As the race in the AL East gets a bit tighter than its been for most of the year (although the Red Sox are still firmly in control), I thought it might be interesting to look at some historic Boston-New York data. Read the rest of this entry »

On Wednesday, Aaron Cook threw just 74 pitches in a nine-inning game.  Although it doesn't have pitch data for all the games since 1957, PI does have pitch counts for a ton of games, and here are the pitchers with the fewest pitches thrown in a 9+ inning CG. I should hold-off until Cook's 74-pitch gem is in the database, but I just can't wait!

Not only is Cook tied with walkaphobic Carlos Silva for fewest pitches in a CG, but also note that Cook's game is just the eighth known game in the retrosheet-era in which a pitcher's gone the distance but required less than 80 pitches.

According to the record books, Red Barrett needed only 58 pitches to throw a nine-inning complete game on August 10, 1944, which is believed to be the record. I doubt anyone will come close to matching that anytime soon.

Tonight the gathering commences.  Hundreds of baseball lunatics from across the country are converging on St. Louis as we speak to enjoy each other's company, talk baseball and inadvertently make the indigenous population feel much better about their level of coolness.  In honor of this meeting, let's use PI to find some leaders in the SABR era.

SABR began in 1971, but in mid-season.  So I'll look at info from 1972-onward.  Forget most homers or wins - I already know its Bonds and Clemens.  Let's look at the weird stuff.

Heaviest player in the SABR era.   In an upset, it's not Rich Garces.

Lightest Player.  I like that Craig Grebeck and Freddy Patek are tied.

A bit more normal: Most doubles.  Two in the top ten will never make Cooperstown.

For pitchers, let's look up something depressing: Most losses.   Six have lost 200, which points out I'm doing this the wrong way.  So I know Bonds has the most homers -- how many have hit over 500?

Well, turns out eight guys have.  And 185 have hit 200.

Alternately, 11 have 3000 hits and 97 have 2000 hits.  And to really get nuts with it, 482 have 1000 hits in those years.  In your face Rick Cerone! Not that anyone cares, but #241 of the 482 is Vince Coleman.  Unless Jermaine Dye got two hits tonight.

Well, unfortunaely I have to run.  Hope you liked.

One the the fun things that you can do with Player Index is looking at when hits came, via the Batter Events Finder.

For example, to date, in 2007, when the Yankees have 2 outs against them, and they're behind in the score, with runners on base, who has gotten hits to put them ahead in the score?  Here's the answer:

Alex Rodriguez 3 times
Johnny Damon 2 times
Derek Jeter 1 time
Bobby Abreu 1 time

   Yr#   G# Date          Batter            Tm   Opp Pitcher           Score       Result Inn RoB Out Cnt Pit RBI Play Desc.

 ------+---+-------------+-----------------+---+----+-----------------+-----------+------+---+---+---+---+---+---+-------------------------

      1   1 2007-04-07    Alex Rodriguez    NYY  BAL Steve Trachsel    down   0-1  HR     b 1 1--   2 2-1   4   2 Home Run (Fly Ball to LF); Abreu Scores

      2   2               Alex Rodriguez    NYY  BAL Chris Ray         down   6-7  HR     b 9 123   2 1-2   4   4 *ENDED GAME*:Home Run (Fly Ball to CF); Cano Scores; Jeter Scores; Abreu Scores

      3   1 2007-04-19    Alex Rodriguez    NYY  CLE Joe Borowski      down   5-6  HR     b 9 -23   2 1-0   1   3 *ENDED GAME*:Home Run (Fly Ball to LF-CF); Jeter Scores; Abreu Scores

      4   1 2007-04-27    Johnny Damon      NYY  BOS Daisuke Matsuzak  down   1-2  1B     b 4 123   2 3-2   6   2 Single to RF (Line Drive); Giambi Scores; Matsui Scores; Posada to 3B

      5   1 2007-05-20    Johnny Damon      NYY @NYM John Maine        down   0-1  2B     t 4 -23   2 1-2   6   2 Double to 2B (Pop Fly); Abreu Scores; Mientkiewicz Scores

      6   1 2007-06-16    Derek Jeter       NYY  NYM Tom Glavine       down   4-5  HR     b 4 1--   2 0-0   1   2 Home Run (Fly Ball to LF); Damon Scores

      7   1 2007-07-14    Bobby Abreu       NYY @TBD Andy Sonnanstine  down   2-3  HR     t 5 -2-   2 0-1   2   2 Home Run (Fly Ball to RF); Thompson Scores

How about with 2 outs against them, and they're behind in the score, with runners on base, who has gotten hits to tie the score?  Here's the answer:

Miguel Cairo 2 times
Hideki Matsui 1 time
Robinson Cano 1 time
Johnny Damon 1 time
Jorge Posada 1 time
Melky Cabrera 1 time
Alex Rodriguez 1 time

   Yr#   G# Date          Batter            Tm   Opp Pitcher           Score       Result Inn RoB Out Cnt Pit RBI Play Desc. ------+---+-------------+-----------------+---+----+-----------------+-----------+------+---+---+---+---+---+---+-------------------------

      1   1 2007-04-05    Hideki Matsui     NYY  TBD Ruddy Lugo        down   4-6  1B     b 7 123   2 1-1   3   2 Single to RF (Ground Ball); Jeter Scores; Abreu Scores; Giambi to 2B

      2   1 2007-04-06    Robinson Cano     NYY  BAL Adam Loewen       down   1-2  2B     b 2 1--   2 1-2   4   1 Double to RF (Line Drive); Matsui Scores; Cano to 3B/Adv on throw

      3   1 2007-04-14    Jorge Posada      NYY @OAK Joe Blanton       down   2-3  2B     t 7 1--   2 1-2   4   1 Double to RF (Line Drive); Cano Scores

      4   1 2007-05-16(1) Melky Cabrera     NYY @CHW John Danks        down   1-2  2B     t 6 12-   2 3-1   5   1 Double to LF (Ground Ball); Posada Scores; Abreu to 3B

      5   1 2007-06-05    Miguel Cairo      NYY @CHW Mark Buehrle      down   0-1  1B     t 5 -2-   2 1-2   4   1 Single to CF (Ground Ball); Cano Scores

      6   1 2007-06-16    Johnny Damon      NYY  NYM Tom Glavine       down   1-2  1B     b 2 --3   2 3-2   6   1 Single to LF (Line Drive); Cano Scores

      7   1 2007-07-05    Miguel Cairo      NYY  MIN Kevin Slowey      down   1-2  2B     b 2 --3   2 3-2   6   1 Double to LF (Line Drive); Phillips Scores

      8   1 2007-07-17    Alex Rodriguez    NYY  TOR Roy Halladay      down   0-1  1B     b 1 --3   2 1-2   4   1 Single to RF (Line Drive); Damon Scores

Who would have thought that, to date, Johnny Damon has one less "big" two-out hit for the Yankees this season than Alex Rodriguez?  Well, now you know.

User jshecket made a comment on yesterday's post about homering on a 3-0 pitch, so I thought I'd look into that a little bit.

Indeed, Chase Utley hit 2 homers on 3-0 pitches, both in the same game off the same pitcher. That was in June of this year, and are the only 3-0 homers the Phillies hit this year.

To find these homers, currently we're limited to use the PI Team Game Event Finder, so you can search only team-by-team.

Searching back on the Phillies' history, here are the number of 3-0 homers they have hit each year (years not listed mean there were zero such homers in that year): Read the rest of this entry »

A bit of breaking news as MLB.com reports that Craig Biggio is retiring at the end of the season.

Chris had a nice post on Biggio when he got his 3000th hit.

Biggio is one of my all-time favorite players. Although his numbers have been down in the last 6 years, for his first 13 full seasons, he was quite a consistent player. Some bits and pieces about Biggio:

• He was an All-Star both as a catcher and as a 2B.
• He extended his career and his value by also learning to play the outfield, with over 300 games played in LF and CF.
• He played in 40 post-season games, including the 4 World Series games in 2005.
• He needs 3 hit-by-pitches to break the all-time record. Although this conjures up images of Bad News Bears, his aggressiveness at the plate and willingness to play through pain can not be ignored.
• He ranks in the top 50 all-time for a number of offensive categories: doubles (6th), total bases (31st), hits (24th), runs (14th), games (21st), HBP (2nd), and a few others.

Personally, I don't understand why there is a debate about whether he's a Hall of Famer. How could the guy with the 14th most runs scored ever not be in the Hall of Fame?

Aaron Harang pitched 10 innings last night.

It's just one of four such occasions in the oo's:

  Cnt Player            Date          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 Aaron Harang      2007-07-23    CIN  MIL W  2-1  GS-10     10    7  1  1  0 10  1 121  87   84       37 37  1  0   0   0  0  0   0  0  0  0  0  0   0.90
    2 Roy Halladay      2007-04-13    TOR  DET W  2-1  CG 10 ,W  10    6  1  1  0  2  1 107  70   78       35 35  2  0   0   0  0  0   1  0  0  0  0  0   0.90 

    3 Mark Mulder       2005-04-23    STL  HOU W  1-0  SHO10 ,W  10    5  0  0  0  5  0 101  75   87       33 33  0  0   0   0  0  0   1  0  1  1  0  0   0.00 

    4 Roy Halladay      2003-09-06    TOR  DET W  1-0  SHO10 ,W  10    3  0  0  1  5  0  99  70   90       35 33  1  0   0   1  0  0   1  0  0  0  0  0   0.00

As you can see, Roy "The Toy Boy" Halladay has done it twice. Interestingly, Harang is the only one not to get a decision, as the game went 12 innings.

Read the rest of this entry »

My post a couple of days ago about Padres players missing the cycle reminded me of something. I remember when I was a kid, listening to some post-game comments after a baseball game, the announcer saying that one of the players had "fallen a triple short of the cycle." It wasn't until a few years later that I realized what a silly comment that was. Triples are pretty rare, and I bet that hundreds of guys each year get at least one single, one double, and one homer in a game.

I've always wondered exactly which type of hit is the one missing most often when a player is one hit shy of the cycle. For the last several decades of MLB, I imagine it MUST be the triple.

I decided to use the PI to do a little sleuthing. Read the rest of this entry »

Over the last month, I've become entranced watching Michael Barrett and  his complete and total inability to draw a walk.  It's been a month since the Pads acquired him.  He has yet to draw a walk.  He didn't get a free pass in his last 25 PA with the Cubs.  He's two games away from the 100 PA marks since his last free pass.  With yesterday's game, he now has a new personal, uh, "best" for longest stretch without drawing a walk.

So this gets me to wondering, where does this put him among the hacker legends?

Rey Ordonez couldn't do anything with the stick.  He rarely walked 30 times a year.  But he never went this long without walking.

Remember Juan Samuel?  Really talented player for a few years, but the knock against him was always that he didn't walk enough.  He never had a stretch as bad as Barrett's current one, though.

One man formerly compared to Samuel a lot was a young Alfonso Soriano.  Twice he went 100+ PA without walking.  The difference between him and Barrett, is that Soriano wasn't doing it in his 30s.  That's partially why it's so striking.  While Barrett never walked much, he'd walk every 4-5 games.  He's completely lost that part of his plate discipline.

Gary DiSarcina is a legendary hacker.  He  played regularly for several years but never walked more than 21 times in a season.  He only had 3 stretches of 100+ PA without walking.   Sure, one of those is a stratospheric 206 AB, 56 game stretch, but Barrett's threatening the other two streaks.

Ozzie Guillen had 8 - count 'em 8 - stretches of 100+ PA without a walk.  Heck, he had one over 200.   Guillen mocks Barrett's puny totals.

Last but certainly not least is the man himself, Shawon Dunston.  He took a 3-ball count as a personal insult.  He, insanely, not only had 8 stretches of 100+ PA, but included two over 200, and the all-time record (as far as I know anyway) of 133 Games and 308 AB without a walk.  Barrett won't last that long.

Like Barrett, but unlike most of the guys listed here, Dunston got worse as he got older.

Well, I started off wanting to see just how impressive or meaningful Shelley Duncan's start with the Yankees has been, and instead I learned something about Carlos Lee. Duncan has had at least 1 RBI in each of the three games he's played in since he came up, with 3 HR and 7 RBI overall.

Using the PI Batting Streak finder, I set it to years 2000 to present, set only for the start of a player's career, and then most consecutive games with at least 1 RBI.

The results: Read the rest of this entry »