During today's Yankee radio broadcast, John Sterling mentioned that Dan Uggla is leading all of MLB in extra base hits currently. It got me wondering how often a second baseman ends up leading his league in that category.

First, using the PI Batting Season Finder, top XBH performances in the last 30 years by a player playing at least 60% of his games at second base:

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Yesterday, the Yankees' Edwar Ramirez struck out the side in his major league debut. As the Associated Press report on the game mentions, Elias Sports Bureau tells us that the last Yankee to strike out the side in his MLB debut was Stan Bahnsen in 1966. But they don't mention anything about other players who did what Ramirez did yesterday, specifically.

In Buhnsen's game in 1966, he came in to strike out the side, then pitched a second inning that included a fourth strikeout. We'll come back to this case later in this post.

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Continuing with the on-base theme, we note that yesterday Jacoby Ellsbury of the Red Sox got on base 4 times in just his third career major league game.

Using the PI Game Finder, here are the last 20 players to get on base at least 4 times in one game, among the first three games of their major league career:

Cnt   CarGm Player            Date          Tm   Opp GmReslt PA AB  R  H 2B 3B HR RBI BB TOB IBB SO HBP SH SF ROE GDP SB CS BOr Positions

+----+-----+-----------------+-------------+---+----+-------+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+---+--+---+---+--+---+--+--+---+---+--+--+---+---------+

    1     3 Jacoby Ellsbury   2007-07-02    BOS  TEX W  7-3   4  2  2  2  0  0  0   0  2   4   0  0   0  0  0   0   0  1  0 9th CF
    2     3 Yunel Escobar     2007-06-04    ATL  FLA L  4-6   4  4  2  4  1  0  1   1  0   4   0  0   0  0  0   0   0  0  0 8th 3B
    3     3 Akinori Iwamura   2007-04-06    TBD  TOR W  6-5   4  4  2  4  0  0  1   1  0   4   0  0   0  0  0   0   0  0  0 6th 3B

    4     3 Delmon Young      2006-08-31    TBD @CHW W  5-3   5  5  1  4  1  0  0   0  0   4   0  0   0  0  0   0   0  0  0 2nd RF
    5     1 Mike Rouse        2006-06-09    OAK @NYY W  6-5   4  3  2  3  1  0  0   0  1   4   0  0   0  0  0   0   0  1  0 9th 2B
    6     1 Kevin Frandsen    2006-04-28    SFG  ARI W 10-2   5  4  3  3  0  0  0   0  0   4   0  0   1  0  0   0   1  0  0 2nd 2B
    7     3 Ian Kinsler       2006-04-06    TEX  DET L  6-10  4  3  2  3  1  0  1   1  1   4   0  0   0  0  0   0   0  0  0 9th 2B
    8     2 Nick Markakis     2006-04-05    BAL  TBD W 16-6   6  3  2  1  0  0  1   1  3   4   0  0   0  0  0   0   0  0  0 2nd RF LF

    9     3 Mike Jacobs       2005-08-23    NYM @ARI W 14-1   5  3  2  2  0  0  1   2  2   4   0  1   0  0  0   0   0  0  0 7th 1B

   10     3 Nick Swisher      2004-09-05    OAK @TOR L  5-13  4  2  1  2  0  0  1   2  1   4   0  0   1  0  0   0   0  0  0 9th CF LF
   11     2 Ryan Church       2004-08-22    MON @COL W  8-2   5  4  0  3  0  0  0   2  1   4   1  0   0  0  0   0   0  0  0 5th LF
   12     3 Bucky Jacobsen    2004-07-18    SEA  CLE W  7-5   4  2  1  2  0  0  1   2  1   4   0  0   1  0  0   0   0  0  0 5th DH
   13     2 Josh Willingham   2004-07-07    FLA  PIT L  3-4   4  2  0  2  0  0  0   0  2   4   0  0   0  0  0   0   0  0  0 6th LF
   14     2 Brian Dallimore   2004-04-30    SFG  FLA W 12-9   5  3  3  3  0  0  1   4  1   5   0  0   1  0  0   0   0  0  0 2nd 3B
   15     2 Chad Tracy        2004-04-22    ARI @MIL W 11-9   8  8  0  4  1  0  0   1  0   4   0  0   0  0  0   0   0  1  0 7th 3B
   16     1 Kazuo Matsui      2004-04-06    NYM @ATL W  7-2   5  3  1  3  2  0  1   3  2   5   1  0   0  0  0   0   0  0  0 1st SS
   17     1 Joe Mauer         2004-04-05    MIN  CLE W  7-4   5  3  2  2  0  0  0   0  2   4   0  1   0  0  0   0   0  0  0 8th C

   18     2 Justin Morneau    2003-06-11    MIN  COL W  7-4   5  4  1  3  0  0  0   1  1   4   1  0   0  0  0   0   0  0  0 4th DH

   19     2 Ramon Santiago    2002-05-18    DET  TEX W  8-7   4  3  2  3  1  1  0   2  1   4   0  0   0  0  0   0   0  1  0 9th SS

   20     2 Endy Chavez       2001-05-30    KCR @TEX W 11-2   5  4  1  3  1  0  0   2  1   4   0  0   0  0  0   0   0  0  0 9th LF
   21     3 Donaldo Mendez    2001-04-08    SDP @COL W 11-3   5  4  2  3  0  0  1   2  1   4   1  1   0  0  0   0   0  0  0 8th SS

How about Brian Dallimore? In his second career game, he scored 3 runs and batted in four, while going 3-for-3 with a walk. And yet, he may never play in the majors again.

This is a list of pretty good players. For this any many other reasons, Ellsbury has got a good-looking future ahead of him.

Leaders so far in reaching base for this season:

Reaching base at least once in a game:

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I was just playing around with Baseball-Reference.com's Play Index new All-Star Game Pitching Event Finder, looking at which pitchers fanned the most batters at an All-Star played at Yankee Stadium.  Why?  Hey, I admit...when it comes to looking at old baseball stats, sometimes I find myself wondering the strangest things.

Anywho, when looking at the results, the 1939 All-Star Game caught my eye.  There were 62,892 fans there that day.  Stan Hack was the lead-off batter for the National League in the game. 

When you look at Stan's career stats, you see that he usually whiffed around 40 times a year.  Today, that would make him out to be a great contact hitter.  But, back in Hack's day, he was probably one of the top twenty in the league - in terms of swinging and missing.

Getting back to that game in 1939, Stan Hack struck out to start the game - and he was caught looking to end the game. 

Some All-Star moment in the Big Apple, huh?  Book-ending the game with K's.

The only other All-Star Game to start and end with a strikeout was 1979.  But, that was different batters in each situation.

So, Stan Hack stands alone with this one.  It's a good little trivia question to hit your friends with at this time of the year.  I doubt that many would be able to guess it.

I started with the Play Index Pitching Season Finder, and searched for years in which GS (game starts) were greater than equal to 25 for the most players on an individual team. The first 65 teams listed on there are the teams that had all 5 starters make at least 25 starts. Most of us would think that this is a great feat, indicative of great teams. Obviously it means that must have pretty good options in all 5 slots, plus have avoided injuries to its starting pitchers.

But how have these teams done?

I looked at the final records for each one of these teams, as well as playoff appearances, and here is the summary:

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Here's a trivia question:

What did Rick Camp's 1982 season and Phil Niekro's 1967 season have in common, that was not shared by any other pitcher's season in the last 50+ years?

The title of the post gives a clue, but don't take it too literally.

The answer is after the jump.

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With B-ref's Play Index, you can look up how a hitter did vs opposing pitchers.  For example, you can find out what pitcher Frank Thomas hit the most homers off of.  And if you scroll down to the very bottom, you can see the pitcher he faced the most times without ever hitting a homer.

Baseball-Reference.com's Play Index Team Inning Summary for the Yankees, so far, this year, shows us the following - in terms of how the Yankees are allowing runs this season, per inning:

Inning   #    0  Any    1    2    3    4   ≥5  Most Total  Avg Avg/9inn   

+------+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+-----+----+   

    1     77   58   19   11    4    4    0    0    3   31  0.40 3.62   

    2     77   57   20   11    6    1    2    0    4   34  0.44 3.97   

    3     77   51   26   15    9    1    1    0    4   40  0.52 4.68   

    4     77   47   30   17    9    3    1    0    4   48  0.62 5.61   

    5     77   55   22    9    7    3    1    2    8   49  0.64 5.73   

    6     77   62   15    7    5    1    2    0    4   28  0.36 3.27   

    7     77   48   29   14    3    7    4    1    5   62  0.81 7.25   

    8     77   57   20   12    4    1    1    2    7   39  0.51 4.56   

    9     56   45   11    7    2    1    1    0    4   18  0.33 2.95   

   10      4    4    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0  0.00 0.00   

   11      3    2    1    1    0    0    0    0    1    1  0.43 3.86   

   12      2    2    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0  0.00 0.00   

   13      2    1    1    1    0    0    0    0    1    1  0.60 5.40   

+------+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+-----+----+   

         683  489  194  105   49   22   13    5    8  351  0.52 4.64

It's pretty clear that the worst innings for the Yankees, this season to date, in terms of allowing runs are the 7th, 5th, and 4th innings.

If you look at Brian Bruney 2007 Pitching Splits you'll see that he's pitched in the 7th inning 18 times for the Yankees so far this year - and allowed batters to reach base 37% of the time.  Scott Proctor? 23 times and 37.2%.  Mike Myers?  18 times and 38.2%.  Kyle Farnsworth almost never pitches the 7th - so, he's out of this one.  (Maybe the numbers would be worse in the 7th for New York if Farnsie did throw more in that frame?)   Luis Vizcaino? 14 times and 40%. 

As you can see, it's been a team effort in terms of getting torched in the 7th for New York this season:  Proctor, Myers, Vizcaino, and Bruney have all chipped in.

Since Yankees starters (read: Mussina, Clemens and Igawa) rarely make it through seven, the Yankees need to find someone to cover that frame for them - if they're going to start winning ballgames.

Maybe Edwar Ramirez is the answer?

This is a very special entry to the Stat of the the Day blog (at least for me.)

I didn't become a baseball fan until I was a teenager. From then on, I have been to many games in many different parks (I think the full list for major league home teams is Phillies, Mets, Yankees, Orioles, Royals, Rockies, Giants, A's, Blue Jays, Red Sox, Mariners, Cubs, and White Sox...whew!)

However, I went to my very first game when I was a kid. I went with my late grandfather (and possibly my brother or cousin), and nobody else remembers the details of when we went.

A couple of years ago, I tried to find the game by sifting through the Retrosheet box scores. But there were too many and I couldn't figure it out.

However, through the power of the Play Index, I've figured it out.

This is how I did it:

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