The Baseball-Reference.com Play Index Stat of the Day

Via Baseball-Reference.com’s Play Index Team Pitching Gamelog Finder - Most wins by teams in 2007 where they used 4 pitchers or less in the game.

 Tm  Year Games Link to Individual Games
 +---+----+-----+-------------------------+
 LAA 2007    82 Ind. Games
 CLE 2007    81 Ind. Games
 BOS 2007    76 Ind. Games
 TOR 2007    69 Ind. Games
 NYY 2007    66 Ind. Games
 NYM 2007    66 Ind. Games
 CHC 2007    64 Ind. Games
 ARI 2007    63 Ind. Games
 SEA 2007    61 Ind. Games
 SDP 2007    61 Ind. Games
 DET 2007    61 Ind. Games
 PHI 2007    60 Ind. Games
 LAD 2007    60 Ind. Games
 MIN 2007    59 Ind. Games
 COL 2007    58 Ind. Games
 OAK 2007    57 Ind. Games
 MIL 2007    54 Ind. Games
 ATL 2007    53 Ind. Games
 HOU 2007    49 Ind. Games
 CHW 2007    48 Ind. Games
 STL 2007    47 Ind. Games
 TEX 2007    46 Ind. Games
 TBD 2007    46 Ind. Games
 SFG 2007    46 Ind. Games
 CIN 2007    46 Ind. Games
 KCR 2007    45 Ind. Games
 BAL 2007    43 Ind. Games
 PIT 2007    42 Ind. Games
 WSN 2007    34 Ind. Games
 FLA 2007    30 Ind. Games

And, on the flip-side, here’s the most wins by a team, last year, in games where they used 5 pitchers or more:

 Tm  Year Games Link to Individual Games
+---+----+-----+-------------------------+
 FLA 2007    41 Ind. Games
 WSN 2007    39 Ind. Games
 COL 2007    32 Ind. Games
 STL 2007    31 Ind. Games
 ATL 2007    31 Ind. Games
 TEX 2007    29 Ind. Games
 PHI 2007    29 Ind. Games
 MIL 2007    29 Ind. Games
 SDP 2007    28 Ind. Games
 NYY 2007    28 Ind. Games
 SEA 2007    27 Ind. Games
 DET 2007    27 Ind. Games
 ARI 2007    27 Ind. Games
 PIT 2007    26 Ind. Games
 CIN 2007    26 Ind. Games
 BAL 2007    26 Ind. Games
 SFG 2007    25 Ind. Games
 KCR 2007    24 Ind. Games
 HOU 2007    24 Ind. Games
 CHW 2007    24 Ind. Games
 NYM 2007    22 Ind. Games
 LAD 2007    22 Ind. Games
 CHC 2007    21 Ind. Games
 TBD 2007    20 Ind. Games
 MIN 2007    20 Ind. Games
 BOS 2007    20 Ind. Games
 OAK 2007    19 Ind. Games
 CLE 2007    15 Ind. Games
 TOR 2007    14 Ind. Games
 LAA 2007    12 Ind. Games

It’s pretty clear that the Angels, Indians, Red Sox and Blue Jays got most of their wins in games where they used 4 pitchers or less.  And, it’s pretty clear that the Marlins and Nationals got more of their wins in games where they used 5 pitchers or more.

Of course, this does not take into account each team’s offense.

Still, it’s an interesting slice of data. 

Take a team like the Red Sox - just because they’re low on the second list doesn’t mean they had a bad pen last year.  They’re low on the second list because they’re so high on the first list.

However, a team that’s low on the first list and high on the second list may be there because they have a deep and effective pen. 

If anyone has some thoughts on the value that can be taken from lists like these, please do share them.  Thanks in advance.

Following on to my post about 4-hit games within the first 50 games of a career, here are the leaders since 1957 in games with at least 1 stolen base among the first 50 games of a career:

                   Games Link to Individual Games
+-----------------+-----+-------------------------+
 Vince Coleman        25 Ind. Games
 Tim Raines           24 Ind. Games
 Alex Cole            21 Ind. Games
 Alan Wiggins         19 Ind. Games
 Jeff Stone           19 Ind. Games
 Pat Listach          19 Ind. Games
 Luis Castillo        19 Ind. Games
 Quilvio Veras        18 Ind. Games
 Gary Redus           18 Ind. Games
 Donell Nixon         18 Ind. Games
 Allan Lewis          18 Ind. Games
 Bob Dernier          18 Ind. Games
 Willie Wilson        17 Ind. Games
 Juan Samuel          17 Ind. Games
 Eddie Miller         17 Ind. Games
 Mike Felder          17 Ind. Games
 John Cangelosi       17 Ind. Games
 Ced Landrum          16 Ind. Games
 Milt Thompson        15 Ind. Games
 Terry Pendleton      15 Ind. Games
 Davey Lopes          15 Ind. Games
 Curtis Goodwin       15 Ind. Games

So, yeah yeah, we’ll talk about the leaders in a minute, but there’s that man, Jeff Stone, again at 19!

Using the unbelievably awesome gamelog summation tool, here’s Jeff Stone’s line over his first 50 games, which spanned from September 1983 to September 1984:

  G   PA  AB  R   H  2B 3B HR RBI  BB IBB  SO HBP  SH  SF GDP  SB CS   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS
+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+
  50 156 148  23  55  4  5  1  14   5   0  17   2   0   1   1  24  3  .372  .397  .486  .883

Not too shabby, eh?

(See here for more on the gamelog summation tool.)

Anyway, getting back to the topic at hand, we find that Vince Coleman had the most games with a SB among his first 50 (at least since 1957.) In those 50 games, he had a whopping 42 stolen bases, with a.276 BA and .342 OBP. He also scored 43 runs. (I got that data from, you guessed it, the gamelog summation tool.)

Meanwhile, Timmy Raines 38 SB in his first 50 games, batting .307, OBP of .429, and scoring 31 runs.

In many ways, those two lines tell the story about Coleman vs Raines in their careers. No doubt Coleman was faster, but Raines was a far superior hitter. No wonder it was Coleman, not Rock, throwing firecrackers at kids in the Shea Stadium parking lot.

It’s not all that surprising to see that pretty much everybody on that list above was a very fast guy. Most of them had only speed among their excellent attributes, but obviously a few (Raines, Wilson, Samuel, Pendleton, Lopes) had some hitting and defensive talents too.

Well, as you saw a couple of days ago, Tony Gwynn once hit over .400 over a 162-game stretch from 1993 to 1995.

Well, back when 61 HR was the season record and it was accompanied by a regular, non-performance-enhanced asterisk, Matt Williams once hit 62 HR over 162 games.

As you can find using the summation function in the gamelog pages:

Matt Williams batting from career game #799 (Sep 3, 1993) to game #960 (May 17, 1995)

  G   PA  AB  R   H  2B 3B HR RBI  BB IBB  SO HBP  SH  SF GDP  SB CS   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS
+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+
 162 691 636 109 178 24  5 62 143  47   8 118   2   0   6  18   1  0  .280  .329  .626  .955

It happens to be over a similar period to Gwynn’s performance and also encompasses the entire strike-shortened 1994 season. He hit 62 HR with 143 RBI in those 162 games, and amazing was intentionally walked just 8 times.

It’s possible that Matt Williams, more than any other player, was hurt by the 1994 strike. At the time off the strike, he had 43 HR in 112 games, which projects to 62.2 HR had that season gone the distance. Amazing to think that in 1998, McGwire and Sosa could have been chasing a 4-year old record instead of a 37-year old one.

When, you ask? Over a 162-game stretch from late 1993 to early 1995 (encompassing the entire strike-shortened 1994 season.)

If you haven’t checked out the gamelog summation tool, you should, You can find, for example, the 162-game stretch over which Tony Gwynn hit .400.

Tony Gwynn batting from career game #1551 (Jul 27, 1993) to game #1712 (May 13, 1995)

  G   PA  AB  R   H  2B 3B HR RBI  BB IBB  SO HBP  SH  SF GDP  SB CS   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS
+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+
 162 704 624 121 251 53  1 15 100  68  25  22   2   1   9  26  10  0  .402  .457  .563 1.020

All I can think to say is…who da man?

Readers, I ask for some help with this one.

Reader jackfish and I have been having a conversation about Orel Hershiser’s record 59-inning scoreless streak, and neither of us can come up with the answer.

First, over on my comments page, Jack posted the following:

“I have been having a hard time following this & thought maybe you could help me. I have recently been reading about Orel Hershier & his 59 game streak of pitching scoreless baseball. I have read a number of books and web articles stating that the record stands at 59 consecutive scoreless innings. A number of sources all agree on this. No matter how I add it up I get 60 consecutive innings not 59. The last time he gave up a run was on 8-30. It was in the bottom of the 5th with two men out (which starts him off with 4 1/3 innings). Then he pitched five consecutive nine inning shutouts & finally ten innings of scoreless ball on 9-28. Thats 4 1/3 + 45 + 10 = 59 1/3. Then on April 5, 1989, he got two men out before giving up a run in the first inning to the Reds. Thats another 2/3 of an inning. shouldn’t his streak stand at 60 innings & not 59? Is this something that has been overlooked for nearly 20 years or is my math incorrect?”

Let me point PI subscribers to Hershiser’s Game Logs for 1988. The streak started on August 30th. Also, let me remind you that Hershiser pitched some scoreless innings in the 1988 postseason that don’t count for this streak.

Now, also posted on my comments page, here is my answer for Jack:

“It took some effort, but I figured it out. Hershiser’s streak is, for some reason, counted by full innings only. In other words, he is credit with 4 innings (not 4.1) in the Aug 30 1988 game, then 55 more innings in 1988. Then, his 1989 debut game gets credited as 0 innings since he gave up a run in the first.

Given that, I don’t know why Drysdale’s streak included partial innings. I don’t know if baseball made a new ruling about it or what.

To me, none of the streaks should include partial innings, given that outs in those innings may have contributed to run-scoring by advancing runners or even scoring runners.”

I am of course making reference to Don Drysdale’s streak, which was the previous record. In most places, I see it credited as 58 2/3 innings, which is why I wondered above about the distinction of partial innings vs. full innings. However, I have seen one or two places that say Drysdale’s streak was 58 innings which, if the official record prior to Hershiser’s streak, I think would give a consistent explanation.

Today Jack came back at me with this:

“I have been researching the Orel Hershiser streak for the last few days and I still can not find any rule change that would suggest partial innings pitched not being counted towards the streak.”

To me, this is one of the problems with the internet. If you search about Hershiser’s streak or Drysdale’s streak, you can find lots of information. Little of it, however, is necessarily correct in view of MLB rules for scoreless streaks.

Somebody out there must know, though, the official MLB rules, what the official streak numbers are for Hershiser and Drysdale, and whether there was ever a rule change. Let’s hear it.

I have to say–last night’s Padres / Rockies game was one for the ages. I give both teams a huge amount of credit, and Padres fans, you have nothing to feel bad about. Your team did you proud; no closer is perfect and unfortunately it was a bad spot for Hoffman to have an off night.

Some observations about the game:

• This was the only tie-breaker game to ever go into extra innings. (See here for links to previous games’ box scores.)
• It was Peavy’s second worst start of the year, with 10 hits and 6 ER for a game score of 31. He had one recent game with more earned runs (8) and a lower game score (17)  and two previous games with as many hits (10.)
• Amazing, the 10 pitchers used by the Rockies was not an outright team record; it just tied the previous high of 10, which had been “accomplished” three times. Amazingly, one of those games was a 9-inning job, and they gave up only 4 runs. Why the heck did they use 10 pitchers?
• The NL MVP race got even more interesting. Both Holliday and Rollins performed well late in the season, and both played huge roles in their team’s final (and clinching) game.

I don’t know about you, but I’m looking forward to this post-season a lot more than in recent years. The American League looks to be much stronger than the National League, but the gutty performances by all four NL teams (Cubs overcoming season-long leading Brewers, Arizona holding off both Colorado and San Diego, Phillies ousting the Mets largely on 7 consecutive wins head-to-head, and Colorado’s 11-game win streak followed by the epic victory last night) have impressed me.

What’s also cool is that for the first time in a while it seems, all 8 teams have a legitimate shot of reaching the World Series. Imagine some of the neat possibilities: Cubs vs Red Sox, or a rematch of Diamondbacks vs Yankees.

Grab on to your seat–I think it’s going to be pretty wild the rest of October.

Player and Team Gamelogs Video Tutorial - Baseball-Reference.com

I just put the finishing touches on an 8-minute video highlighting all of the features we’ve packed into the gamelogs for players and teams, batting and pitching.  I hope you’ll agree with me that we have the best gamelogs in the business.  And if you don’t, please tell me what I can do to improve them.

The voice is yours truly.  Not much of a future in radio, and the video capture and editing is done using Camtasia which is a fantastic tool for creating video screen captures and demo videos.  Really top notch.

We also have a tutorial for the box scores in the main video area.  Next up is splits and then the various finder tools.