Archive for the 'Uncategorized' Category

[The mystery has been solved -- see Bubba @35.]

What do these players have in common? For the 2 groups listed below:

• Each member of a group has something in common with every other member of that group.
• The common factor of Group 1 is the opposite of that of Group 2.
• The common factors are something in their performance record.
• The order in which players are listed is merely alphabetical.

I will update the post to list pertinent facts as they are uncovered.

Facts uncovered so far:

1. They have all played this year.
2. No player in Group 1 has been an All-Star.
3. Every player in Group 2 has been an All-Star; all but Ortiz have made it exactly once.
4. Each group is composed of a player at every position, including DH and relief pitcher.

Read the rest of this entry »

In last night's Phillies-Cardinals game, both starting pitchers did something pretty unusual. Read the rest of this entry »

A survey of Wednesday's MLB action that suffers severe sampling bias....

-- Cliff Lee became the first pitcher with consecutive shutouts since September 2009, when -- who else? -- Roy Halladay did it in the last 2 starts of his Blue Jays career. For all his accomplishments, it's the first time that Lee -- who has put up 23 straight zeroes -- has ever thrown back-to-back shutouts; he has never had 3 straight scoreless starts of any duration.

• The Phillies have the best record and the biggest division lead in the majors (47-28, 4.5 G). No other division leader is more than 2 games up.
• The last shutout streak before Halladay was by Roy Oswalt in 2008.
• Thirty-one different pitchers have a shutout this year; Halladay, who had 67% more shutouts than anyone else over the past 3 years, is not among them.

-- How bad can it get for Chone Figgins? He began the day dead last in OPS+ among qualifying batters (43), then went 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts, dropping his BA to .190. And his error with 2 out and a man aboard led to Washington's first run in their 2-1 win. (Still 3 years to go on that sunk cost for Seattle.)

• Tyler Clippard pitched a perfect 8th inning for his MLB-best 20th hold, 4 more than the #2 total. Clippard has a 1.90 ERA and 0.89 WHIP, and his 42.2 relief innings rank 3rd in the majors. He began the day 3rd in Wins Above Replacement for relievers, with 1.5 WAR (tied with closers Mariano Rivera and Francisco Cordero).
• Figgins for Jason Bay, anyone? Bay might be able to find himself again closer to his native British Columbia, while the Mets could use the versatility of Figgins.

Read the rest of this entry »

Thanks to reader Doug N., I figured out how to generate this list with the PI.

Here are the guys (ranked by most plate appearances) whose total homers plus walks plus strikeouts were at least 45% of their career plate appearances:

Read the rest of this entry »

Wily Mo Pena made a semi-triumphant return to the majors tonight as Arizona's DH in Kansas City, with a game-tying HR in the 5th inning against Luke Hochevar. He also struck out twice, no surprise to anyone.

Pena last played in the bigs with Washington in July 2008; he was released after hitting .205 with 2 HRs in 206 PAs. He was out of affiliated ball at one point last year, playing in the independent Atlantic League. But Arizona signed him last December and sent him to Reno this spring, and he's been slaying the PCL this year, hitting .363 with an 1.165 OPS.

He's still only 28 years old, even though he's been around so long that he was traded for Drew Henson back in 2001. With Cincinnati in 2004-05 combined, Wily Mo hit 45 HRs in 647 ABs with 7 multi-HR games and a few monster blasts, but also with 224 Ks against just 42 walks. He went to Boston in 2006 in a deal for Bronson Arroyo, and over the next 2 years his career gradually petered out.

Exactly what the D-backs plan to do with him is an open question. Except for one game at 3B, he's only ever played OF in the majors, not well; and Arizona's 3 starting OFs (Justin Upton, Chris Young and Gerardo Parra) are all having good years. He's been mostly a DH in AAA this year, but he played a little at 1B last year; maybe he'll platoon at 1B with lefty Juan Miranda, although so far Miranda is hitting lefties better than righties. Maybe Pena is just up to DH in the interleague road games; if he hits, he might stick around as a bat off the bench, since Arizona's bench has been a weak spot all year.

But those are thoughts for another day; this is Wily's time!

[The polls have closed -- see comments #20 & #25 -- but please tune in next time!]

A certain Play Index search returns the following pitchers tied at the top of the list:

• Tim Hudson
• Andy Pettitte
• Juan Marichal
• Whitey Ford
• Bob Feller
• Carl Hubbell
• Pete Alexander

If I increase the search period by two years, these two are tied for the lead:

• Whitey Ford
• Pete Alexander

Both lists are shown in the same order as generated by the Play Index.

Questions: You must answer both correctly. If you have one right and the other wrong, I will say that, but will not say which is right. If you attempt only one of the questions, I will say nothing.

1. What was the original search?
2. What other active pitcher would join the top group if the search period were reduced by one year?

Here are all the times so far in 2011 that a team has scored exactly 14 runs:

The Red Sox have done it twice as often as all the other teams combined.

Going back 20 full seasons to 1991, only 3 teams have ever scored 14 runs more times the whole year (let alone in the first 3 months...)

Reader David D. emailed in to ask why the Pirates are so bad in interleague play. Let's look at it a little bit.

Read the rest of this entry »

For Father's Day, I took my family out to the new minor-league ballpark in Pomona (Rockland County), NY, home to the expansion Rockland Boulders of the independent CanAm League. Despite missing the chance to see Ozzie Smith's son, Dustin (who was released the day before), it was a wonderful day.

If you're in the NYC area and looking for the minor-league experience -- especially if you're in the northern 'burbs and don't relish the schlep out to Coney or Staten Island -- I highly recommend a trip to Provident Bank Park. I could describe it for you, but it's easier for you to just check out this video provided by B-R blogger Steve Lombardi. It's about 15 minutes' drive past the Tappan Zee Bridge, and just off the Palisades Parkway and Route 45, in a lovely mountainous setting.

Read the rest of this entry »

Here are the 17 pitchers who, since 1901, amassed an ERA+ of 100 or better as well as an OPS+ (as hitters) of 100 or better (minimum 10 plate appearances):

And here are their stats as hitters: