Archive for the 'Event Finders' Category

I knew there was something I forgot to mention in today's news & notes:

In yesterday's NYY-TBD game, both Alex Rodriguez of the Yankees and Jorge Velandia of the Rays hit grand slams.

So far this season, there have been 132 grand slams (boy, doesn't that seem like a lot?) and there have been 6 games featuring more than 1.

Here are the six games:

   Yr#    G# Date          Batter            Tm   Opp Pitcher           Score       Inn RoB Out Cnt Pit RBI Play Desc.
+-------+---+-------------+-----------------+---+----+-----------------+-----------+---+---+---+---+---+---+-------------------------+
     58   1 2007-06-20    Bill Hall         MIL  SFG Barry Zito        tied   0-0  b 1 123   1 3-2   9   4 Home Run (Fly Ball to LF); Hart Scores; Hardy Scores; Fielder Scores
     59   2               Bengie Molina     SFG @MIL Claudio Vargas    down   0-6  t 6 123   0 3-1   5   4 Home Run (Fly Ball to LF-CF); Winn Scores; Durham Scores; Klesko Scores

     90   1 2007-08-10    Marcus Thames     DET  OAK Joe Blanton       down   2-8  b 4 123   1 0-0   1   4 Home Run (Fly Ball to LF-CF); Ordonez Scores; Guillen Scores; Casey Scores
     91   2               Jack Cust         OAK @DET Macay McBride     down   8-9  t 6 123   1 1-0   2   4 Home Run (Fly Ball to CF); Buck Scores; Stewart Scores; Swisher Scores      92   1 2007-08-11    Yuniesky Betancou SEA @CHW Gavin Floyd       ahead  3-1  t 4 123   1 0-0   1   4 Home Run (Fly Ball to LF-CF); Sexson Scores; Johjima Scores; Lopez Scores
     93   2               Josh Fields       CHW  SEA J.J. Putz         down   2-7  b 9 123   0 0-0   1   4 Home Run (Fly Ball to LF-CF); Hall Scores; Gonzalez Scores; Owens Scores

    108   1 2007-08-22(1) Marlon Byrd       TEX @BAL Brian Burres      ahead  6-3  t 6 123   1 0-1   2   4 Home Run (Fly Ball to LF); Catalanotto Scores; Kinsler Scores; Young Scores
    109   2               Travis Metcalf    TEX @BAL Rob Bell          ahead 16-3  t 8 123   0 2-0   3   4 Home Run (Fly Ball to LF); Vazquez Scores; Catalanotto Scores; Kinsler Scores

    119   1 2007-09-10    Kurt Suzuki       OAK @SEA Horacio Ramirez   ahead  1-0  t 2 123   1 0-1   2   4 Home Run (Fly Ball to LF); Johnson Scores; Hannahan Scores; Barton Scores
    120   2               Dan Johnson       OAK @SEA Ryan Rowland-Smi  ahead  5-3  t 9 123   2 0-1   2   4 Home Run (Fly Ball to CF-RF); Scutaro Scores; Swisher Scores; Ellis Scores

    131   1 2007-09-25    Alex Rodriguez    NYY @TBD Jason Hammel      ahead  1-0  t 3 123   0 0-1   2   4 Home Run (Fly Ball to LF); Damon Scores; Jeter Scores; Abreu Scores
    132   2               Jorge Velandia    TBD  NYY Brian Bruney      down   2-5  b 6 123   2 0-1   2   4 Home Run (Fly Ball to LF); Gomes Scores; Norton Scores; Iwamura Scores

Only Texas and Oakland have hit two in the same game, while the four other multi-slam games featured one by each team.

Just for laughs, I checked all the same stats for 2006:

There were, coincidentally, also 132 slams in 2006 (although it's pretty likely that 2007 will finish at somewhere between 133 and 135) with Travis Hafner and Richie Sexson leading the way with 6 and 5, respectively (boy, did both of those guys fall off the table this year or what?)

There were just three games featuring two slams (a two-slam game by the Mets, a Mets/Cards 1-slam-each game, and a Rockies/Braves 1-slam-each game, featuring a slam by possible 2007 MVP Matt Holliday.)

Using Baseball-Reference.com's Play Index Batting Event Finder, for the Post-Season, and setting it for "Strikeouts, World Series, Game 7, Innings 7-to-end, with the Bases Loaded" tells us that, today, still, there's only been one time in baseball history where a batter, in Game 7 of the World Series, has struck out with the bases loaded, during innings 7 or later:  October 10, 1926 - when Pete Alexander fanned Tony Lazzeri on a curveball.

Including Tony, there have been 29 batters who faced this situation in a World Series.  The last one was Luis Gonzalez in the 9th inning of Game 7 of the 2001 World Series.

As a Yankees fan, boy, do I wish that Luis had tied Tony for this "record" on that day.

Using the PI Team Batting Event Finder we can find games that ended when a batter reached on error (ROE.)

Check here for how it's done.

Here are the 5 times it's happened so far in 2007:

   Yr#    G# Date          Batter            Tm   Opp Pitcher           Score       Inn RoB Out Cnt Pit RBI Play Desc.
+-------+---+-------------+-----------------+---+----+-----------------+-----------+---+---+---+---+---+---+-------------------------+
       1   1 2007-04-03    Chris Iannetta    COL  ARI Jose Valverde     tied   3-3  b11 -2-   2 0-1   2   0 *ENDED GAME*:Reached on E5 (Ground Ball); Tulowitzki Scores/unER/No RBI
       2   1 2007-07-26    Josh Fields       CHW  DET Zach Miner        tied   3-3  b 9 1--   0 1-1   3   0 *ENDED GAME*:Reached on E1 (throw) (Bunt); Podsednik Scores/unER/No RBI; Fields to 2B
       3   1 2007-08-10    Cory Sullivan     COL  CHC Ryan Dempster     down   2-6  b 9 ---   2 2-2   5   0 *ENDED GAME*:Reached on E5 (throw) (Ground Ball); Sullivan out at 2B/2B-SS
       4   1 2007-08-24    Kazuo Matsui      COL  WSN Jon Rauch         tied   5-5  b 9 -23   2 1-1   3   0 *ENDED GAME*:Reached on E6 (Ground Ball); Hawpe Scores/unER/No RBI; Torrealba to 3B
       5   1 2007-09-17    Jason Bartlett    MIN  TEX Joaquin Benoit    tied   4-4  b 9 -2-   2 1-0   2   0 *ENDED GAME*:Reached on E4 (Pop Fly); Ford Scores/No RBI/unER

You have to think for just half a second to realize that all these games are won by the home team, since the visiting team can never win in walk-off (game-ending event) fashion.

I'm surprised that only one of these plays was on a bunt. As was discussed in a post by Steve, three World Series games have ended on an error on a play involving a bunt. And what the heck happened a few days ago...a failed pop up to the second baseman? Here's the story.

I'll also list the times a game has ended on an ROE from recent years:

Here's 2006:

   Yr#    G# Date          Batter            Tm   Opp Pitcher           Score       Inn RoB Out Cnt Pit RBI Play Desc.
+-------+---+-------------+-----------------+---+----+-----------------+-----------+---+---+---+---+---+---+-------------------------+
       1   1 2006-05-01    Paul Lo Duca      NYM  WSN Gary Majewski     tied   1-1  b 9 12-   1 0-0   1   0 *ENDED GAME*:Reached on E1 (Ground Ball); Chavez Scores/No RBI/unER; Reyes to 3B
       2   1 2006-05-06    Jason Kendall     OAK  TBD Tyler Walker      tied   2-2  b 9 -2-   2 1-2   4   0 *ENDED GAME*:Reached on E5 (Ground Ball); Payton Scores/unER/No RBI
       3   1 2006-05-09    Bobby Abreu       PHI  NYM Aaron Heilman     tied   4-4  b 9 123   2 2-1   4   0 *ENDED GAME*:Reached on E1 (Ground Ball); Dellucci Scores/unER/No RBI; Rollins to 3B; Utley to 2B
       4   1 2006-05-16    Damian Miller     MIL  PHI Ryan Franklin     tied   2-2  b 9 12-   0 0-0   1   0 *ENDED GAME*:Reached on E1 (Ground Ball); Hall Scores/No RBI/unER; Koskie to 2B
       5   1 2006-05-20    Craig Monroe      DET  CIN Dave Weathers     tied   6-6  b10 1-3   2 0-0   1   0 *ENDED GAME*:Reached on E6 (Ground Ball); Guillen Scores/unER/No RBI; Young to 2B
       6   1 2006-06-14    Jeremy Hermida    FLA  ATL Mike Remlinger    tied   5-5  b10 12-   0 0-0   1   0 *ENDED GAME*:Reached on E1 (Ground Ball); Abercrombie Scores/No RBI/unER; Aguila to 2B
       7   1 2006-06-28    David Eckstein    STL  CLE Bob Wickman       tied   4-4  b 9 --3   2 1-0   2   0 *ENDED GAME*:Reached on E6 (Ground Ball); Miles Scores/unER/No RBI

No bunts at all there. All ground balls to the pitcher, SS, or 3B.

   Yr#    G# Date          Batter            Tm   Opp Pitcher           Score       Inn RoB Out Cnt Pit RBI Play Desc.
+-------+---+-------------+-----------------+---+----+-----------------+-----------+---+---+---+---+---+---+-------------------------+
       1   1 2005-04-16    Marco Scutaro     OAK  LAA Scot Shields      tied   0-0  b10 1--   0 0-0   1   0 *ENDED GAME*:Reached on E1 (throw)/Sacrifice Bunt; Swisher Scores/unER/No RBI; Scutaro to 2B
       2   1 2005-05-22    Luis Rodriguez    MIN  MIL Matt Wise         tied   5-5  b11 123   1 0-1   2   0 *ENDED GAME*:Reached on E4/attempted forceout (Ground Ball); Ford Scores/No RBI/unER; Cuddyer to 3B; Stewart to 2B
       3   1 2005-08-06    Nick Punto        MIN  BOS Mike Timlin       tied   3-3  b 9 -2-   0 0-0   1   0 *ENDED GAME*:Reached on E1 (throw)/Sacrifice Bunt; Cuddyer Scores/unER/No RBI
       4   1 2005-09-18    Dave Roberts      SDP  WSN Joey Eischen      tied   1-1  b 9 12-   0 3-1   5   0 *ENDED GAME*:Reached on E1 (throw)/Sacrifice Bunt; Olivo Scores/unER/No RBI; Fick to 2B

More errors by the pitcher, but this time three bunts as well.

   Yr#    G# Date          Batter            Tm   Opp Pitcher           Score       Inn RoB Out Cnt Pit RBI Play Desc.
+-------+---+-------------+-----------------+---+----+-----------------+-----------+---+---+---+---+---+---+-------------------------+
       1   1 2004-05-26    Keith Ginter      MIL  LAD Duaner Sanchez    tied   1-1  b12 12-   0 1-1   3   0 *ENDED GAME*:Reached on E5 (throw)/Sacrifice Bunt; Jenkins Scores/No RBI/unER; Overbay to 3B
       2   1 2004-06-22    Mark Loretta      SDP  ARI Mike Koplove      tied   1-1  b10 12-   1 0-1   2   0 *ENDED GAME*:Reached on E4/attempted forceout (Ground Ball); Greene Scores/unER/No RBI; Burroughs to 2B
       3   1 2004-09-24    Mark Loretta      SDP  ARI Greg Aquino       tied   5-5  b 9 123   1 2-2   6   0 *ENDED GAME*:Reached on E5 (Ground Ball); Greene Scores/unER/No RBI; Vazquez to 3B; Payton to 2B

So Mark Loretta was the batter in two such games in 2004, both against Arizona, and Khalil Green scored the winning run both times. That's surprising given that Greene entered both the games a few batters before Loretta (once he was HBP and once he pinch ran. Loretta was the batter one other time when he reached on error to end the game: see here.

The question popped into my head: Has there every been a pitcher, when making his big league debut, who has faced only one batter and threw a wild pitch during that plate appearance -without retiring the batter?  So, I decided to use Baseball-Reference.com's Play Index Pitching Event finder and set it for "From 1957 to 2007, In first 1 games, (requiring IP=0, WP=1, and BF=1), sorted by most recent date in a game."  And, I found out that, since 1957, there are only two times where a pitcher making his major league debut faced one batter, didn't retire him, and threw a wild pitch in the process:  Bud Black on September 5, 1981 and Tom Baker on August 2, 1963.

The Baker game is interesting - Tom came into the game in the 8th inning, making his debut, to face Willie McCovey.  Baker threw a wild pitch and then hit McCovey with a pitch.  (Cal Koonce was then brought in to replace Baker.)

That's one wild cherry, for sure.

All of MLB: The 91 final outs by a batter in the World Series - Baseball-Reference PI

I saw a post in a forum suggesting we show not only the SO and non-SO outs, but all outs together, so I've added that option to the Play Index Event Finder.  The above list is the list of all 90 batters who made the final out in a World Series.  When we get the baserunning events added in we'll be able to make a complete list of every final out in the play index.

I was just looking at Derek Jeter's 2007 RBI, to date, when the score is tied, via Baseball-Reference.com's Play Index Batter Events for Jeter.  And, I noticed that three times this year Derek broke-up a tie score against the Sox, late in the game:

The 7th inning on June 2nd against Joel Pineiro
The 5th inning of August 28th against Daisuke Matsuzaka
The 8th inning of September 16th against Curt Schilling

Each time, it was a homer from Jeter that broke the tie.

This made me wonder: Since 1957, which Yankees SS have hit the most homers against the Red Sox? Thanks to B-R.com's PI Gamelog Finder, here's the answer:

                   Games Link to Individual Games 

+-----------------+-----+-------------------------+ 

Derek Jeter          19 Ind. Games  

Tony Kubek           11 Ind. Games  

Tom Tresh             4 Ind. Games 

Gil McDougald         3 Ind. Games 

Bucky Dent            3 Ind. Games                  

Gene Michael          2 Ind. Games  

Jim Mason             2 Ind. Games                  

Randy Velarde         1 Ind. Games                  

Fred Stanley          1 Ind. Games                  

Roy Smalley           1 Ind. Games                  

Rafael Santana        1 Ind. Games                  

Jerry Kenney          1 Ind. Games                  

Alvaro Espinoza       1 Ind. Games                  

Jerry Coleman         1 Ind. Games                  

Games found: 51.
Pretty soon, Jeter's going to need a fancy middle name in Boston - like the one that Red Sox Nation gave to Bucky Dent.

					

Here's a very simple search: PI Post Season Pitching Even Finder for plate appearances.

Click here to see the results.

Just on that main page, two interesting things that stick out are that Tom Glavine has had the most plate appearances against, since 1903, and that Yankee Stadium has been BY FAR the site of the most plate appearances, at more than double the second-place location, Fenway Park.

If you click on Yankee Stadium and get the report, you can see which visiting teams had the most plate appearances at that arena: The Brooklyn Dodgers.

Following Steve's lead, let's take a quick look at some historical post-season happenings, specifically the 1996 AL Division Series between the Texas Rangers and the New York Yankees. Or, as I like to call it, the Juan Gonzalez show.

Read the rest of this entry »

• Curtis Granderson became the founding third member of the 20/20/20/20 club (HR, SB, 2B, and 3B.) Here are the members of the 15/15/15/15 club. Carl Crawford (2005 & 2006) and Juan Samuel (1984 & 1987) have done it twice. Jimmy Rollins needs 2 SB and 3 3B this year to join the 20/20/20/20 club, so he's got a shot.

• Who's got the longest streak in the 2000's of most starts without allowing a walk? Yes, the answer is Greg Maddux, but it's not his current streak of 8 starts. In 2001 he did it in 9 straight games. The list includes streaks of 7 straight games by David Wells and Javier Vazquez. The longest streak since 1957 was by Bill Fischer in 1962, with 11 straight starts with no walks. Fischer did have a relief appearance in the middle of his streak, earning a blown save. Over the 11 starts, Fischer went 2-8 with 71 IP, 86 hits, 0 walks and just 18 strikeouts. That's a pretty weird streak.

• The Brewers led off their game on Sunday with 3 straight homers. It's just the third time it's been done, with the first occurrence back in 1987 by the Padres. It took me a while to find the second time it was done. I went to the Team Batting Event Finder, set it to all teams, home runs, then limited the events to homers in the 1st inning with no outs. Here's the list for 1994. Reading down the list, you'll notice the game where three such homers occurred, but that's not the game. From the boxscore, we see that Jacob Brumfield led off with a homer, and Bret Boone followed with one. But then Barry Larkin reached on an error, ahead of Kevin Mitchell homering. Here's a 1996 game by the Rockies where something similar happened. And one by the Mets in 1999. Finally, here's the game: in 2003 by the Braves, when Rafael Furcal, Mark DeRosa, and Gary Sheffield homered in the bottom of the first.

• Coming in to Sunday, there were 7 pitchers who had 30 starts allowing 6 or fewer earned runs. The ERAs of these players were Dontrelle Willis 5.01, Brandon Webb 2.91, C. C. Sabathia 3.15, Scott Kazmir 3.79, Tim Hudson 3.47, Dan Haren 3.03, Aaron Harang 3.64. Remember that song "One of These Things is Not Like the Others"? Maybe that explains why Dontrelle Willis finally gave up 7 ER on Sunday against the Phillies.

Having some fun with Baseball-Reference.com's Play Index Post-Season Batting Event Finder...looking at Sacrifice Bunts in Postseason.

Did you know that there have been 1,179 Sac-Bunts in the Post-Season?  Three players are tied for the most, with eight each: Derek Jeter, Scott Brosius, and Rafael Belliard.  Betcha Jeter owns this record someday.

Here's a fun slice - there have only been ten times in World Series history where a pinch-hitter laid down a Sac-Bunt.  Here's the list:

  Car#  G# Date          Series G Batter            Tm   Opp Pitcher           Score       soP eoI BO Df Result Inn RoB Out Cnt Pit RBI Play Desc.+-----+---+-------------+------+-+-----------------+---+----+-----------------+-----------+---+---+--+--+------+---+---+---+---+---+---+-------------------------+ 

     1   1 1969-10-15    WS     4 J.C. Martin       NYM  BAL Pete Richert      tied   1-1    0     9  11 RoE    b10 12-   0   -       0 *ENDED GAME*:Reached on E1 (throw to 1B)/Sacrifice Bunt; Gaspar Scores/unER/No RBI; Weis to 2B; Martin to 1B  

     2   1 1970-10-11    WS     2 Angel Bravo       CIN  BAL Moe Drabowsky     down   5-6   -1     9  11 Out    b 7 1--   0   -       0 Bunt Groundout: 1B-2B/Sacrifice; Cline to 2B  

     3   1 1971-10-17    WS     7 Tom Shopay        BAL  PIT Steve Blass       down   0-2   -2     9  11 Out    b 8 12-   0   -       0 Bunt Groundout: P-2B/Sacrifice; Hendricks to 3B; Belanger to 2B  

     4   1 1972-10-19    WS     4 Julian Javier     CIN @OAK Ken Holtzman      down   0-1   -1     9  11 Out    t 8 1--   0   -       0 Bunt Groundout: 3B-1B/Sacrifice; Concepcion to 2B  

     5   1 1975-10-15    WS     4 Ed Armbrister     CIN  BOS Luis Tiant        down   4-5   -1     9  11 Out    b 9 1--   0 0-1   2   0 Bunt Groundout: P-2B/Sacrifice; Geronimo to 2B  

     6   1 1980-10-17    WS     3 Greg Gross        PHI @KCR Dan Quisenberry   tied   3-3    0     1  11 Out    t10 1--   0 1-0   2   0 Bunt Groundout: 1B unassisted/Sacrifice; Boone to 2B  

     7   1 1981-10-21    WS     2 Bobby Murcer      NYY  LAD Terry Forster     ahead  1-0    1     9  11 Out    b 7 12-   0 0-0   1   0 Bunt Groundout: P-1B/Sacrifice; Cerone to 3B; Randolph to 2B  

     8   1 1987-10-20    WS     3 Terry Pendleton   STL  MIN Juan Berenguer    down   0-1   -1     9  11 Out    b 7 12-   0 2-0   3   0 Bunt Groundout: 3B-1B/Sacrifice; Oquendo to 3B; Pena to 2B  

     9   1 1991-10-22    WS     3 Jeff Treadway     ATL  MIN Carl Willis       tied   4-4    0     9  11 Out    b 9 1--   0 0-0   1   0 Bunt Groundout: 1B-2B/Sacrifice (Weak 1B); Belliard to 2B  

    10   1 2006-10-26    WS     4 So Taguchi        STL  DET Fernando Rodney   down   2-3   -1     2  11 RoE    b 7 -2-   0 0-0   1   0 Reached on E1/Sacrifice Bunt; Eckstein Scores/No RBI/unER; Taguchi to 2B

There's a trivia question for you:  Who is the only batter in baseball history to have a pinch-hit Sac-Bunt in a World Series game when his team was leading the game at the time of the pinch At-Bat?  The answer:  Bobby Murcer in 1981.

Here's another fun list -  Sacrifice Bunts in Post-Season, made during innings 7 or later, when the score was tied, by a Designated Hitter:

  Car#  G# Date          Series G Batter            Tm   Opp Pitcher           Score       soP eoI BO Df Result Inn RoB Out Cnt Pit RBI Play Desc.  

+-----+---+-------------+------+-+-----------------+---+----+-----------------+-----------+---+---+--+--+------+---+---+---+---+---+---+-------------------------+  

     1   1 1980-10-19    WS     5 Keith Moreland    PHI @KCR Dan Quisenberry   tied   3-3    0     5  10 Out    t 9 -2-   0 0-0   1   0 Bunt Groundout: 1B unassisted/Sacrifice; Unser to 3B  

     2   1 1981-10-07    ALDS   2 Cliff Johnson     OAK @KCR Mike Jones        tied   1-1    0     3  10 Out    t 8 1--   0   -       0 Bunt Groundout: 3B-1B/Sacrifice; Murphy to 2B  

     3   1 1984-10-03    ALCS   2 Johnny Grubb      DET @KCR Dan Quisenberry   tied   3-3    0     7  10 Out    t 9 1--   0 0-0   1   0 Bunt Groundout: P unassisted/Sacrifice; Jones to 2B  

     4   1 1985-10-11    ALCS   3 Hal McRae         KCR  TOR Jim Clancy        tied   5-5    0     4  10 Out    b 8 1--   0 0-0   1   0 Bunt Groundout: P-2B/Sacrifice; Brett to 2B  

     5   1 1990-10-06    ALCS   1 Harold Baines     OAK @BOS Tom Bolton        tied   1-1    0     4  10 Out    t 8 1--   0 0-0   1   0 Bunt Groundout: 3B-2B/Sacrifice (Short 3B Line); Canseco to 2B  

     6   1 1991-10-20    WS     2 Lonnie Smith      ATL @MIN Kevin Tapani      tied   2-2    0     1  10 Out    t 8 1--   0 0-0   1   0 Bunt Groundout: 1B-2B/Sacrifice (Weak 1B); Belliard to 2B  

     7   1 1992-10-20    WS     3 Dave Winfield     TOR  ATL Mark Wohlers      tied   2-2    0     4  10 Out    b 9 12-   0 0-0   1   0 Bunt Groundout: 1B-2B/Sacrifice (Weak 2B-1B); Alomar to 3B; Carter to 2B

Wow.  We saw that happen 3 years in a row, from 1990 to 1992 - and not again since that time.  Then again, it does take a lot for a big bat guy to square around in a big spot in a big game.  Give credit to these seven guys for doing what had to be done and checking their ego at the door.