Here are the most strikeouts in a post-season game for the losing team:

  Cnt 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 Mike Mussina      1997-10-11    ALCS   3 BAL @CLE L  1-2  GS-7       7    3  1  1  2   15    0 120  79   80       26 24  0  0   0   0  0  0   0  0  0  0  0  0   1.29 

    2 John Candelaria   1975-10-07    NLCS   3 PIT  CIN L  3-5  GS-8       7.2  3  3  3  2   14    2           73       29 27  1  0   0   0  0  0   0  1  0  0  0  0   3.52 

    3 Randy Johnson     1997-10-05    ALDS   4 SEA @BAL L  1-3  CG 8  ,L   8    7  3  3  2   13    2 137  90   67       33 31  1  0   0   0  0  0   0  0  0  0  0  0   3.38
    4 Tom Seaver        1973-10-06    NLCS   1 NYM @CIN L  1-2  CG 9  ,L   8.1  6  2  2  0   13    2           76       32 30  2  0   0   1  1  0   0  0  0  0  0  0   2.16 

    5 Orlando Hernandez 2000-10-24    WS     3 NYY @NYM L  2-4  GS-8  ,L   7.1  9  4  4  3   12    1 134  91   53       34 30  4  0   0   0  1  0   0  0  0  0  0  0   4.91
    6 Charles Nagy      1996-10-05    ALDS   4 CLE  BAL L  3-4  GS-6       6    6  2  2  2   12    2 109  64   62       27 25  0  0   0   0  0  0   0  0  1  0  0  0   3.00
    7 Nolan Ryan        1986-10-14    NLCS   5 HOU @NYM L  1-2  GS-9       9    2  1  1  1   12    1           90       30 29  0  0   0   0  0  0   0  0  0  0  0  0   1.00
    8 Tom Seaver        1973-10-16    WS     3 NYM  OAK L  2-3  GS-8       8    7  2  2  1   12    0           71       32 30  3  0   0   0  1  0   0  1  0  0  0  0   2.25
    9 Walter Johnson    1924-10-04    WS     1 WSH  NYG L  3-4  CG 12 ,L  12   14  4  3  6   12    2           66       51 43  2  0   1   0  1  1   1  1  1  0  0  1   2.25 

   10 John Smoltz       1999-10-27    WS     4 ATL @NYY L  1-4  GS-7  ,L   7    6  3  3  3   11    0 121  76   61       30 27  0  0   1   0  0  0   0  2  0  0  0  0   3.86
   11 Randy Johnson     1999-10-05    NLDS   1 ARI  NYM L  4-8  GS-9  ,L   8.1  8  7  7  3   11    2 138  85   47       36 32  1  0   0   0  1  0   0  2  0  0  0  0   7.56
   12 Mike Cuellar      1973-10-09    ALCS   3 BAL @OAK L  1-2  CG 11 ,L  10    4  2  2  3   11    1           84       37 33  0  0   0   0  1  0   0  0  0  0  0  0   1.80
   13 Blue Moon Odom    1972-10-18    WS     3 OAK  CIN L  0-1  GS-7  ,L   7    3  1  1  2   11    0           76       27 24  0  0   0   0  1  0   0  2  0  0  0  0   1.29
   14 Bob Turley        1956-10-09    WS     6 NYY @BRO L  0-1  CG 10 ,L   9.2  4  1  1  8   11    0           80       40 31  1  0   2   0  1  0   0  0  0  0  0  0   0.93
   15 Don Newcombe      1949-10-05    WS     1 BRO @NYY L  0-1  CG 9  ,L   8    5  1  1  0   11    1           79       29 29  2  0   0   0  0  0   0  0  0  0  0  0   1.12
   16 Chief Bender      1911-10-14    WS     1 PHA @NYG L  1-2  CG 8  ,L   8    5  2  1  4   11    0           73       34 28  2  0   0   1  1  0   0  1  2  0  0  0   1.12 

   17 Josh Beckett      2003-10-21    WS     3 FLA  NYY L  1-6  GS-8  ,L   7.1  3  2  2  3   10    0 108  67   71       29 25  2  0   0   1  0  0   0  0  0  0  0  0   2.45
   18 Mike Mussina      2003-10-13    ALCS   4 NYY @BOS L  2-3  GS-7  ,L   6.2  6  3  3  2   10    2  95  63   58       27 25  1  0   1   0  0  0   1  0  1  0  0  0   4.05
   19 Roger Clemens     2001-11-04    WS     7 NYY @ARI L  2-3  GS-7       6.1  7  1  1  1   10    0 114  75   64       28 27  1  0   0   0  0  0   0  0  0  0  0  0   1.42
   20 Mike Mussina      1997-10-15    ALCS   6 BAL  CLE L  0-1  GS-8       8    1  0  0  2   10    0 107  73   88       27 25  1  0   0   0  0  0   0  0  0  0  0  0   0.00
   21 John Smoltz       1996-10-24    WS     5 ATL  NYY L  0-1  GS-8  ,L   8    4  1  0  3   10    0 135  79   79       31 28  1  0   0   0  0  0   0  1  0  0  0  0   0.00
   22 John Smoltz       1993-10-10    NLCS   4 ATL  PHI L  1-2  GS-7  ,L   6.1  8  2  0  5   10    0 125  76   58       33 27  1  0   0   0  0  1   0  0  0  0  0  0   0.00
   23 Jack Sanford      1962-10-10    WS     5 SFG @NYY L  3-5  GS-8  ,L   7.1  6  5  4  1   10    1           57       30 28  1  0   0   0  1  0   0  1  0  0  0  1   4.91
   24 Denny Galehouse   1944-10-08    WS     5 SLB  STL L  0-2  CG 9  ,L   9    6  2  2  1   10    2           76       34 32  2  0   0   0  1  0   1  0  0  0  0  0   2.00
   25 George Earnshaw   1929-10-11    WS     3 PHA  CHC L  1-3  CG 9  ,L   9    6  3  1  2   10    0           75       36 34  2  1   0   0  0  0   0  0  0  0  0  0   1.00

This was done using the Pitching Game Finder, selecting the bubbles for post-season and for Team L, then sorting by most strikeouts.

Poor Mike Mussina has made this list three times. Mussina's an interesting guy...with just slightly better luck he might be thought of as one of the top 10 or 20 pitchers ever. He could easily have had a perfect game, for example.

Now here are the leaders for most games with at least 8 strikeouts where the team lost the game (the specific pitcher didn't necessarily get the loss, as with the list above):

                   Games Link to Individual Games
+-----------------+-----+-------------------------+
 John Smoltz           5 Ind. Games
 Randy Johnson         5 Ind. Games
 Roger Clemens         4 Ind. Games
 Nolan Ryan            3 Ind. Games
 Mike Mussina          3 Ind. Games
 Tom Seaver            2 Ind. Games
 Rick Helling          2 Ind. Games
 Bob Gibson            2 Ind. Games
 David Cone            2 Ind. Games
 Josh Beckett          2 Ind. Games

Which one of these is not like the other? Rick Helling, anyone?

And how about a personal Game Score over 80 in games in which your team lost?

                   Games Link to Individual Games
+-----------------+-----+-------------------------+
 Mike Mussina          2 Ind. Games
 Bob Turley            1 Ind. Games
 Sherry Smith          1 Ind. Games
 Nolan Ryan            1 Ind. Games
 Mike Cuellar          1 Ind. Games

And finally, lowering the Game Score to 60:

                   Games Link to Individual Games
+-----------------+-----+-------------------------+
 John Smoltz           5 Ind. Games
 Roger Clemens         5 Ind. Games
 Tom Seaver            4 Ind. Games
 Christy Mathewson     4 Ind. Games
 Randy Johnson         4 Ind. Games
 Tom Glavine           4 Ind. Games
 Jerry Reuss           3 Ind. Games
 Eddie Plank           3 Ind. Games
 Art Nehf              3 Ind. Games
 Mike Mussina          3 Ind. Games
 Matt Morris           3 Ind. Games
 Greg Maddux           3 Ind. Games
 Al Leiter             3 Ind. Games
 Charlie Leibrandt     3 Ind. Games
 George Earnshaw       3 Ind. Games
 Doug Drabek           3 Ind. Games
 Mike Cuellar          3 Ind. Games

It's scary to think about John Smoltz having 5 post-season games that he pitched well enough to win but didn't. The man is 15-4 in the post-season as it is, and 2 of his 4 losses are among those 5 games with a Game Score of at least 60. Can you imagine if he were 20-2 in the post-season instead? They might waive the 5-year waiting rule for the Hall of Fame for him. I don't know how much longer he'll pitch (he's coming off a great season at age 40) but I sure hope he spends the rest of his career in Atlanta.

Here are all the post-season starts where the winning pitcher went more than 9 innings:

  Cnt 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 Jack Morris       1991-10-27    WS     7 MIN  ATL W  1-0  SHO10 ,W  10    7  0  0  2  8  0 126  79   84       38 35  2  0   1   0  1  0   1  0  0  0  0  1   0.00 

    2 Ken Holtzman      1973-10-09    ALCS   3 OAK  BAL W  2-1  CG 11 ,W  11    3  1  1  1  7  1           93       38 37  0  0   0   0  0  0   1  0  0  0  0  0   0.82 

    3 Tom Seaver        1969-10-15    WS     4 NYM  BAL W  2-1  CG 10 ,W  10    6  1  1  2  6  0           80       38 35  0  0   0   0  0  1   0  0  1  0  0  0   0.90
    4 Dave McNally      1969-10-05    ALCS   2 BAL  MIN W  1-0  SHO11 ,W  11    3  0  0  5 11  0           97       41 36  0  0   0   0  0  0   0  1  0  0  0  0   0.00 

    5 Bob Gibson        1964-10-12    WS     5 STL @NYY W  5-2  CG 10 ,W  10    6  2  0  2 13  1           87       39 36  0  0   1   1  0  0   1  0  0  0  0  0   0.00 

    6 Warren Spahn      1958-10-01    WS     1 MLN  NYY W  4-3  CG 10 ,W  10    8  3  3  4  6  2           66       40 36  1  0   0   0  0  0   0  0  0  1  0  1   2.70 

    7 Warren Spahn      1957-10-06    WS     4 MLN  NYY W  7-5  CG 10 ,W  10   11  5  5  1  2  1           51       39 38  1  1   0   0  0  0   3  0  0  0  0  0   4.50 

    8 Clem Labine       1956-10-09    WS     6 BRO  NYY W  1-0  SHO10 ,W  10    7  0  0  2  5  0           81       38 36  2  0   1   0  0  0   1  0  0  0  0  0   0.00 

    9 Carl Erskine      1952-10-05    WS     5 BRO @NYY W  6-5  CG 11 ,W  11    5  5  5  3  6  1           70       41 38  0  0   0   0  0  0   0  0  0  0  0  0   4.09 

   10 Allie Reynolds    1950-10-05    WS     2 NYY @PHI W  2-1  CG 10 ,W  10    7  1  1  4  6  0           76       39 33  3  1   1   0  2  0   2  1  0  0  0  0   0.90 

   11 Hal Schumacher    1936-10-05    WS     5 NYG @NYY W  5-4  CG 10 ,W  10   10  4  3  6 10  1           62       43 37  1  0   0   0  0  0   1  0  2  0  0  1   2.70 

   12 Schoolboy Rowe    1934-10-04    WS     2 DET  STL W  3-2  CG 12 ,W  12    7  2  2  0  7  0           87       42 41  1  1   0   0  1  0   0  0  0  0  0  0   1.50 

   13 Carl Hubbell      1933-10-06    WS     4 NYG @WSH W  2-1  CG 11 ,W  11    8  1  0  4  5  0           80       45 38  0  0   1   0  3  0   1  0  0  0  0  0   0.00 

   14 Herb Pennock      1926-10-07    WS     5 NYY @STL W  3-2  CG 10 ,W  10    7  2  2  1  4  0           73       37 36  2  0   0   0  0  0   1  1  1  0  0  0   1.80 

   15 Art Nehf          1924-10-04    WS     1 NYG @WSH W  4-3  CG 12 ,W  12   10  3  2  5  3  0           70       49 44  2  0   0   0  0  0   1  2  1  0  0  0   1.50 

   16 Dickey Kerr       1919-10-07    WS     6 CHW @CIN W  5-4  CG 10 ,W  10   11  4  3  2  2  0           56       42 38  3  1   0   1  1  0   1  2  2  0  0  0   2.70 

   17 Babe Ruth         1916-10-09    WS     2 BOS  BRO W  2-1  CG 14 ,W  14    6  1  1  3  4  1           97       48 43  1  0   0   0  2  0   1  0  2  0  0  0   0.64 

   18 Christy Mathewson 1913-10-08    WS     2 NYG @PHA W  3-0  SHO10 ,W  10    8  0  0  1  5  0           80       40 38  0  0   1   0  1  0   0  0  0  0  0  0   0.00 

   19 Jack Coombs       1911-10-17    WS     3 PHA @NYG W  3-2  CG 11 ,W  11    3  2  1  4  7  0           88       36 31  1  0   0   0  1  0   0  0  4  0  0  0   0.82

There have only been 2 such games since 1969. But any baseball fan over the age of about 22 will remember Jack Morris' epic game over John Smoltz and the Braves in Game 7 of the 1991 World Series. I'm actually pretty surprised that this performance, added in with Morris' career, didn't get him into the Hall of Fame.

Did you notice that Clem Labine made both this list, and yesterday's list of come-from-behind game-winning hits?

Labine, who died earlier this year at age 80, was mentioned on this blog back in August, by having all 3 hits in a season go for homers back in 1955.

And that guy who's #17 on the list...Babe Ruth. What a funny name for a pitcher. Did he ever amount to anything?

Using the Post-season Batting Event Finder, I searched for RBI events that ended a game when a team was behind. So for the most part, these are game-winning hits.

Believe it or not, there have been just 10 such hits in history:

  Car#  G# Date          Series G Batter            Tm   Opp Pitcher           Score       Result Inn RoB Out Cnt Pit RBI Play Desc.
+-----+---+-------------+------+-+-----------------+---+----+-----------------+-----------+------+---+---+---+---+---+---+-------------------------+
     2   2 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 
     3   1 1953-10-03    WS     4 Mickey Mantle     NYY @BRO Clem Labine       down   2-7  1B     t 9 123   2   -       1 *ENDED GAME*:Single to LF; Woodling Scores; Martin out at Hm/LF-C; McDougald to 2B 
     4   1 1972-10-07    ALCS   1 Gonzalo Marquez   OAK  DET Chuck Seelbach    down   1-2  1B     b11 12-   1   -       1 *ENDED GAME*:Single to RF (Ground Ball thru 2B-1B); Hegan Scores; Tenace Scores/No RBI/Adv on E9 (throw to 3B)/unER 
     6   2 1985-10-26    WS     6 Dane Iorg         KCR  STL Todd Worrell      down   0-1  1B     b 9 123   1 1-0   2   2 *ENDED GAME*:Single to RF (Line Drive); Concepcion Scores; Sundberg Scores; Wathan to 2B 
     8   2 1986-10-11    NLCS   3 Lenny Dykstra     NYM  HOU Dave Smith        down   4-5  HR     b 9 -2-   1 0-1   2   2 *ENDED GAME*:Home Run (Fly Ball to Deep RF Line); Backman Scores 
    10   2 1988-10-15    WS     1 Kirk Gibson       LAD  OAK Dennis Eckersley  down   3-4  HR     b 9 -2-   2   -       2 *ENDED GAME*:Home Run (Line Drive to Deep RF); Davis Scores 
    12   2 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 
    15   3 1993-10-23    WS     6 Joe Carter        TOR  PHI Mitch Williams    down   5-6  HR     b 9 12-   1 2-2   5   3 *ENDED GAME*:Home Run (Deep LF Line); Henderson Scores; Molitor Scores 
    17   2 1995-10-08    ALDS   5 Edgar Martinez    SEA  NYY Jack McDowell     down   4-5  2B     b11 1-3   0 0-1   2   2 *ENDED GAME*:Double to LF (Line Drive); Cora Scores; Griffey Scores 
    19   2 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; Gonzalez Scores/unER; Pierre Scores/unER; Castillo to 2B 

Following are some notes & observations about this list. Read the rest of this entry »

I was just playing around with Baseball-Reference.com's Play Index Batting Event Finder for the Post-season - looking at PA and results for batter's in the bottom of the 9th of a series deciding post-season game while their team was losing.  Click here to see the entire list.

And, then I saw it:  There are only two players in baseball history to hit 3-run homers in the bottom of the 9th of a post-season series deciding game when their team was behind:  Joe Carter in Game 6 of the 1993 World Series and Mark Ellis in Game 5 of the 2002 ALDS.

So close, yet, so far, from ever lasting fame, on that one for Ellis, huh?

Using the Batting Game Finder, set for post-season, we can find who had the most post-season multi-hit games.

First I sorted it by most games in a single year:

                   Year Games Link to Individual Games
+-----------------+----+-----+-------------------------+
 Marquis Grissom   1996     9 Ind. Games
 Troy Glaus        2002     9 Ind. Games
 Marty Barrett     1986     9 Ind. Games
 Bernie Williams   1996     8 Ind. Games
 Albert Pujols     2004     8 Ind. Games
 Darin Erstad      2002     8 Ind. Games
 Willie Wilson     1985     7 Ind. Games
 Devon White       1993     7 Ind. Games
 Bill Mueller      2004     7 Ind. Games
 Willie McGee      1987     7 Ind. Games
 Tino Martinez     2000     7 Ind. Games
 Kenny Lofton      2002     7 Ind. Games
 Marquis Grissom   1995     7 Ind. Games
 Ken Griffey       1995     7 Ind. Games
 Steve Garvey      1981     7 Ind. Games
 Craig Biggio      2005     7 Ind. Games
 Lance Berkman     2004     7 Ind. Games
 Carlos Beltran    2004     7 Ind. Games
 David Bell        2002     7 Ind. Games
 Brady Anderson    1997     7 Ind. Games
 Moises Alou       2003     7 Ind. Games
 Sandy Alomar      1997     7 Ind. Games

Right away you can see that, unsurprisingly, most of these seasons are within the Wild Card Era (1995 to present.) But a shout out to Barrett, Wilson, White, McGee, and Garvey, who all did it without the benefit of the extra round of the playoffs. Of these 22 guys to have 7 or more such games, 17 were on teams to go to the World Series, and 9 of those were on actual championship teams. So the 5 guys who didn't even make it to the World Series (Griffey in 1995, Berkman and Beltran in 2004, Brady "Big 5-0" Anderson in 1997, and Alou in 2003) are particularly impressive.

Now, how about most multi-hit post-season games in a career, regardless of year?

Here are the top 25:

                   Games Link to Individual Games
+-----------------+-----+-------------------------+
 Derek Jeter          43 Ind. Games
 Bernie Williams      36 Ind. Games
 Pete Rose            30 Ind. Games
 Chipper Jones        25 Ind. Games
 Kenny Lofton         24 Ind. Games
 Steve Garvey         23 Ind. Games
 Paul O'Neill         22 Ind. Games
 Yogi Berra           22 Ind. Games
 Manny Ramirez        21 Ind. Games
 Chuck Knoblauch      21 Ind. Games
 Marquis Grissom      21 Ind. Games
 Jorge Posada         20 Ind. Games
 Frankie Frisch       20 Ind. Games
 Devon White          19 Ind. Games
 Albert Pujols        19 Ind. Games
 John Olerud          19 Ind. Games
 Tino Martinez        19 Ind. Games
 David Justice        19 Ind. Games
 Reggie Jackson       19 Ind. Games
 Lonnie Smith         18 Ind. Games
 Bill Russell         18 Ind. Games
 Andruw Jones         18 Ind. Games
 Rickey Henderson     18 Ind. Games
 Roberto Alomar       18 Ind. Games
 Mark Lemke           17 Ind. Games

It's not a surprise to see this list dominated by Wild Card Era Yankees, including Jeter, Williams, Knoblauch, Posada, and Martinez. But man oh man is it impressive to see Pete Rose up there. Granted he was on 8 playoff teams and played in 14 post-season series, but he still had 30 multi-hit games out of 67 played (45%,) good for a .321 batting average. WOW. Compare that to Jeter, who has 43 multi-hit games out of 123 played (34%.) Still awesome, but not quite Pete Rose awesome.

It's such a shame to think about what's happened to Pete Rose. He was such an amazing player, both in talent and in hustle. He could have had a wonderful post-retirement career, especially in America where people are so easily forgiven for almost any crime. I still cannot believe that the only time he ever showed any remorse about his actions was so many years later, and it was just to write "I'm sorry I bet on baseball" on baseballs that he sold.

Does everybody remember the classic moment in the 1980 World Series when the ball popped out of catcher Bob Boone's glove? It was in foul territory on a pop up, and Rose was there to back him up. When the ball popped out, Rose nonchalantly grabbed it out of the air for the third out, then bounced the baseball on the Veterans Stadium carpet and hustled back to the dugout, all the while with a smile on his face.

I miss that Pete Rose.

Following up a bit on last night's post, here is a brand new stat for you folks. This isn't actually the career consistency score that I'm working on, but rather a way to look at consistency within one season for a given player. Read the rest of this entry »

How many players in baseball history have managed seasons where they had 700+ PA and an OPS+ of 180 or greater?  Not many.  In fact, thanks to Baseball-Reference.com's Play Index Batting Season Finder, we know that it's only happened 15 times in big league history:

  Cnt Player            Year  PA OPS+ Age Tm  Lg  G   AB  R   H  2B 3B HR RBI  BB IBB  SO HBP  SH  SF GDP  SB CS   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  Positions
 +----+-----------------+----+---+----+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+
     1 Alex Rodriguez    2007 708  183  31 NYY AL 158 583 143 183 31  0 54 156  95  11 120  21   0   9  15  24  4  .314  .422  .645 1.067 *5/D
     2 Sammy Sosa        2001 711  201  32 CHC NL 160 577 146 189 34  5 64 160 116  37 153   6   0  12   6   0  2  .328  .437  .737 1.174 *9             
     3 Carlos Delgado    2000 711  182  28 TOR AL 162 569 115 196 57  1 41 137 123  18 104  15   0   4  12   0  1  .344  .470  .664 1.134 *3             
     4 Frank Thomas      1991 700  180  23 CHW AL 158 559 104 178 31  2 32 109 138  13 112   1   0   2  20   1  2  .318  .453  .553 1.006 *D3            
     5 Ted Williams      1949 730  192  30 BOS AL 155 566 150 194 39  3 43 159 162   0  48   2   0   0  22   1  1  .343  .490  .650 1.140 *7             
     6 Stan Musial       1946 702  183  25 STL NL 156 624 124 228 50 20 16 103  73   0  31   3   2   0   7   7  0  .365  .434  .587 1.021 *37            
     7 Stan Musial       1943 701  180  22 STL NL 157 617 108 220 48 20 13  81  72   0  18   2  10   0  17   9  0  .357  .425  .562  .987 *978           
     8 Lou Gehrig        1936 719  190  33 NYY AL 155 579 167 205 37  7 49 152 130   0  46   7   3   0   0   3  4  .354  .478  .696 1.174 *3             
     9 Lou Gehrig        1932 708  181  29 NYY AL 156 596 138 208 42  9 34 151 108   0  38   3   1   0   0   4 11  .349  .451  .621 1.072 *3            
    10 Jimmie Foxx       1932 701  205  24 PHA AL 154 585 151 213 33  9 58 169 116   0  96   0   0   0   0   3  7  .364  .469  .749 1.218 *35           
    11 Lou Gehrig        1931 738  195  28 NYY AL 155 619 163 211 31 15 46 184 117   0  56   0   2   0   0  17 12  .341  .446  .662 1.108 *3/9          
    12 Lou Gehrig        1930 703  203  27 NYY AL 154 581 143 220 42 17 41 174 101   0  63   3  18   0   0  12 14  .379  .473  .721 1.194 *3/7          
    13 Lou Gehrig        1927 717  221  24 NYY AL 155 584 149 218 52 18 47 175 109   0  84   3  21   0   0  10  8  .373  .474  .765 1.239 *3            
    14 Rogers Hornsby    1922 704  207  26 STL NL 154 623 141 250 46 14 42 152  65   0  50   1  15   0   0  17 12  .401  .459  .722 1.181 *4            
    15 Ty Cobb           1915 700  185  28 DET AL 156 563 144 208 31 13  3  99 118   0  43  10   9   0   0  96 38  .369  .486  .487  .973 *8         

Note that Babe Ruth never did it. And, check out Carlos Delgado.   How many would have assumed him to be up there on this list?  The king here, of course, is a horse - the Iron Horse...Mr. Gehrig.

Lou Gehrig carried a big stick and brought it out to play, everyday.

Readers, I am working on the development of a new stat that measures the consistency of a player over his entire career. This is something I hope to develop to a useful point such that Sean would consider incorporating it onto each player's main page.

You can help me by suggesting players who you consider to be very consistent over their careers. Look for players with consistent year-to-year batting averages, slugging percentage, and rates for runs, RBI, hits, 2B, 3B, HR, BB, and K (or some subset of those.)

Please post your suggestions in the comments. Thanks!

As a point of interest, I've tested it on some of the players we've discussed recently. Keith Hernandez and Tony Perez get quite consistent scores. Barry Bonds gets a fairly inconsistent score, since his power numbers and SLG went off the charts in the latter part of his career. Babe Ruth is incredibly inconsistent due to having some years with a very low HR rate (very early and very late in his career) and other years with a historically high HR rate.

Here's another simple but neat search. Using the PI Pitching Game Finder, set for post-season, with the bubble clicked for "Win" under decision, then just summed by Players w/ games in year, gives you this:

                   Year Games Link to Individual Games
+-----------------+----+-----+-------------------------+
 Francisco Rodrigu 2002     5 Ind. Games
 Randy Johnson     2001     5 Ind. Games
 David Wells       1998     4 Ind. Games
 Dave Stewart      1989     4 Ind. Games
 John Smoltz       1996     4 Ind. Games
 Curt Schilling    2001     4 Ind. Games
 Jack Morris       1991     4 Ind. Games
 Burt Hooton       1981     4 Ind. Games
 Orel Hershiser    1995     4 Ind. Games
 Livan Hernandez   1997     4 Ind. Games

These are all the players to win at least 4 games in one post-season. Another 56 players have won 3 games in one post-season. The full list is here.

As you might expect, this list is heavily weighted toward recent players, as there are so many more playoffs games than there used to be. Remember, in the old days, there was just one playoff round--the World Series--and there were very few off-days in the series. So one pitcher didn't start (much less win) as many as 3 games very often. Compare that to today, where there are three playoff rounds (the Divisional Series, the League Championship Series, and the World Series,) tons and tons of off-days thanks to all the money-grubbing folks involved, and the staff ace can conceivably start as many as 8 games in one post-season.

All that being said, the weird thing is that a reliever, K-Rod, makes the top of the list with 5 wins in the 2002 playoffs. Those were interesting games and I invite you to check them out. (Go to his B-R main page and then you can click on the individual series links under his post-season pitching record.)

Not that this has anything to do with anything, but the current format of the playoffs really bothers me. It bothers me that teams play 162 games over about 180 days to determine which ones make the playoffs, but then playoff series are spaced out with off days every 2 or 3 games. When was the last time a #4 or #5 pitcher started in the post-season for a reason other than injury to one of the top three starters? In my mind, it's not right to measure the teams one way in the regular season but then subject them to a different set of rules in the post-season. The Cardinals, for example, would have had no chance last year had they needed to use their entire starting staff in the post-season.

I realize that due to expansion of baseball, there are more cities that are further away than there used to be, and travel days are needed, but at the very least, consecutive games in the same city (such as Games 1 and 2 of the World Series) should be played without an off-day in between. I just don't understand why MLB wants to sacrifice the integrity of the playoffs for a slightly larger TV audience. Don't they realize that by allowing lesser teams a better chance to win, they are driving away lots of fans?

Here's a bizarre thought: what's the most homers allowed in a season by a pitcher before 1920?  The answer, unsurprisingly is the main pitcher for the 1884 Cubs, Larry Corcoran.   That year homers over a ridiculously short fence, in other years ruled doubles, were homers.  Multiple Cubs hit over 20 and Ned Williamson set the pre-Ruth record of 27.  What is surprising - at first - is that it's more than anyone had hit in a season, with 35 HRA.  I say at first because when you think about it, this makes sense.  The man threw over 500 innings.

What's a little more surprising is that three more guys were at 27, tying Williamson.  They all pitched between 338-349 IP, none of which was too extreme.

If you're curious, 35 remained the record until 1948, when Murray Dickson of the Cards allowed 39.  Jeepers.