News & notes: Lilly, Floyd, Posada, Young, Greinke
Posted by Andy on June 14, 2010
News and notes from Sunday's games:
- Ted Lilly and Gavin Floyd locked up in a great game yesterday. Floyd didn't allow a hit until the 7th inning and Lilly made it to the 8th 9th without any hits allowed. As Raphy mentioned yesterday, there's no way to use the Play Index to search for games like this exactly (since it can't search for when inside individual games that hits occurred.) This was actually the second time this season that both starters in a game went at least 8 innings and allowed no more than 3 hits. On May 13th, the Padres' Mat Latos and the Giants' Jonathan Sanchez did it. See the last 25 such games here.
- Jorge Posada hit a grand slam for the second straight game yesterday. There's also no easy way to search for this without checking some box scores manually. Four players have 2 grand slams in 2010: Posada, Andre Ethier, Alex Rodriguez, and Adrian Gonzalez.
- Speaking of Yankees with the bases loaded, that team has been monstrous in that situation so far this season:
Rk G PA AB R H 2B HR RBI BB SO TB HBP sOPS+ 1 NYY 37 100 82 100 35 3 6 97 11 12 .427 .490 .683 1.173 56 3 207 2 LAA 29 55 47 47 15 6 2 47 6 9 .319 .382 .574 .956 27 0 149 3 CLE 29 68 61 56 22 4 3 54 2 15 .361 .368 .574 .941 35 1 144 4 TEX 28 60 53 52 20 5 1 50 2 6 .377 .367 .528 .895 28 0 134 5 TBR 29 65 54 58 17 5 2 55 6 10 .315 .369 .519 .888 28 1 132 6 CHW 28 58 47 46 14 2 2 41 6 7 .298 .362 .468 .830 22 1 118 7 BOS 32 73 64 59 18 5 2 51 5 9 .281 .315 .453 .768 29 0 100 8 KCR 28 60 54 42 15 4 1 40 2 8 .278 .283 .407 .691 22 0 80 9 DET 30 61 51 44 12 5 1 38 4 13 .235 .295 .392 .687 20 2 80 10 SEA 28 55 46 33 12 1 1 33 5 11 .261 .309 .348 .657 16 0 74 11 OAK 31 60 52 35 14 4 0 34 2 11 .269 .283 .346 .629 18 1 66 12 BAL 27 61 55 38 14 0 1 37 5 15 .255 .311 .309 .621 17 0 66 13 MIN 32 92 75 56 15 3 1 50 8 19 .200 .250 .280 .530 21 0 41 14 TOR 27 51 38 26 5 2 0 24 6 10 .132 .255 .184 .439 7 2 20 TOT 415 919 779 692 228 49 23 651 70 155 .293 .336 .444 .780 346 11 105 That's 6 grand slams, but their OBP w/ bases loaded is high also thanks to 11 walks and 3 HBP. They have more PA with the bases loaded than any other American League team, but any way you slice it, their 100 runs scored in 100 PAs is very impressive.
- Chris Young got the second walk-off win for the Diamondbacks this year, homering off the Cardinals' Kyle McClellan.
Yr# Gm# Date Batter Tm Opp Pitcher Score Inn RoB Out Pit(cnt) RBI Play Description 1 1 2010-06-04 Ryan Roberts ARI COL Manuel Corpas tied 6-6 1B b 9 12- 1 2 (1-0) 1 *ENDED GAME*:Single to CF (Ground Ball thru SS-2B); Young Scores; Parra to 2B 2 1 2010-06-13 Chris Young ARI STL Kyle McClellan tied 5-5 HR b 9 1-- 2 2 (0-1) 2 *ENDED GAME*:Home Run (Fly Ball to Deep LF-CF); Montero Scores Interestingly, last year the D-backs won 6 games in their last at-bat but none on homers. Five came via a single and one by a walk. The last walk-off homer by a Diamondback was in 2008 by Chad Tracy.Young's homer is the 33rd walk-off job so far this year. Carlos Lee is the only player with 2.
- Zack Greinke got a much-deserved win. He's having a weird season. 89 IP, 91 hits, 18 walks, 78 strikeouts, and just a 2-8 record. Check out the worst W-L% record by starters, minimum 10 starts, with a K/BB ratio of at least 4.0:
Rk Player GS Year Tm G W L IP H R ER BB SO 1 Zack Greinke .200 4.33 14 2010 KCR 14 2 8 89.0 91 44 39 18 78 3.94 107 2 Vern Ruhle .250 4.13 10 1979 HOU 13 2 6 66.1 64 33 30 8 33 4.07 87 3 John Smoltz .273 4.06 15 2009 TOT 15 3 8 78.0 95 55 55 18 73 6.35 70 4 Hal Brown .313 8.50 20 1963 HOU 26 5 11 141.1 137 54 52 8 68 3.31 96 5 Koji Uehara .333 4.00 12 2009 BAL 12 2 4 66.2 71 33 30 12 48 4.05 112 6 Greg Swindell .360 5.45 33 1991 CLE 33 9 16 238.0 241 112 92 31 169 3.48 120 7 Cy Young .382 5.60 34 1906 BOS 39 13 21 287.2 288 137 102 25 140 3.19 86 8 Javier Vazquez .423 4.17 33 2005 ARI 33 11 15 215.2 223 112 106 46 192 4.42 101 9 Mike Mussina .423 4.57 34 2000 BAL 34 11 15 237.2 236 105 100 46 210 3.79 125 10 Brad Radke .429 5.09 31 2005 MIN 31 9 12 200.2 214 98 90 23 117 4.04 110 11 Randy Johnson .429 4.63 18 2003 ARI 18 6 8 114.0 125 61 54 27 125 4.26 110 12 Jon Lieber .429 7.25 21 2002 CHC 21 6 8 141.0 153 64 58 12 87 3.70 109 13 John Burkett .429 4.63 30 1997 TEX 30 9 12 189.1 240 106 96 30 139 4.56 105 14 Bob Ojeda .435 4.03 29 1988 NYM 29 10 13 190.1 158 74 61 33 133 2.88 113 15 Rheal Cormier .444 4.75 10 1991 STL 11 4 5 67.2 74 35 31 8 38 4.12 90 16 Jon Lieber .450 4.17 27 2006 PHI 27 9 11 168.0 196 100 92 24 100 4.93 95 17 Steve Woodard .455 4.09 26 1998 MIL 34 10 12 165.2 170 83 77 33 135 4.18 103 18 Ben Sheets .462 10.55 17 2006 MIL 17 6 7 106.0 105 47 45 11 116 3.82 119 19 Ben Sheets .462 8.25 34 2004 MIL 34 12 14 237.0 201 85 71 32 264 2.70 162 20 Curt Schilling .471 6.06 24 2003 ARI 24 8 9 168.0 144 58 55 32 194 2.95 159 This shows just how unlucky Greinke has been. If he finished out the season in similar fashion, he'd have the worst W-L% since 1901 for pitchers with a 4.0 K/BB ratio. Most of the 6 other pitchers under .400 had pretty lousy seasons compared to Greinke's 2010.
The last time I wrote one of these News & Notes posts I was criticized for failing to mention a feat by the Mets. I wrote the 4 snippets above as the first 4 stories that caught my eye. I would like to assure everyone that if I have failed to mention something notable done by your team, it's not because I am biased against your team. It's because I don't want this post to be any longer. Notice something you want me to write about? Email me about it at: 
June 14th, 2010 at 10:57 am
It's interesting that the Yankees have almost double the PA'sof the Angels, Mariners and Blue Jays. I wonder how much of that is due to the fact that more Yankees reach base, and how much is do to the fact that the other teams are more aggressive.
June 14th, 2010 at 11:14 am
Sigh. Another post by Andy, another glaring error. Lilly went into the 9th before giving up his hit.
Oh, and... wow, my criticism re anti-Mets bias hit a little close to home, didn't it? I think it's a little late to be denying bias since you already admitted you dislike the Mets, and its clear that these feelings affect your posts, whether consciously or subconsciously. Not that there's anything wrong about that, it's your blog, you write how you want. But have the guts to admit it!
June 14th, 2010 at 11:20 am
Thanks for the correction.
June 14th, 2010 at 11:21 am
I feel like this is better measure of unluckiness
For single seasons, From 1901 to 2010, (requiring IP>=100, GS>=12, earned_run_avg_plus>=135 and win_loss_perc<=.375), sorted by smallest Adjusted ERA+
Other than Nolan Ryan and Hal Newhouser no truly big names makes the list. Also, very oddly, 4 of the 13 names happened in a 6 year period between 1987-1992.
June 14th, 2010 at 11:52 am
I'm biased against the Red Sox. I just want to be up front about that.
June 14th, 2010 at 12:32 pm
Greinke doesn't seem to be quite as good as he was last year, but luck is not with him at all: so far, the bullpen has blown 4 leads (most in MLB) he had when he was relieved and the offense has given him only 2.9 runs/game (130th/144 MLB starting pitchers) to work with.
June 14th, 2010 at 12:59 pm
Surly, your "Anti-Mets" criticism just doesn't fit a post like this, where negative records like Greinike's won-loss record are considered as well. Perhaps it is time to lose the persecution complex and just take these posts at face value.
June 14th, 2010 at 1:00 pm
And just for the record, I too have biases; primarily against the Yankees and Dodgers.
June 14th, 2010 at 1:09 pm
If you don't like Andy's so called bias then don't read the blog... or skip over his posts. Be a big boy and don't make people change for you because you don't like something.
On the same note of 'make sure you talk about the Mets because I like them', I hate the Mets so I hate reading about them! Grrrrrrr! Don't write about them again!!!!!!
See how silly that sounds?
June 14th, 2010 at 2:04 pm
I have to think that playing for the Royals is getting to Grienke. He gave it his all last year, 16 wins an ERA+ over 200 and one of the greatest pitching seasons in quite sometime (I believe) all for a last place team. What else does he have to prove that doesn't involve a division/wild card race
June 14th, 2010 at 2:18 pm
Wow, Surly... you know, you can start your own Mets blog. For free, even. Here's a factoid to start you off: David Wright only has nine strikeouts in his last 13 games. That's noteworthy!
June 14th, 2010 at 2:24 pm
Thanks, Thomas; I couldn't have said it better myself -- and I tried to.
As for my personal biases, I haven't been following professional baseball lately -- I am a Cincinnati Reds fan.
June 14th, 2010 at 2:33 pm
Greinke's W-L is obviously harmed greatly by playing for the Royals. He had one of the best seasons in recent memory last year, but only finished 16-8 because there were 6 times when he pitched 7 or more innings, allowed 2 earned runs or less, and DIDN'T get the win. This year, he has already had 4 games like that.
And Andy, what, no mention of the fact that the Mets swept the Orioles in Camden Yards over the weekend to earn their first road series win of the season? *tsk tsk* I'm very disappointed. :oÞ (Hope everyone can tell I'm kidding).
June 14th, 2010 at 4:32 pm
I am one of a few people who feel that Felix Hernandez should have won the Cy Young last year. That is the great thing about baseball and statistics in general.
June 14th, 2010 at 6:42 pm
You could probably make a case drew, but i'll simply retort that grienke had better all around numbers in every category except wins, which i think is an overrated stat.
June 14th, 2010 at 8:08 pm
Andy,
Just do yourself a favor and don't even mention the Mets. They will always be a second rate team. Just wait until the end of July when the Met heads find out Santana will be out of the year with arm problems again. That will take the wind out of their sails for certain.
June 14th, 2010 at 10:08 pm
There are over 20 players who hit grand slams in two consecutive games, starting with Jimmy Bannon for Boston on 6 and 7 August 1894 and most recently (before Posada) Carlos Beltran for the Mets 16 and 18 July 2006. Babe Ruth did it twice. Robin Ventura hit slams in both games of a doubleheader. Lou Gehrig never did it, but he did hit three in four days (29 and 31 August and 1 September 1931).
Oh, and I'm biased against the Wilmington Quicksteps, http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/WIL/
June 14th, 2010 at 10:55 pm
King Felix had a great season last year, but he was supported by an extraordinary defense, while Greinke pitched in front of a pretty bad one. If you take that into account, I think Greinke looks notably better.
June 14th, 2010 at 10:57 pm
The damn Quicksteps couldn't even bother to finish the season. I'm biased against them too!
I'd ask if anyone on the team ended up having a reputable career anywhere else, but since half the names on the roster have question marks after them, I'm guessing not.
June 15th, 2010 at 12:15 am
Oyster Burns http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/burnsoy01.shtml survived his Quickstep debut (and his nickname) to go on to a decent career.
June 15th, 2010 at 8:46 am
And leave us not forget The Only Nolan -- five years, five teams, five losing records. His Quickstep days were the crest of his career!
June 15th, 2010 at 6:40 pm
Twisto,
You gotta reconsider The Nation.
Surly, c'mon....the Mets are the 'other' white meat. They ruled NY for years before the Hegemony kicked in in 1995 or so. Remember the feeling of potential when they one that game in the 2000 Series. We all got on the boat forthe one minute they shone, We were all counting on you. Then...how many years in a row of feeble collapse? Reminds me of what I grew up with with the Sox. It builds character. Win something, we'll all cheer.
June 16th, 2010 at 10:43 am
As for the Mets, I always rooted for them back when Stengel was mnanaging them -- but then, I always rooted for the coyote in the road runner cartoons, too, and voted for McGovern in '72.