Opening Day Odds and Ends
Posted by Raphy on March 30, 2008
Opening Day II is sort-of finally here, so here are some Opening Day stats courtesy of the PI Game Finder.
1) Ken Griffey Junior is the active leader for Opening Day games with a homerun. This is not surprising. What is surprising is that Scott Rolen (who is currently injured) is number 2.
2) Adam Dunn has homered on the last 3 Opening Days. (5 home runs total)
3) Bobby Abreu and the injured Omar Vizquel have a hit in their last 11 Opening Days.
4) In the last 5 years only 1 pitcher has as many as 3 Opening Day wins, but 3 pitchers have 3 losses.
That's all for me. Feel free to add your own.
Enjoy the season!
March 30th, 2008 at 9:35 am
Former Astro Glenn Davis was hit by a pitch 3 times in Houston's 1990 opener against Cincinnati. He also walked twice in the 11-inning Reds 8-4 victory (Davis only scored one run for his efforts). The starters were Rom Browning for the Reds and Mike Scott for the Stros.
6 players have been HBP twice in season openers.
http://www.bb-ref.com/pi/shareit/2EeC
March 30th, 2008 at 9:36 am
That would be Tom Browning, not "Rom" Browning.
March 31st, 2008 at 5:41 pm
Last year, Tony Pena, Jr. became the only player in the 1956-2007 search criteria to get two triples on Opening Day.
Derek Bell, Rick Monday, Aaron Miles and Larry Walker are the only ones from 1856-2007 to get 3 doubles on Opening Day.
In 1985, the Cardinals were a base stealing machine, with the likes of Vince Coleman, Willie McGee, Ozzie Smith and Tommy Herr. Joaquin Andujar had their first stolen base of the season. Pedro Ramos and Terry Mulholland (?!?!) are the only other pitchers in the last 50 years to get a steal on opening day, although Bob Gibson was caught stealing. That makes pitcher are stealing at a 75% clip on opening day since 1956...pretty good rate!
April 1st, 2008 at 10:00 am
"The homer gave Kent 18 career RBIs on Opening Day, surpassing Ken Griffey Jr. for the most of any active player in the majors." That was in today's news.
April 1st, 2008 at 9:16 pm
Add one more to Abreu's streak. He has never played on Opening Day in the majors and gone hitless.