5th November 2009
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 »
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3rd November 2009
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.
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2nd November 2009
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.
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28th October 2009
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.
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26th October 2009
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...
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20th October 2009
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.
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19th October 2009
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?
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18th October 2009
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.
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18th October 2009
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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18th October 2009
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.
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