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

At least the first in the retrosheet-era. Since 1956, no player with more than 50 career AB’s has ever had a batting average of more than .300 after every at bat of their career. With his 3 for 3 start, Bruce has a shot at doing this and could even survive an 0 for 6 tonight.

There are lots of guys with 5 or fewer AB’s who qualify, but these are the players with at least 5 AB’s followed by the lowest BA they had at the end of any game, who also got a hit in their first career plate appearance. (a couple of them I suppose could have had a 1 for 3 followed by a 1 for 3 with a hit in their last at bat, but I’m not going to check all of them).

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Last Sunday, the Mets did something that’s only been done once before in baseball history.  What was it?

Playing in Colorado, holding the Rockies to 3 hits (or less) in the game - and losing the contest.

Thanks to Baseball-Reference.com’s Play Index Pitching Game Finder, it’s easy to see how many times this rare feat has been done:

  Cnt Date          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
 +—-+————-+—+—-+——-+—-+–+–+–+–+–+–+—+—+–+–+—+—+–+–+—+—+–+–+—+–+–+–+——+——+
     1 2008-05-25    NYM  COL L  1-4   8    3  4  3  5  8  1 149  88  0  0  32  25  1  0   0   0  1  1   1  0  1  0      3   3.38
     2 1999-08-18    ATL  COL L  1-4   8    3  4  4  3  7  2 126  82  0  0  30  27  0  0   0   0  0  0   0  0  0  0      2   4.50

   Games found: 2.

Shane Victorino just picked up 4 runs scored in a game in which he had just 2 official ABs (plus 2 walks.) This is the 121st time it’s been done (4 or more runs, 2 or fewer ABs) since 1956, and first time since the 2006 season.

The guys who did it in 2006:

  Cnt Player            Date          Tm   Opp GmReslt PA AB  R  H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF ROE GDP SB CS BOr Positions
+—-+—————–+————-+—+—-+——-+–+–+–+–+–+–+–+—+–+—+–+—+–+–+—+—+–+–+—+———+
    1 Carlos Beltran    2006-09-30    NYM @WSN W 13-0   5  2  4  1  0  0  0   0  3   0  0   0  0  0   0   0  1  0 3rd CF
    2 Jim Thome         2006-07-29    CHW @BAL W 13-11  6  2  4  0  0  0  0   0  4   1  0   0  0  0   0   0  0  0 3rd DH
    3 Carlos Guillen    2006-07-14    DET  KCR W 10-9   5  2  4  1  0  0  1   1  2   1  0   1  0  0   0   0  0  0 5th SS
    4 Alfonso Soriano   2006-06-08    WSN  PHI W  5-2   4  1  4  1  0  0  1   1  2   0  0   1  0  0   0   0  1  0 1st LF
    5 Grady Sizemore    2006-06-03    CLE  LAA W 14-2   5  2  4  1  0  0  1   1  3   1  0   0  0  0   0   0  0  0 1st CF
    6 Jason Varitek     2006-05-15    BOS @BAL W 11-1   5  2  4  2  0  0  1   3  3   0  0   0  0  0   0   0  0  0 6th C

And the full list.

By the way, two of those times, a guy got 4 runs scored with no official ABs:

  Cnt Player            Date          Tm   Opp GmReslt PA **AB**  R  H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF ROE GDP SB CS BOr Positions
+—-+—————–+————-+—+—-+——-+–+——+–+–+–+–+–+—+–+—+–+—+–+–+—+—+–+–+—+———+
    1 Rickey Henderson  1989-07-29    OAK  SEA L  6-14  4    0    4  0  0  0  0   0  4   0  0   0  0  0   0   0  5  0 1st LF
    2 Joe Morgan        1973-07-27    CIN  ATL W 12-2   4    0    4  0  0  0  0   0  4   0  0   0  0  0   0   0  1  0 2nd 2B

This is just a quickie. Phillies fans will remember this well. In 1995, Tyler Green made the All-Star team after a first half where he went 8-4 over 96 innings, allowing 80 hits and 3 HR with a 2.81 ERA. However, in the second half, he went 0-5 over 44.2 innings, allowing 77 hits and 12 HR with a 10.68 ERA. You can get this info from his 1995 splits.

That’s 1 HR every 32 innings in the first half, and more than 1 HR every 4 innings in the second half. That’s quite a difference.

Green had some good games in subsequent years (such as this one) but was never regained his consistency from the first half of 1995.

Neat thing you can do with PI - generate a list of all no-hitters from Opening Day 1956 until yesterday.  So tommorrow Jon Lester will be on this.

(looks it over) Only includes regular season but with another search you can get the entire post-season list.  All one of them.

Recently - from May 2nd to May 12th, to be exact - the Boston Red Sox went 11 straight games with 11+ hits.   Wondering what other teams have done this, since 1956, I turned to Baseball-Reference.com’s Play Index Team Batting Streak Finder - and, here’s the answer:

 Team    StreakStart  Streak End Games   W   L    AB    R    H   2B  3B  HR  RBI  SO   BB   SB   CS   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  Opponents
+-------+-----------+-----------+-----+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
 BOS      2008-05-02  2008-05-12    11    7   4   409   73  137  36   1  17   70   69   41   13   1  .335  .400  .553  .953 TBR,DET,MIN
 SEA      1992-08-16  1992-08-28    11    8   3   405   70  135  26   3  12   68   72   45   14   2  .333  .402  .501  .903 MIN,BAL,BOS,CLE
 STL      1979-05-27  1979-06-08    11    8   3   419   83  164  29   9  15   78   48   38   14   6  .391  .436  .611 1.047 MON,NYM,LAD,SFG,SDP                 

It’s happened just three times since 1956:  Boston this year, Seattle in 1992 and St. Louis in 1979.  That’s quite a feat.

Here’s a look more at fast starts by home run hitters.

This list is the most games with at least one homer among the team’s first 40 games of a season.

                   Year Games Link to Individual Games

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

 Jim Thome         2006    16 Ind. Games                

 Albert Pujols     2006    16 Ind. Games                

 Willie Mays       1965    16 Ind. Games                

 Mickey Mantle     1956    16 Ind. Games                

 Ken Griffey       1994    16 Ind. Games                

 Luis Gonzalez     2001    16 Ind. Games                

 Barry Bonds       2001    16 Ind. Games                

 Hank Aaron        1970    16 Ind. Games                

 Mark McGwire      1992    15 Ind. Games                

 Willie Mays       1964    15 Ind. Games                

 Ken Griffey       1997    15 Ind. Games                

 Barry Bonds       1996    15 Ind. Games                

 Barry Bonds       2000    15 Ind. Games                

 Albert Belle      1996    15 Ind. Games                

 Dick Allen        1970    15 Ind. Games                

 Matt Williams     1994    14 Ind. Games                

 Mo Vaughn         1996    14 Ind. Games                

 Frank Thomas      1994    14 Ind. Games                

 Ivan Rodriguez    2000    14 Ind. Games                

 Mark McGwire      2000    14 Ind. Games                

 Mark McGwire      1998    14 Ind. Games                

 Eddie Mathews     1959    14 Ind. Games                

 Dale Long         1956    14 Ind. Games                

 Carlos Lee        2006    14 Ind. Games                

 Frank Howard      1968    14 Ind. Games                

 Ken Griffey       1999    14 Ind. Games                

 Jason Giambi      2000    14 Ind. Games                

 Andres Galarraga  1998    14 Ind. Games                

 J.D. Drew         2001    14 Ind. Games                

 Jose Canseco      1999    14 Ind. Games                

 Jose Canseco      1990    14 Ind. Games                

Unsurprisingly, it’s dominated by recent guys, although some of the best home run hitters of yesteryear show up as well. Keep in mind that actual HR totals through 40 games will be higher in some cases (where the player had one or more games with 2+ HRs.)

Incidentally, Lance Berkman has the highest-ranking performance from 2008 on here, at 12 HR. But Berkman actually had 13 HR through 40 games. Chase Utley had 13 too.

Tampa Bay has  just completed a 4 game stretch against the Yankees in which they allowed no more than 2 runs in any game. I was surprised to discover that this is not the first time in Tampa history that they have had a 4 game streak of that nature. From September 24 through September 27, 2000 the Devil Rays went 4 consecutive games without allowing more than 1 run in a game. Here are the game logs:

 154 Sep 24    @TOR W  6-0   9    2  0  0  1  3  0   4.97  31 127  82        0  0  1 30  1  0  0  0  0  0  1  0  1 T.Harper (4-85)
 155 Sep 25    @TOR W  5-1   9    5  1  1  3  5  1   4.94  33 105  63  2  0  0  0  0 30  3  0  0  0  0  0  0  1  3 P.Wilson (8-74),E.Yan (1),R.Hernandez (2)
 156 Sep 26     NYY W  2-1   9    8  1  1  2  7  1   4.92  37 129  81  0  0  0  0  0 35  1  0  0  0  0  0  1  0  2 A.Lopez (5-72),R.Hernandez (0)
 157 Sep 27     NYY W 11-1   9    7  1  1  2  5  0   4.89  35 123  81  0  0  1  0  0 33  1  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  2 C.Lidle (4-65),D.Wheeler (3)

Of course 2000 was the one season from 1999 until now that their pitching wasn’t  totally awful.   By comparison: Since Tampa Bay’s inagural season in 1998, there have been 70 streaks of 5 games or longer turned in by other major league teams.

Last night Edinson Volquez allowed 1 runs in 6 innings. It was the 8th time in as many starts this season in which he has allowed 2 runs or fewer. Only 4 pitchers since 1956 have started their season with a longer streak.

                   StreakStart  Streak End Games   W   L   GS  CG SHO  GF  SV   IP     H    R   ER   BB   SO   HR   ERA  HBP  WP  BK Teams
 -----------------+-----------+-----------+-----+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Barry Moore        1969-04-11  1969-06-06    11    5   1  11   2   0   0   0   62.2   48   14   13   24   24   4   1.87   0   2   0 WSA                                  

 Jake Peavy         2004-04-06  2004-07-02    10    5   2  10   0   0   0   0   59     57   13   13   20   59   3   1.98   2   0   1 SDP
 Bob Tewksbury      1992-04-10  1992-05-30    10    5   1  10   2   0   0   0   74     64   15   15    6   27   5   1.82   0   1   0 STL
 Juan Marichal      1966-04-12  1966-05-26    10    9   0  10   8   4   0   0   92     51    8    6    8   60   3   0.59   0   0   0 SFG

Moore and Tewksbury each mixed in 1 scoreless relief appearance.

The overall (any time during a season) post 1956 record of 14 consecutive games is shared by Greg Maddux and Mike Scott. Maddux’s streak extends from 1993 to 1994. It does not include his 2 playoff starts (one of which would have ended it). Maddux’s streak was followed by another streak of 10 games.  Over those 25 regular season starts (including the one in between) Maddux posted a 1.41 ERA in over 197 innings. Scott’s streak was all  within his magical ‘86 season.

A couple of other notes:

1) Johan Santana posted 2 streaks of 10 games in 2004. These were seperated by 2 games in which he allowed 3 runs. Those were his last 22 starts of the regular season. In them he posted a 1.36 ERA.  He then pitched 2 playoff games and allowed 1 run in 12 innings.

2) In the last 2 seasons the only pitcher with a streak longer than Volquez (at any point during the season) was Jason Schmidt in 2006.

3) Volquez isn’t the only one with a streak going.  John Maine (7 games), John Danks (6 games) and Aaron Cook (5 games) all have active streaks of at least 5 games. However, Volquez is the only one of the 4 to have his streak encompass his whole season.

In a new article, Goose Gossage talks about intentionally hitting batters.  The article states:

“Gossage, that famous mustache now gray, claims to have hit only three batters intentionally in his major league career: Ron Gant, Al Bumbry and Andres Galarraga.

‘They had it coming,’ he said.”

Perhaps so, but there’s one problem.  Going by the PI features, Goose Gossage never hit Al Bumbry.  He nailed Gant & Galaragga the same summer, but never Bumbry in the majors.

Was he thinking of some other Oriole?  Well, he only hit six of them, and the last two occasions came after Bumbry was gone.

One was Mark Belanger.  Who hell intentionally hits Mark Belanger.  That’s going hunting with hope of offing Bambi’s mom.  Besides, it looks like he had bad control that game, he hit two men (Don Baylor was the other),  and let in some runs.  He also hit Rick Dempsey, but that was with a one run lead.  My best guess is either Doug DeCinces or someone on another team.

DeCinces’s plunk came late in a game where he was 2-for-3 with a run, right after Gossage allowed a run, and with New York winning by 7 runs with 2 out in the eighth. Oh, and a week earlier he hit a two-run homer off of Gossage.

Not exactly “deserving it” but then again Ron Gant’s big crime was to steal a base and score an insurance run on a single.

It could be someone else, but the best guess is Doug DeCinces.