Many months ago, back when the Mets were in the conversation as the best team in the National League, I posted a contest created by a reader named BoondockSaint. Prior to the start of the season he posted 40 questions and invited everyone to test their  prognostication skills. Now that the season has ended, I invited BoondockSaint to send me the results and here are the final scores:

1. Whiz - 26 correct
2. BoondockSaint - 25
3. Redsauce - 24
4. JohnnyTwisto - 23
5. Bunnywrangler - 22
6. PCG -21

BoondockSaint also sent me the questions with the final results: Read the rest of this entry »

It was noted by an Arkansan on SABR-L that Lee and Burnett were both from Arkansas and were born within a year of each other, Burnett from North Little Rock and Lee from Benton. This was the 38th time that the two WS starters from the same state in the Union. The most recent was Kevin Appier and Russ Ortiz, both from California, faced each other twice in the 2002 World Series.

Surprisingly, at least to me, no foreign country has boasted two native sons starting in a World Series game.

Full List after the jump

Here is the full list.
Read the rest of this entry »

Crowd watching "playograph" at Herald Bldg., World Series, 1911 (LOC) on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Interest in the WS has always been high. The picture above is from the 1911 World Series. Gameday Circa 1911.

Analysis: Phillies Have the Edge on Defense - Bats Blog - NYTimes.com

Watch Sean get killed for presenting the UZR's of the Yanks and Phillies first basemen.

I noticed that in 2009, Elijah Dukes managed to steal just 3 bases to go along with 10 times caught stealing. I thought for sure that would be way up on the leaderboard, but I was wrong.

  Cnt Player             **SB** CS Year Age Tm  Lg  G   PA  AB  R   H  2B 3B HR RBI  BB IBB  SO HBP  SH  SF GDP   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  Positions
+----+-----------------+-------+--+----+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+
    1 Pete Runnels          0   10 1952  24 WSH AL 152 632 555  70 158 18  3  1  64  72   0  55   1   4   0  14  .285  .368  .333  .701 *6/4
    2 Jose Vizcaino         1   11 1994  26 NYM NL 103 456 410  47 105 13  3  3  33  33   3  62   2   5   6   5  .256  .310  .324  .634 *6
    3 Eddie Yost            1   11 1957  30 WSH AL 110 492 414  47 104 13  5  9  38  73   2  49   5   0   0   6  .251  .370  .372  .742 *5
    4 Bobby Doerr           1   10 1939  21 BOS AL 127 574 525  75 167 28  2 12  73  38   0  32   1  10   0  17  .318  .365  .448  .813 *4
    5 Zeb Terry             1   13 1921  30 CHC NL 123 553 488  59 134 18  1  2  45  27   0  19   4  34   0   0  .275  .318  .328  .646 *4
    6 Todd Cruz             2   10 1982  26 SEA AL 136 519 492  44 113 20  2 16  57  12   1  95   0  11   4  18  .230  .246  .376  .622 *6
    7 Charlie Moore         2   10 1982  29 MIL AL 133 492 456  53 116 22  4  6  45  29   2  49   1   4   2  11  .254  .299  .360  .659 *92/4
    8 Luis Gomez            2   10 1978  26 TOR AL 153 469 413  39  92  7  3  0  32  34   1  41   0  19   3  10  .223  .280  .254  .534 *6
    9 Elliott Maddox        2   11 1978  30 NYM NL 119 469 389  43 100 18  2  2  39  71   1  38   2   2   5   8  .257  .370  .329  .699 *958/3
   10 Jerry Morales         2   12 1974  25 CHC NL 151 590 534  70 146 21  7 15  82  46   3  63   2   3   5  15  .273  .330  .423  .753 *798
   11 Curt Flood            2   12 1958  20 STL NL 121 461 422  50 110 17  2 10  41  31   1  56   4   4   0  17  .261  .317  .382  .699 *8/5
   12 Johnny Groth          2   10 1952  25 DET AL 141 580 524  56 149 22  2  4  51  51   0  39   0   5   0  11  .284  .348  .357  .705 *8/7
   13 Bill Knickerbocke     2   12 1935  23 CLE AL 132 577 540  77 161 34  5  0  55  27   0  31   0  10   0   0  .298  .332  .380  .712 *6
   14 Charlie Jamieson      2   13 1929  36 CLE AL 102 422 364  56 106 22  1  0  26  50   0  12   1   7   0   0  .291  .378  .357  .735 *7
   15 Zeb Terry             2   11 1922  31 CHC NL 131 571 496  56 142 24  2  0  67  34   0  16   2  39   0   0  .286  .335  .343  .678 *4/65
   16 Hod Ford              2   11 1921  23 BSN NL 152 614 555  50 155 29  5  2  61  36   0  49   4  19   0   0  .279  .328  .360  .688 *46
   17 Elijah Dukes          3   10 2009  25 WSN NL 107 416 364  38  91 20  4  8  58  46   2  74   3   0   3   8  .250  .337  .393  .730 *98/7
   18 Mike Marshall         3   10 1985  25 LAD NL 135 564 518  72 152 27  2 28  95  37   6 137   3   2   4   8  .293  .342  .515  .857 *9/37
   19 Tony Johnson          3   13 1982  26 TOR AL  70 111  98  17  23  2  1  3  14  11   1  26   0   1   1   1  .235  .309  .367  .676 7D/89
   20 Rick Miller           3   13 1978  30 CAL AL 132 547 475  66 125 25  4  1  37  54   1  70   4  10   4  14  .263  .341  .339  .680 *89
   21 Max Alvis             3   10 1967  29 CLE AL 161 697 637  66 163 23  4 21  70  38   1 107   4  16   2  13  .256  .301  .403  .704 *5
   22 Irv Hall              3   10 1945  26 PHA AL 151 668 616  62 161 17  5  0  50  35   0  42   6  11   0   8  .261  .307  .305  .612 *4
   23 Mike Tresh            3   10 1940  26 CHW AL 135 538 480  62 135 15  5  1  64  49   0  40   1   8   0  12  .281  .349  .340  .689 *2
   24 Red Kress             3   16 1931  24 SLB AL 150 655 605  87 188 46  8 16 114  46   0  48   1   3   0   0  .311  .360  .493  .853 *5963
   25 Red Kress             3   12 1930  23 SLB AL 154 679 614  94 192 43  8 16 112  50   0  56   2  13   0   0  .313  .366  .487  .853 *65
+----+-----------------+-------+--+----+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+
  Cnt Player             **SB** CS Year Age Tm  Lg  G   PA  AB  R   H  2B 3B HR RBI  BB IBB  SO HBP  SH  SF GDP   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  Positions
+----+-----------------+-------+--+----+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+
   26 Charlie Jamieson      3   12 1928  35 CLE AL 112 501 433  63 133 18  4  1  37  56   0  20   1  11   0   0  .307  .388  .374  .762 *7
   27 Joe Sewell            3   16 1927  28 CLE AL 153 652 569  83 180 48  5  1  92  51   0   7   9  23   0   0  .316  .382  .424  .806 *6
   28 Ray Morehart          3   11 1926  26 CHW AL  73 208 192  27  61 10  3  0  21  11   0  15   1   4   0   0  .318  .358  .401  .759 *4
   29 Andy High             3   12 1922  24 BRO NL 153 659 579  82 164 27 10  6  65  59   0  26   4  17   0   0  .283  .354  .396  .750 *56/4
   30 Ray Powell            3   12 1922  33 BSN NL 142 619 550  82 163 22 11  6  37  59   0  66   4   6   0   0  .296  .369  .409  .778 *8
   31 Larry Kopf            3   14 1921  30 CIN NL 107 427 367  36  80  8  3  1  25  43   0  20   6  11   0   0  .218  .310  .264  .574 *6/457
   32 Larry Gardner         3   20 1920  34 CLE AL 154 683 597  72 185 31 11  3 118  53   0  25   1  32   0   0  .310  .367  .414  .781 *5
   33 Zinn Beck             3   10 1915  29 STL NL  70 245 223  21  52  9  4  0  15  12   0  31   3   7   0   0  .233  .282  .309  .591 *5/64
   34 Butch Schmidt         3   10 1915  28 BSN NL 127 524 458  46 115 26  7  2  60  36   0  59   9  21   0   0  .251  .318  .352  .670 *3

Since caught stealing has been kept as a statistic, there have been 17 guys to steal even fewer bases than Dukes with at least 10 caught stealings.

I'm flabbergasted at such high CS totals for guys with so few stolen bases.

Check out all the players with at least 10 CS in 2009:

  Cnt Player             **SB** CS Year Age Tm  Lg  G   PA  AB  R   H  2B 3B HR RBI  BB IBB  SO HBP  SH  SF GDP   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  Positions
+----+-----------------+-------+--+----+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+
    1 Jacoby Ellsbury      70   12 2009  25 BOS AL 153 691 624  94 188 27 10  8  60  49   3  74   6   6   6  13  .301  .355  .415  .770 *8
    2 Michael Bourn        61   12 2009  26 HOU NL 157 678 606  97 173 27 12  3  35  63   1 140   2   5   2   1  .285  .354  .384  .738 *8
    3 Carl Crawford        60   16 2009  27 TBR AL 156 672 606  96 185 28  8 15  68  51   1  99   8   2   5   7  .305  .364  .452  .816 *7/D
    4 B.J. Upton           42   14 2009  24 TBR AL 144 626 560  79 135 33  4 11  55  57   0 152   3   3   3   7  .241  .313  .373  .686 *8
    5 Chone Figgins        42   17 2009  31 LAA AL 158 729 615 114 183 30  7  5  54 101   0 114   1   8   4   8  .298  .395  .393  .788 *5/4D7
    6 Nyjer Morgan         42   17 2009  28 TOT NL 120 533 469  74 144 15  7  3  39  40   2  74   9  10   5   9  .307  .369  .388  .757 *78
    7 Rajai Davis          41   12 2009  28 OAK AL 125 432 390  65 119 27  5  3  48  29   0  70   7   2   4  12  .305  .360  .423  .783 *8/9D
    8 Scott Podsednik      30   13 2009  33 CHW AL 132 587 537  75 163 25  6  7  48  39   1  74   3   6   2   8  .304  .353  .412  .765 *78D/9
    9 Juan Pierre          30   12 2009  31 LAD NL 145 425 380  57 117 16  8  0  31  27   3  27   8   9   1   7  .308  .365  .392  .757 *78
   10 Dexter Fowler        27   10 2009  23 COL NL 135 518 433  73 115 29 10  4  34  67   1 116   1  14   3   4  .266  .363  .406  .769 *8
   11 Denard Span          23   10 2009  25 MIN AL 145 676 578  97 180 16 10  8  68  70   3  89  10  12   6   7  .311  .392  .415  .807 *8*79
   12 Ryan Theriot         21   10 2009  29 CHC NL 154 677 602  81 171 20  5  7  54  51   1  93   6  13   5  13  .284  .343  .369  .712 *6
   13 Troy Tulowitzki      20   11 2009  24 COL NL 151 628 543 101 161 25  9 32  92  73   4 112   3   0   9  20  .297  .377  .552  .929 *6
   14 Hunter Pence         14   11 2009  26 HOU NL 159 647 585  76 165 26  5 25  72  58   1 109   1   0   3  25  .282  .346  .472  .818 *9
   15 Clint Barmes         12   10 2009  30 COL NL 154 604 550  69 135 32  3 23  76  31   2 121  10   6   7   6  .245  .294  .440  .734 *46
   16 Kosuke Fukudome       6   10 2009  32 CHC NL 146 603 499  79 129 38  5 11  54  93   3 112   3   3   5  15  .259  .375  .421  .796 *89
   17 Elijah Dukes          3   10 2009  25 WSN NL 107 416 364  38  91 20  4  8  58  46   2  74   3   0   3   8  .250  .337  .393  .730 *98/7

Now, all the guys on this list below B.J. Upton shouldn't have been trying to steal bases this season. A guy's success rate should be at least 75% or the outcomes aren't worth it for the team. But at least guys like Podsednik and Span managed to be successful more times than not. I don't understand how someone can get thrown out 10 times while stealing so few times. I mean--a few pickoffs I can understand. But ten? Geez...

Jimmy Rollins came to the plate last night as his team's last hope. The Phillies trailed by a run and were down to their last out.  However, just three pitches later, it was the Dodgers who were done. Rollins and the Phillies has grabbed a win from the verge of defeat. In doing so Rollins became the fifth player in postseason history to come to the plate with the opportunity to lose the game for  his team and instead provide them with a walk-off win.  The others include some amazing post-season moments, including Cookie Lavagetto' s turning Bill Beven's no-hit bid into a loss, Kirk Gibson's one legged home run, the Braves remarkable comeback in the 1992 NLCS, the only such game in extra innings.

  Car#  G# Date          Series G Batter            Tm   Opp Pitcher           Score       Result Inn RoB Out Cnt Pit RBI Play Desc.
+-----+---+-------------+------+-+-----------------+---+----+-----------------+-----------+------+---+---+---+---+---+---+-------------------------+
     1   1 1947-10-03    WS     4 Cookie Lavagetto  BRO  NYY Bill Bevens       down   1-2  2B     b 9 12-   2  -        2 *ENDED GAME*:Double to RF; Gionfriddo Scores; Miksis Scores
     2   1 1988-10-15    WS     1 Kirk Gibson       LAD  OAK Dennis Eckersley  down   3-4  HR     b 9 -2-   2 3-2   7   2 *ENDED GAME*:Home Run (Line Drive to Deep RF); Davis Scores
     3   1 1992-10-14    NLCS   7 Francisco Cabrera ATL  PIT Stan Belinda      down   1-2  1B     b 9 123   2 2-1   4   2 *ENDED GAME*:Single to LF (Line Drive to Short LF); Justice Scores/unER; Bream Scores/unER; Berryhill to 2B
     4   1 2003-10-03    NLDS   3 Ivan Rodriguez    FLA  SFG Tim Worrell       down   2-3  1B     b11 123   2 1-2   5   2 *ENDED GAME*:Single to RF (Line Drive); Gonzalez Scores/unER; Pierre Scores/unER; Castillo to 2B
 

Rollins also became the 11th player overall and second this season to give his team the lead, despite coming to bat trailing with 2 out in the ninth.

If you like baseball cards, I recommend checking out a blog called Cardboard Junkie. Recently, the author posted this 1983 Topps Gaylord Perry card as part of his analysis of that particular set:

He also noted that Gaylord Perry had more career wins than the entire Mariners franchise when he joined the team. I mean--Perry had more wins than the Mariners in their entire history up until that point. A quick check confirms that before the 1982 season, Perry had 297 career wins while the Mariners had (1977-1981) just 290.

This got me to thinking about how often this happens, namely that a pitcher joins a team and has more career wins than his new franchise in its history. Of course it must happen pretty often. Virtually every pitcher with major league experience has more wins than an expansion team. Look for example at the 1993 Florida Marlins. They had zero franchise wins when the season started, but obviously most of the pitchers (such as Charlie Hough, Jack Armstrong, Bryan Harvey, etc) had at least 1 career win before 1993.

So we could find many examples of pitchers who fit this description. However--are they any who had more than Perry's 297 wins when he accomplished this "feat"? It would have to be a 300-game winner going to play for a pretty young franchise. The first guy who pops into mind is Randy Johnson, who joined the Diamondbacks in 1999 after they had won 165 games in their first 2 seasons. However, at that time, Johnson had only 143 career wins.

Anyway--can anybody come up with a pitcher who beats Perry's total of 297?

The Phillies now lead the Dodgers 8-0 heading into the bottom of the seventh.  If that score holds it would be tied for the 13th biggest blowout in a postseason shutout. Here  the teams that scored at least 10 runs in a postseason game in which they shutout their opponent.:

  Cnt Date          Series G Tm   Opp GmReslt  IP   H  R ER BB SO HR Pit Str IR IS  BF  AB 2B 3B IBB HBP SH SF GDP SB CS Pk Ptchrs   ERA
+----+-------------+------+-+---+----+-------+----+--+--+--+--+--+--+---+---+--+--+---+---+--+--+---+---+--+--+---+--+--+--+------+------+
   44 1996-10-17    NLCS   7 ATL  STL W 15-0   9    4  0  0  0  6  0  93  62  0  0  28  28  0  0   0   0  0  0   2  0  1  0      3   0.00 
   45 1996-10-14    NLCS   5 ATL  STL W 14-0   9    7  0  0  2  9  0 135  91  0  0  35  33  0  0   0   0  0  0   0  0  0  0      4   0.00 
   70 1984-10-02    NLCS   1 CHC  SDP W 13-0   9    6  0  0  5  8  0 130  73  0  0  37  31  0  0   0   1  0  0   2  0  0  0      2   0.00 
  119 1960-10-12    WS     6 NYY  PIT W 12-0   9    7  0  0  1  5  0                33  32  0  0   0   0  0  0   3  0  0  0      1   0.00 
   66 1985-10-27    WS     7 KCR  STL W 11-0   9    5  0  0  0  2  0  92  64        32  32  0  0   0   0  0  0   0  0  0  0      1   0.00 
  122 1959-10-01    WS     1 CHW  LAD W 11-0   9    8  0  0  1  7  0          1  0  35  34  0  0   0   0  0  0   1  1  0  0      2   0.00
  149 1934-10-09    WS     7 STL  DET W 11-0   9    6  0  0  0  5  0                34  34  2  0   0   0  0  0   0  0  0  0      1   0.00 
   75 1982-10-12    WS     1 MIL  STL W 10-0   9    3  0  0  1  3  0 100  66        31  30  1  0   0   0  0  0   0  0  0  0      1   0.00 
  120 1960-10-08    WS     3 NYY  PIT W 10-0   9    4  0  0  1  3  0                32  31  1  0   0   0  0  0   1  0  0  0      1   0.00

Nine times in history, including 2 teams ('96 Atlanta and '60 Yankees) which managed it twice in the same series.  Also, out of the 9, three were game 7s and three were game 1s.

Hiroki Kuroda's game score of 19 tonight was the worst so far this postseason (oddly enough the second worst was by three pitchers all on the same day.). However, it was not even close to being the worst in postseason history. That honor belongs to Todd Stottlemyre who recorded an 8 in the 1996 NLCS. Here are the all time worst:

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After closing out game 1 for the Yankees, Mariano Rivera came back in game 2 and pitched 2 and 1/3 innings of shutout ball. Rivera is no longer a young kid, as he is well on his way to his 40th birthday. This made me wonder, what was the longest postseason appearance by a pitcher at least 39 years of age who was working on no rest. (I'll admit that it is a bit contrived, but I was curious.) Using the Pitching Gamelog Finder we get this list:

  Cnt AgeY.D Player            Date          Series G Tm   Opp GmReslt App,Dec    **IP**   H  R ER BB SO HR Pit Str GmSc IR IS BF AB 2B 3B IBB HBP SH SF GDP SB CS Pk BK WP   ERA
+----+------+-----------------+-------------+------+-+---+----+-------+---------+--------+--+--+--+--+--+--+---+---+----+--+--+--+--+--+--+---+---+--+--+---+--+--+--+--+--+------+
    1 39.226 Pete Alexander    1926-10-10    WS     7 STL @NYY W  3-2   7-9f ,S     2.1    0  0  0  1  1  0               3  0  7  6  0  0   0   0  0  0   0  0  1  0  0  0   0.00

    2 39.021 Tony Fossas       1996-10-14    NLCS   5 STL  ATL L  0-14  5-6         2      1  1  1  1  1  1  20  12       0  0  7  6  0  0   0   0  0  0   1  0  0  0  0  0   4.50
    3 39.045 Jerry Staley      1959-10-05    WS     4 CHW @LAD L  4-5   7-8f ,L     2      1  1  1  0  2  1               0  0  7  7  0  0   0   0  0  0   0  0  0  0  0  0   4.50

    4 42.010 Dennis Eckersley  1996-10-13    NLCS   4 STL  ATL W  4-3   8-9f ,W     1.1    1  0  0  0  2  0  16  11       1  0  5  5  1  0   0   0  0  0   0  0  0  0  0  0   0.00
    5 39.172 Jesse Orosco      1996-10-10    ALCS   2 BAL @NYY W  5-3   7-8  ,H     1.1    1  0  0  0  1  0  19  14       2  0  5  5  0  0   0   0  0  0   0  0  0  0  0  0   0.00
    6 40.167 Larry Andersen    1993-10-20    WS     4 PHI  TOR L 14-15  7-8         1.1    2  3  3  1  2  0  26  14       0  0  7  6  1  0   0   0  0  0   0  0  0  0  0  0  20.25

Rivera's age was 39.322. Of course, the chart is a bit misleading, as there is no comparison between Rivera's game and Alexander's.  Alexander had pitched a complete game the day before and returned the following day to throw his 2.1 innings to save game 7 of the World Series! Not bad for an old man.