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.

In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue.

  Cnt Player            Year   G  From  To
+----+-----------------+----+----+----+----+
    1 Bob O'Farrell     1935 1492 1915 1935 

  Cnt Player            Year  SO  From  To
+----+-----------------+----+----+----+----+
    1 Bill Donovan      1918 1492 1901 1918

Posted the games from yesterday.

Known issues: the batter vs. pitcher is a bit messed up at the moment. I will be fixing that shortly. Other than that, I can't find anything pressing.

I'm taking a bit of a break from my usual post format to write a sort of op-ed piece.

We've had a lot of talk about steroids and other banned substances in the last several years. I've heard a lot of people call Barry Bonds a fraud and say that Mark McGwire's use of such stuff cost him his spot in the Hall of Fame. I don't understand these positions for two reasons:

1. It's way to early to put The Steroids Era in proper perspective yet. We still don't have a clear picture on who used what and what effect it really had on stats and game outcomes. Yeah, power numbers are down the last few years, when most people suspect that use of banned substances has decreased. But we don't know that either for sure. I'm not sure that we'll ever have all of this information or even most of it. But what I do know is that 2-3 years after the end of a 15-year era is too soon to put it in proper historical perspective. I also don't know how one can single out guys like Bonds, McGwire, Roger Clemens, or Rafael Palmeiro when A) there's no proof that guys like Cal Ripken and Frank Thomas were clean and B) we know that many players tested positive but remain anonymous.
2. Even if some players did cheat and benefited from it, who on earth could think that this is new for baseball? Would carrying a weapon on the field constitute cheating? Well Ty Cobb sharpened his spikes to intimidate and injure fielders. Dozens, if not hundreds, of players have been caught doctoring the baseball or their bats and yet these incidents are never mentioned when considering the long-term reputation of the individuals. Cheating, from minor infractions like sign-stealing to major ones like use of weapons, has been a long-standing issue in the game. It's been going on for more than 100 years. Why would anyone single out cheating from the last 20 years? If you're going to leave Barry Bonds out of the Hall of Fame strictly based on steroids (and you certainly can't leave him out based on stats) then you'd better throw out Ty Cobb, Gaylord Perry, and a bunch of other guys.

To bring home both points 1 and 2, let me give you an example that covers both historical perspective and unlevel playing fields. Yesterday there was a 1-game playoff to determine a division. Imagine that a guy playing in that game had 73 HR for the season and managed to hit his 74th in that game. Would this guy be the new single-season HR champion? The answer must be yes. But, some of you say, he did it in 163 games!!! Everybody else had only 162 games to play. You people who would say that are missing the point. The guy hit the most homers in a single season. Period. That is a fact. Period. He is the single-season home run champ. Period. Just like Barry Bonds is the current champ. Period. This is not a subject that is up for debate. If it annoys you that Bonds is named, then once you close the record book you can tell your children that he was suspected of cheating and that you fondly remember Roger Maris as the record-holder for many years before Bonds. You can skip right over McGwire if you want. Or, if you're really old school, you can say that Maris had the benefit of 162 games and you fondly remember Babe Ruth as the 154-game champion. But facts are facts. Bonds is the HR champ, and Bonds is a Hall of Famer. There's no way that guy can be kept out. There's no way that Roger Clemens can be kept out.

In the 1960s and even into the 1970s, many people absolutely refused to acknowledge Maris as the HR champ because of the 162-game schedule. To people born in the 1970s or later (who became baseball fans in the 1980s or early 1990s) this seems ridiculous. By that time, the lunatics who begrudged Maris had pretty much disappeared. Over time, the facts won out. Sure, Ruth can still be cited as the 154-game season champion. But in the 1980s, when asked who the champ was at the time, virtually everyone who knew baseball would immediately respond "Roger Maris."

Let's face it. Athletes are a rare breed. The vast majority of these guys are super-competitive and work very hard to gain any possible edge. Cheating is not uncommon. For every instance we know of cheating in professional sports, there are probably 5 instances we don't know about. Just because we know something about Barry Bonds, it doesn't mean that Robin Yount, Tom Seaver, and Carlton Fisk were clean. Were they? Probably. But who knows?

History of the last 100 years of baseball shows us that over time, the numbers on the page win out as the absolute facts and the exact context of feats are remembered only as folklore. Sometimes that folklore has a long lifetime. Thirty years from now, young fans will know Bonds and Clemens as two of the very best players from the 1990s and 2000s and as Hall of Famers. Will their alleged use of banned substances be discussed? Sure. Just like the 154- vs 162-game schedule, spitballs, sharpened spikes, and corked bats. But make no mistake about it: they will be in the Hall of Fame.

This game is incredible!

I still have to think that the winner is going to get wiped out by the Yankees, but while this one lasts, it's amazing. If it's the last game ever in the Metrodome, it was a great way to go out.

Joseph, a reader, was wondering if there was a pitcher aside from Nolan Ryan in 1987 to win 2 legs of the pitching triple crown and still have a losing record. We can't use PI to definitively answer this question, but we can certainly look at some pretty amazing seasons by pitchers with losing records.  Here are all the pitchers since 1901 to post an ERA+ of at least 125 with at least 200 strikeouts and still have a losing record.

   Cnt Player           **ERA+**  W-L%  SO Year Age Tm  Lg  G   GS CG SHO GF  W  L SV   IP   H   R   ER  BB   ERA  HR  BF   AB  2B 3B IBB HBP  SH  SF GDP  SB CS Pk BK WP   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  OPS+  Pit  Str
+----+-----------------+--------+-----+---+----+---+---+--+---+---+--+---+--+--+--+--+-----+---+---+---+---+------+--+----+----+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+----+----+
    1 Ed Walsh             189    .474 258 1910  29 CHW AL  45  36 33   7  7 18 20  5 369.2 242  90  52  61   1.27  5 1386                  4                        2  6                            0
      1st in the league ERA;  2nd in SO
    2 Ben Sheets           162    .462 264 2004  25 MIL NL  34  34  5   0  0 12 14  0 237   201  85  71  32   2.70 25  937  891 57  4   1   4   6   4  10  15  5  1  1  8  .226  .255  .383  .638   66 3579 2441
      3rd in ERA; 2nd in SO
    3 Cy Young             148    .486 210 1905  38 BOS AL  38  33 31   4  5 18 19  0 320.2 248  99  65  30   1.82  3 1238                 10                        0  6                            0
      3rd in ERA; 2nd in SO
    4 Jim Bunning          143    .440 201 1960  28 DET AL  36  34 10   3  1 11 14  0 252   217  92  78  64   2.79 20 1024  923 43  4   7  11  23   6  17  11 12  0  0  2  .235  .291  .355  .646   76
      2nd in ERA; 1st in SO
    5 Nolan Ryan           142    .333 270 1987  40 HOU NL  34  34  0   0  0  8 16  0 211.2 154  75  65  87   2.76 14  873  771 23  3   2   4   9   1   6  45  7  0  2 10  .200  .284  .292  .576   60
      1st in ERA; 1st in SO
    6 Roger Clemens        139    .435 257 1996  33 BOS AL  34  34  6   2  0 10 13  0 242.2 216 106  98 106   3.63 19 1032  911 39  7   2   4   4   7  17  30 13  4  1  8  .237  .317  .358  .675   70
      7th in ERA; 1st in SO
    7 Melido Perez         138    .448 218 1992  26 NYY AL  33  33 10   1  0 13 16  0 247.2 212  94  79  93   2.87 16 1013  901 33  3   5   5   6   8  19  18 18  9  0 13  .235  .308  .332  .640   79
      6th in ERA; 2nd in SO
    8 Gaylord Perry        128    .469 230 1967  28 SFG NL  39  37 18   3  2 15 17  1 293   231  98  85  84   2.61 20 1178 1077 28  5  17   4  11   2  28  10  8  1  1 13  .214  .273  .305  .578   71
      5th in ERA; 3rd in SO
    9 Floyd Bannister      125    .480 209 1982  27 SEA AL  35  35  5   3  0 12 13  0 247   225 112  94  77   3.43 32 1022  927 45  3   0   3  10   5  17  18 12  2  0  6  .243  .301  .401  .702   88
      8th in ERA; 1st in SO
   10 Bert Blyleven        125    .448 219 1976  25 TOT AL  36  36 18   6  0 13 16  0 297.2 283 106  95  81   2.87 14 1225 1108 33 10   6  12  18   6  35  34 11  0  2  7  .255  .312  .341  .653   89
      9th in ERA; 3rd in SO
   11 Mike Mussina         125    .423 210 2000  31 BAL AL  34  34  6   1  0 11 15  0 237.2 236 105 100  46   3.79 28  987  924 47  3   0   3   8   6  19  16  3  0  0  3  .255  .291  .404  .695   78 3644 2419
      3rd in ERA; 3rd in SO

 

At least among these pitchers, Ryan was the only won to win 2/3 of the triple crown.

The Phillies have hit a whopping 11 grand slams this year.

There are a couple of ways to find this data but the easiest is to go the the major league batting splits for 2009.

Here's a shared table from there for batting with the bases loaded.

Pretty big discrepancy there, with the Phillies whacking 11 grannies and the Braves and Angels both coming up empty.

For comparison, last year the White Sox hit 12 grand slams. In 2007, four teams tied for the lead with 8. In 2006 the leader was the Indians with 14.

THE BOOK Blog: Shooting Fish in a Barrel

MGL over at The Book flags a comment by Michael Kay about splits being more likely in double-headers than in back-to-back games as being idiot speak. MGL doesn't back up his comments with numbers, but we'll do the heavy lifting for him here.

All Data is from 1979-2008:

For double-headers

+------+------------+--------+-----------+
| DHs  | home_sweep | split  | vis_sweep |
+------+------------+--------+-----------+
| 1286 |     0.3095 | 0.4883 |    0.2022 |
+------+------------+--------+-----------+

Now I look at all cases where two teams played on date N and date N+1. This will include a four-game series on consecutive days 3 separate times. b2b = Back-to-back

+--------------+----------+--------+---------+
| consec_dates | home_b2b | split  | vis_b2b |
+--------------+----------+--------+---------+
|        41046 |   0.2955 | 0.4885 |  0.2160 |
+--------------+----------+--------+---------+

I'm not sure why the home team picks up the advantage in the doubleheader (about 1%), perhaps it is because they get to dictate the pitching matchups, or maybe fatiguing situations increases the advantage of playing at home, noise?

Babe Ruth Postseason Batting Gamelogs and Postseason Pitching Gamelogs

They went missing when we redesigned the site, but I just got them updated and back on the. If you look at the gamelog drop down on the player pages, there is now a postseason option (where relevant) along with the years and if you look at the postseason sections on the player pages you will see links to Postseason Gamelogs. Enjoy.