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

Thanks to my buddy Eric for this idea. (Not you, Eric H, this time it’s Eric P.)

Last night, Roy Halladay lost his third straight complete game. I am willing to bet than in the early 1900s, such a streak was very common since most starts were CGs. But, it’s rare these days. Here are the longest such streaks since 1956:

                   StreakStart  Streak End Games   W   L   GS  CG SHO  GF  SV   IP     H    R   ER   BB   SO   HR   ERA  HBP  WP  BK Teams
+-----------------+-----------+-----------+-----+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
 Mickey Lolich      1975-07-17  1975-08-15     7    0   7   7   7   0   0   0   59     59   30   26   15   31   6   3.97   0   1   0 DET                                  

 Rick Langford      1980-06-03  1980-06-30     6    0   6   6   6   0   0   0   52.2   51   25   23   13   22   8   3.93   0   2   1 OAK                                  

 Jack Harshman      1958-05-17  1958-06-07     5    0   5   5   5   0   0   0   43     42   20   19   10   40   6   3.98   1   2   0 BAL                                  

 Curt Schilling     1998-05-17  1998-06-07     4    0   4   4   4   0   0   0   33.2   31   13   11    7   36   1   2.94   1   2   0 PHI
 Phil Niekro        1978-09-21  1979-04-06     4    0   4   4   4   0   0   0   33     28   10    9   12   21   1   2.45   1   1   0 ATL
 Ken Brett          1976-06-20  1976-07-06     4    0   4   4   4   0   0   0   35.1   29   13   12   15   17   0   3.06   1   1   0 CHW
 Clyde Wright       1974-07-20  1974-08-02     4    0   4   4   4   0   0   0   33     37   14   13    7    9   1   3.55   0   1   0 MIL
 Bob Gibson         1965-05-25  1965-06-08     4    0   4   4   4   0   0   0   35.2   26   15   13   15   21   5   3.28   1   1   1 STL                                  

Halladay is tied with roughly 60 other streaks at 3 games, although the last one was by Randy Johnson in 1999. See here for the full list.

Yesterday I wrote about the players who won their first 6 starts. Then I heard the news that Barry Zito had been sent to the bullpen after losing his first 6 starts. So without further ado, here are the players (since 1956) who have 6 or more losses in consecutive appearances, all starts, to begin a season. (more…)

Last night, Chase Utley homered in his 4th straight game.

The AP story on the game notes that the Phillies’ team record for homers in consecutive games is 5, done most recently by Bobby Abreu in 2005.

Indeed, here are the 3 who have done it:

                  StreakStart  Streak End Games    AB    R    H   2B  3B  HR  RBI  SO   BB   SB   CS   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  Teams
+-----------------+-----------+-----------+-----+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Bobby Abreu        2005-05-08  2005-05-12     5     16    6   10   1   0   5    7    3    6    1   0  .625  .727 1.625 2.352 PHI                                        
Mike Schmidt       1979-07-06  1979-07-10     5     17    8    9   0   0   7   14    1    2    0   0  .529  .550 1.765 2.315 PHI                                        
Dick Allen         1969-05-27  1969-06-01     5     21    7   10   1   0   5   10    6    3    0   0  .476  .542 1.238 1.780 PHI

The AP article also noticed that before Utley, Josh Willingham was the last player to hit homers in 3 straight games against the Mets. Here are the longest such streaks since 1993:

                   StreakStart  Streak End Games    AB    R    H   2B  3B  HR  RBI  SO   BB   SB   CS   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  Teams
+-----------------+-----------+-----------+-----+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
 Ryan Howard        2006-08-17  2007-04-09     5     18    6    7   0   0   5   13    3    2    0   0  .389  .429 1.222 1.651 PHI                                         

 Chipper Jones      1999-07-04  1999-09-23     4     13    7    6   0   0   5    8    2    4    1   0  .462  .588 1.615 2.203 ATL
 Andruw Jones       1998-09-05  1998-09-25     4     16    5    7   0   0   4    5    5    0    1   1  .438  .438 1.188 1.626 ATL
 Larry Walker       1996-04-11  1996-04-19     4     15    6    6   0   0   4    7    2    1    0   0  .400  .471 1.200 1.671 COL                                         

 Chase Utley        2008-04-18  2008-04-20     3     11    4    6   0   0   4    6    2    2    0   0  .545  .615 1.636 2.251 PHI
 Josh Willingham    2006-09-11  2006-09-13     3     13    5    8   1   0   3    6    3    1    0   0  .615  .643 1.385 2.028 FLA
 Andruw Jones       2006-04-17  2006-04-19     3     12    4    5   0   0   4    7    2    0    0   0  .417  .385 1.417 1.802 ATL
 Adam Dunn          2004-06-30  2005-04-04     3     10    5    7   2   0   4    8    3    3    0   0  .700  .769 2.100 2.869 CIN
 Bobby Abreu        2004-07-08  2004-07-16     3     14    4    7   2   0   3    7    2    1    2   0  .500  .533 1.286 1.819 PHI
 Hideki Matsui      2003-06-29  2004-06-27     3     11    3    3   0   0   3    6    4    1    0   0  .273  .333 1.091 1.424 NYY
 Eric Young         2003-05-02  2003-06-05     3     11    4    5   2   0   3    3    1    0    0   0  .455  .455 1.455 1.910 MIL
 Pat Burrell        2002-09-08  2003-05-20     3     10    4    5   1   0   4    7    4    3    0   0  .500  .615 1.800 2.415 PHI
 Albert Pujols      2001-08-12  2002-04-24     3     10    4    3   0   0   3    4    2    2    0   0  .300  .417 1.200 1.617 STL
 Scott Rolen        2001-07-29  2001-08-29     3     13    4    6   2   0   3    6    2    1    0   0  .462  .500 1.308 1.808 PHI
 Rich Aurilia       2001-05-12  2001-08-24     3     13    6    8   1   0   3    7    0    0    0   0  .615  .615 1.385 2.000 SFG
 Gary Sheffield     2001-08-17  2001-08-19     3     12    3    7   1   0   3    9    0    0    1   0  .583  .583 1.417 2.000 LAD
 Jose Cruz          1999-06-08  2000-07-16     3     10    4    4   0   0   3    3    3    4    0   0  .400  .571 1.300 1.871 TOR
 Vladimir Guerrero  1999-07-08  1999-07-22     3     11    3    5   0   0   3    4    1    1    0   0  .455  .500 1.273 1.773 MON
 Vladimir Guerrero  1998-06-18  1998-07-10     3     14    6    5   1   0   3    5    0    1    0   0  .357  .400 1.071 1.471 MON
 Damion Easley      1997-06-30  1997-07-02     3     12    4    4   0   0   3    3    1    0    1   0  .333  .333 1.083 1.416 DET
 Sammy Sosa         1996-05-11  1996-08-05     3     13    4    5   0   0   3    4    3    0    0   0  .385  .385 1.077 1.462 CHC
 Jerome Walton      1994-06-05  1995-05-07     3      8    4    4   0   0   3    6    1    1    1   1  .500  .556 1.625 2.181 CIN
 Matt Williams      1994-04-23  1994-05-02     3     12    3    3   0   0   3    6    1    1    0   0  .250  .308 1.000 1.308 SFG
 Glenallen Hill     1993-09-03  1993-09-05     3      9    3    3   0   0   3    6    2    0    0   0  .333  .333 1.333 1.666 CHC
 Rick Wilkins       1993-06-07  1993-06-09     3     12    4    5   0   0   4    6    1    1    0   0  .417  .462 1.417 1.879 CHC                                         

You can see Willingham and Utley both there at 3-game streaks.

Other long streaks against the Mets can be seen here and here. Bad Henry has a streak of 5 that matches Ryan Howard’s.

Did you know that Roger Erickson, in 1978, pitched in 37 games and allowed at least one earned run in every one of those games?  It’s true.  And, it’s the record, for most games in a row, starting at the start of a season, where a pitcher allowed at least one ER (per game) - since 1956.  Thanks Play Index.

Tonight, Alex Rios extended his hitting streak against the Yankees to 21 games. This ties him with Nomar Garciaparra , Paul Molitor and Harold Baines for the longest such streaks since 1956. (The Rios number has not yet been updated.)

(more…)

I was surprised that this happened even once, but it’s happened 3 times since 1956.  There have been 3 pitchers who have gone 2 consecutive games, both starts, without a retiring a batter.

(more…)

I did a team streak finder for most consecutive games with no Extra Base Hits (XBH.) It runs from 1957 to 2007 and here are the top three:

 Team    StreakStart  Streak End Games   W   L    AB    R    H   2B  3B  HR  RBI  SO   BB   SB   CS   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  Opponents
+-------+-----------+-----------+-----+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
 NYY      1967-04-14  1967-04-22     6    3   3   218   16   43   0   0   0   15   34   33    1   0  .197  .307  .197  .504 BOS,CHW                             

 PIT      1985-05-17  1985-05-21     5    2   3   151   10   32   0   0   0   10   32   19    4   4  .212  .298  .212  .510 CIN,HOU
 LAA      1964-06-26  1964-06-30     5    2   3   147    8   29   0   0   0    6   17   15    2   1  .197  .274  .197  .471 KCA,NYY

These are the only teams to muster more than 4 straight games with no XBH. Surprisingly, their records are pretty good, with that 1967 Yankees team going 3 and 3 in their streak of 6 such games.

Here are those 6 games:

 TmG Date       Opp GmReslt  PA  AB  R   H  2B 3B HR RB  BB IW  SO HB  SH  SF RE DP  SB CS   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS   LOB Batrs Th Opp. Starter
+---+---------+----+-------+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+--+---+--+---+--+---+---+--+--+---+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+-----+--+------------+
   3 Apr 14     BOS L  0-3   33  28   0   1  0  0  0  0   5  0   2  0   0   0  1  1   0  0  .223  .298  .359  .657    6    13  L B.Rohr
   4 Apr 15     BOS W  1-0   33  27   1   5  0  0  0  1   4  1   4  1   1   0  0  1   0  0  .215  .301  .323  .624    8     9  L D.Bennett
   5 Apr 16     BOS W  7-6   76  65   7  15  0  0  0  6   9  0  13  1   1   0  1  3   1  0  .221  .312  .292  .604   16    19  R J.Lonborg
   6 Apr 19    @CHW W  3-0   40  31   3   7  0  0  0  3   6  2   2  0   1   2  0  1   0  0  .221  .315  .283  .598   10     9  L T.John
   7 Apr 21    @BOS L  1-6   36  35   1   8  0  0  0  1   1  0   7  0   0   0  0  0   0  0  .222  .307  .276  .583    8    14  L B.Rohr
   8 Apr 22    @BOS L  4-5   43  32   4   7  0  0  0  4   8  0   6  1   1   1  0  0   0  0  .222  .317  .270  .587   12    16  R J.Lonborg

Can you imagine a team scoring 7 runs today with no doubles, triples, or homers? Sheesh.

I would have to think that in the modern era, it is pretty hard to win a game without a single extra-base hit.

Here are the longest streaks from the last 10 seasons (1998-2007):

 Team    StreakStart  Streak End Games   W   L    AB    R    H   2B  3B  HR  RBI  SO   BB   SB   CS   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  Opponents
+-------+-----------+-----------+-----+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
 SDP      2005-09-10  2005-09-12     3    0   3    92    7   18   0   0   0    6   18   11    0   1  .196  .286  .196  .482 LAD,SFG
 CHW      2004-09-14  2004-09-16     3    0   3    89    4   15   0   0   0    4   16    6    0   1  .169  .227  .169  .396 MIN
 KCR      2004-08-31  2004-09-03     3    2   1   100   10   25   0   0   0    9   27    6    0   0  .250  .290  .250  .540 DET,MIN
 KCR      2004-07-05  2004-07-07     3    0   3    87    0   13   0   0   0    0   24    2    2   1  .149  .196  .149  .345 MIN
 TBD      2004-04-17  2004-04-20     3    0   3    91    2   12   0   0   0    1   13    7    1   1  .132  .202  .132  .334 CHW,BAL
 MON      2004-04-11  2004-04-14     3    0   3    92    1   18   0   0   0    1   21    8    0   1  .196  .257  .196  .453 NYM,FLA
 BAL      2003-07-11  2003-07-13     3    0   3    92    3   15   0   0   0    1   17    3    1   0  .163  .189  .163  .352 OAK
 MIL      2003-05-24  2003-05-27     3    1   2    86    5   13   0   0   0    5   22    9    0   1  .151  .245  .151  .396 LAD,SDP
 PIT      2003-05-02  2003-05-04     3    1   2    97    8   18   0   0   0    6   23   11    4   0  .186  .269  .186  .455 LAD
 STL      2002-08-04  2002-08-07     3    0   3    93    3   14   0   0   0    1   11    5    0   1  .151  .194  .151  .345 ATL,MON
 SFG      2002-05-30  2002-06-01     3    0   3    92    6   21   0   0   0    5   14    7    2   2  .228  .280  .228  .508 ARI,COL
 SDP      2001-09-03  2001-09-05     3    0   3    89    1   10   0   0   0    1   20    4    2   0  .112  .160  .112  .272 STL
 NYY      2000-05-13  2000-05-16     3    0   3    95    4   16   0   0   0    4   16   10    1   1  .168  .255  .168  .423 DET,CHW

Indeed, check out that record. 4 up and 35 down, a .103 winning percentage.

But if you thought the Yankees scoring 7 runs in 1967 without an XBH was impressive, check out this game, one of the Royals’ victories in their 3-game streak above from 2004. Nine runs on 17 singles, 3 walks, and 2 reaches-on-error.

Here are a few bits of trivia inspired by baseball cards from the 1988 Topps set, plus a shameless plug for a new blog of mine (see below.)

• Most of us know that Don Mattingly hit a record 6 grand slams in the 1987 season. But did you know that he didn’t hit any other grand slams in his entire career? Check out his home run log for proof.
• Mark McGwire set a record with 49 homers in his rookie season, and that’s the 4th highest total for a player within his first 3 seasons.
• Eddie Murray has the most 20-HR seasons among switch-hitters.
• The Niekro brothers have 8 out of 60 seasons since 1901 in which a pitcher at least 40 years old threw 200+ innings.
• Nolan Ryan has the most 200-strikeout seasons, and he might hold onto that record for a long time.
• Sure, Benito Santiago had a 34-game hitting streak as a rookie, but he never topped 13 games after that.

If you like this kind of stuff, check out my new blog 88 Topps Cards, where I’m posting each and every card from the 1988 Topps set. In addition to cool stats like those above, I’m also commenting on the cards themselves. I won’t ordinarily double-post the same stats here and there. Keep reading this blog, of course…I’ll still be posting here every day.

As a reader asked for, here are the longest streaks for reaching base at least once per game, broken down by position.

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Using the PI batting Streak Finder, here are the longest hitting streaks by position since 1957. The player needed to have appeared at the position (though not necessarily have started there) in each game to qualify.

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