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

With Matt Garza throwing a shutout two days ago, Tampa Bay has joined Cleveland as the only teams in 2008 with 4 complete-game shutouts.

 Tm  Year Games Link to Individual Games
+---+----+-----+-------------------------+
 TBR 2008     4 Ind. Games
 CLE 2008     4 Ind. Games
 TOR 2008     3 Ind. Games
 LAD 2008     3 Ind. Games
 PHI 2008     2 Ind. Games
 MIN 2008     2 Ind. Games
 MIL 2008     2 Ind. Games
 BOS 2008     2 Ind. Games
 TEX 2008     1 Ind. Games
 STL 2008     1 Ind. Games
 SFG 2008     1 Ind. Games
 OAK 2008     1 Ind. Games
 LAA 2008     1 Ind. Games
 COL 2008     1 Ind. Games
 ATL 2008     1 Ind. Games
 ARI 2008     1 Ind. Games                

And here are the leaders for overall shutouts in 2008 (not necessarily complete games by the starting pitcher):

 Tm  Year Games Link to Individual Games
+---+----+-----+-------------------------+
 CLE 2008    11 Ind. Games
 BOS 2008    11 Ind. Games
 TBR 2008    10 Ind. Games
 TOR 2008     9 Ind. Games
 NYY 2008     9 Ind. Games
 LAD 2008     9 Ind. Games
 LAA 2008     8 Ind. Games
 ARI 2008     8 Ind. Games
 WSN 2008     7 Ind. Games
 SFG 2008     7 Ind. Games
 MIN 2008     7 Ind. Games                

For some reason (probably the team name change) the “Ind. Games” links for the Rays are broken. But here’s a bit more info on the CG SHOs:

Cleveland:

  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 C.C. Sabathia     2008-06-10    CLE  MIN W  1-0  SHO9  ,W   9    5  0  0  0  5  0 106  77   82       29 29  0  0   0   0  0  0   0  0  1  1  0  0   0.00
    2 C.C. Sabathia     2008-05-14    CLE  OAK W  2-0  SHO9  ,W   9    5  0  0  2 11  0 117  77   86       32 30  1  0   0   0  0  0   2  0  0  0  0  0   0.00
    3 Fausto Carmona    2008-05-12(1) CLE  TOR W  3-0  SHO9  ,W   9    5  0  0  4  3  0 108  69   76       33 29  0  0   0   0  0  0   2  0  0  0  0  0   0.00
    4 Cliff Lee         2008-04-24(2) CLE @KCR W  2-0  SHO9  ,W   9    3  0  0  0  9  0 120  86   90       29 29  1  0   0   0  0  0   1  0  0  0  0  0   0.00 

So they got 2 from Sabathia (who of course no longer plays for them) and 1 each from Carmona and Lee.

And for Tampa Bay:

  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 Matt Garza        2008-07-29    TBR @TOR W  3-0  SHO9  ,W   9    5  0  0  1  5  0 106  74   81       30 29  1  0   0   0  0  0   3  0  0  0  0  0   0.00
    2 James Shields     2008-05-09    TBR  LAA W  2-0  SHO9  ,W   9    1  0  0  0  8  0  92  61   93       28 27  0  0   0   1  0  0   1  0  0  0  0  0   0.00
    3 James Shields     2008-04-27    TBR  BOS W  3-0  SHO9  ,W   9    2  0  0  1  7  0  99  66   89       29 28  0  0   0   0  0  0   1  1  0  0  0  0   0.00
    4 Andy Sonnanstine  2008-04-19    TBR  CHW W  5-0  SHO9  ,W   9    3  0  0  1  4  0 106  77   84       29 28  0  0   0   0  0  0   2  0  0  0  0  0   0.00 

Two from Shields, one from Sonnanstine, and Garza’s the other day. They haven’t gotten one yet from arguably their best pitcher, Scott Kazmir.

I know that the Rays stumbled badly around the All-Star break, and almost certainly Boston will win the division, but they have a very solid pitching staff. They are going to be playoff contenders for the next 5 years.

The last time I ripped a player, it caused a bit of a firestorm. Somehow I think I’ll get less resistance this time.

Let me start off by saying that I have no reason to believe that Patterson is anything but a lovely human being, no reason to believe he used or uses performance enhancing drugs, and that I fully recognize that he has more baseball ability in his pinky than I have in my entire body.

But this guy is a bad baseball player and I don’t understand why any team plays him.

So far this year, lowest batting averages among players with at least 200 AB:

  Cnt Player              **BA**   AB Year Age Tm  Lg  G   PA  R   H  2B 3B HR RBI  BB IBB  SO HBP  SH  SF GDP  SB CS  OBP   SLG   OPS  Positions
+----+-----------------+---------+---+----+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+---------+
    1 Corey Patterson      .183   208 2008  28 CIN NL  82 221  28  38  9  1  6  16   8   0  27   1   3   1   1  10  5  .216  .322  .538 *8
    2 Eric Byrnes          .209   206 2008  32 ARI NL  52 224  28  43 13  1  6  23  16   0  36   2   0   0   5   4  4  .272  .369  .641 *7/8
    3 Kenji Johjima        .209   268 2008  32 SEA AL  78 287  17  56 12  0  3  23  10   0  25   6   1   2   8   2  0  .252  .287  .539 *2/D
    4 Austin Kearns        .211   227 2008  28 WSN NL  62 261  25  48  8  0  5  27  27   0  43   6   0   1   7   1  2  .310  .313  .623 *9
    5 Carlos Ruiz          .211   213 2008  29 PHI NL  75 245  29  45  8  0  2  21  26   5  30   4   2   0  11   1  1  .309  .277  .586 *2
    6 Paul Konerko         .213   291 2008  32 CHW AL  78 335  33  62 11  1  9  35  37   2  58   5   0   2  12   1  0  .310  .351  .661 *3/D
    7 Khalil Greene        .215   386 2008  28 SDP NL 104 420  30  83 15  2 10  35  22   1  99   5   0   7   6   5  1  .262  .342  .604 *6
    8 Jason Varitek        .215   288 2008  36 BOS AL  87 324  21  62 16  0  8  31  32   1  82   3   0   1  10   0  0  .299  .354  .653 *2
    9 Franklin Gutierre    .216   245 2008  25 CLE AL  85 264  29  53 14  2  4  20  11   1  57   4   4   0   4   4  2  .262  .339  .601 *9/87D
   10 Gary Sheffield       .218   238 2008  39 DET AL  66 276  28  52 12  0  8  28  34   0  53   3   0   1  11   6  1  .322  .370  .692 *D/7      

And how about lowest OBP for the same criterion:

 Cnt Player             **OBP**   AB Year Age Tm  Lg  G   PA  R   H  2B 3B HR RBI  BB IBB  SO HBP  SH  SF GDP  SB CS   BA   SLG   OPS  Positions
 ----+-----------------+---------+---+----+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+---------
    1 Corey Patterson      .216   208 2008  28 CIN NL  82 221  28  38  9  1  6  16   8   0  27   1   3   1   1  10  5  .183  .322  .538 *8
    2 Kenji Johjima        .252   268 2008  32 SEA AL  78 287  17  56 12  0  3  23  10   0  25   6   1   2   8   2  0  .209  .287  .539 *2/D
    3 Franklin Gutierre    .262   245 2008  25 CLE AL  85 264  29  53 14  2  4  20  11   1  57   4   4   0   4   4  2  .216  .339  .601 *9/87D
    4 Khalil Greene        .262   386 2008  28 SDP NL 104 420  30  83 15  2 10  35  22   1  99   5   0   7   6   5  1  .215  .342  .604 *6
    5 Mike Lamb            .263   219 2008  32 MIN AL  70 240  18  50 10  2  1  28  13   3  29   0   0   8   3   0  1  .228  .306  .569 *5/D3
    6 Freddy Sanchez       .267   399 2008  30 PIT NL  98 426  47  97 16  0  7  42  12   0  50   3   6   6  10   0  1  .243  .336  .603 *4/D
    7 Yuniesky Betancou    .267   365 2008  26 SEA AL 101 378  36  93 23  2  3  30   6   0  22   1   3   3  12   2  2  .255  .353  .620 *6
    8 Jose Vidro           .269   292 2008  33 SEA AL  80 314  27  66 11  0  7  45  18   2  36   0   2   2   4   1  1  .226  .336  .605 *D/3
    9 Eric Byrnes          .272   206 2008  32 ARI NL  52 224  28  43 13  1  6  23  16   0  36   2   0   0   5   4  4  .209  .369  .641 *7/8
   10 Miguel Olivo         .276   207 2008  29 KCR AL  58 217  18  51 15  0  9  29   7   2  56   2   0   1   4   2  0  .246  .449  .725 *2D       

Whoa! Nice lead for Patterson there. I’d say he’s got it locked up.

This is a guy who was paid $9.9 million over the last 3 years. That’s about average, but Patterson’s not even close to being an average player. On his main page, his defensive stats suggest that he is a slightly below-average defender. Taken on the whole, all of this suggests that he must be one of the very worst full-time players in the majors. Why not cut him loose?

Blah blah, I’m plugging my other blog that uses stat from the PI on every post.

Some highlights for you:

• Fewest stolen bases in a career with at least 15 triples
• Catchers at least 34 years old to hit 20 homers in a season
• Which two pitchers in the last 40 years have had at least 2 seasons with 22 wins and a .750 W-L%?
• How many of the 23 pitchers can you name since 1983 who have at least 2 career shutouts and 30 career saves?
• Since 1969, who has the most PAs in a season with a batting average under .200?

The blog, 88 Topp Cards, has these and more than five hundred additional facts, plus images of all the 1988 Topps baseball cards, if you’re into that sort of thing.

From 1956 to 2008, most team cycles in a season - Baseball-Reference PI

Not sure what this tells you about a team, but there you have it.

Lowest WHIP, minimum 38 years old, minimum 40 IP

  Cnt Player             **WHIP**   IP  Year Age Tm  Lg  G  GS CG SHO GF  W  L  W-L% SV  H   R   ER  BB  SO   ERA  ERA  HR  BF   AB  2B 3B IBB HBP  SH  SF GDP  SB CS Pk BK WP   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  OPS   Pit  Str
 ----+-----------------+---------+-----+----+---+---+--+---+--+--+---+--+--+--+-----+--+---+---+---+---+---+------+----+--+----+----+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+----+----
    1 Mariano Rivera      0.669    46.1 2008  38 NYY AL  42  0  0   0 40  4  3  .571 26  27   6   6   4  57   1.17  353  2  169  161  4  0   0   2   1   1   1   5  1  0  0  0  .168  .196  .230  .426   14  653  453
    2 Hoyt Wilhelm        0.824    81.1 1966  43 CHW AL  46  0  0   0 30  5  2  .714  6  50  21  15  17  61   1.66  190  6  308  281  6  0   2   1   7   2   4   9  1  0  0  3  .178  .226  .263  .489   48
    3 Hoyt Wilhelm        0.833   144   1965  42 CHW AL  66  0  0   0 45  7  7  .500 20  88  34  29  32 106   1.81  176 11  545  502 12  3   7   2   8   5  10   9  1  1  0 10  .175  .226  .277  .503   51
    4 Cy Young            0.867   320.2 1905  38 BOS AL  38 33 31   4  5 18 19  .486  0 248  99  65  30 210   1.82  148  3 1238                 10                        0  6                            0
    5 Dick Hall           0.883    65.2 1969  38 BAL AL  39  0  0   0 17  5  2  .714  6  49  14  14   9  31   1.92  187  3  246  230  9  0   6   1   4   2   3   3  0  0  0  0  .213  .244  .291  .535   53
    6 Doug Jones          0.884    80.1 1997  40 MIL AL  75  0  0   0 73  6  6  .500 36  62  20  18   9  82   2.02  231  4  307  289 11  1   1   3   1   5   5   2  3  0  0  2  .215  .242  .301  .543   41
    7 Cy Young            0.893   299   1908  41 BOS AL  36 33 30   3  3 21 11  .656  2 230  68  42  37 150   1.26  194  1 1143                  2                        0  4                            0
    8 Randy Johnson       0.900   245.2 2004  40 ARI NL  35 35  4   2  0 16 14  .533  0 177  88  71  44 290   2.60  177 18  964  898 34  9   1  10   7   5   4  17 10  1  1  3  .197  .241  .315  .556   44 3629 2505
    9 Joe Berry           0.907   111.1 1944  39 PHA AL  53  0  0   0 47 10  8  .556 12  78  32  24  23  44   1.94  179  4  445                  2                        0  1                            0
   10 Russ Springer       0.909    66   2007  38 STL NL  76  0  0   0 18  8  1  .889  0  41  18  16  19  66   2.18  201  3  257  226  6  2   1   3   3   6   4   3  3  0  0  1  .181  .248  .265  .513   37 1068  682 

Best ERA+, minimum 38 years old, minimum 40 IP

  Cnt Player            **ERA **   IP  Year Age Tm  Lg  G  GS CG SHO GF  W  L  W-L% SV  H   R   ER  BB  SO   ERA  HR  BF   AB  2B 3B IBB HBP  SH  SF GDP  SB CS Pk BK WP   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  OPS   Pit  Str
 ----+-----------------+--------+-----+----+---+---+--+---+--+--+---+--+--+--+-----+--+---+---+---+---+---+------+--+----+----+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+----+----
    1 Mariano Rivera       353    46.1 2008  38 NYY AL  42  0  0   0 40  4  3  .571 26  27   6   6   4  57   1.17  2  169  161  4  0   0   2   1   1   1   5  1  0  0  0  .168  .196  .230  .426   14  653  453
    2 Marv Grissom         241    80.2 1956  38 NYG NL  43  2  0   0 20  1  1  .500  7  71  15  14  16  49   1.56  3  323  295  9  3   3   1   8   3   2   0  3  1  0  2  .241  .279  .322  .601   56
    3 Doug Jones           231    80.1 1997  40 MIL AL  75  0  0   0 73  6  6  .500 36  62  20  18   9  82   2.02  4  307  289 11  1   1   3   1   5   5   2  3  0  0  2  .215  .242  .301  .543   41
    4 Hoyt Wilhelm         229    89   1967  44 CHW AL  49  0  0   0 30  8  3  .727 12  58  21  13  34  76   1.31  2  360  317  8  0   4   4   4   1   3   8  6  0  0  2  .183  .270  .227  .497   57
    5 Ellis Kinder         227   107   1953  38 BOS AL  69  0  0   0 51 10  6  .625 27  84  30  22  38  39   1.85  8  441                  2                        1  1                            0
    6 Roger Clemens        226   211.1 2005  42 HOU NL  32 32  1   0  0 13  8  .619  0 151  51  44  62 185   1.87 11  838  761 26  3   5   3   9   3  16   8  4  2  1  3  .198  .261  .284  .545   46 3200 2036
    7 Takashi Saito        203    41.1 2008  38 LAD NL  39  0  0   0 34  3  3  .500 17  34  11  10  12  53   2.18  1  170  154  9  0   2   2   0   2   2   0  0  0  0  1  .221  .282  .299  .581   56  728  469
    8 Mike Timlin          202    80.1 2005  39 BOS AL  81  0  0   0 27  7  3  .700 13  86  23  20  20  59   2.24  2  342  311 24  2   5   2   3   6   6   6  1  1  0  3  .277  .319  .386  .705   84 1169  778
    9 Russ Springer        201    66   2007  38 STL NL  76  0  0   0 18  8  1  .889  0  41  18  16  19  66   2.18  3  257  226  6  2   1   3   3   6   4   3  3  0  0  1  .181  .248  .265  .513   37 1068  682
   10 Terry Leach          200    73.2 1992  38 CHW AL  51  0  0   0 21  6  5  .545  0  57  17  16  20  22   1.95  2  292  265  9  3   5   4   2   1   4   7  3  1  0  0  .215  .279  .294  .573   62              

Thanks, David in Toledo.

A reader asked about this on another post, and I had forgotten the answer until I looked it up.

Fewest IP in a 20-win season:

  Cnt Player              **IP**   W Year Age Tm  Lg  G  GS CG SHO GF  L  W-L% SV  H   R   ER  BB  SO   ERA  ERA+ HR  BF   AB  2B 3B IBB HBP  SH  SF GDP  SB CS Pk BK WP   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  OPS+  Pit  Str
+----+-----------------+---------+--+----+---+---+--+---+--+--+---+--+--+-----+--+---+---+---+---+---+------+----+--+----+----+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+----+----+
    1 Bob Grim            199     20 1954  24 NYY AL  37 20  8   1  8  6  .769  0 175  78  72  85 108   3.26  105  9  825                  3                        0  4                            0
    2 Pedro Martinez      199.1   20 2002  30 BOS AL  30 30  2   0  0  4  .833  0 144  62  50  40 239   2.26  202 13  787  726 35  3   1  15   2   4  10   8  5  2  0  3  .198  .254  .309  .563   47 3086 2052
    3 Josh Beckett        200.2   20 2007  27 BOS AL  30 30  1   0  0  7  .741  0 189  76  73  40 194   3.27  145 17  822  772 45  3   0   5   3   2  12  14  6  1  0  3  .245  .286  .377  .663   69 3088 2041
    4 Tim Hudson          202.1   20 2000  24 OAK AL  32 32  2   2  0  6  .769  0 169 100  93  82 169   4.14  113 24  847  746 32  3   5   7   5   7  17  24  3  1  0  7  .227  .306  .374  .680   75 3227 1918
    5 Scott Erickson      204     20 1991  23 MIN AL  32 32  5   3  0  8  .714  0 189  80  72  71 108   3.18  134 13  851  762 39  5   3   6   5   7  22   4 10  0  0  4  .248  .314  .364  .678   83
    6 David Cone          207.2   20 1998  35 NYY AL  31 31  3   0  0  7  .741  0 186  89  82  59 209   3.55  124 20  866  784 41  2   1  15   4   4   9  21  6  0  0  6  .237  .302  .371  .673   77
    7 John Smiley         207.2   20 1991  26 PIT NL  33 32  2   1  0  8  .714  0 194  78  71  44 129   3.08  117 17  836  774 38  6   0   3  11   4  11  18 13  0  1  3  .251  .292  .381  .673   94
    8 Andy Pettitte       208.1   21 2003  31 NYY AL  33 33  1   0  0  8  .724  0 227 109  93  50 180   4.02  109 21  896  835 34  6   3   1   5   5  18  13  1  0  0  5  .272  .312  .402  .714   89 3383 2185
    9 Jamie Moyer         209.2   20 2001  38 SEA AL  33 33  1   0  0  6  .769  0 187  84  80  44 119   3.43  121 24  851  781 34  3   4  10   5  11  14  12  7  1  0  1  .239  .285  .383  .668   79 3093 1940
   10 Russ Ortiz          212.1   21 2003  29 ATL NL  34 34  1   1  0  7  .750  0 177 101  90 102 149   3.81  112 17  912  793 41  3   7   4   6   7   9  22  5  2  0  5  .223  .312  .347  .659   76 3567 2102
   11 Randy Johnson       213     20 1997  33 SEA AL  30 29  5   2  0  4  .833  0 147  60  54  77 291   2.28  196 20  850  758 32  1   2  10   4   1  11  13 16  3  0  4  .194  .277  .318  .595   56
   12 Pedro Martinez      213.1   23 1999  27 BOS AL  31 29  5   1  1  4  .852  0 160  56  49  37 313   2.07  243  9  835  780 38  0   1   9   3   6  11  21 10  0  0  6  .205  .248  .288  .536   35
   13 Jamie Moyer         215     21 2003  40 SEA AL  33 33  1   0  0  7  .750  0 199  83  78  66 129   3.27  132 19  897  810 39  1   3   8   7   6  19  11  6  4  0  0  .246  .307  .367  .674   81 3440 2134
   14 Johnny Beazley      215.1   21 1942  24 STL NL  43 23 13   3 15  6  .778  3 181  67  51  73  91   2.13  162  4  890                  3                        0  7                            0
   15 Matt Morris         216.1   22 2001  26 STL NL  34 34  2   1  0  8  .733  0 218  86  76  54 185   3.16  137 13  909  823 45  2   3  13  14   5  18  11  5  2  1  5  .265  .318  .372  .690   82 3331 2162
   16 Rick Helling        216.1   20 1998  27 TEX AL  33 33  4   2  0  7  .741  0 209 109 106  78 164   4.41  109 27  922  827 44  5   6   1   6  10   7  11 12  0  0 10  .253  .314  .416  .730   85
   17 Bob Forsch          217.1   20 1977  27 STL NL  35 35  8   2  0  7  .741  0 210  97  84  69  95   3.48  111 20  915  835 33  2   2   3   4   4  21  15  6  2  1  9  .251  .310  .368  .678   88
   18 Derek Lowe          219.2   21 2002  29 BOS AL  32 32  1   1  0  8  .724  0 166  65  63  48 127   2.58  177 12  854  787 30  3   0  12   5   2  28  19  7  0  0  5  .211  .266  .302  .568   49 3068 1956
   19 Ray Sadecki         220     20 1964  23 STL NL  37 32  9   2  2 11  .645  1 232 104  90  60 119   3.68  104 16  935  850 32  4   4   1  16   8  22   7  7  2  1  7  .273  .319  .376  .695   94
   20 Roger Clemens       220.1   20 2001  38 NYY AL  33 33  0   0  0  3  .870  0 205  94  86  72 213   3.51  128 19  918  833 44  3   1   5   4   4  21  34  6  3  0 14  .246  .309  .375  .684   78 3590 2274
   21 Tommy John          220.1   20 1977  34 LAD NL  31 31 11   3  0  7  .741  0 225  82  68  50 123   2.78  138 12  906  842 34  4   3   3  10   1  32   8 10  0  0  6  .267  .310  .360  .670   84
   22 Andy Pettitte       221     21 1996  24 NYY AL  35 34  2   0  1  8  .724  0 229 105  95  72 162   3.87  129 23  929  844 37  3   2   3   7   3  23  10 11 10  1  6  .271  .330  .404  .734   83
   23 Bartolo Colon       222.2   21 2005  32 LAA AL  33 33  2   0  0  8  .724  0 215  93  86  43 157   3.48  122 26  906  847 42  5   0   3   9   4  21   2  4  0  1  2  .254  .291  .407  .698   85 3236 2200
   24 Dave McNally        224.1   21 1971  28 BAL AL  30 30 11   1  0  5  .808  0 188  75  72  58  91   2.89  116 24  899  822 36  3   2   5  10   4  24   1  4  4  0  5  .229  .282  .367  .649   90
   25 Tom Glavine         225     20 1992  26 ATL NL  33 33  7   5  0  8  .714  0 197  81  69  70 129   2.76  133  6  919  839 37  4   7   2   2   6  18  13 10  0  0  5  .235  .293  .310  .603   72           

Mike Mussina is on pace to turn the trick this year, although odds are that he won’t achieve it.

Here are the most complete game losses anybody has had since 2003:

                   Games Link to Individual Games
+-----------------+-----+-------------------------+
 Roy Halladay          8 Ind. Games
 Randy Johnson         7 Ind. Games
 Livan Hernandez       7 Ind. Games
 Jake Westbrook        6 Ind. Games
 Bartolo Colon         5 Ind. Games
 Tim Wakefield         4 Ind. Games
 Javier Vazquez        4 Ind. Games
 Ben Sheets            4 Ind. Games
 Mark Redman           4 Ind. Games
 Mark Mulder           4 Ind. Games
 Barry Zito            3 Ind. Games
 C.C. Sabathia         3 Ind. Games
 Brad Radke            3 Ind. Games
 Jamie Moyer           3 Ind. Games
 Matt Morris           3 Ind. Games
 Kevin Millwood        3 Ind. Games
 Derek Lowe            3 Ind. Games
 John Lackey           3 Ind. Games
 Ryan Franklin         3 Ind. Games
 Mark Buehrle          3 Ind. Games
 Joe Blanton           3 Ind. Games                

Halladay’s got 3 already this year and had 3 last year as well. Can you imagine if he’d been healthy so far in his career? He’d probably be considered the best starting pitcher over the last 10 years.

And here are all compete game no-decisions since 2003:

                   Games Link to Individual Games
+-----------------+-----+-------------------------+
 Mike Mussina          1 Ind. Games
 Pat Hentgen           1 Ind. Games              

Trivia question: how does one get a complete game no-decision? Can you figure it out? If not, click on the “Ind. Games” links above and you’ll see how.

Mariner second baseman Jose Lopez is tied for  the American League lead in sacrifice flies with 9.  He is also one off the league lead in sacrifice bunts with 6.  I thought that these two statistics  combined were an interesting mix, so I wondered if Lopez’s season is common. The answer is not usually, but this year may be different.

Since 1954 when baseball started keeping separate SH and SF records there have been 11 players to have 10 or more sacrifice flies and bunts in the same season. Here is the list.

  Cnt Player            Year  SH  SF Age Tm  Lg  G   PA  AB  R   H  2B 3B HR RBI  BB IBB  SO HBP GDP  SB CS   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  Positions
+----+-----------------+----+---+---+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+
    1 Juan Uribe        2005  11  10  25 CHW AL 146 540 481  58 121 23  3 16  71  34   0  77   4   7   4  6  .252  .301  .412  .713 *6
    2 Ricky Gutierrez   2001  17  11  31 CHC NL 147 606 528  76 153 23  3 10  66  40   0  56  10  13   4  3  .290  .345  .402  .747 *6
    3 Roberto Alomar    1999  12  13  31 CLE AL 159 694 563 138 182 40  3 24 120  99   3  96   7  13  37  6  .323  .422  .533  .955 *4/D
    4 Kevin Elster      1996  16  11  31 TEX AL 157 596 515  79 130 32  2 24  99  52   1 138   2   8   4  1  .252  .317  .462  .779 *6
    5 Omar Vizquel      1995  10  10  28 CLE AL 136 622 542  87 144 28  0  6  56  59   0  59   1   4  29 11  .266  .333  .351  .684 *6
    6 Jerry Browne      1990  12  11  24 CLE AL 140 610 513  92 137 26  5  6  50  72   1  46   2  12  12  7  .267  .353  .372  .725 *4
    7 Wally Joyner      1986  10  12  24 CAL AL 154 674 593  82 172 27  3 22 100  57   8  58   2  11   5  2  .290  .348  .457  .805 *3
    8 Rob Wilfong       1979  25  10  25 MIN AL 140 485 419  71 131 22  6  9  59  29   3  54   2   2  11  4  .313  .352  .458  .810 *4/879
    9 Bert Campaneris   1976  18  11  34 OAK AL 149 631 536  67 137 14  1  1  52  63   0  80   3   4  54 12  .256  .331  .291  .622 *6
   10 Brooks Robinson   1962  10  10  25 BAL AL 162 697 634  77 192 29  9 23  86  42   3  70   1  18   3  1  .303  .342  .486  .828 *5/64
   11 Johnny Temple     1959  11  13  31 CIN NL 149 696 598 102 186 35  6  8  67  72   2  40   2  11  14  3  .311  .380  .430  .810 *4

As rare as this seems, Lopez is not alone yet. Here are the players who have amassed 6 of each so far  this season.

  Cnt                        SH  SF Year Age Tm  Lg  G   PA  AB  R   H  2B 3B HR RBI  BB IBB  SO HBP GDP  SB CS   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  Positions
+----+-----------------+---+---+---+----+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+
    1 Freddy Sanchez          6   6 2008  30 PIT NL  92 403 376  42  88 14  0  6  39  12   0  48   3   9   0  1  .234  .259  .319  .578 *4/D
    2 Jose Lopez              6   9 2008  24 SEA AL  96 425 394  49 117 26  1  6  51  15   2  36   1  11   4  1  .297  .317  .414  .731 *4/D
    3 Ian Kinsler             6   6 2008  26 TEX AL  97 469 413  84 134 34  4 14  59  38   1  56   6   7  24  1  .324  .384  .528  .912 *4

Last Night  Miguel Cabrera had 5 hits and 6 RBI. He is the 45th player since 1956 to do this.

What intrigues me are the dates for the last 4 times that this has been accomplished.

Cabrera accomplished his feat on July 21, 2008.

Before him Willie Harris did it on  July 21, 2007.

Before that Andruw Jones did it on July 18, 2006.

Before that Craig Monroe did it on July 22, 2005.

In 4 consecutive years the feat has been accomplished on almost the same date and in the last 3 of those years (so far) it wasn’t done on any other date.

Some of you will tell me that I’m nuts, but I found this intriguing.

As the older pitchers of the 80s and 90s begin to fade away, there are still some who are going strong.  For a while, it became common for older pitchers to win a lot of games, but this year it doesn’t look like there will be all that many.  However, there is this one thing. The 2 pitchers age 36 or older (Defined by June 30) with the most wins are both on the same team.  Mike Mussina, with his resurgence at age 40, has 12 wins and Andy Pettitte, who makes the age 36 cutoff by 2 weeks, has 11.  Is this a big deal? Probably not. However, I would like to point out that no team in the history of major league baseball has had two pitchers 36 or older win 18 games and the only team to have two such pitchers win 17 games is the 1915 Chicago Whales.

Other than the Whales, there have been 5 teams with 2 pitchers 36 or older who each won at least 15 games.  All 5 of those made the playoffs. However, their stays there were not all that successful. The teams combined to go 2-5 in their postseason series, with both series victories going to the 2003 Yankees.

Here are the players with their regular season stats and their playoff stats:

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