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Archive for the 'Uncategorized' Category

I love Mark Eichhorn…

30th June 2011

...and I've never even met him. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Uncategorized | 57 Comments »

The Phillies are still chucking shutouts

29th June 2011

Since 1969 (the year the pitcher's mound was lowered to its current height), here are the most team shutouts within the first 80 games of the year:

In sports, it seems so often that reality fails to live up to hype. This is not the case with the Phillies' rotation, which has been dynamite.

Posted in Uncategorized | 23 Comments »

Bizarro Box-Score Sorcery

29th June 2011

[Please humor me for a moment; I'll get to the point shortly.]

Here's a fun exercise with the Play Index: Try to find a game where both starting pitchers had the exact same basic box score line of IP, H, R, BB and SO. Here's a step-by-step guide for doing that search:
(To skip the search and see the results for a certain pitching line that I selected at random, click here.) Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Uncategorized | 63 Comments »

Most wins by a pitcher who never won 10 in a single season

29th June 2011

I did this search by first ranking all pitchers since 1901 in wins, and then finding among those the guys that never won 10 in a season. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Uncategorized | 31 Comments »

Jose, can you get any hotter?

29th June 2011

[Sure, Cliff Lee's shutout streak is *the* story tonight, and Andy's got that discussion going. And for real drama, the Mets broke their nearly two-year grand slam drought, and liked it so much that they did it again the next inning. But still -- this is my story, and I'm stickin' to it.]

Playing in his 1,000th career game Tuesday night, it took just 5 innings for Jose Reyes to go 4 for 4 with 3 runs, a double, and his 15th triple, in the Mets' 79th game. He remains on pace for several Mets season records as well as some numbers that haven't been seen in 80 years or more.

For starters, Reyes has hit more triples in the first 79 games than any other player since 1919 (which is the limit of B-R's game-search database). Here are the guys who had 14 triples in the first 79 games: Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Uncategorized | 93 Comments »

Cliff Lee

28th June 2011

Dude just threw his 3rd consecutive complete-game shutout. I'd say he's hitting his stride.

Posted in Uncategorized | 39 Comments »

Active hitting leaders

28th June 2011

Here are active hitting leaders for most plate appearances ... Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Uncategorized | 29 Comments »

Biggest BAbip advantages so far this year

28th June 2011

I found several players with BAbips (batting average on balls put in play) that are at least 100 points higher than their batting averages so far in 2011. That's even more bad news for these guys, since they are all having pretty bad years, and if their BAbips regress to the mean a little, their seasons will probably get even worse.

Rk Player PA BAbip OPS+ 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS Pos Tm
1 Dexter Fowler 247 .345 79 13 5 0 18 31 66 .238 .340 .348 .688 /*8 COL
2 Jack Cust 226 .322 96 11 1 2 19 40 65 .216 .358 .319 .677 /*D SEA
3 Brad Hawpe 216 .331 86 10 0 4 19 19 68 .231 .301 .344 .645 /*39D SDP
4 Bill Hall 183 .327 71 9 2 2 14 10 59 .224 .273 .335 .609 /*4 TOT
5 Willie Harris 132 .355 83 5 0 1 9 14 39 .241 .333 .310 .644 /758D9 NYM
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 6/27/2011.

Incidentally, Jack Cust did this last year, too. He finished 2010 with 425 plate appearances, a .272 batting average, and a .387 BAbip. He also had a 128 OPS+. In 2010, Austin Jackson maintained a 103-point differential over 675 plate appearances.

Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments »

Two surprising rotations in 2011

28th June 2011

Through Sunday, two teams -- one in each league -- have 4 pitchers with an ERA+ of at least 100 (and qualify for the ERA title). The identities of the two teams may surprise you:

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Uncategorized | 68 Comments »

Three players homering twice in the same game

27th June 2011

In today's Rockies-Cubs game, three different players hit 2 homers. Carlos Gonzalez (COL), Carlos Pena (CHN), and Aramis Ramirez (CHN) did the honors.

This actually hasn't happened for a little while. Here are the most recent times when 2 teams combined for 3 different players hitting a pair of homers:

Rk Tm Opp Date #Matching
1 SDP ATL 2006-07-14 3
2 DET BOS 2004-08-08 3
3 PHI CHC 2004-07-30 3
4 CHW PHI 2004-06-08 3
5 BOS NYY 2003-07-04 3
6 CHW DET 2002-07-02 3
7 SFG COL 2002-07-02 3
8 MIN MIL 2001-07-12 3
9 KCR CLE 2001-06-30 3
10 NYY CLE 2001-06-02 3
11 HOU CHC 2000-09-09 3
12 ANA TBD 2000-04-21 3
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 6/27/2011.

Going back to 1919, the most players homering twice in the same game is 4:

Rk Tm Opp Date #Matching
1 COL MON 1999-08-14 4
2 DET CHW 1995-05-28 4
3 PIT STL 1947-08-16 4
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 6/27/2011.

It's not a surprise, I suppose, that the most recent game happened in Coors Field in the pre-humidor days.

Posted in Uncategorized | 23 Comments »