Ike Davis and a team going 10-0 in a player’s first 10 games
Posted by Andy on April 29, 2010
The Mets started the season horribly but that all changed when they called up Ike Davis 10 games ago. In those 10 games, Davis hit .355 with a .548 SLG, one homer, 6 RBI, 3 doubles, and 5 runs scored. More importantly, the Mets went 9-1 as a team. Here are Davis' logs for those 10 games:
| Gcar | Date | Tm | Opp | Rslt | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | IBB | SO | Pos | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Apr 19 | NYM | CHC | W,6-1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .500 | .500 | .500 | 1.000 | 1B |
| 2 | Apr 20 | NYM | CHC | W,4-0 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | .286 | .375 | .286 | .661 | 1B |
| 3 | Apr 21 | NYM | CHC | L,3-9 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .273 | .333 | .273 | .606 | 1B |
| 4 | Apr 22 | NYM | CHC | W,5-2 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .400 | .438 | .467 | .904 | 1B |
| 5 | Apr 23 | NYM | ATL | W,5-2 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .389 | .450 | .611 | 1.061 | 1B |
| 6 | Apr 24 | NYM | ATL | W,3-1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .350 | .435 | .550 | .985 | 1B |
| 7 | Apr 25 | NYM | ATL | W,1-0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .318 | .400 | .500 | .900 | 1B |
| 8 | Apr 27 (1) | NYM | LAD | W,4-0 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | .320 | .414 | .520 | .934 | 1B |
| 9 | Apr 27 (2) | NYM | LAD | W,10-5 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .333 | .424 | .556 | .980 | 1B |
| 10 | Apr 28 | NYM | LAD | W,7-3 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .355 | .432 | .548 | .981 | 1B |
| NYM | 37 | 31 | 5 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 8 | .355 | .432 | .548 | .981 |
Our friend and former blog author Raphy is the one who pointed out the Mets' excellent performance in Davis' first 10 games, and he also noted that there have been cases of teams going 10-0 in a player's first 10 career games. A quick Game Finder search confirms it:
| Player | #Matching | PA | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Willy Taveras | 10 | Ind. Games | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Argenis Reyes | 10 | Ind. Games | 20 | 19 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | .316 | .316 | .316 | .632 |
| Barbaro Garbey | 10 | Ind. Games | 28 | 26 | 13 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 4 | .500 | .536 | .654 | 1.190 |
| Jermaine Dye | 10 | Ind. Games | 22 | 22 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 5 | .318 | .318 | .727 | 1.045 |
| Ed Armbrister | 10 | Ind. Games | 24 | 21 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 4 | .333 | .348 | .714 | 1.062 |
These are players with 10 team wins in their first 10 career games, although unlIke Davis not all of them came consecutively. What's amazing about this list is that the Mets just had another guy, Argenis Reyes, pull off the 10-0 feat 2 years ago. Taveras' inclusion here is also odd as most of his first 10 appearances were as a pinch-runner. Despite having only 2 plate appearances, he really did appear in all 10 of those games.
The other notable factor is this isn't exactly a group of stars. Other than Jermaine Dye, none of these guys has had significant big-league success, and only Dye and Taveras have stuck around for very long. (I see that Reyes doesn't have any minor league numbers so far this year, so I'm guessing he's either injured or not playing professional ball.)
A couple other things. In addition to the above list being limited to the years 1920-1939 and 1952-present, I also eliminated pitchers from the list. By searching for pitchers in the batting game finders, we get screwy results because sometimes pitchers count depending on whether they appeared in double-switches and/or actually batted, etc. We can do a separate search for pitching appearances. (Hmmm, future post perhaps?)
I leave you with the list of 32 batters whose teams finished 9-1 in their first 10 career games:
| Player ▾ | #Matching | PA | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shooty Babitt | 9 | Ind. Games | 35 | 30 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 1 | .300 | .382 | .300 | .682 |
| Tony Batista | 9 | Ind. Games | 17 | 17 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | .412 | .412 | .706 | 1.118 |
| Don Baylor | 9 | Ind. Games | 26 | 20 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 4 | .200 | .346 | .200 | .546 |
| Michael Bourn | 9 | Ind. Games | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Mark Brouhard | 9 | Ind. Games | 12 | 11 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 2 | .182 | .250 | .545 | .795 |
| Mike Cameron | 9 | Ind. Games | 16 | 14 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 7 | .286 | .333 | .429 | .762 |
| John Castino | 9 | Ind. Games | 17 | 15 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | .400 | .438 | .533 | .971 |
| Danny Cater | 9 | Ind. Games | 31 | 28 | 10 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | .357 | .419 | .536 | .955 |
| Ike Davis | 9 | Ind. Games | 33 | 27 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 7 | .370 | .455 | .593 | 1.047 |
| Mike Dimmel | 9 | Ind. Games | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Mark Ellis | 9 | Ind. Games | 28 | 25 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 4 | .360 | .393 | .400 | .793 |
| Babe Ganzel | 9 | Ind. Games | 41 | 33 | 14 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 5 | 2 | .424 | .500 | .576 | 1.076 |
| Bob Garbark | 9 | Ind. Games | 30 | 25 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 4 | .200 | .333 | .240 | .573 |
| Chris Getz | 9 | Ind. Games | 7 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .286 | .286 | .286 | .571 |
| Lenny Harris | 9 | Ind. Games | 28 | 22 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 1 | .409 | .481 | .455 | .936 |
| Scott Hemond | 9 | Ind. Games | 9 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | .222 | .222 | .222 | .444 |
| Travis Jackson | 9 | Ind. Games | 17 | 16 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | .125 | .176 | .250 | .426 |
| Matt Kata | 9 | Ind. Games | 35 | 29 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 7 | .310 | .429 | .517 | .946 |
| Jim Landis | 9 | Ind. Games | 37 | 29 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 6 | .310 | .459 | .483 | .942 |
| Dwight Lowry | 9 | Ind. Games | 12 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .333 | .400 | .333 | .733 |
| Hideki Matsui | 9 | Ind. Games | 42 | 39 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 2 | 4 | .282 | .310 | .436 | .745 |
| Ryan McGuire | 9 | Ind. Games | 32 | 30 | 13 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 0 | .433 | .469 | .800 | 1.269 |
| Ross Moschitto | 9 | Ind. Games | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Dwayne Murphy | 9 | Ind. Games | 8 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .000 | .125 | .000 | .125 |
| Rey Quinones | 9 | Ind. Games | 33 | 22 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 4 | .318 | .545 | .409 | .955 |
| Jason Repko | 9 | Ind. Games | 25 | 22 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 4 | .318 | .400 | .636 | 1.036 |
| Roger Repoz | 9 | Ind. Games | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | |||
| Billy Ripken | 9 | Ind. Games | 43 | 39 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 3 | .308 | .357 | .410 | .767 |
| Bill Russell | 9 | Ind. Games | 38 | 32 | 12 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 8 | .375 | .474 | .656 | 1.130 |
| Bill Schroeder | 9 | Ind. Games | 35 | 30 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 11 | .133 | .212 | .400 | .612 |
| Van Snider | 9 | Ind. Games | 25 | 24 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 12 | .208 | .200 | .375 | .575 |
| Shane Spencer | 9 | Ind. Games | 21 | 19 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 2 | .421 | .429 | .895 | 1.323 |
| B.J. Surhoff | 9 | Ind. Games | 35 | 30 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 2 | .300 | .400 | .567 | .967 |
| Tony Walker | 9 | Ind. Games | 14 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .077 | .143 | .077 | .220 |
| Glenn Wilson | 9 | Ind. Games | 29 | 24 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | .458 | .536 | .708 | 1.244 |
| Bob Zupcic | 9 | Ind. Games | 13 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 | .167 | .167 | .417 | .583 |
April 29th, 2010 at 9:11 am
Do you know if any of the 32 players started all 10 games??
April 29th, 2010 at 9:19 am
Turns out none of the guys who were in 10 winning games started all 10. Here is a list of guys who, in their first 10 starts, the team won 9 games: B Schroeder, B Ripken, R Quinones, R McGuire, H Matsui, J Landis, B Garbark, B Ganzel, and I Davis. Note that this is not necessarily the same as the games above, as the search now looks only at games the player started and ignores the outcome in games they appeared in but did not start. To find the answer to your specific question, you'd need to click the 'Ind. Games' link next to each player's name to see what their role was in each game.
April 29th, 2010 at 10:31 am
Rod Allen lost his first eight games he ever played in MLB in his first season. In his second season, he won the first 13 he played in.
Of course going from the 83 Mariners to the 84 Tigers helped both causes.
April 29th, 2010 at 12:05 pm
According to Elias, Hideki Matsui is the only other position player who started each of his team's first 10 games after his callup (Opening Day for Matsui) and won nine of them. So while there are others whose teams won nine of his first 10 starts, only two (Davis and Matsui) played in 10 straight team games beginning with their debuts and won nine of them.
April 29th, 2010 at 12:11 pm
Perfect except that Matsui didn't have a callup. He came straight from Japan to the majors.
April 29th, 2010 at 1:46 pm
[...] Baseball-Reference has one of its usual quirky examinations as it looks at Ike Davis‘ first 10 games, in which the Mets are 9-1. In yesterday’s 7-3 win – the conclusion of a sweep over the Dodgers — Davis was 2-4 with a RBI. He’s batting .355 over his first ten games. [...]
April 29th, 2010 at 2:38 pm
Was that an accident to link "unlIKE DAVIS" to Ike Davis' player page or was it a clever play on words/links?
April 29th, 2010 at 2:41 pm
It's a bug with the linking tool that I decided to leave alone so Sean could see it.
April 29th, 2010 at 5:52 pm
Ed Armbrister may not have had "significant big-league success," but he has a secure place in baseball history due to that little incident in the 10th inning in Game 3 of the 1975 World Series.
April 29th, 2010 at 6:27 pm
In Garbey's case, it doesn't hurt to come up with one of the greatest teams ever, the 1984 Tigers.
April 29th, 2010 at 6:59 pm
[...] this Ike Davis fellow that was called up by the Mets and is raking through his first 10 games? Well BR’s Stat of the Day breaks down his game logs through 10 games as the Mets have gone 9-1 since Ike Davis arrived in New [...]
April 29th, 2010 at 9:37 pm
from the 10-0 list, only Garbey and Dye made it to 11. Both were stopped there.
April 29th, 2010 at 9:46 pm
Incidentally, Argenis Reyes is, I believe, playing independent ball.
April 29th, 2010 at 11:22 pm
I remember Barbaro Garbey leading the league in batting in the early going. His BA didn't drop below .350 until 5/25/84. I remember Sparky Anderson talking him up. Or maybe I remember reading years later that Anderson had been talking him up. I didn't realize until now that Garbey was 27 that year. Nor did I remember that Garbey was only playing about 2/3 of the time.