How can a hit lose a game you ask? Well what I am really after here are all the times in 2007 a hit was game-ending, but not game-winning.

Start right here, with all game-ending hits in 2007, of which there were 184. But you can see in the header than only 179 of those were go-ahead. Since the game can't end on a tie (unless it's the All-Star game...heh...or other very unusual cases,) if the hit is not a go-ahead hit, then the hitting team must have lost (or maybe not...see below.)

Well for starters, we see that one game-ending hit came when a team was up by 4 runs. This happens to be one of those rare instances:

   Yr#    G# Date          Batter            Tm   Opp Pitcher           Score       Result Inn RoB Out Cnt Pit RBI Play Desc.
+-------+---+-------------+-----------------+---+----+-----------------+-----------+------+---+---+---+---+---+---+-------------------------+
       1   1 2007-07-29    Damion Easley     NYM  WSN Chris Schroder    ahead  5-0  1B     b 5 ---   1 1-0   2   0 *ENDED GAME*:Single to LF (Ground Ball)

Damion Easley singled in the bottom of the 5th with the Mets already well out ahead. There must have been a rain delay, and eventually the game was called as a Mets victory. Nobody at the moment knew his hit was game-ending.

Now let's take a look at those 2 game-ending hits that came with the batting team down by 3 runs:

   Yr#    G# Date          Batter            Tm   Opp Pitcher           Score       Result Inn RoB Out Cnt Pit RBI Play Desc.
+-------+---+-------------+-----------------+---+----+-----------------+-----------+------+---+---+---+---+---+---+-------------------------+
       1   1 2007-05-13    Chase Utley       PHI  CHC Ryan Dempster     down   1-4  1B     b 9 ---   2 1-1   3   0 *ENDED GAME*:Single to LF (Line Drive); Utley out at 2B/LF-2B
       2   1 2007-09-29    Akinori Iwamura   TBD @TOR Brian Wolfe       down   2-5  1B     t 9 -2-   2 1-1   2   1 *ENDED GAME*:Single to RF (Line Drive); Harris Scores; Iwamura out at 2B

These are more along the lines of what you'd expect. Teams trying to rally in the last inning with 2 outs and a runner getting thrown out. On the surface, the Utley one looks like a major boner. With no other runners on, it seems like he was out simply trying to stretch a single into a double. Down 3 runs, that doesn't make a lot of sense (although it would make it slightly harder to record an out on the next batter if he safely got to second.)

So we have found 3 out of our 5 game-ending hits for losses.

Let's look at the 4 games that ended with a hit when the batting team was down by 2 runs:

   Yr#    G# Date          Batter            Tm   Opp Pitcher           Score       Result Inn RoB Out Cnt Pit RBI Play Desc.
+-------+---+-------------+-----------------+---+----+-----------------+-----------+------+---+---+---+---+---+---+-------------------------+
       1   1 2007-04-15    Marco Scutaro     OAK  NYY Mariano Rivera    down   2-4  HR     b 9 12-   2 0-2   3   3 *ENDED GAME*:Home Run (Fly Ball to LF); Walker Scores; Kendall Scores
       2   1 2007-04-18    Jose Vidro        SEA  MIN Joe Nathan        down   3-5  1B     b 9 12-   2 2-2   5   1 *ENDED GAME*:Single to RF (Ground Ball); Lopez Scores; Beltre out at Hm/RF-2B-C
       3   1 2007-06-22    John McDonald     TOR  COL Brian Fuentes     down   6-8  1B     b10 123   1 1-2   4   2 *ENDED GAME*:Single to LF (Line Drive); Stairs Scores; Hill Scores; Thigpen Scores/Adv on E2 (throw)/unER/No RBI; McDonald to 2B
       4   1 2007-09-05    Matt Diaz         ATL  PHI Brett Myers       down   6-8  2B     b 9 123   2 0-1   2   3 *ENDED GAME*:Double to RF (Fly Ball); Francoeur Scores; Prado Scores; Escobar Scores

A couple of these were memorable games. Scutaro nailing a 3-run homer off Rivera, which came early in the season, and Diaz' 3-run double to cap a huge comeback against the Phillies, which, at the time, seemed to knock the Phils out of the playoffs.

But only one of the above 4 games is a loss, and that's Adrian Beltre getting thrown out at home trying to score the tying run off Joe Nathan.

That's 4 out of our 5 game-ending hits for losses. The other one must be among the 20 games that game with the batting team down by 1 run:

  Yr#    G# Date          Batter            Tm   Opp Pitcher           Score       Result Inn RoB Out Cnt Pit RBI Play Desc.
+-------+---+-------------+-----------------+---+----+-----------------+-----------+------+---+---+---+---+---+---+-------------------------+
       1   1 2007-04-07    Alex Rodriguez    NYY  BAL Chris Ray         down   6-7  HR     b 9 123   2 1-2   4   4 *ENDED GAME*:Home Run (Fly Ball to CF); Cano Scores; Jeter Scores; Abreu Scores
       2   1 2007-04-19    Alex Rodriguez    NYY  CLE Joe Borowski      down   5-6  HR     b 9 -23   2 1-0   1   3 *ENDED GAME*:Home Run (Fly Ball to LF-CF); Jeter Scores; Abreu Scores
       3   1 2007-04-25    Stephen Drew      ARI  SDP Trevor Hoffman    down   1-2  HR     b 9 1--   2 3-1   5   2 *ENDED GAME*:Home Run (Fly Ball to RF); Tracy Scores
       4   1 2007-05-13    Julio Lugo        BOS  BAL Chris Ray         down   4-5  1B     b 9 123   2 3-2   7   1 *ENDED GAME*:Single to 1B (Ground Ball); Varitek Scores/Team unER; Hinske Scores/Adv on E1/unER/No RBI; Cora to 2B
       5   1 2007-05-17    Carlos Delgado    NYM  CHC Scott Eyre        down   4-5  1B     b 9 123   1 1-0   2   2 *ENDED GAME*:Single to RF (Ground Ball); Chavez Scores; Gotay Scores; Wright to 2B
       6   1 2007-05-28    Elijah Dukes      TBD  DET Todd Jones        down   4-5  1B     b 9 123   1 0-0   1   2 *ENDED GAME*:Single to LF (Ground Ball); Young Scores; Iwamura Scores; Norton to 3B
       7   1 2007-06-03    Vladimir Guerrero LAA  BAL Chris Ray         down   2-3  HR     b 9 1--   0 1-1   3   2 *ENDED GAME*:Home Run (Fly Ball to LF-CF); Figgins Scores
       8   1 2007-06-08    Olmedo Saenz      LAD  TOR Jeremy Accardo    down   2-3  HR     b10 1--   0 0-1   2   2 *ENDED GAME*:Home Run (Fly Ball to LF); Abreu Scores
       9   1 2007-06-25    Alfonso Soriano   CHC  COL Brian Fuentes     down   8-9  1B     b 9 123   2 1-0   2   2 *ENDED GAME*:Single to CF (Line Drive); Jones Scores/unER; Hill Scores/unER; Theriot to 2B
      10   1 2007-06-28    Carlos Lee        HOU  COL Brian Fuentes     down   4-5  HR     b11 123   2 0-0   1   4 *ENDED GAME*:Home Run (Fly Ball to LF); Biggio Scores; Pence Scores; Berkman Scores
      11   1 2007-06-29    Aramis Ramirez    CHC  MIL Francisco Corder  down   4-5  HR     b 9 1--   2 0-0   1   2 *ENDED GAME*:Home Run (Fly Ball to LF-CF); Fontenot Scores
      12   1 2007-06-29    Mark Loretta      HOU  COL Brian Fuentes     down   7-8  HR     b 9 1--   2 1-1   3   2 *ENDED GAME*:Home Run (Fly Ball to LF); Burke Scores
      13   1 2007-08-30    Nate McLouth      PIT  CIN Dave Weathers     down   4-5  1B     b 9 -2-   2 3-2   7   0 *ENDED GAME*:Single to 2B (Line Drive); Phelps out at Hm/2B-C
      14   1 2007-09-04    Jesus Flores      WSN  FLA Kevin Gregg       down   2-3  2B     b 9 1-3   2 1-1   3   2 *ENDED GAME*:Double to LF (Line Drive); Langerhans Scores; Pena Scores
      15   1 2007-09-08    B.J. Upton        TBD  TOR Jeremy Accardo    down   3-4  HR     b 9 1--   2 0-0   1   2 *ENDED GAME*:Home Run (Fly Ball to RF); Gomes Scores/unER; Upton Scores/unER
      16   1 2007-09-10    Magglio Ordonez   DET  TOR Casey Janssen     down   3-4  1B     b 9 123   2 0-0   1   2 *ENDED GAME*:Single to RF (Ground Ball); Granderson Scores; Polanco Scores; Sheffield to 2B
      17   1 2007-09-12    David Ortiz       BOS  TBD Al Reyes          down   3-4  HR     b 9 1--   1 3-1   5   2 *ENDED GAME*:Home Run (Fly Ball to RF); Lugo Scores
      18   1 2007-09-18(2) Todd Helton       COL  LAD Takashi Saito     down   7-8  HR     b 9 1--   2 1-2   4   2 *ENDED GAME*:Home Run (Fly Ball to RF); Holliday Scores
      19   1 2007-09-19    Scott Hairston    SDP  PIT Matt Capps        down   2-3  HR     b 9 12-   2 0-1   2   3 *ENDED GAME*:Home Run (Fly Ball to LF); Clark Scores; Kouzmanoff Scores
      20   1 2007-09-23    Rick Ankiel       STL  HOU Brad Lidge        down   2-3  3B     b 9 1-3   0 1-2   6   2 *ENDED GAME*:Triple to RF (Ground Ball); Ludwick Scores; Barden Scores

Most of these are happy walk-off wins. Which one is the loss? It's #13, and the recap is here. It was a great play by Brandon Phillips, who had himself a heck of a year.

This was fun, and it was just for 2007. Imagine what else we can find!

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 10th, 2007 at 7:40 am and is filed under Event Finders. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.