Monday mentions: Notes and rants on games of July 3
Posted by John Autin on July 4, 2011
[Happy Independence Day! Be careful when you light those bottle rockets, and remember that even sparklers get hotter than Ty Cobb with a burr in his britches.]
-- On a tip from loyal reader Spartan Bill, I checked out the batting exploits of the Baltimore moundsmen this year. Sunday, Zach Britton hit the first HR in 5 years by an Orioles pitcher, and just the 2nd since the inauguration of the DH in 1973. It was the cap to an outstanding performance by a cadre from whom the fans expected nothing, hoping only that they wouldn't hurt themselves.
In 9 games in AL parks this year, Baltimore's pitchers went 9 for 22 (.409) with 2 doubles, a HR, just 4 strikeouts, and no GIDP. All other AL pitchers combined for a .095 BA (24 for 253) with no homers. Four of their five starters got at least 1 hit, led by Britton's 5 for 8 with a HR and a double; he's just the 4th AL pitcher since 1973 with 2 extra-base hits in a season, and his 9 total bases set a season record for an AL pitcher in the DH era (the prior record was 6). Britton never batted in 5 seasons in the minors, but maybe nobody ever told him he was supposed to be an automatic out.
- Nick Markakis went 5 for 5 with a double, a steal, and a "baserunner kill."
- And guess which strikeout-prone 3B, written off as a sunk cost a month ago, suddenly has 18 HRs, 46 RBI and an .847 OPS? In his last 26 games, Mark Reynolds has 11 HRs, 22 RBI, 20 walks and 19 runs.
-- Johnny Damon had his first 4-RBI game in over 2 years, leading Tampa to an 8-3 win over the Cards. The Rays got back to 10 games over .500, and completed their interleague play with a 12-6 record.
- Kyle Farnsworth walked 2, doubling his season total for 34.2 IP, but still nailed down his 17th save in 19 chances this year.
-- Will this bases-loading-IBB madness never end? The Astros were the latest team to shoot themselves in the foot with 50-MPH bullets. They told Mark Melancon to throw 4 wide ones to Adrian Gonzalez in the top of the 9th in a tie game, with 2 out and runners on the corners, preferring to face -- honest! -- Kevin Youkilis with the bases loaded. Melancon walked him on 5 pitches, and the Astros lost, 2-1. Yeah, I know -- it's Adrian Gonzalez, this year's cross between the Abominable Snowman and Keyser Söze. And sure, I'm hip to righty-righty. Two problems, though: (1) Melancon has yielded a higher BA to righty batters, both this year and for his career, while Youkilis does not have a significant platoon split for his career; and (2) loading the bases shifts the crucial measure from A-Gon's batting average (.353 this year, .291 career) to Youk's on-base average (.392, .394). For a bonus, the IBB moved an insurance runner into scoring position. I just don't get it.
- The run gave Josh Beckett a well-earned win. Beckett bounced back from a Philly beating with 11 Ks and no walks in 8 dominant innings, trimming his ERA to 2.12.
-- Jim Leyland did something I like with Sunday's lineup, batting Brennan Boesch 2nd. Despite having 5 strong hitters in the lineup most days, the Tigers have gotten little from their top 2 spots, with a combined .318 OBP and .674 OPS. Detroit is 4th in the league in R/G, but 8th in runs from the leadoff spot and 10th from the #2 hole. Leyland gave Austin Jackson, the regular leadoff man, a day off, and put Andy Dirks (6 HRs in 94 AB, .479 SLG) in the top spot, followed by Boesch (11 HRs, .493 SLG). Dirks went 0 for 3, but Boesch had a HR and a double for the 2nd straight day, raising his numbers to .310 BA, .507 SLG. Now, if Jimmy would just drop Magglio (.212) Ordonez out of the middle of the order....
-- Wily Mo Pena probably won't be around much longer now that interleague play is through, but the purity of his game will linger in his wake: He only knows the one way. In 38 trips to the plate, Wily Mo has hit 4 home runs, the best HR rate of any player with more than 2 HRs this year. On the other hand, he has just 3 other hits, and zero walks, so his .184 BA doubles as his OBP. He's struck out at least once in each of his 9 starts, and 17 times overall, or 45% of his times up. He got to 2 strikes 21 times and had 2 hits, both HRs. And he has yet to play in the field. Wily Mo Pena, everyone!
-- Speaking of purists ... 20 games into his Angels career, Russell Branyan finally did the thing he does best. His full-count, 2-run HR in the 7th off Chad Billingsley was the difference in a 3-1 win that secured the Freeway Series for the Angels. It was the 10th win this year by a team with 3 hits or less; Billingsley was the losing pitcher in 2 of those games, including this one.
-- Randy Choate, Florida's lefty specialist, was summoned to face Josh Hamilton representing the tying run in the 8th inning. Choate retired Hamilton on a fly to LF, and was sent on his way to a chorus of huzzahs and "well done, laddie!" Facing one batter has become a way of life for Choate, more than for any pitcher in the history of the major leagues. An astounding 25 of his 37 appearances this year have lasted just one batter; only once has he faced more than 4 (that being his first game of the year, in a blowout loss). He's been very effective in this in'n'out role, getting "his man" 19 of 25 times, surrendering only 3 hits, no HRs. But my goodness ... he's pitched a grand total of 15 innings. The LOOGY (lefty one-out guy) has been with us for some time, but his role has been getting more and more specialized, as I hope to show in an upcoming piece.
-- Will Venable snapped SD's latest extra-base-hit drought at 2 games with an RBI double off Seattle's Blake Beavan, but it was the only run Beavan allowed in a crisp 7-inning debut. He threw a first-pitch strike to 21 of 27 batters, and had just 26 balls among his 90 pitches.
- There have been 20 two-game team "streaks" of no XBH this year; 4 of them belong to the Padres, who are last in the majors in XBH and slugging.
- The M's, not to be out-undone, are last in BA (.226 before Sunday's 6-hit outburst), OBP (.294) and OPS (.632). So if you thought Seattle was bound to improve on last year's marks of .236/.298/ .637 -- epic fail, you!
- The 3-game set just wrapped between the Pads and M's had all the offensive fireworks we expected, which is to say, none: they combined for 33 hits (17-16 for Seattle), 11 runs, no HRs, and just 6 extra-base hits, all doubles, 5 by the Mariners.
- They say that good pitching will stop good hitting; what will it take to stop the awful hitting these teams have subjected their fans to this year?
- If this rookie pitcher gets on a roll, I'd love to have the franchise on "Gee whiz, Beav!" T-shirts.
-- Speaking of batting that's sure to give offense ... Oakland has no hitters with at least 100 PAs and an OPS+ of 100 or higher; every other team has at least 3. If the A's repeat their performance in the 2nd half, they'd be the first team without a 200-PA, 100-OPS+ hitter since the 1929 Red Sox, and just the 3rd in modern MLB history. Here are the previous 23 teams with no more than 1 such hitter.
-- Edgar Renteria hit his first HR since the last game of the 2010 World Series, Chris Heisey connected for the first time since his 3-HR game on June 22, and the Reds finally won a game from Cleveland this year after 5 losses.
-- Toronto came back from a 4-0 deficit to win 7-4, ripping 3 HRs off Cliff Lee, all in the 8th inning. Jose "Is He Getting Hot Again?" Bautista homered for the 3rd straight game, and has 61 HRs in his last 158 games played. It was last July 3 that Bautista snapped a 10-game HR drought and kicked off a 2nd-half surge that ended with 34 HRs in his last 81 games.
- It was the first time in his last 29 starts (counting postseason) that Lee allowed at least 3 HRs in a game.
That's all I've got. Who wants to close it out for me? Which team scored a winning run because everyone in the stadium forgot how many outs there were? Who had the best hustle play? Whose mental blunder cost his team a ballgame? Which manager used the sharpest strategy? Let's hear some chatter out there!
July 4th, 2011 at 2:30 am
I've been enjoying America's pastime for more than 30 years, so I wish to all BBRef staff, writers and all its followers a Happy 4th of July. Sincerely, Luis, from Northern Baja.
July 4th, 2011 at 6:24 am
Not to repeat myself too much, but good Lord John, these summaries are really enjoyable!
July 4th, 2011 at 6:29 am
Doesn't Youkilis realize that it is his job to clear the table when it is set for him like that? He bats fourth in that line-up for a reason... and that is to swing the bat and knock in runs. Especially when it's late in the game and the score is tied. What kind of a player does not swing when the count is 3-0, the bases are loaded and you know the pitcher has to throw the ball over the plate? You are not going to improve your RBI numbers that way Youk.
Incase you cannot tell, I am being sarcastic.
I was listening to a Red Sox game a few weeks ago. And when Youkilis had a 3-0 count the announcers started asking whether he would swing 3-0. After a brief moment, they mentioned that in 235 career at bats in which he had a 3-0 count that Youkilis had NEVER swung at the next pitch. My first reaction was, "Wow!" I know "the Greek God of walks" is a selective hitter, but I didn't realize he was that picky.
July 4th, 2011 at 6:33 am
the bad joke is, if you are a left-handed pitcher, you'll always have a job, in the majors........but, man, after looking at Randy Choate's splits, as a lefty-killer, over the past couple years, I'm thinking that, "damn, this guy really could pitch another 10 years." (He's almost 36 now.)
If his arm blows out, it won't be from overwork, anyway!!
July 4th, 2011 at 9:09 am
Hustle play? Watch Eric Thames home run. He sprints around the bases.
July 4th, 2011 at 9:24 am
Echoing Luis @1, to all American BBRef bloggers, posters and readers, happy 4th of July.
Where to start with so many goodies in the Monday Mentions?
In answer to one of your last set of questions, it was interesting that in the bottom of the 3rd inning in the Jays-Phillies game yesterday, with the Phils up 4-0, that Charlie Manuel played the infield back after Rajai Davis led off with a triple.
Cliff Lee's scoreless inning streak was on the line, but Manuel was conceding a run on the ground ball. Sure enough, John Macdonald grounded out to first, scoring Davis.
I know playing the infield back is the right move to prevent a big inning but there wasn't even a double play possibility. I guess Manuel put the team ahead of an individual player's stats.
It all became academic because of what happened later in the game, but still ...... I would have thought with the lead they would have taken one shot with the infield playing in.
July 4th, 2011 at 10:18 am
Is there a reason Wily Mo Pena has no WAR total for 2011?
July 4th, 2011 at 11:00 am
@7, Naveed -- Good question. I'm totally speculating, but I wonder if the WAR formula on the player page somehow can't handle an NL player who never plays in the field? I checked some AL players who only DH'd in a season, and they all had a WAR value. I doubt that my speculation is correct, but it's all I can think of at the moment.
I'll add that in a Play Index search, Wily Mo is the only 2011 non-pitcher with an undefined WAR. That rates another round of "Wily Mo Pena, everybody!"
July 4th, 2011 at 11:21 am
Jason Bay had the first walk-off hit for the Mets this season. The Mets were the last team remaining in the majors that had not had a first walk-off hit in 2011. In the same game, Mariano had his fourth blown save of 2011. The only other time Mariano had four or more blown saves this early in the season was 1997 -- 14 years ago and his first season as the Yankees' closer.
July 4th, 2011 at 11:30 am
Cliff Lee had only given up one 8th inning HR in his career, before giving up three yesterday.
July 4th, 2011 at 11:52 am
The NL save race continues in all of its meaninglessness. Luis Nunez got one with a three run lead in the ninth. H Street had a classic; three run lead, one runner on base and two outs. Harahan was used to protect a three run lead but not used in two late inning tie games which the Pirates lost. Brian Wilson turned a three run lead into a one run lead with the bases loaded. Affeldt came in and got the save but if he had not done so, he would have gotten the blown save, not Wilson
Sorry but this is one of my pet peeves.
July 4th, 2011 at 11:55 am
@9, Birtelcom -- Excellent! (Even if it does expose me as a miserable maven of Mets minutiae.)
BTW, I find it rich that Mariano is 41 years old and we're still shocked when he blows a 1-run lead. His 4 blown saves this year have come with leads of 1, 1, 1 and 2 runs.
July 4th, 2011 at 12:07 pm
@10, Statboy -- That's a delectable morsel, even if there is some selection bias in the sample. (Today's starting pitchers often have excellent career stats for the 8th and 9th innings, because they almost never go deep into those innings unless they have their "A" stuff.)
Just to add a numeric reference point ... Before yesterday, Lee had allowed one 8th-inning HR in 239 ABs.
And how many pitchers would even get a chance to give up 3 HRs in the 8th? How many would be allowed to pitch to a 5th batter (and a HR threat) in an inning that started HR, HR, single, deep flyout?
Come to think of it ... what was Charlie Manuel thinking? I just read this quote:
"[Lee] had a clean seventh inning. All of a sudden in the eighth inning, things kind of fell apart."
Yeah, Charlie, they sure did -- but where were you at the time?
July 4th, 2011 at 12:11 pm
@11, Mr. Musial -- Congratulations on your 3rd MVP selection! Although frankly, we felt a little cheated when you only put up 18 triples, instead of 20 as in your first 2 MVP campaigns.
Anyway, rest assured that your gripe about the general uselessness of the Save stat (as currently defined) will always be welcome in these pages.
July 4th, 2011 at 12:40 pm
Re: Russell Branyan
Whole bunch of ifs here, but the Yankees and Angels series Sep 9 to 11 may see the first time there are 10 guys with 200+ career HRs in a game.
- First off, Branyan needs to get to 200 - he's now at 191 HR
- Other Angels at 200+ are Wells, Hunter and Abreu
- Yankees at 200+ are Rodriguez, Jeter, Posada, Texeira, Jones and Chavez
- All these guys need to be healthy and still with their current teams in September
- They all need to get in the same game
Overall, a long shot for sure, but you never know.
BTW, the first game I'm aware of with 9 guys at 200+ HR is this one:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/TEX/TEX200304260.shtml
YANKEES: Williams (232), Giambi (233), Zeile (235), Mondesi (246), Ventura (280)
RANGERS: Sierra (278), Rodriguez (306), Gonzalez (411), Palmeiro (497)
July 4th, 2011 at 12:47 pm
@15, Doug -- Is that 2003 game also a record for known steroid users? 🙂
(Sorry if that crack has been used before....)
July 4th, 2011 at 12:55 pm
@16.
My personal favorite for a PED tribute is this game, the first and only (I believe) game with 4 guys with 400+ HR.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHN/CHN200206180.shtml
RANGERS: Gonzalez (401), Palmeiro (460)
CUBS: McGriff (459), Sosa (475)
Kudos to McGriff for hanging with this group without the "help" the other guys had.
July 4th, 2011 at 1:42 pm
Re: Teams with 0 or 1 Hitters with 100 OPS+
Among those teams was Babe Ruth's 1935 Braves. Ruth only had 92 PAs before he retired, but still compiled a 118 OPS+ despite a .181 BA. NL teams were still fearing even an old Babe - he drew 20 walks despite collecting just 13 hits.
Interestingly, the Braves hitting strength that year was with their catchers. Wally Berger was their one qualifying 100 OPS+ guy, and backup catcher Shanty Hogan was a 118 OPS+ in 188 PA.
July 4th, 2011 at 1:51 pm
Oops. What am I saying. Obviously, Wally Berger was not a catcher. My bad.
July 4th, 2011 at 2:00 pm
@11: What's even "better" about Wilson's performance is that he was awarded a "Hold" for his efforts.
July 4th, 2011 at 2:01 pm
I am very proud.
my personal campaign to have a red hot Mark reynolds moved up in the order have, not only happened, but paid off, as he went 1-3 with a HR, 3 RBIs and a BB. He has 15 HRs since June 3.
I'd like to thank all those that supported me and Mark through these trying times.
And I'd like Showalter's job... soonish
July 4th, 2011 at 2:03 pm
addendum,
I firmly believe you and I were pivotal in this.
Like Hannibal while crossing the Pyrenees, turning to Face and BA... "I love it when a plan come together."
July 4th, 2011 at 2:18 pm
@22, Duke -- If Buck is monitoring these threads, he has yet to reveal himself.
Of course, we still haven't officially put a name to the mysterious Mustachioed Repetition. Maybe the clean-shaven Showalter is deliberately throwing us off his trail? 🙂
July 4th, 2011 at 2:59 pm
@23.
Someone a day or two ago opined that Mustachioed Repetition may be the recently absent Johnny Twisto.
July 4th, 2011 at 3:01 pm
@1, Luis -- A sadly belated ¡Feliz Cinco de Mayo!
I note that the all-time born-on-the-4th-of-July leader in Hits, Runs, HRs and RBI is Vinny Castilla of Oaxaca, Mexico.
Speaking of players born on July 4 .... with Amauri Sanit having been sent back to the minors, there appears to be only one player born on July 4th who is currently on a big-league roster -- White Sox closer Sergio Santos. He's also the all-time born-on-the-4th Saves leader, with 19.
July 4th, 2011 at 3:03 pm
@24, Doug -- But isn't that a simple case of "post hoc, ergo propter hoc"? 🙂
On the other hand, clever folks noticed that they never saw Clark Kent and Superman in the same place at the same time.
July 4th, 2011 at 3:23 pm
I don't know about a team scoring a winning run because everyone in the stadium forgot how many outs there were, but in the SD-SEA game Saturday night the winning run got on base because everybody forgot how many balls he'd seen and he walked on three.
In other minutiae, Jack Cust is up to 6 RBI created by bases-loaded walks. I was trying to figure out what the single-season record is but I can't seem to get the search tools here to spit it out for me. Can anybody help?
July 4th, 2011 at 4:32 pm
@13 and Where was Charlie Manuel?
John, I think you commented earlier on Manuel in this regard, concerning Halladay. Don't what game it was, but possibly this one:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/WAS/WAS201105300.shtml
Halladay was not himself in this outing, allowing 4 runs on 8 hits, through 6 innings. The Phillies rallied in the top of the 7th to take the lead at 5-4. Halladay stayed in for the the bottom of the 7th and allowed a double and single to the first two batters.
At this point, with the go-ahead run in scoring position and nobody out, I'm guessing most managers go to the pen. But, Manuel stayed with Halladay and he got out of it without further damage. Halladay was removed for a pinch-hitter in the next half-inning, having thrown 111 pitches through 7 innings.
Clearly, Manuel gives a lot of rope to his starters, probably deservingly so in most instances.
July 4th, 2011 at 10:59 pm
@25, JA
Thanks, some people say it's better late than never, but I'm sorry to let you know that "Cinco de Mayo" it's not Mexico's Independence Day, it's actually September 16th. But thanks anyway, I know it was sincere. 🙂
July 4th, 2011 at 11:17 pm
Thanks Luis -- I apologize for my ignorance, and I appreciate the gentle correction.
July 4th, 2011 at 11:27 pm
@27, Joe -- That's amazing about Cust. Nine PAs with the bases loaded this year; six walks!
I don't know how to find the season record for that. I don't think the Play Index can do it. I would start by checking the all-time leaders in walks -- start at the career splits page, then click on the bases-loaded line to get the yearly splits for that situation.
I just checked Barry Bonds; his high was 4, in 1996. In his biggest walks years -- 2002 (198) and 2004 (232) -- he drew 0 and 2 bases-loaded walks, respectively. Cust has drawn them at a much higher career rate than Bonds did.
July 5th, 2011 at 12:31 am
No need to apologize, John. Most people overseas think the same way about Cinco de Mayo. On that date in 1862 the French Army (at the time, one of the more powerfull and well trained in the world) was defeated in the Southern state of Puebla by a bunch of no-training-no-armed farmers, when the France Empire was trying to invade Mexico, kind of David vs. Goliath. And I guess that's reason enough to celebrate.
Just in case anybody wonders. 🙂
July 5th, 2011 at 5:28 pm
Nine PAs with the bases loaded this year; six walks! I don't know how to find the season record for that. I don't think the Play Index can do it.
It can be done using the Event Finder, a spreadsheet, and a lot of copying, pasting, and sorting. Here are the yearly leaders in bases-loaded walks since 1950:
1950: 5 — tie among Al Rosen, CLE; Bob Kennedy, CLE; Eddie Joost, PHA; Ferris Fain, PHA; and Ray Boone, CLE
1951: 4— tie among Pete Reiser, PIT; Phil Masi, CHW; and Sid Gordon, BSN
1952: 6 — Pee Wee Reese, BRO
1953: 6 — Larry Doby, CLE
1954: 5 — tie between Pete Runnels, WSH, and Roy Sievers, WSH
1955: 5 — tie between Billy Goodman, BOS, and Billy Klaus, BOS
1956: 6 — Roy Campanella, BRO
1957: 5 — Rocky Colavito, CLE
1958: 5 — Rocky Colavito, CLE
1959: 8 — Jackie Jensen, BOS
1960: 6 — Charlie Maxwell, DET
1961: 6 — Rocky Colavito, DET
1962: 5 — Lenny Green, MIN
1963: 4 — Bob Allison, MIN
1964: 4 — Leo Cardenas, CIN
1965: 5 — Curt Blefary, BAL
1966: 4 — Don Mincher, MIN
1967: 4 — tie between Curt Blefary, BAL, and Dick McAuliffe, DET
1968: 4 — Joe Foy, BOS
1969: 5 — Dick Green, OAK
1970: 5 — Ron Santo, CHC
1971: 5 — tie between Freddie Patek, KCR, and Tommy McCraw, WSA
1972: 3 — tie among Bobby Darwin, MIN; Don Kessinger, CHC; Gene Alley, PIT; Joe Morgan, CIN; Mike Andrews, CHW; and Ron Santo, CHC
1973: 3 — tie among Bob Bailey, MON; Bob Boone, PHI; Ed Brinkman, DET; Gene Michael, NYY; Glenn Beckert, CHC; Graig Nettles, NYY; Joe Morgan, CIN; Marty Perez, ATL; Ollie Brown, MIL; Rick Monday, CHC; Ron Fairly, MON; and Steve Braun, MIN
1974: 4 — tie among Bernie Carbo, BOS; Joe Ferguson, LAD; Richie Hebner, PIT; and Rico Petrocelli, BOS
1975: 4 — Pete Rose, CIN
1976: 5 — Dan Driessen, CIN
1977: 4 — tie among Buddy Bell, CLE; Ron Cey, LAD; Ruppert Jones, SEA; and Wayne Gross, OAK
1978: 5 — Sixto Lezcano, MIL
1979: 4 — tie between Junior Kennedy, CIN, and Sixto Lezcano, MIL
1980: 4 — Ken Singleton, BAL
1981: 3 — tie among Darrell Porter, STL; Dwight Evans, BOS; Jim Gantner, MIL; and Terry Puhl, HOU
1982: 4 — Dwight Evans, BOS
1983: 6 — Mike Hargrove, CLE
1984: 3 — tie among Alvin Davis, SEA; Barry Bonnell, SEA; Bob Dernier, CHC; Gary Roenicke, BAL; George Vukovich, CLE; Howard Johnson, DET; Ivan de Jesus, PHI; John Lowenstein, BAL; Larry Herndon, DET; Lonnie Smith, STL; Ozzie Virgil, PHI; Pat Tabler, CLE; Sixto Lezcano, PHI; Tim Raines, MON; and Tony Bernazard, CLE
1985: 4 — tie among Bobby Meacham, NYY; Leon Durham, CHC; and Pete Rose, CIN
1986: 5 — Gary Pettis, CAL
1987: 6 — Jack Clark, STL
1988: 4 — Jack Clark, NYY
1989: 5 — Dwight Evans, BOS
1990: 5 — Mickey Tettleton, BAL
1991: 4 — tie among Bernard Gilkey, STL; Dwight Evans, BAL; Eddie Murray, LAD; Jack Clark, BOS; and Jay Buhner, SEA
1992: 4 — Tom Brunansky, BOS
1993: 6 — Darren Daulton, PHI
1994: 5 — Mike Gallego, NYY
1995: 5 — Jeff Bagwell, HOU
1996: 6 — Danny Tartabull, CHW
1997: 5 — tie between Derek Jeter, NYY, and Tim Naehring, BOS
1998: 6 — Mark McGwire, STL
1999: 5 — tie among Bobby Abreu, PHI; Harold Baines, BAL; and John Jaha, OAK
2000: 6 — Ellis Burks, SFG
2001: 4 — Tony Batista, TOR
2002: 3 — tie among Ben Grieve, TBD; Bobby Abreu, PHI; Carlos Guillen, SEA; Eli Marrero, STL; Fred McGriff, CHC; Herbert Perry, TEX; J. T. Snow, SFG; Jay Payton, NYM; Jorge Posada, NYY; Lee Stevens, MON; Mark McLemore, SEA; Mike Cameron, SEA; and Ron Gant, SDP
2003: 6 — John Olerud, SEA
2004: 7 — D'Angelo Jiménez, CIN
2005: 6 — tie between Adam Dunn, CIN, and Chipper Jones, ATL
2006: 6 — tie between Derek Jeter, NYY, and Trot Nixon, BOS
2007: 6 — Pat Burrell, PHI
2008: 9 — Carlos Peña, TBR
2009: 5 — tie between Adam Dunn, WSN, and Geovany Soto, CHC
2010: 6 — B. J. Upton, TBR
I don't have particularly high confidence in the pre-1980 and 1985-89 figures because the Event Finder did not attribute to any batter a few of the bases-loaded walks in each of those seasons.
July 5th, 2011 at 6:40 pm
Carlos Pena came to the plate 26 times with the bases loaded in 2008 and walked 9 times!
Jackie Jensen walked with the bases loaded 8 times in 1959, and with 7 bases loaded walks in 2004....D'Angelo Jimenez!
July 5th, 2011 at 6:41 pm
Nolan Ryan walked 9 with the bases loaded in 1977.
July 5th, 2011 at 10:38 pm
@33, Kahuna -- Your diligence is inspirational!
@34/35, Abbott -- I'm glad you mentioned D'Angelo Jimenez; I'd kind of forgotten him. He had a very nice career record with the bases loaded: 74 PAs, 13 walks, .373 BA (22 for 59), .473 OBP, 55 RBI. Never had a slam, though.
Nolan Ryan's career walk rate was 12.4% of PAs; with the bases loaded it was 9.2% -- still high, but you'd have to say at least he did make some adjustment.
July 6th, 2011 at 12:42 am
I had no idea D'Angelo had such a nice bases loaded record, but I've certainly never forgotten him. ~12 years ago he was considered the Yankees' top infield prospect. He broke his neck in a car accident, got traded, and Alfonso Soriano got the opportunity which might have been his. Jimenez eventually had a decent career, but I wonder how it might have turned out otherwise.