Archive for the 'Uncategorized' Category

Are Joaquin Benoit, Jose Valverde and Al Alburquerque all hurt?

There can be no other excuse for Jim Leyland bringing Brad Penny into game 6, in the 6th inning, trailing by 6.

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Since 1950, here are the pitchers who have hit a game-winning walk-off homer:

These guys all walked off with the win, meaning that since they were the pitcher of record when they homered, they also got credit for the victory on the pitching side of the ledger. The last time it happened was in 1986 by Craig Lefferts.

Note that this list includes only players who were the pitcher of record at the time of their homer. It does not include guys who normally appeared as pitchers but hit a walk-off pinch-hit homer. (I'm not sure if this have ever happened.)

Also note again that this list goes back to only 1950. I know that Wes Ferrell did it prior to then, as I imagine a few others did as well.

I see that Wally Burnette surrendered two such homers, both in 1957. And...what a great name: Vinegar Bend Mizell.

Thanks to Kingturtle for writing in with the idea.

In game 5 of the NLCS, Tony LaRussa replaced starting pitcher Jaime Garcia with Octavio Dotel in the 5th inning, with 2 outs, 2 on, a 4-1 lead and Ryan Braun coming up.

Since I've often knocked LaRussa for ruining the flow of games with excessive pitching changes, fairness demands that I shout this from the rooftop:

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If the Rangers advance to the 2011 World Series, that will be back-to-back appearances for that club in the Fall Classic.

Quick--name the last team to appear in consecutive World Series. Read the rest of this entry »

Nelson Cruz has homered in 4 of the 5 games of this ALCS (games 1, 2, 4 and 5), tying a MLB postseason series record shared by 10 others.

Guess who was on deck today when Mike Napoli made the last out with the tying runs aboard?

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Justin Verlander threw 133 pitches over 7.1 innings of ALCS game 5, allowing 4 runs (and the obligatory Nelson Cruz HR), but he bridged Detroit's bullpen gap and handed the ball to temporary closer, Phil Coke, who insured that their season would have at least one more road trip.

Verlander, who threw more pitches than anyone during the regular season, surpassed by 1 his previous career high (set this May 29), and matched the postseason high of this century, set by Mark Prior in game 3 of the 2003 NLDS.

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The intentional walk that Ron Washington ordered for Miguel Cabrera in game 4 of the ALCS was the 10th bases-empty IBB known to have occurred in the postseason. It was the first that came with only 1 out: Read the rest of this entry »

Lance Berkman and Jacoby Ellsbury have each been awarded their league's comeback player of the year award.

Those 2 guys were among 20 this season to qualify for the batting title while posting an OPS+ of at least 140.

Here are those same 20 guys ranked by lowest career OPS+ prior to 2011:

The young guys near the top of this list just posted their career-best seasons.

Nelson Cruz did it again yesterday, belting a 3-run home in extra innings to help the Rangers win an ALCS game.

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Matt Kemp registered a WAR of 10.0 this season. Among his teammates, the next highest WAR for non-pitchers was 1.8 from Jamey Carroll. In fact, the sum of all other Dodger WAR (ignoring pitching) was 6.4, meaning Kemp outscored all the rest of his teammates combined.

His margin of 8.2 above the next highest player is massive. Here are the 200 most recent times that a single player (non-pitcher) achieved a seasonal WAR of 8.2.

Working chronologically backwards, here's what I found:

• In 2007, Albert Pujols had a WAR of 8.3 and his next-closest teammate was Scott Rolen at 2.3, a difference of 6 wins. All Cardinals besides Pujols totaled 9.1, so Pujols nearly outscored them.
• The last time before Kemp that a player had double-digit WAR (non-pitcher) was Barry Bonds in 2004. Indeed, he outscored runner-up Ray Durham by 9.1, besting Kemp's 2011 mark. But the Giants other than Bonds did manage 16.5 WAR, so Bonds didn't outscore them single-handedly.
• Adrian Beltre also had some big margins in 2004. He finished at 10.1 over teammate Milton Bradley at 3.6, a difference of 6.5 wins. The team minus Beltre totaled 14.2.
• In 2003 and 2001, Bonds came somewhat close to outscoring his teammates in WAR.
• In 2001, Sammy Sosa registered an 11.4 WAR, a whopping 9.2 wins above runner-up Ricky Gutierrez at 2.2. Sosa's teammates totaled 11.5, just a pinch more than Sosa himself.
• In 1997, Larry Walker had 9.0 WAR and was trailed by Andres Galarraga at 2.9 WAR, for a margin of 6.1. The Rockies minus Walker had 9.6.
• Got it finally: in 1997, Mike Piazza racked up 9.3 WAR. Next closest was Raul Mondesi at 5.8, but all the Dodgers except for Piazza had just 7.6.

This means that Kemp is the first player since Piazza in 1997 to outscore all of his teammates (non-pitchers) in WAR.

I wonder when the last time a non-Dodgers player did it? Feel free to keep looking at the list.

Thanks to reader Bip for emailing in about this.