Archive for the 'Uncategorized' Category

A Quality Start is an official stat assigned to a starting pitcher who goes at least 6 innings while giving up no more than 3 earned runs. Let's take a look at this stat in a bit more detail to see if it's all that useful.

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-- Tim Lincecum's streak of 9 straight starts with at least 6 IP and no more than 2 runs allowed dissolved in an unprecedented fashion. In his 150th career start, Lincecum allowed the Cubs 5 runs on 3 HRs in 6+ IP -- the first time he's ever yielded more than 2 dingers.

• The Giants lost, 7-0, collecting 2 hits, just 1 from the starting lineup. They've lost 3 of 5 at home to the worst teams in the league, and are 5 games behind the streaking D-backs, who won their 6th straight behind Daniel Hudson.

-- Clayton Kershaw went the distance for his 17th win; he's the first Dodger to reach that mark since Chan Ho Park in 2000. Kershaw also leapfrogged Lincecum for #2 in the NL ERA chase at 2.45. (Seems about time for a dedicated blog post....)

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Nobody seems to like Andruw Jones anymore. Braves fans choose to remember the 19-year-old who hit a couple of World Series homers against the Yankees, or the guy who led the league in homers and RBI in 2005. Dodgers fans, understandably, still have nightmares about him--the guy who hit .158/.256/.249 for them in 2008. Rangers fans recall a guy who hit a few homers but still batted just .214.

Last year, Jones put together a nice season in limited duty with the White Sox. This year, the Yankees have followed the same strategy, and look what it has gotten them:

• Slash line of .254/.354/.514, as compared with his career numbers of .256/.339/.488. That's right--he's got a higher OBP and SLG despite playing in the heart of the steroids era.
• 11 HR and 28 RBI in 164 PAs. He couldn't maintain that over 600 PAs, but if he did they'd project to 40 HR and 102 RBI.
• An OPS+ of 128, a career high except for that insane 2005 (again, though, over a pretty small number of plate appearances.)

-- David Price went 7 innings and set a Tampa Bay record with 14 strikeouts, breaking the mark shared by James Shields and Scott Kazmir. It was just the 5th game in the majors this year with at least 5 IP and 2 Ks per inning. The Blue Jays fanned 18 times in all, matching their franchise high for a 9-inning game. (Care to guess who started against Toronto in the other 18-K game? The year was 1989, the team was Texas; yep, you got it. And our man took the loss despite 14 Ks in 6 IP.)

• Desmond Jennings (5-3-4-3) homered in each of the first 2 innings, the 2nd a back-to-back affair, and added his 14th SB. He's the first in Tampa history to swipe a bag in a multi-HR game. (Take that, "Perfect Storm!" Carl Crawford, better known for speed than for power, hit 2 HRs 5 times with the Rays, but never added a steal.)
• He may be hitting over his head, but so far Jennings is hitting opponents over their heads -- .354 BA/.440 OBP/.646 SLG in 34 games.
• For the record, the fewest games played by a non-pitcher Rookie of the Year is 52, by Willie McCovey in 1959. Stretch's slashes: .354/.429/.656. League scoring average: 4.40, same as the 2011 AL. Hmmm....

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Did anybody else just see that? Greikne took a walking lead off first base because the Cubs weren't holding him on, and easily stole second base with one out. That's pretty unusual (to see a pitcher execute a straight steal.)

Yesterday Ervin Santana pitched his 8th-straight game with at least 7 innings pitched. That's among the best streaks so far in 2011:

That Halladay streak was insane...9 walks and 89 strikeouts over 83.2 innings...whew. Since then, he's fallen "way off", with 9 walks and 68 strikeouts in 77.1 innings (heh).

Getting back to Santana, his current streak is twice as long as his previous longest such streaks:

Nice.

Here are players who had triples for all of their hits in a season:

This list goes back to 1901, and I included players with 1 hit for a triple going back to 2001 (many more players did this before 2001).

C. J. Wilson is just about certain to join this group since it's very unlikely he'll get any more regular-season at-bats this year. His teammate Omar Quintanilla is more likely to get another type of hit before the end of the year.

Just 24 teams in action, thanks to the big blow. A few tidbits:

-- Despite one of his lesser outings (2nd-lowest Game Score of the year), Justin Verlander still collected his 20th win, thanks to a late rally after he'd wasted a lead. Detroit has won 8 of 9, keeping the pressure on Cleveland, who won to remain 6.5 GB.

• Verlander has won 8 straight starts and 16 of 18. The only longer streak by a Tiger since 1947 was 9 straight by Denny McLain in '68. The last longer one-season streak in the majors was 9 by Brandon Webb to open the 2008 season.
• It's the Tigers' 1st 20-win year since Bill Gullickson in 1991, and the 4rd in the last 38 years; Jack Morris did it in 1983 and '86.

-- Seven different Angels had an RBI, as they evened up their showdown series in Texas, 8-4 and moved back within 2 games -- 1 game in the A.I.L.C.*

• C.J. Wilson had held the Halos to 4 ER in 27 IP over 4 prior starts this year, and hadn't allowed a HR since July -- but they took him deep 4 times in just 5 IP, the first time he's ever allowed more than 2 HRs.
• * All-Important Loss Column, of course. Not many real races left, so I've got to squeeze in the cliches when I can!

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I hope everyone on the North American east coast stays safe in the wake of Hurricane Irene.

I had forgotten that the B-R Bullpen has a great "This Date in Baseball History" feature. For example, here are the entries for today, August 27th.

I was first looking at this a couple of days ago but I didn't want to post something so trivial while there was a deep discussion going on about Mike Flanagan.

Anyway, that day, August 25th, was the 25th anniversary of Mark McGwire's first homer. It was the 16th anniversary of a memorable game for Phillies fans, when Darren Daulton tore his ACL, Gregg Jeffries hit for the cycle, and Jeff Juden hit a grand slam (I watched this game on TV!) It was the 10th anniversary of the Indians-Mariners game where a bench-clearing brawl was sparked by Omar Vizquel's complaint that the sun was reflecting off Arthur Rhodes' earring. then years later, both guys are well into their 40s and still playing MLB.

As for August 26th, how about these two entires:

1966:

• After seeing a caricature of himself on the scoreboard, an angry Leo Durocher calls the Astrodome's press box to have it removed. When nothing is done, the enraged Cubs manager rips the phone out of the dugout wall and tosses it onto the infield.

1972:

• Leo Durocher, formerly of the Cubs, replaces Harry Walker as manager of the Astros. It is only the second time someone has managed two National League teams in the same season. The first was in 1948, when Durocher piloted the Dodgers and the Giants.

So it took exactly 6 years, but Durocher finally got the control he wanted in Houston. 🙂

Should you start looking at the "This Date in History" feature, be prepared to watch your free time disappear.