During last night's ALDS game between the Twins and Yankees, Mariano Rivera walked Nick Punto in the top of the 9th inning, with two outs, and the Yankees ahead in the game.

I doubt Joe Girardi was sweating Rivera issuing that walk, since the Yankees were up by five at the time, and, after all, it's Mo Rivera on the hill. But, in general, I would expect that it must kill a manager to see his "closer" issue a two-out walk in the 9th inning of a post-season game...when his team has the lead. This led me to wondering how often this situation happens. And, thanks to Baseball-Reference.com's Play Index Post-Season Pitching Event Finder, the answer is easy to find. What I found interesting was the "leader board" for allowing 2-out walks in the 9th inning of a post-season game when pitching with a lead. Here it is:

Jason Isringhausen 4
Tom Henke 3
Mariano Rivera 3
Brad Lidge 3
Fernando Valenzuela 2
Rawly Eastwick 2
Armando Benitez 2
Red Ruffing 2

Granted, Rivera is high on this list partly because he's thrown in so many post-season games. But, still, it's interesting that he's issued this type of base-on-balls three times in his career - and is knocking on the door of becoming the all-time leader of doing this...er...for a lack of a better word..."sin."

In any event, Nick Punto now joins Bret Boone and David Justice as the only batters in baseball history to work Mariano Rivera for a 2-out walk in the 9th inning when their team was trailing. I guess that's something Punto can tell his grand-kids about someday...

Posted the games from yesterday.

Known issues: the batter vs. pitcher is a bit messed up at the moment. I will be fixing that shortly. Other than that, I can't find anything pressing.

Here are the worst OBP values for players qualifying for the batting title in 2009:

  Cnt Player             **OBP**  Year Age Tm  Lg  G   PA  AB  R   H  2B 3B HR RBI  BB IBB  SO HBP  SH  SF GDP  SB CS   BA   SLG   OPS  Positions
+----+-----------------+---------+----+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+---------+
    1 Yuniesky Betancou    .274   2009  27 TOT AL 134 508 470  40 115 20  6  6  49  21   0  44   0  11   6  17   3  3  .245  .351  .625 *6        
    2 Bengie Molina        .285   2009  34 SFG NL 132 520 491  52 130 25  1 20  80  13   3  68   5   0  11  14   0  0  .265  .442  .727 *2/D      
    3 Clint Barmes         .294   2009  30 COL NL 154 604 550  69 135 32  3 23  76  31   2 121  10   6   7   6  12 10  .245  .440  .734 *46       
    4 Jimmy Rollins        .296   2009  30 PHI NL 155 725 672 100 168 43  5 21  77  44   1  70   2   2   5   7  31  8  .250  .423  .719 *6        
    5 Alexis Rios          .296   2009  28 TOT AL 149 633 582  63 144 31  2 17  71  37   1 107   6   1   7  21  24  5  .247  .395  .691 *98       
    6 Kazuo Matsui         .302   2009  33 HOU NL 132 533 476  56 119 20  2  9  46  34   2  85   3  16   4   4  19  3  .250  .357  .659 *4        
    7 Kevin Kouzmanoff     .302   2009  27 SDP NL 141 573 529  50 135 31  1 18  88  27   3 106  11   0   6  25   1  0  .255  .420  .722 *5        
    8 Alfonso Soriano      .303   2009  33 CHC NL 117 522 477  64 115 25  1 20  55  40   6 118   3   0   2   7   9  2  .241  .423  .726 *7/45     
    9 Jose Lopez           .303   2009  25 SEA AL 153 653 613  69 167 42  0 25  96  24   5  69   6   3   7  25   3  3  .272  .463  .766 *43       
   10 Garret Anderson      .303   2009  37 ATL NL 135 534 496  52 133 27  0 13  61  27   2  73   2   0   9  11   1  0  .268  .401  .704 *7/D      
   11 Emilio Bonifacio     .303   2009  24 FLA NL 127 509 461  72 116 11  6  1  27  34   0  95   2   8   4   5  21  9  .252  .308  .611 *568/47   

Two of only five guys under .300 are on playoff teams. It's more embarrassing for the Phillies, though, whose leadoff guy (Rollins) is up there. At least Barmes batted primarily 8th for the Rockies (with some 2nd and 7th thrown in.)

Also when did Rios start going by Alexis instead of Alex? That's news to me.

Recently, we've been discussing how to maximize your use of our individual batting and pitching gamelogs, so the next logical step is to apply what we've learned so far to the team batting and pitching logs.

To access the logs at the team level, go to any team page, and hover your mouse over the "Batting [+]" section of the navigation bar under the banner ad. In the drop-down menu, click "Game Logs":

http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/tgl.cgi?t=b&team=MIN&year=2009

What you see should look familiar from our individual batting gamelogs... As always, the ultra-cool row-summing feature works here, allowing you to get totals and averages over any span of games you desire, The usual batting categories are present as well, and if you click on the blue text in the  "Date" column, you can go to the boxscore of the specific game in that row. Furthermore, recall that clicking the red text in the Gtm column will pop up a small box containing the team's stats through the game in question, as was the case in our indivdual logs.

Turn your attention to the far right side of the table, and you'll see a column for runners left on base, plus the number of batters used by the team in each game, and the opposing starter faced (including his handedness and the Bill James game score he posted vs. the team in that particular game). Above each table is another place for interesting data -- there you will find the team's situational record vs. righty and lefty starters, as well as the longest team streaks of the season with and without a home run.

Now, on to the pitching side:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/tgl.cgi?team=MIN&t=p&year=2009

The same lessons learned on our individual pitching gamelogs will serves you well on these team pages, because you'll be able to sum rows, access game-by-game boxscores (blue text), and call up the year-to-date info via the red text in the Gtm column. The only difference you'll notice will be on the far right side of the table, where you'll see a column for the number of pitchers used, as well as another column identifying exactly who those pitchers were (in order of appearance), the number of rest days they pitched on, their game score for the outing, and which decision (if any) they were tagged with. And last but not least, below the table on these team pitching log pages is the familiar run support table, which lists how often the team helped its pitchers with each number of runs per game.

Enjoy these team features as a companion to the player-based logs we've already discussed, and as always, let us know about any questions or comments you may have.

I'm taking a bit of a break from my usual post format to write a sort of op-ed piece.

We've had a lot of talk about steroids and other banned substances in the last several years. I've heard a lot of people call Barry Bonds a fraud and say that Mark McGwire's use of such stuff cost him his spot in the Hall of Fame. I don't understand these positions for two reasons:

1. It's way to early to put The Steroids Era in proper perspective yet. We still don't have a clear picture on who used what and what effect it really had on stats and game outcomes. Yeah, power numbers are down the last few years, when most people suspect that use of banned substances has decreased. But we don't know that either for sure. I'm not sure that we'll ever have all of this information or even most of it. But what I do know is that 2-3 years after the end of a 15-year era is too soon to put it in proper historical perspective. I also don't know how one can single out guys like Bonds, McGwire, Roger Clemens, or Rafael Palmeiro when A) there's no proof that guys like Cal Ripken and Frank Thomas were clean and B) we know that many players tested positive but remain anonymous.
2. Even if some players did cheat and benefited from it, who on earth could think that this is new for baseball? Would carrying a weapon on the field constitute cheating? Well Ty Cobb sharpened his spikes to intimidate and injure fielders. Dozens, if not hundreds, of players have been caught doctoring the baseball or their bats and yet these incidents are never mentioned when considering the long-term reputation of the individuals. Cheating, from minor infractions like sign-stealing to major ones like use of weapons, has been a long-standing issue in the game. It's been going on for more than 100 years. Why would anyone single out cheating from the last 20 years? If you're going to leave Barry Bonds out of the Hall of Fame strictly based on steroids (and you certainly can't leave him out based on stats) then you'd better throw out Ty Cobb, Gaylord Perry, and a bunch of other guys.

To bring home both points 1 and 2, let me give you an example that covers both historical perspective and unlevel playing fields. Yesterday there was a 1-game playoff to determine a division. Imagine that a guy playing in that game had 73 HR for the season and managed to hit his 74th in that game. Would this guy be the new single-season HR champion? The answer must be yes. But, some of you say, he did it in 163 games!!! Everybody else had only 162 games to play. You people who would say that are missing the point. The guy hit the most homers in a single season. Period. That is a fact. Period. He is the single-season home run champ. Period. Just like Barry Bonds is the current champ. Period. This is not a subject that is up for debate. If it annoys you that Bonds is named, then once you close the record book you can tell your children that he was suspected of cheating and that you fondly remember Roger Maris as the record-holder for many years before Bonds. You can skip right over McGwire if you want. Or, if you're really old school, you can say that Maris had the benefit of 162 games and you fondly remember Babe Ruth as the 154-game champion. But facts are facts. Bonds is the HR champ, and Bonds is a Hall of Famer. There's no way that guy can be kept out. There's no way that Roger Clemens can be kept out.

In the 1960s and even into the 1970s, many people absolutely refused to acknowledge Maris as the HR champ because of the 162-game schedule. To people born in the 1970s or later (who became baseball fans in the 1980s or early 1990s) this seems ridiculous. By that time, the lunatics who begrudged Maris had pretty much disappeared. Over time, the facts won out. Sure, Ruth can still be cited as the 154-game season champion. But in the 1980s, when asked who the champ was at the time, virtually everyone who knew baseball would immediately respond "Roger Maris."

Let's face it. Athletes are a rare breed. The vast majority of these guys are super-competitive and work very hard to gain any possible edge. Cheating is not uncommon. For every instance we know of cheating in professional sports, there are probably 5 instances we don't know about. Just because we know something about Barry Bonds, it doesn't mean that Robin Yount, Tom Seaver, and Carlton Fisk were clean. Were they? Probably. But who knows?

History of the last 100 years of baseball shows us that over time, the numbers on the page win out as the absolute facts and the exact context of feats are remembered only as folklore. Sometimes that folklore has a long lifetime. Thirty years from now, young fans will know Bonds and Clemens as two of the very best players from the 1990s and 2000s and as Hall of Famers. Will their alleged use of banned substances be discussed? Sure. Just like the 154- vs 162-game schedule, spitballs, sharpened spikes, and corked bats. But make no mistake about it: they will be in the Hall of Fame.

This game is incredible!

I still have to think that the winner is going to get wiped out by the Yankees, but while this one lasts, it's amazing. If it's the last game ever in the Metrodome, it was a great way to go out.

Here are the top finishers for OPS+ in 2009 (among players qualified for the batting title):

  Cnt Player            **OPS+** Year Age Tm  Lg  G   PA  AB  R   H  2B 3B HR RBI  BB IBB  SO HBP  SH  SF GDP  SB CS   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  Positions
+----+-----------------+--------+----+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+
    1 Albert Pujols        188   2009  29 STL NL 160 700 568 124 186 45  1 47 135 115  44  64   9   0   8  23  16  4  .327  .443  .658 1.101 *3/D      
    2 Joe Mauer            176   2009  26 MIN AL 137 600 519  94 189 29  1 28  96  74  13  62   2   0   5  13   4  1  .364  .442  .586 1.028 *2D       
    3 Prince Fielder       164   2009  25 MIL NL 162 719 591 103 177 35  3 46 141 110  21 138   9   0   9  14   2  3  .299  .412  .602 1.014 *3        
    4 Adrian Gonzalez      163   2009  27 SDP NL 160 681 552  90 153 27  2 40  99 119  22 109   5   1   4  23   1  1  .277  .407  .551  .958 *3/D      
    5 Joey Votto           152   2009  25 CIN NL 131 544 469  82 151 38  1 25  84  70  10 106   4   0   1   8   4  1  .322  .414  .567  .981 *3        
    6 Hanley Ramirez       151   2009  25 FLA NL 151 652 576 101 197 42  1 24 106  61  14 101   9   1   5   9  27  8  .342  .410  .543  .953 *6        
    7 Derrek Lee           147   2009  33 CHC NL 141 615 532  91 163 36  2 35 111  76   6 109   3   0   4  12   1  0  .306  .393  .579  .972 *3/D      
    8 Mark Teixeira        146   2009  29 NYY AL 156 707 609 103 178 43  3 39 122  81   9 114  12   0   5  13   2  0  .292  .383  .565  .948 *3/D      
    9 Pablo Sandoval       144   2009  22 SFG NL 153 633 572  79 189 44  5 25  90  52  13  83   4   0   5  10   5  5  .330  .387  .556  .943 *53/2D    
   10 Ryan Braun           144   2009  25 MIL NL 158 708 635 113 203 39  6 32 114  57   1 121  13   0   3   6  20  6  .320  .386  .551  .937 *7        
   11 Ben Zobrist          144   2009  28 TBR AL 152 599 501  91 149 28  7 27  91  91   4 104   2   1   4   7  17  6  .297  .405  .543  .948 *496/783D5 

There are a few surprises here.

• Joey Votto makes it with just 25 homers, but of course he didn't play a full season.
• Hanley Ramirez makes it with 24 HR and did play a full season. Lots of hits and doubles helped him out.
• After playing well in limited time in 2008, Ben Zobrist posted an awesome first full season. Given that he's already 28 years old, though, don't be surprised if 2009 turns out to be the best year of his career.
• It's a different story for Pablo Sandoval, who also also had a fantastic first year. He's only 22, though. (Actually 23 right now.) The similarity scores are not yet updated through 2009 but I'll be very interested to see to whom Sandoval compares--my guess is that it's going to be some famous dead people.
• Finally, below are the top OPS+ figures among qualified batters over the last 6 seasons (going back to 2004.) Barry Bonds is the last guy other than Pujols to post such high OPS+ figures.

  Cnt Player            **OPS+** Year Age Tm  Lg  G   PA  AB  R   H  2B 3B HR RBI  BB IBB  SO HBP  SH  SF GDP  SB CS   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  Positions
+----+-----------------+--------+----+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+
    1 Barry Bonds          263   2004  39 SFG NL 147 617 373 129 135 27  3 45 101 232 120  41   9   0   3   5   6  1  .362  .609  .812 1.421 *7/D      
    2 Albert Pujols        190   2008  28 STL NL 148 641 524 100 187 44  0 37 116 104  34  54   5   0   8  16   7  3  .357  .462  .653 1.115 *3/D4     
    3 Albert Pujols        188   2009  29 STL NL 160 700 568 124 186 45  1 47 135 115  44  64   9   0   8  23  16  4  .327  .443  .658 1.101 *3/D      
    4 Travis Hafner        179   2006  29 CLE AL 129 563 454 100 140 31  1 42 117 100  16 111   7   0   2  10   0  0  .308  .439  .659 1.098 *D/3      
    5 Albert Pujols        178   2006  26 STL NL 143 634 535 119 177 33  1 49 137  92  28  50   4   0   3  20   7  2  .331  .431  .671 1.102 *3        
    6 Alex Rodriguez       177   2007  31 NYY AL 158 708 583 143 183 31  0 54 156  95  11 120  21   0   9  15  24  4  .314  .422  .645 1.067 *5/D      
    7 Joe Mauer            176   2009  26 MIN AL 137 600 519  94 189 29  1 28  96  74  13  62   2   0   5  13   4  1  .364  .442  .586 1.028 *2D       
    8 Chipper Jones        174   2008  36 ATL NL 128 534 439  82 160 24  1 22  75  90  16  61   1   0   4  13   4  0  .364  .470  .574 1.044 *5/D      
    9 Derrek Lee           174   2005  29 CHC NL 158 691 594 120 199 50  3 46 107  85  23 109   5   0   7  12  15  3  .335  .418  .662 1.080 *3        
   10 Alex Rodriguez       173   2005  29 NYY AL 162 715 605 124 194 29  1 48 130  91   8 139  16   0   3   8  21  6  .321  .421  .610 1.031 *5/6D     

OK, I know I just wrote "finally" above, but here's one more tidbit: highest OPS+ numbers for guys catching at least 50% of the time:

  Cnt Player            **OPS+** Year Age Tm  Lg  G   PA  AB  R   H  2B 3B HR RBI  BB IBB  SO HBP  SH  SF GDP  SB CS   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  Positions
+----+-----------------+--------+----+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+
    1 Mike Piazza          185   1997  28 LAD NL 152 633 556 104 201 32  1 40 124  69  11  77   3   0   5  19   5  1  .362  .431  .638 1.069 *2/D      
    2 Joe Mauer            176   2009  26 MIN AL 137 600 519  94 189 29  1 28  96  74  13  62   2   0   5  13   4  1  .364  .442  .586 1.028 *2D       
    3 Mike Piazza          172   1995  26 LAD NL 112 475 434  82 150 17  0 32  93  39  10  80   1   0   1  10   1  0  .346  .400  .606 1.006 *2        
    4 Mike Piazza          166   1996  27 LAD NL 148 631 547  87 184 16  0 36 105  81  21  93   1   0   2  21   0  3  .336  .422  .563  .985 *2        
    5 Johnny Bench         166   1972  24 CIN NL 147 652 538  87 145 22  2 40 125 100  23  84   2   0  12  18   6  6  .270  .379  .541  .920 *29/35    
    6 Art Wilson           166   1915  29 CHI FL  96 351 269  44  82 11  2  7  31  65   0  38   1  16   0   0   8  0  .305  .442  .439  .881 *2        
    7 Mike Grady           166   1904  34 STL NL 101 363 323  44 101 15 11  5  43  31   0   0   2   7   0   0   6  0  .313  .376  .474  .850 *23/45    
    8 Chris Hoiles         162   1993  28 BAL AL 126 503 419  80 130 28  0 29  82  69   4  94   9   3   3  10   1  1  .310  .416  .585 1.001 *2/D      
    9 Carlton Fisk         162   1972  24 BOS AL 131 514 457  74 134 28  9 22  61  52   6  83   4   1   0  11   5  2  .293  .370  .538  .908 *2        
   10 Ernie Lombardi       161   1942  34 BSN NL 105 347 309  32 102 14  0 11  46  37   0  12   1   0   0  17   1  0  .330  .403  .482  .885 *2        

Johnny Bench posted by far the lowest batting average in this group but also mashed 40 HR at a time when that was a mind-boggling total.

According to Baseball-Reference.com's Play Index Post Season Batter Events Finder - only 4 post-season games, to date, have ended via an error. Here's the details on each situation:

  Car#  G# Date          Series G Batter            Tm   Opp Pitcher           Score       Inn RoB Out Cnt Pit RBI Play Desc.
+-----+---+-------------+------+-+-----------------+---+----+-----------------+-----------+---+---+---+---+---+---+-------------------------+
     1   1 1914-10-12    WS     3 Herbie Moran      BSN  PHA Joe Bush          tied   4-4  b12 12-   0  -        0 *ENDED GAME*:Reached on E1 (throw to 3B)/Sacrifice Bunt; 
     2   1 1969-10-15    WS     4 J.C. Martin       NYM  BAL Pete Richert      tied   1-1  b10 12-   0  -        0 *ENDED GAME*:Reached on E1 (throw to 1B)/Sacrifice Bunt; 
     3   1 1986-10-25    WS     6 Mookie Wilson     NYM  BOS Bob Stanley       tied   5-5  b10 -2-   2 3-2   9   0 *ENDED GAME*:Reached on E3 (Ground Ball); Knight Scores/unER
     4   1 1996-10-02    ALDS   2 Charlie Hayes     NYY  TEX Mike Henneman     tied   4-4  b12 12-   0 0-0   1   0 *ENDED GAME*:Reached on E5 (throw to 1B)/Sacrifice Bunt 

Many know about Game 6 of the 1986 World Series.  But, how many remember Game 2 of the 1996 ALDS or Game 4 of the 1969 World Series?  And, for sure, I don't think many today can call upon Game 3 of the 1914 World Series from their own personal eye-witness memory.

Poor Joe Bush, Pete Richert, Bill Buckner and Dean Palmer - for making those errors.  Gotta be a player's worst nightmare, right?  Of course,  all these games were already tied when these errors occurred...so, it's not like any of these miscues turned a "W" into an "L."  Now, that would really leave a mark...no doubt.

Note: Three of these puppies came on bunts. So, maybe that's a smart play, when you're at home, in October, in extra innings, with the score tied?

Rating the National League Playoff Teams - Bats Blog - NYTimes.com

I'll be doing some guest blogging at the New York Times during the postseason.

From Sporcle, Can you name every possible way to get on first base? (Hint: Stealing isn't one of them, Willy.)