROE GDP SB CS WPA RE24 aLI BOP Pos. Summary
1 Shane Victorino 2010-04-14 PHI WSN W 14-7 5 5 2 3 4 0 1 1 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.328 4.485 1.056 1 CF
2 Mark Teahen 2010-04-12 CHW TOR W 8-7 5 5 1 1 3 0 1 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0.761 2.981 1.968 9 3B
3 Will Venable 2010-04-12 SDP ATL W 17-2 5 5 1 4 3 0 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0.149 2.652 .520 6 RF
4 Pablo Sandoval 2010-04-11 SFG ATL W 6-3 4 4 1 3 3 0 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.146 2.018 .593 3 3B
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 4/15/2010.

Among the years available in the box score searches, here are the career leaders for such games:

Rk Player #Matching PA AB 1B H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS SH SF IBB HBP GDP
1 Lou Gehrig 17 Ind. Games 86 80 19 55 2 17 17 49 6 1 .688 .709 1.775 2.484 0 0 0
2 Babe Ruth 9 Ind. Games 44 41 11 29 0 9 9 26 3 2 .707 .727 1.805 2.532 0 0 0
3 Rogers Hornsby 8 Ind. Games 37 32 9 25 0 8 8 18 3 0 .781 .800 2.031 2.831 2 0 0
4 Goose Goslin 8 Ind. Games 42 38 9 26 1 8 8 23 3 0 .684 .707 1.763 2.470 1 0 0
5 Jimmie Foxx 8 Ind. Games 41 34 9 26 1 8 8 31 7 1 .765 .805 1.971 2.775 0 0 0
6 Frank Robinson 7 Ind. Games 37 32 8 23 1 7 7 15 4 5 .719 .757 1.844 2.601 0 0 1 1 0
7 Chick Hafey 7 Ind. Games 31 30 7 22 1 7 7 24 0 0 .733 .733 1.933 2.667 1 0 0
8 Roberto Clemente 7 Ind. Games 32 31 9 23 0 7 7 17 1 1 .742 .750 1.871 2.621 0 0 0 0 1
9 Ernie Banks 7 Ind. Games 36 34 10 24 0 7 7 16 2 1 .706 .722 1.735 2.458 0 0 0 0 0
10 Andy Van Slyke 6 Ind. Games 30 25 6 18 0 6 6 14 4 2 .720 .759 1.920 2.679 0 0 1 0 0
11 Bob Meusel 6 Ind. Games 30 30 7 22 3 6 6 26 0 4 .733 .733 1.833 2.567 0 0 0
12 Chuck Klein 6 Ind. Games 29 28 7 21 2 6 6 17 1 0 .750 .759 1.893 2.651 0 0 0
13 Chipper Jones 6 Ind. Games 34 26 7 20 0 6 7 17 8 0 .769 .824 2.038 2.862 0 0 1 0 1
14 Babe Herman 6 Ind. Games 33 31 6 21 3 6 6 23 2 0 .677 .697 1.742 2.439 0 0 0
15 Hank Greenberg 6 Ind. Games 29 28 6 18 0 6 6 11 1 3 .643 .655 1.714 2.369 0 0 0
16 Ron Gant 6 Ind. Games 30 29 7 19 0 6 6 18 1 3 .655 .667 1.690 2.356 0 0 0 0 0
17 Joe DiMaggio 6 Ind. Games 31 29 7 21 1 6 7 24 1 1 .724 .742 1.897 2.638 0 0 1
18 Jim Bottomley 6 Ind. Games 29 28 8 21 1 6 6 14 1 1 .750 .759 1.857 2.616 0 0 0
19 Earl Averill 6 Ind. Games 30 27 6 20 1 7 6 17 3 0 .741 .767 1.963 2.730 0 0 0
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 4/15/2010.

Lou Gehrig again benefits from having his entire career fall in the 1920-1939 window.

Among active players, Chipper Jones leads the way with 6 such games:

Player #Matching PA AB 1B H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO
Chipper Jones 6 Ind. Games 34 26 7 20 0 6 7 17 8 0
Grady Sizemore 5 Ind. Games 26 22 6 16 0 5 5 14 3 3
Carlos Guillen 5 Ind. Games 23 22 5 16 1 5 5 13 1 1
J.D. Drew 5 Ind. Games 23 20 5 15 0 5 5 12 3 0
Adrian Beltre 5 Ind. Games 26 25 6 17 1 5 5 13 1 1
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 4/15/2010.

Switching gears for our last tidbit, we saw some interesting things with the relief pitchers in this game. Both starters got knocked out before the 3rd inning and and a result there was a lot of relief work. Nelson Figueroa actually got 2 at-bats as a relief pitcher, and even got 2 hits.

Figueroa is the second reliever to get at least 2 plate appearances in a game this year, with Jo-Jo Reyes being the other in this game. It happened 34 times last year, including once to Figueroa when he was pitching for the Mets.

Finally, including last night, here are the last 20 times a relief pitcher has gotten 2 hits in a game:

Rk Player Date Tm Opp Rslt PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF ROE GDP SB CS WPA RE24 aLI BOP Pos. Summary
1 Nelson Figueroa 2010-04-14 PHI WSN W 14-7 2 2 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.086 0.804 .845 9 P
2 Jamie Moyer 2009-08-18 PHI ARI W 5-1 3 3 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.037 1.033 .305 9 P
3 Edgar Gonzalez 2009-06-19 OAK SDP W 7-5 2 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.063 0.480 .820 9 P
4 Randy Keisler 2005-06-07 CIN TBD W 9-7 3 3 2 2 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.119 1.386 .650 9 P
5 Jason Young 2003-07-03 COL ARI L 4-8 2 2 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.016 0.921 .140 9 P
6 Jason Middlebrook 2002-05-29 SDP COL W 11-3 3 2 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.001 0.434 .237 9 P
7 Scott Sanders 1999-07-20 CHC KCR W 8-7 3 3 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.097 0.324 1.430 9 P
8 Brian Edmondson 1999-04-27 FLA CHC W 8-0 2 2 0 2 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.024 1.719 .170 9 P
9 Anthony Young 1995-08-18 CHC COL W 26-7 2 2 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.003 0.830 .030 9 P
10 Terry Mathews 1995-06-20 FLA COL W 7-2 3 3 1 3 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.208 2.737 1.077 9 P
11 Allen Watson 1995-05-15 STL SDP L 5-7 2 2 1 2 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.161 1.260 1.355 9 P
12 Mike Stanton 1994-05-10 ATL PHI W 9-8 2 2 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.433 0.390 3.635 3 P
13 Joel Johnston 1993-08-31 PIT LAD W 6-2 3 3 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.076 0.560 .583 9 P
14 Chuck McElroy 1992-04-11 CHC STL W 5-1 2 2 1 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.068 0.919 .285 9 P
15 Kevin Gross 1991-07-31 LAD NYM W 6-3 2 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.013 0.360 .225 9 P
16 Kelly Downs 1991-07-14 SFG PHI W 17-5 4 4 2 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.058 0.750 .278 9 P
17 Scott Terry 1990-08-01 STL PHI L 10-11 2 2 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.016 0.741 .205 9 P
18 Dennis Cook 1990-06-30 PHI HOU L 3-8 2 2 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.097 1.073 1.217 9 PH P
19 Jose Alvarez 1988-05-10 ATL MON L 1-6 2 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.019 0.359 .210 9 P
20 Bill Dawley 1987-05-28 STL ATL W 11-5 3 3 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.004 0.518 .523 9 P
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 4/15/2010.

The Phillies have been involved in 5 of these 20 games including one by Jamie Moyer last year.

See, I told you this was an interesting game!

Related posts:

    White Sox and Phillies each win their 10th straight home game
    Halladay’s first game with the Phillies
    Phillies’ Domonic Brown: 2 hits and 2 RBI in his first game
    ALCS Game 1: Random notes
    The Nationals’ 7-year, $126 million mistake: Jayson Werth

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 15th, 2010 at 8:49 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

11 Responses to “Notes from last night’s Phillies/Nationals game”

  1. DMoney Says:
    April 15th, 2010 at 9:54 am

    How can Lou Gehrig be credited for 2 doubles in his combined box score? Doesn't that mean he had to have at least one full cycle?

  2. Andy Says:
    April 15th, 2010 at 10:01 am

    Goodness me, I made a dumb mistake by forgetting to set doubles = 0 in the above cycles searches. So every place you see a double listed means the guy hit for the cycle. Among active players, for example, Carlos Guillen and Adrien Beltre have missed the cycle by a double FOUR times, not five, because they each actually hit for the cycle once.

    Thanks for finding my error DMoney.

  3. statboy Says:
    April 15th, 2010 at 10:10 am

    Hey Andy, did you notice that in your 2007 post you correctly wrote that the 1980s were from 1980 to 1989? 🙂

  4. Andy Says:
    April 15th, 2010 at 10:17 am

    I did, and if it makes you feel better, I think about that all the time when I post here about decades.

  5. DoubleDiamond Says:
    April 15th, 2010 at 5:39 pm

    I count that the Phillies were involved in 6 of those 20 games. But one of those Dennis Cook at-bats was as a pinch hitter.

    I was wondering which of those two teams last night had Donovan McNabb at quarterback.

    (I'm also wondering which of the following is most likely to eventually lead a Washington team to a championship: McNabb, Alex Ovechkin of the Capitals hockey team, or Stephen Strasburg.)

  6. Gerry Says:
    April 15th, 2010 at 7:20 pm

    So what's the record for most hits in a game by a relief pitcher? Eddie Rommel had 3 for the Athletics on 10 July 1932, http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CLE/CLE193207100.shtml - any reliever ever have 4 hits in a game? 5?

  7. Gerry Says:
    April 15th, 2010 at 7:28 pm

    I think I found the answer to my question, at least for the years covered by the Play Index. Rosy Ryan had 4 hits as a reliever for the Braves on 29 May 1925, tied by Carl Mays of the Giants, 11 September 1929. http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BSN/BSN192505290.shtml and http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/PIT/PIT192909112.shtml

  8. TheGoof Says:
    April 15th, 2010 at 8:35 pm

    I don't care for interleague, but I love seeing an American League reliever go 2-for-2 (Edgar Gonzalez). Of course, accidental pitcher batting situations in AL only games have ended up with hits--Clemens and Wetteland, to name two examples, had doubles.

  9. ChatchRaise Says:
    April 16th, 2010 at 3:58 am

    Andy,
    FOUL BALLS...
    On a different note (but same game) ...with such high scoring and pitch counts, there were a ton of foul balls in this game. Sorry, I'm sort of a nube here but is there any SORTABLE for number of FOUL balls in a game?
    It just made me wonder just how many "souvenirs" were being "handed out" by MLB that night and maybe compare it against an average (do we even know what an avg. number of FBalls IS?)
    Peace

  10. Johnny Twisto Says:
    April 16th, 2010 at 8:51 am

    With a couple calculations from the data on this page: http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/NL/2010-pitches-pitching.shtml
    You can determine that there have been an average of 49 foul balls a game (both teams) in the NL this season. (I think.)

    I think if you take the strikes by contact from this game, and subtract fly balls and ground balls (all given in the box score), you are left with foul balls, and there were 56 foul balls in this game.

    I'm not sure how you could sort a bunch of games for foul balls, however.

    If someone has the inclination, they could doublecheck my numbers, which may be calculated or conceptualized incorrectly.

  11. Andy Says:
    April 16th, 2010 at 8:52 am

    Great job with that JT. I was working on a different method but yours is better.

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