Whoa
Posted by Andy on October 1, 2007
Isn't baseball awesome?
Not everybody can win, and there are plenty of disappointed fans out there today, but it's certainly been exciting. Frankly, it's nice to see some good ol' fashioned pennant fever, and today's one-game playoff will be great to watch.
A few news and notes:
- Fare thee well to Craig Biggio, a heck of a player who I hope next tips his cap at Cooperstown in 2013. I have sung Biggio's praises before so I'll just mention it's amazing how much he reminds me of Hall-of-Famer Robin Yount. Both played well for full seasons in both the infield and outfield (with Biggio also playing at catcher for his first few years), both were incredibly consistent hitters throughout their career, and both played their entire career with just one franchise. I have just two things to say to Biggio: congratulations, and thank you.
- ESPN.com was kind enough to list out all the one-game playoff games in history right here, and I thought I'd link up to the box scores for you. 1999 Mets/Reds, 1998 Cubs/Giants, 1995 Mariners/Angels, 1980 Astros/Dodgers, 1978 Yankees/BoSox. The box score for the 1948 game is not available. I think that 1980 Astros/Dodgers game was amazing. The 'Stros had a 3 game lead going into the final series with the Dodgers, and they got swept in 3 games in LA, then had to play the tie-breaking game in LA as well. I would have given the Dodgers a huge advantage in that one, but the late Joe Niekro came up huge. I see that for the Dodgers, Rick Sutcliffe and Fernando both pitched in relief.
- Ryan Howard finished with "just" 199 K's, avoiding a dreaded figure of 200. It's tough to look at a guy who had 47 HR and 136 RBI and question whether he had a really good season, but it is true that his BA/OBP/SLG are all down significantly from last year, that his K rate was significantly higher, and for such huge power numbers he still finished just 3rd on the team in Runs Created. Also, his defense over the weekend was very shaky, perhaps due to nerves. Of course, his bat wasn't too shabby, finishing with homers in 4 straight games. I'll be very interested to see what he does in the post-season.
- Finally, I am leaving voting open for the NL MVP through Tuesday night. Go ahead and vote if you haven't already. Matt Holliday wins the batting title unless he goes 0-for-5 today.
October 1st, 2007 at 8:17 am
By the way, if Biggio doesn't remind you of Yount...check out Biggio's main page and note which batter he is most similar to--Robin Yount!!
October 1st, 2007 at 11:10 am
This is the greatest baseball blog I ever saw, and it is about Biggio:
http://plunkbiggio.blogspot.com/
October 1st, 2007 at 11:40 am
What? Isn't THIS the greatest baseball blog you've ever seen? 🙂
October 1st, 2007 at 2:49 pm
I stand corrected! 😀
October 1st, 2007 at 3:20 pm
Can Ryan Howard take pressure?
In the 2007 season he had 199 Ks in 648 PAs - that's 30.7% of the time. In innings 1-3 he K'ed 28.7% of the time (66/230); in innings 4-6 he K'ed 28.1% of the time (60/213). But in innings 7-9 he K'ed 38.1% of the time (71/186). Yet in extra innings he K'ed just 10.5% of the time (2/19).
He faired much better against starters than relievers. The first time he saw a starter in a game, he K'ed 28% of the time (39/139); the second time he saw that starter in the game, he K'ed 27% of the time (36/133). The third time or more he saw that starter in the game, he ke'd 23.6% of the time (26/110). But against relievers he K'ed 36.8% of the time (98/266).
With 2 outs and RISP he K'ed only 21.6% of the time (24/111), but when a game was Late & Close, Howard Ka'ed 34.7% of the time (33/95).
So can Ryan Howard take the pressure?
P.S. Once the count was 3-0 this season, Howard K'ed 0.00% of the time (0/63!) Once the count was 3-0 he eventually went 3 for 7 with 56 walks (33 of which were IBBs).
October 2nd, 2007 at 6:20 am
[...] was the only tie-breaker game to ever go into extra innings. (See here for links to previous games’ box [...]