Comments on: Notes from last night’s Phillies/Nationals game

By: Andy

Andy — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 13:52:45 +0000

Great job with that JT. I was working on a different method but yours is better.

By: Johnny Twisto

Johnny Twisto — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 13:51:34 +0000

With a couple calculations from the data on this page: http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/NL/2010-pitches-pitching.shtml
You can determine that there have been an average of 49 foul balls a game (both teams) in the NL this season. (I think.)

I think if you take the strikes by contact from this game, and subtract fly balls and ground balls (all given in the box score), you are left with foul balls, and there were 56 foul balls in this game.

I'm not sure how you could sort a bunch of games for foul balls, however.

If someone has the inclination, they could doublecheck my numbers, which may be calculated or conceptualized incorrectly.

By: ChatchRaise

ChatchRaise — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 08:58:35 +0000

Andy,
FOUL BALLS...
On a different note (but same game) ...with such high scoring and pitch counts, there were a ton of foul balls in this game. Sorry, I'm sort of a nube here but is there any SORTABLE for number of FOUL balls in a game?
It just made me wonder just how many "souvenirs" were being "handed out" by MLB that night and maybe compare it against an average (do we even know what an avg. number of FBalls IS?)
Peace

By: TheGoof

TheGoof — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 01:35:26 +0000

I don't care for interleague, but I love seeing an American League reliever go 2-for-2 (Edgar Gonzalez). Of course, accidental pitcher batting situations in AL only games have ended up with hits--Clemens and Wetteland, to name two examples, had doubles.

By: Gerry

Gerry — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 00:28:16 +0000

I think I found the answer to my question, at least for the years covered by the Play Index. Rosy Ryan had 4 hits as a reliever for the Braves on 29 May 1925, tied by Carl Mays of the Giants, 11 September 1929. http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BSN/BSN192505290.shtml and http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/PIT/PIT192909112.shtml

By: Gerry

Gerry — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 00:20:26 +0000

So what's the record for most hits in a game by a relief pitcher? Eddie Rommel had 3 for the Athletics on 10 July 1932, http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CLE/CLE193207100.shtml - any reliever ever have 4 hits in a game? 5?

By: DoubleDiamond

DoubleDiamond — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 22:39:10 +0000

I count that the Phillies were involved in 6 of those 20 games. But one of those Dennis Cook at-bats was as a pinch hitter.

I was wondering which of those two teams last night had Donovan McNabb at quarterback.

(I'm also wondering which of the following is most likely to eventually lead a Washington team to a championship: McNabb, Alex Ovechkin of the Capitals hockey team, or Stephen Strasburg.)

By: Andy

Andy — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 15:17:52 +0000

I did, and if it makes you feel better, I think about that all the time when I post here about decades.

By: statboy

statboy — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 15:10:01 +0000

Hey Andy, did you notice that in your 2007 post you correctly wrote that the 1980s were from 1980 to 1989? 🙂

By: Andy

Andy — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 15:01:20 +0000

Goodness me, I made a dumb mistake by forgetting to set doubles = 0 in the above cycles searches. So every place you see a double listed means the guy hit for the cycle. Among active players, for example, Carlos Guillen and Adrien Beltre have missed the cycle by a double FOUR times, not five, because they each actually hit for the cycle once.

Thanks for finding my error DMoney.