Jimmy Rollins came to the plate last night as his team's last hope. The Phillies trailed by a run and were down to their last out.  However, just three pitches later, it was the Dodgers who were done. Rollins and the Phillies has grabbed a win from the verge of defeat. In doing so Rollins became the fifth player in postseason history to come to the plate with the opportunity to lose the game for  his team and instead provide them with a walk-off win.  The others include some amazing post-season moments, including Cookie Lavagetto' s turning Bill Beven's no-hit bid into a loss, Kirk Gibson's one legged home run, the Braves remarkable comeback in the 1992 NLCS, the only such game in extra innings.

  Car#  G# Date          Series G Batter            Tm   Opp Pitcher           Score       Result Inn RoB Out Cnt Pit RBI Play Desc.
+-----+---+-------------+------+-+-----------------+---+----+-----------------+-----------+------+---+---+---+---+---+---+-------------------------+
     1   1 1947-10-03    WS     4 Cookie Lavagetto  BRO  NYY Bill Bevens       down   1-2  2B     b 9 12-   2  -        2 *ENDED GAME*:Double to RF; Gionfriddo Scores; Miksis Scores
     2   1 1988-10-15    WS     1 Kirk Gibson       LAD  OAK Dennis Eckersley  down   3-4  HR     b 9 -2-   2 3-2   7   2 *ENDED GAME*:Home Run (Line Drive to Deep RF); Davis Scores
     3   1 1992-10-14    NLCS   7 Francisco Cabrera ATL  PIT Stan Belinda      down   1-2  1B     b 9 123   2 2-1   4   2 *ENDED GAME*:Single to LF (Line Drive to Short LF); Justice Scores/unER; Bream Scores/unER; Berryhill to 2B
     4   1 2003-10-03    NLDS   3 Ivan Rodriguez    FLA  SFG Tim Worrell       down   2-3  1B     b11 123   2 1-2   5   2 *ENDED GAME*:Single to RF (Line Drive); Gonzalez Scores/unER; Pierre Scores/unER; Castillo to 2B
 

Rollins also became the 11th player overall and second this season to give his team the lead, despite coming to bat trailing with 2 out in the ninth.

If you like baseball cards, I recommend checking out a blog called Cardboard Junkie. Recently, the author posted this 1983 Topps Gaylord Perry card as part of his analysis of that particular set:

He also noted that Gaylord Perry had more career wins than the entire Mariners franchise when he joined the team. I mean--Perry had more wins than the Mariners in their entire history up until that point. A quick check confirms that before the 1982 season, Perry had 297 career wins while the Mariners had (1977-1981) just 290.

This got me to thinking about how often this happens, namely that a pitcher joins a team and has more career wins than his new franchise in its history. Of course it must happen pretty often. Virtually every pitcher with major league experience has more wins than an expansion team. Look for example at the 1993 Florida Marlins. They had zero franchise wins when the season started, but obviously most of the pitchers (such as Charlie Hough, Jack Armstrong, Bryan Harvey, etc) had at least 1 career win before 1993.

So we could find many examples of pitchers who fit this description. However--are they any who had more than Perry's 297 wins when he accomplished this "feat"? It would have to be a 300-game winner going to play for a pretty young franchise. The first guy who pops into mind is Randy Johnson, who joined the Diamondbacks in 1999 after they had won 165 games in their first 2 seasons. However, at that time, Johnson had only 143 career wins.

Anyway--can anybody come up with a pitcher who beats Perry's total of 297?

Another Sporcle quiz -- Can you name the players who have hit a home run in 6 or more consecutive games?

No, the title is not commentary on the post-season. In fact, so far I'm finding it pretty thrilling.

Rather, I'm wondering if the 2009 Phillies are the first playoff team to have a starting lineup featuring three players whose names end in "Z"?

Check out the box score of Game 1 of the NLCS and you'll see what I mean: Raul Ibanez, Pedro Feliz, and Carlos Ruiz all started.

If any other team has done it, I'd think it's been within the last 40 years, as names ending in "Z" are much more common in Spanish-speaking countries than any other. I thought that perhaps the Rangers playoff teams in the mid-1990s had done it--after all they had a Rodriguez and a Gonzalez, but no other "Z-ending" players I could find.

I've also been wondering for a while if any other team (besides the Phillies) has ever had two players whose last names ended in "iz" as with Ruiz and Feliz.

The Phillies now lead the Dodgers 8-0 heading into the bottom of the seventh.  If that score holds it would be tied for the 13th biggest blowout in a postseason shutout. Here  the teams that scored at least 10 runs in a postseason game in which they shutout their opponent.:

  Cnt Date          Series G Tm   Opp GmReslt  IP   H  R ER BB SO HR Pit Str IR IS  BF  AB 2B 3B IBB HBP SH SF GDP SB CS Pk Ptchrs   ERA
+----+-------------+------+-+---+----+-------+----+--+--+--+--+--+--+---+---+--+--+---+---+--+--+---+---+--+--+---+--+--+--+------+------+
   44 1996-10-17    NLCS   7 ATL  STL W 15-0   9    4  0  0  0  6  0  93  62  0  0  28  28  0  0   0   0  0  0   2  0  1  0      3   0.00 
   45 1996-10-14    NLCS   5 ATL  STL W 14-0   9    7  0  0  2  9  0 135  91  0  0  35  33  0  0   0   0  0  0   0  0  0  0      4   0.00 
   70 1984-10-02    NLCS   1 CHC  SDP W 13-0   9    6  0  0  5  8  0 130  73  0  0  37  31  0  0   0   1  0  0   2  0  0  0      2   0.00 
  119 1960-10-12    WS     6 NYY  PIT W 12-0   9    7  0  0  1  5  0                33  32  0  0   0   0  0  0   3  0  0  0      1   0.00 
   66 1985-10-27    WS     7 KCR  STL W 11-0   9    5  0  0  0  2  0  92  64        32  32  0  0   0   0  0  0   0  0  0  0      1   0.00 
  122 1959-10-01    WS     1 CHW  LAD W 11-0   9    8  0  0  1  7  0          1  0  35  34  0  0   0   0  0  0   1  1  0  0      2   0.00
  149 1934-10-09    WS     7 STL  DET W 11-0   9    6  0  0  0  5  0                34  34  2  0   0   0  0  0   0  0  0  0      1   0.00 
   75 1982-10-12    WS     1 MIL  STL W 10-0   9    3  0  0  1  3  0 100  66        31  30  1  0   0   0  0  0   0  0  0  0      1   0.00 
  120 1960-10-08    WS     3 NYY  PIT W 10-0   9    4  0  0  1  3  0                32  31  1  0   0   0  0  0   1  0  0  0      1   0.00

Nine times in history, including 2 teams ('96 Atlanta and '60 Yankees) which managed it twice in the same series.  Also, out of the 9, three were game 7s and three were game 1s.

Hiroki Kuroda's game score of 19 tonight was the worst so far this postseason (oddly enough the second worst was by three pitchers all on the same day.). However, it was not even close to being the worst in postseason history. That honor belongs to Todd Stottlemyre who recorded an 8 in the 1996 NLCS. Here are the all time worst:

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With an RBI in each of his first 6 postseason games this season, Ryan Howard has tied a 24 year old record held by Carlton Fisk. Like Howard, Fisk also started off the 1975 postseason with 6 consecutive games with at least 1 RBI, but amazingly enough Fisk only accumulated 6 RBI in those games.Keeping in mind that not every postseason even had 6 games, here are the all time leaders in consecutive games with an RBI to start a postseason:

                   StreakStart  Streak End Games    AB    R    H   2B  3B  HR  RBI  SO   BB   SB   CS   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  Teams
+-----------------+-----------+-----------+-----+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
 Ryan Howard        2009-10-07  2009-10-16     6     22    5    9   4   0   1    9    5    3    0   1  .409  .462  .727 1.189 PHI                                         
 Carlton Fisk       1975-10-04  1975-10-14     6     21    6    7   1   0   1    6    3    4    1   0  .333  .440  .524  .964 BOS                                         

 Mike Lowell        2007-10-03  2007-10-13     5     17    2    6   3   0   1    9    1    2    0   0  .353  .381  .706 1.087 BOS                                         
 Jim Leyritz        1998-09-29  1998-10-07     5     12    3    4   0   0   3    6    2    0    0   0  .333  .308 1.083 1.391 SDP                                         
 Tony Perez         1976-10-09  1976-10-17     5     19    1    7   1   0   0    6    3    1    0   1  .368  .364  .421  .785 CIN                                         
 Boog Powell        1970-10-03  1970-10-11     5     20    5    9   2   0   3   10    4    3    0   0  .450  .522 1.000 1.522 BAL                                         
 Danny Murphy       1910-10-17  1910-10-23     5     20    6    8   3   0   1    9    0    1    1   0  .400  .429  .700 1.129 PHA                                         

As for the regular record of consecutive postseason games with an RBI, Howard has already tied Fisk, Ivan Rodriguez and Bernie Williams for the single season record and is two games away from tying Lou Gehrig if you allow for multiple seasons.

                   StreakStart  Streak End Games    AB    R    H   2B  3B  HR  RBI  SO   BB   SB   CS   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  Teams
+-----------------+-----------+-----------+-----+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
 Lou Gehrig         1928-10-04  1932-10-02     8     28   14   15   2   0   7   17    1    8    0   0  .536  .649 1.357 2.006 NYY                                         

 Bill Skowron       1958-10-06  1960-10-09     7     31    7   12   1   0   2   10    6    1    0   0  .387  .406  .613 1.019 NYY                                         
 Clyde Barnhart     1925-10-12  1927-10-08     7     28    1    9   2   0   0    8    2    2    1   0  .321  .355  .393  .748 PIT                                         

 Ryan Howard        2009-10-07  2009-10-16     6     22    5    9   4   0   1    9    5    3    0   1  .409  .462  .727 1.189 PHI                                         
 Ivan Rodriguez     2003-10-10  2003-10-18     6     23    4    6   2   0   1    6    5    4    0   0  .261  .357  .478  .835 FLA                                         
 Bernie Williams    1996-10-04  1996-10-12     6     22    9   12   2   0   5   10    4    5    1   1  .545  .607 1.318 1.925 NYY                                         
 Tony Perez         1975-10-22  1976-10-17     6     24    2    8   1   0   1    8    3    1    0   1  .333  .333  .500  .833 CIN                                         
 Carlton Fisk       1975-10-04  1975-10-14     6     21    6    7   1   0   1    6    3    4    1   0  .333  .440  .524  .964 BOS                                         

After closing out game 1 for the Yankees, Mariano Rivera came back in game 2 and pitched 2 and 1/3 innings of shutout ball. Rivera is no longer a young kid, as he is well on his way to his 40th birthday. This made me wonder, what was the longest postseason appearance by a pitcher at least 39 years of age who was working on no rest. (I'll admit that it is a bit contrived, but I was curious.) Using the Pitching Gamelog Finder we get this list:

  Cnt AgeY.D Player            Date          Series G Tm   Opp GmReslt App,Dec    **IP**   H  R ER BB SO HR Pit Str GmSc IR IS BF AB 2B 3B IBB HBP SH SF GDP SB CS Pk BK WP   ERA
+----+------+-----------------+-------------+------+-+---+----+-------+---------+--------+--+--+--+--+--+--+---+---+----+--+--+--+--+--+--+---+---+--+--+---+--+--+--+--+--+------+
    1 39.226 Pete Alexander    1926-10-10    WS     7 STL @NYY W  3-2   7-9f ,S     2.1    0  0  0  1  1  0               3  0  7  6  0  0   0   0  0  0   0  0  1  0  0  0   0.00

    2 39.021 Tony Fossas       1996-10-14    NLCS   5 STL  ATL L  0-14  5-6         2      1  1  1  1  1  1  20  12       0  0  7  6  0  0   0   0  0  0   1  0  0  0  0  0   4.50
    3 39.045 Jerry Staley      1959-10-05    WS     4 CHW @LAD L  4-5   7-8f ,L     2      1  1  1  0  2  1               0  0  7  7  0  0   0   0  0  0   0  0  0  0  0  0   4.50

    4 42.010 Dennis Eckersley  1996-10-13    NLCS   4 STL  ATL W  4-3   8-9f ,W     1.1    1  0  0  0  2  0  16  11       1  0  5  5  1  0   0   0  0  0   0  0  0  0  0  0   0.00
    5 39.172 Jesse Orosco      1996-10-10    ALCS   2 BAL @NYY W  5-3   7-8  ,H     1.1    1  0  0  0  1  0  19  14       2  0  5  5  0  0   0   0  0  0   0  0  0  0  0  0   0.00
    6 40.167 Larry Andersen    1993-10-20    WS     4 PHI  TOR L 14-15  7-8         1.1    2  3  3  1  2  0  26  14       0  0  7  6  1  0   0   0  0  0   0  0  0  0  0  0  20.25

Rivera's age was 39.322. Of course, the chart is a bit misleading, as there is no comparison between Rivera's game and Alexander's.  Alexander had pitched a complete game the day before and returned the following day to throw his 2.1 innings to save game 7 of the World Series! Not bad for an old man.

Tonight (last night?), Alex Rodriguez's 11th inning round-tripper off of Brian Fuentes tied the game for the Yankees and extended the never-ending classic that is currently being played. A-rod became the 3rd player in postseason history to hit a game tying extra inning home run. Here are the previous 2:

  Car#  G# Date          Series G Batter            Tm   Opp Pitcher           Score       Inn RoB Out Cnt Pit RBI Play Desc.
+-----+---+-------------+------+-+-----------------+---+----+-----------------+-----------+---+---+---+---+---+---+-------------------------+
     1   1 1986-10-15    NLCS   6 Billy Hatcher     HOU  NYM Jesse Orosco      down   3-4  b14 ---   1 3-2   6   1 Home Run (Deep LF Line)
     2   1 1995-10-03    ALDS   1 Albert Belle      CLE  BOS Rick Aguilera     down   3-4  b11 ---   0 2-2   7   1 Home Run (Line Drive to Deep LF)

Aguilera played in both of those games. He wasn't secretly singed by the Angels, was he?

As Game 2 of the ALCS heads to the 12th inning,  here are all the previous postseason games that were 12 innings or longer:

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