A couple weeks ago Rafael Furcal pushed a bunt over the head of Edwin Encarnacion for a double.  The bunt double is a rare occurrence, but not as rare as I would have thought.  Since 1988 there have been 17 bunt doubles, including 3 by Furcal.  I have compiled a list of these oddities by using the batting splits pages along with the Team Batting Event Finder.

Bunt Doubles Since 1988
Date          Batter            Tm   Opp Pitcher           Score       Inn RoB Out Cnt Pit RBI Play Desc.
+------+---+-------------+-----------------+---+----+-----------------+-----------+---+---+---+---+---+---+-------------------------+
2009-07-20    Rafael Furcal     LAD  CIN Micah Owings      down   0-3  b 1 ---   0 2-1   4   0 Double to SS (Bunt Popup to Deep SS-3B Hole)
2007-07-02    Juan Pierre       LAD  ATL Tyler Yates       ahead  3-1  b 7 ---   1 2-1   4   0 Double to SS (Bunt Popup) 
2004-07-20    Juan Pierre       FLA @NYM Steve Trachsel    tied   0-0  t 1 ---   0 0-0   1   0 *LEADOFF GM*:Double to LF/Bunt (Bunt thru Short LF)
2003-04-30    Endy Chavez       MON @MIL Ben Sheets        down   0-3  t 4 ---   0 0-0   1   0 Double to LF/Bunt (Bunt thru Deep 3B)
2002-05-03    Corey Patterson   CHC @LAD Jesse Orosco      tied   3-3  t 7 -2-   0 0-1   2   1 Double to 3B/Bunt; DeShields Scores 
2002-04-27    John Vander Wal   NYY @SEA Freddy Garcia     tied   0-0  t 8 ---   0 0-0   1   0 Double to LF/Bunt (Bunt Line Drive to Deep LF)
2001-06-24    Rafael Furcal     ATL @NYM Steve Trachsel    down   3-4  t 7 ---   0 0-0   1   0 Double to 3B (Bunt)  
2000-08-08    Rafael Furcal     ATL @CIN Elmer Dessens     tied   0-0  t 1 ---   0 0-0   1   0 *LEADOFF GM*:Double to LF (Bunt Line Drive to Deep 3B); Furcal to 3B/Adv on E7
1999-05-31    Abraham Nunez     PIT  LAD Chan Ho Park      down   1-3  b 6 ---   0 0-1   2   0 Double to 3B (Bunt)      
1997-07-06    Mike Lansing      MON  ATL Denny Neagle      tied   0-0  b 1 -2-   0 0-0   1   1 Double to RF (Bunt); Grudzielanek Scores
1997-05-13    Tony Fernandez    CLE @TEX Matt Whiteside    ahead  4-3  t 8 ---   1 0-1   2   0 Double to CF (Bunt Popup to Deep SS-2B)
1997-04-01    Edgar Renteria    FLA  CHC Terry Mulholland  ahead  1-0  b 3 -2-   0 1-1   3   1 Double to 3B (Bunt to Weak 3B); Castillo Scores
1995-08-17    Chad Fonville     LAD @CIN Pete Schourek     tied   0-0  t 1 ---   0 0-1   2   0 *LEADOFF GM*:Double to 1B (Bunt Popup)
1995-06-21    Robby Thompson    SFG @PIT Jeff McCurry      tied   4-4  t 9 --3   1 1-1   3   1 Double to 2B (Bunt); Lampkin Scores
1991-05-25    Mitch Webster     PIT  PHI Jose DeJesus      down   0-1  b 2 ---   0 1-1   3   0 Double to 3B (Bunt to Deep 3B)
1990-08-25    Hal Morris        CIN @PIT Stan Belinda      tied   0-0  t 9 1--   0 0-0   1   0 Double to P (Bunt Popup to Front of Home); Larkin to 3B
1988-04-08    Mark McLemore     CAL  OAK Storm Davis       down   1-4  b 5 ---   2 0-0   1   0 Double to LF (Bunt thru Deep 3B)

• The last time a bunt double was hit to the right side was 1997.
• Pierre and Furcal are the only players to do it multiple times since 1988.
• Steve Trachsel has been victimized twice.
• Four players did it to lead off a game (the 3 marked as such plus Furcal 2009) and four did it to drive in a run.
• John Vander Wal hit a bunt line drive to deep  LF!?  Is that right? (EDIT - no it isn't correct)
  

From September 16-22, 2002 the Rangers met the Mariners in Seattle for a late season   4 game series. The teams played each other very close.  So close, in fact that for the only time since 1954 all the games of a four  game  series went into extra innings.

The Rangers and Mariners were 2 of just 6 teams since 1954 whose pitchers threw more than 9 innings in 4 consecutive games. (I don't know if these are the longest extra innings streaks because a visiting team can lose in extra innings and only record 9 IP)

 Team    StreakStart  Streak End Games   W   L   CG SHO  SV   IP     H    R   ER   BB   SO   HR   ERA  HBP  WP  BK Opponents
 -------+-----------+-----------+-----+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 SEA      2002-09-16  2002-09-19     4    3   1   0   0   0   41     35   21   18   22   38   2   3.95   1   1   0 TEX
 TEX      2002-09-16  2002-09-19     4    1   3   0   0   0   39.2   42   19   18   39   35   1   4.08   3   7   0 SEA
 BOS      1996-05-10  1996-05-14     4    2   2   0   0   0   43     42   25   21   27   48   4   4.40   2   1   0 TOR,CAL
 NYY      1992-05-19  1992-05-23     4    2   2   0   0   0   46     42   21   20   15   32   8   3.91   1   2   0 CAL,MIL
 TOR      1991-09-16  1991-09-20     4    1   3   0   0   1   43.1   40   20   20   25   24   3   4.15   0   0   0 SEA,OAK
 SFG      1987-07-07  1987-07-10     4    1   3   0   0   0   48     50   24   24   20   32   5   4.50   1   2   1 PIT,STL

I suspect that this has been posted here before, but I was just looking at post-season hit streaks:

                   StreakStart  Streak End Games    AB    R    H   2B  3B  HR  RBI  SO   BB   SB   CS   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  Teams
+-----------------+-----------+-----------+-----+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
 Manny Ramirez      2003-10-14  2004-10-27    17     73   11   24   4   0   3   12   12   10    0   0  .329  .400  .507  .907 BOS                                         
 Derek Jeter        1998-10-13  1999-10-27    17     70   16   26   3   2   1    7   13    8    3   1  .371  .436  .514  .950 NYY                                         
 Hank Bauer         1956-10-03  1958-10-04    17     76   10   24   2   1   6   16   13    1    1   0  .316  .325  .605  .930 NYY                                         

 Pat Borders        1991-10-12  1993-10-06    16     59    5   22   4   0   2    8    3    3    0   0  .373  .391  .542  .933 TOR                                         

 Marquis Grissom    1995-10-03  1996-10-02    15     69   11   26   3   1   3    5   10    2    6   2  .377  .403  .580  .983 ATL                                         
 Rickey Henderson   1989-10-04  1990-10-19    15     61   14   25   4   3   4   12    6   10   13   2  .410  .486  .770 1.256 OAK                                         

 David Ortiz        2004-10-26  2007-10-20    14     45   15   18   6   0   4    7    7   13    0   0  .400  .525  .800 1.325 BOS                                         
 Tim Raines         1981-10-19  1996-10-11    14     62   11   21   5   0   0    1    5    6    1   1  .339  .397  .419  .816 MON-CHW-NYY                                 
 Brooks Robinson    1970-10-03  1971-10-12    14     54   12   25   5   0   3   13    5    2    0   0  .463  .474  .722 1.196 BAL   

I recalled that Ramirez and Jeter shared the lead with fairly recent streaks. I had totally forgotten about Pat Borders' performance. He hit particularly well in the 1992 playoffs, with 16 hits in 42 AB, including 3 doubles, 2 homers, and 6 RBI.

Another interesting thing is the length of time for Tim Raines' streak, far longer than the others on this list. He went from a playoff appearance in 1981 with the Expos to a 1996 appearance with the Yankees. Not to mention the fact that the streak includes hitting in all 6 ALCS games in 1993 with the White Sox. Sheesh.

Today the Angels can become the second team since 1954 to have 3 consecutive games with at least 18 hits:

 Team    StreakStart  Streak End Games   W   L    AB    R    H   2B  3B  HR  RBI  SO   BB   SB   CS   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  Opponents
+-------+-----------+-----------+-----+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
 COL      2007-07-03  2007-07-06     3    3   0   129   35   56   9   0   8   34   15   19    3   1  .434  .497  .690 1.187 NYM,PHI   

Meanwhile, their opponents, the Twins, can become the third team since '54 to give up 18 or more hits in three consecutive games:

 Team    StreakStart  Streak End Games   W   L   CG SHO  SV   IP     H    R   ER   BB   SO   HR   ERA  HBP  WP  BK Opponents
+-------+-----------+-----------+-----+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
 ARI      2002-09-21  2002-09-23     3    0   3   0   0   0   24     56   39   35   12   21   1  13.13   0   4   1 COL,STL                                      
 ANA      1997-04-08  1997-04-11     3    1   2   0   0   0   29     57   36   35   13   24   4  10.86   0   0   0 NYY,CLE                                      

I was just playing around with Baseball-Reference.com's Play Index Pitching Game Finder and I came across this game:

June 6, 1973

Look at that line for Dave Goltz.  Gotta be the worst "save" ever credited in baseball history, right?  If not, for sure, it's in the team picture...

Bland3080 has been asking about the rarity Mark Buehrle's streak of 200+ IP (8 in a row) and, with apologies to him, I'd like to focus on a slightly different question. Buehrle is well on his way to throwing 200+ innings for the ninth time in 10 big league seasons. How rare of an accomplishment would this be?

Read the rest of this entry »

Here are players with the most seasons in the first 9 years of their careers with at least 15 starts and a .600+ winning percentage.:

                   From  To   Ages Seasons Link to Individual Seasons
+-----------------+----+----+-----+-------+------------------------------+
 Roy Oswalt        2001 2009 23-31       9 Ind. Seasons
 Tim Hudson        1999 2007 23-31       8 Ind. Seasons
 Dwight Gooden     1984 1991 19-26       8 Ind. Seasons
 Roger Clemens     1984 1992 21-29       8 Ind. Seasons
 Mordecai Brown    1904 1911 27-34       8 Ind. Seasons
 Mike Mussina      1992 1999 23-30       7 Ind. Seasons
 Ron Guidry        1977 1983 26-32       7 Ind. Seasons
 Whitey Ford       1953 1959 24-30       7 Ind. Seasons
 Lefty Gomez       1931 1938 22-29       7 Ind. Seasons
 Lefty Grove       1927 1933 27-33       7 Ind. Seasons
 Ed Reulbach       1906 1912 23-29       7 Ind. Seasons

This includes Oswalt's 2009. He  is currently 6-4  (.600), so he has little room for error.  However, if he can keep it up  Oswalt could become the  first player ever to start his career with 9 such seasons.

Chien-Ming Wang's nightmare season continues to get worse, but yesterday it ended for him on the field.

Wang finishes the season with 42 IP and an ERA of 9.64.  This leaves Wang with the 6th worst ERA in a season among pitchers with at least 40 IP. Here are the leaders:

  Cnt Player              **ERA**    IP  Year Age Tm  Lg  G   GS CG SHO GF  W  L  W-L% SV  H   R   ER  BB  SO ERA+ HR  BF   AB  2B 3B IBB HBP  SH  SF GDP  SB CS Pk BK WP   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  OPS+  Pit  Str
+----+-----------------+----------+-----+----+---+---+--+---+---+--+---+--+--+--+-----+--+---+---+---+---+---+----+--+----+----+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+----+----+
    1 Roy Halladay         10.64    67.2 2000  23 TOR AL  19  13  0   0  4  4  7  .364  0 107  87  80  42  44   48 14  349  300 21  3   0   2   2   3   6   3  3  0  1  6  .357  .435  .587 1.022  153 1358  803
    2 Micah Bowie          10.24    51   1999  24 TOT NL  14  11  0   0  2  2  7  .222  0  81  60  58  34  41   44  9  265  223 12  2   2   2   3   3   1  10  3  1  2  4  .363  .447  .556 1.003  162
    3 Aaron Myette         10.06    48.1 2002  24 TEX AL  15  12  0   0  2  2  5  .286  0  64  57  54  41  48   48 11  249  197 16  4   0   6   1   4   7   3  0  0  0  5  .325  .448  .614 1.062  173 1065  622
    4 Steve Blass           9.85    88.2 1973  31 PIT NL  23  18  1   0  1  3  9  .250  0 109  98  97  84  27   36 11  455  348 23  1   4  12   3   8   5   3  6  2  0  9  .313  .454  .480  .934  170
    5 Sean Bergman          9.66    68   2000  30 MIN AL  15  14  0   0  0  4  5  .444  0 111  76  73  33  35   53 18  337  297 18  2   1   2   2   3  11  12  0  0  0  2  .374  .436  .630 1.066  162 1170  697
    6 Chien-Ming Wang       9.64    42   2009  29 NYY AL  12   9  0   0  2  1  6  .143  0  66  46  45  19  29   46  7  206  181 19  1   1   2   3   1   5  10  3  0  0  3  .365  .429  .597 1.026    0  746  459
    7 Andy Larkin           9.64    74.2 1998  24 FLA NL  17  14  0   0  0  3  8  .273  0 101  87  80  55  43   42 12  373  307 20  3   3   4   5   2  10  13  2  0  0  3  .329  .435  .531  .966  166
    8 Glen Cook             9.45    40   1985  25 TEX AL   9   7  0   0  1  2  3  .400  0  53  42  42  18  19   45 12  187  162  7  1   1   3   0   4   4   1  2  0  0  1  .327  .396  .605 1.001  169
    9 Frank Gabler          9.43    69.2 1938  26 TOT ML  19   7  3   0  9  1  7  .125  0 104  77  73  35  17   52 12  335                  1                        0  2                            0
   10 Lloyd Allen           9.42    49.2 1973  23 TOT AL  28   5  0   0 14  0  6  .000  2  73  69  52  44  29   39  3  271  215  8  4   2   5   3   5   6   8  2  0  0  9  .340  .454  .456  .910  162

What happened to Wang is a real shame and as with anything else in life, one slight change in circumstance could have prevented it all.  Tyler Kepner does a nice job of illustrating this fact in his blog.

In addition to getting on base, one of the jobs of the lead-off hitter is to make the pitcher throw a lot of pitches. This allows the subsequent batters to get an idea of the opposing pitcher's stuff that game . Here are all the lead-off plate appearance since 1988 that were 13 pitches of longer:

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Michael Young has  recorded at least 3 hits in each of his last 3 games.  In doing so,  he joins Matt Kemp, Hanley Ramirez and David Wright as the only players who have  accomplish the feat this season.  The last player with at least 3 hits in 4 consecutive games was Maglio Ordonez last July (Cody Ross! did it last year, as well.).  Since 1954 only  3 players have had streaks of 5 games or longer:

                   StreakStart  Streak End Games    AB    R    H   2B  3B  HR  RBI  SO   BB   SB   CS   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  Teams
+-----------------+-----------+-----------+-----+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
 George Brett       1976-05-08  1976-05-13     6     26    9   18   1   0   1    4    0    2    2   1  .692  .714  .846 1.560 KCR                                         

 Rod Carew          1975-05-31  1975-06-05     5     18   11   15   1   0   4    9    0    6    3   0  .833  .875 1.556 2.431 MIN                                         
 Ted Sizemore       1970-08-08  1970-08-12     5     24    5   16   1   0   0    9    1    1    2   0  .667  .680  .708 1.388 LAD                        

While Brett's streak was a bit longer, Carew's was certainly more intense. Not only did Carew hit 4 home runs as part of those five games, he also didn't have more than 4 official at bats in any of the games.

It is also interesting to note that Brett and Sizemore's teams each lost only 1 game during their respective streaks.  During Carew's streak the Twins were 0-5.