Sign of the apocalypse: Omar Vizquel makes an error in two straight games
Posted by Andy on July 9, 2010
Omar Vizquel made an error in the White Sox's July 7th game and another one in the July 8th game. Both came while playing third base.
Marcos Grunfeld of BeisbolVenezolano.net determined that the last time Vizquel made an error in two consecutive games was all the way back in 2004 in games on April 19th and April 20th, when he played for the Indians. The sadly recently-deceased Jeriome Robertson was hurt by the error in the second game.
In the case of a guy like Vizquel, who has committed a relatively small number of errors, I guess it's not all that surprising that they don't happen in back-to-back games very often. Does anybody have any data on longest such streaks by position?
I'm not sure how meaningful this is since charged official errors are a fairly small component in the measure of defensive ability. Still, I'm curious to know!
July 9th, 2010 at 2:39 pm
this is only borderline relevant... sorry
is there an easy way to see a breakdown of the basic defensive stats (po/a/e) by position when a player plays multiple positions in a game? or would i just be stuck going through the play by play?
July 9th, 2010 at 2:41 pm
Well you can see seasonal stats broken down by position in the player's career fielding summary. Beyond that, not sure.
July 9th, 2010 at 8:40 pm
Speaking of early aughts Indians, on ESPN Classic right now, they're showing my favorite baseball game ever:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CLE/CLE200108050.shtml
Random fact: the guy the Indians brought in as a stop-gap who ended up taking most of the lumps was Mike Bacsik making his major league debut. Although little known since then, he was the guy who gave up HR #756 to Barry Bonds.
July 10th, 2010 at 1:01 am
Andy says:
"Does anybody have any data on longest such streaks by position?"
I have no idea, but in June 10, 14 & 15 1876 (consecutive games) 2B Andy Leonard had thirteen errors.
July 10th, 2010 at 12:24 pm
Andy says:
"Does anybody have any data on longest such streaks by position?"
I guess you could start going through game logs which have fielding data (I believe starting in 1952) on some of the higher totals among these
http://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/E_tf_leagues.shtml
July 10th, 2010 at 2:14 pm
@3 - I remember seeing the early part of that game on ESPN but turning it off well before it ended. I didn't have any particular interest in either team, and it was bedtime (even though I had been laid off about two weeks earlier).
I see that John Rocker was the winning pitcher in that game. I was just thinking of him yesterday - I was in New York and rode the #7 subway line (but just between two Manhattan stations, not to Queens).
July 12th, 2010 at 1:13 am
Andy,
Here are the record consecutive errorless games streaks for each position (as of July 10, 2010):
1B
NL - 193 - Steve Garvey (SDP) June 26, 1983 - April 14,1985
AL - 238 - Kevin Youkilis (BOS) July 5, 2006 - June 6, 2008
2B
NL - 123 - Ryne Sandberg (CHC) June 21, 1989 - May 17, 1990
AL - 186 - Placido Polanco (DET) July 2, 2006 - April 5, 2008
SS
NL - 101 - Rey Ordonez (NYM) June 14, 1999 - March 29, 2000
AL - 110 - Mike Bordick (BAL) April 11 - Sept 29, 2002
3B
ML - 99 - Jeff Cirillo (COL/SEA) June 20, 2001 - April 19, 2002
NL - 99 - John Wehner (PIT/FLA) August 2, 1992 - Sept 29, 2000
AL - 88 - Don Money (MIL) Sept 28, 1973 - July 16, 1974
OF
ML - 392 - Darren Lewis (OAK/SFG) August 21, 1990 - June 29, 1994
NL - 369 - Darren Lewis (SFG) July 13, 1991 - June 29, 1994
AL - 336 - Rich Amaral (SEA/BAL) April 30, 1995 - June 14, 2000
C
ML - 253 - Mike Redmond (FLA/MIN/CLE) July 22, 2004 - May 18, 2010
NL - 252 - Mike Matheny (STL) August 2, 2002 - August 1, 2004
AL - 232 - Mike Redmond (MIN/CLE) April 6, 2005 - May 18, 2010
P (Reliever)
ML - 667 - Dan Plesac (5 teams) July 30, 1993 - Sept 28, 2003
NL - 546 - Lee Smith (CHC/STL) July 5, 1982 - Sept 22, 1992
AL - 541 - Dan Plesac (MIL/TOR) July 11, 1987 - May 22, 2002
P (Starter) Consecutive Errorless Chances Accepted (Putouts + Assists + Errors)
NL - 273 CA, 145 G - Claude Passeau (CHC) Sept 21, 1941 - May 20, 1946
AL - 231 CA, 142 G - Rick Langford (OAK) April 13, 1977 - Oct 2, 1980
I've also got the record-holders for consecutive Errorless Chances Accepted by position if you want them.
Joe Taxiera