This is our old blog. It hasn't been active since 2011. Please see the link above for our current blog or click the logo above to see all of the great data and content on this site.

Archive for the 'Splits' Category

Consecutive Home Appearances Without a Allowing a Run to Start the Season

4th July 2011

On the heels of yesterday's meltdown by the Yankees in Citi Field, Mike Axisa in his post on the River Avenue Blues blog  highlighted the great discrepancy this year by Mariano Rivera at home and on the road. Maybe I haven't been paying  enough attention, but thing that surprised me most was that Rivera has yet to allow a run at home.  How unusual is this?  Here are the most consecutive shutout home appearances by a pitcher to start a season. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Splits, Streak Finders | 8 Comments »

Mark Teixeira’s having his best April

5th April 2011

As of this writing, Mark Teixeira's got 4 HR and 10 RBI already in April (through 4 and a half games...)

Check out his career Aprils:

I Year G GS PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS TB GDP HBP SH SF IBB ROE BAbip tOPS+ sOPS+
2003 19 17 73 64 3 12 2 1 2 7 0 0 7 13 .188 .288 .344 .631 22 0 2 0 0 0 0 .204 59 68
2004 8 8 37 29 7 8 2 0 2 7 1 0 8 7 .276 .432 .552 .984 16 0 0 0 0 1 1 .300 115 156
2005 25 25 112 103 15 27 5 0 6 14 1 0 7 17 .262 .321 .485 .807 50 3 2 0 0 1 0 .263 69 116
2006 25 25 115 99 19 29 9 1 3 13 0 0 16 21 .293 .391 .495 .886 49 3 0 0 0 3 0 .347 102 131
2007 25 25 107 91 14 21 4 0 2 6 0 0 15 21 .231 .346 .341 .686 31 0 1 0 0 3 2 .279 47 90
2008 27 27 120 110 16 30 9 0 4 17 0 0 10 14 .273 .333 .464 .797 51 3 0 0 0 2 3 .283 65 116
2009 19 19 90 70 11 14 3 0 3 10 0 0 17 12 .200 .367 .371 .738 26 1 2 0 1 2 1 .196 62 96
2010 22 22 100 81 11 11 4 0 2 9 0 0 17 18 .136 .300 .259 .559 21 4 2 0 0 0 0 .148 36 54
Career Total 174 172 772 661 101 157 38 2 27 90 2 0 100 126 .238 .346 .424 .769 280 14 10 0 1 12 7 .255 71
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 4/5/2011.

His OPS is about 1.500 right now and he's already got more HR than every year but 2005 and is tied with his 4 HR in 2008.

It may not mean much in the end, but Tex fans have got to feel good about his hot start.

Posted in Splits | 10 Comments »

The real reason Josh Beckett is 4th in the Red Sox’s pitching rotation

28th March 2011

Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe has theorized that the Red Sox have held Josh Beckett back until the 4th game of the season because he has historically pitched poorly against the Texas Rangers, against whom the Red Sox open the season with a 3-game series.

Indeed, Beckett's numbers against the Rangers are among the worst of his career:

I Split G PA SO/BB BA OBP SLG OPS BAbip tOPS+
Milwaukee Brewers 4 84 3.00 .338 .393 .649 1.042 .400 190
Toronto Blue Jays 14 360 2.00 .281 .359 .558 .918 .299 156
Cincinnati Reds 3 64 3.75 .310 .365 .500 .865 .375 144
New York Yankees 22 595 2.22 .290 .358 .483 .841 .328 137
Minnesota Twins 4 106 3.50 .276 .314 .520 .835 .301 132
Texas Rangers 7 185 3.45 .292 .332 .497 .829 .341 132
Arizona Diamondbacks 6 161 3.80 .282 .327 .477 .804 .349 125
Chicago White Sox 8 214 3.47 .289 .344 .433 .777 .365 120
Chicago Cubs 4 100 2.11 .267 .333 .444 .778 .299 119
Colorado Rockies 6 161 2.40 .277 .335 .432 .768 .308 117
Cleveland Indians 7 183 4.20 .244 .306 .440 .746 .280 109
Oakland Athletics 8 218 2.67 .255 .318 .398 .716 .315 103
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 3/28/2011.

These are the clubs with the higher tOPS+ against Beckett, which is a split of his personal OPS+ against broken out by team.

In fact, of his 246 career starts, his two starts against Texas last year were the 20th- and and 33rd-worst Game Scores of his career.

Abraham surmised that if not for the opening series against the Rangers, Beckett would have been the #2 starter this year.

Posted in Game Finders, Splits | 7 Comments »

Does the W-L record matter for closers?

13th January 2011

On our Trevor Hoffman Hall of Fame post, a couple of readers remarked on his career W-L record of 61-75 as being a detriment to his HOF credentials. This doesn't make a lot of sense to me, but let's explore the issue a little bit.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Splits | 86 Comments »

Is Jason Varitek worth having?

3rd December 2010

After Victor Martinez left via free agency, the Red Sox yesterday re-signed team captain Jason Varitek.

Obviously he brings a lot more to the team than just what he does with his bat, as well as more than other on-field things like game-calling. But is it worth it?

Let's take a look at some numbers.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Splits | 14 Comments »

Shane Victorino batting with the bases loaded

7th October 2010

I don't watch a ton of baseball on TV and during last night's Phillies-Reds game, I was reminded of one of the reasons why.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Splits | 29 Comments »

Readers research: Best Giants team ERA in any month

29th September 2010

A reader named Stan wrote in and pointed out that the Giants currently have a 1.85 ERA for the month of September:

Split W L W-L% ERA GS CG SHO SV IP H R ER HR BB IBB SO WHIP SO/9 SO/BB
April/March 13 9 .591 2.75 22 0 0 6 200.0 155 65 61 14 73 4 176 1.140 7.9 2.41
May 14 14 .500 3.80 28 2 1 9 253.1 202 110 107 21 131 16 228 1.314 8.1 1.74
June 13 14 .481 3.69 27 2 1 11 239.0 241 108 98 24 99 4 211 1.423 7.9 2.13
July 20 8 .714 3.41 28 1 1 11 256.1 239 102 97 27 112 10 240 1.369 8.4 2.14
August 13 15 .464 4.55 28 0 0 7 253.0 267 138 128 30 93 16 217 1.423 7.7 2.33
Sept/Oct 16 8 .667 1.85 24 1 0 10 214.1 136 48 44 14 51 6 208 0.872 8.7 4.08
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 9/29/2010.

Does anybody know which teams (Giants or otherwise) have matched such a good ERA in any month? This is not something we can search for in the Play Index (yet).

Posted in Splits | 23 Comments »

John Lackey’s home/road splits in 2010

30th August 2010

When the Red Sox signed John Lackey as a free agent, I was among many folks who criticized the move, citing Lackey's historical performance in Fenway Park. His numbers so far this year among his career worst, in particular his 95 ERA+. Are his difficulties this year due to Fenway Park? Let's investigate.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Splits | 15 Comments »

Checking in on Robinson Cano and Kelly Johnson

23rd August 2010

Back at the end of April, we were marveling at the great starts posted by Robinson Cano and Kelly Johnson. Let's take another peak at how these two doing are doing with a little over a month left in the season.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Splits | 11 Comments »

Winning in extra innings is more luck than skill

29th July 2010

The Mets and Cardinals played 13 innings last night after playing 20 earlier this season. As of yesterday, there have been 276 team games in extra innings this year, so an average of about 9 per team. The Cardinals have been in 9 games, going 4-5, while the Mets (visible on the same link) have played in 12, going 4-8.

Incidentally, on that detailed standings page, you can also see that the teams with the best winning percentage in extra innings are the Royals (7-2), Astros (6-2), and Orioles (7-3) despite the fact that each team is in the bottom 7 in overall W-L% this year. Weird. Neil put it best in a chat window to me just now: "Further proof that winning close games is more luck than skill".

Posted in Splits | 24 Comments »