Justin Verlander threw 133 pitches over 7.1 innings of ALCS game 5, allowing 4 runs (and the obligatory Nelson Cruz HR), but he bridged Detroit's bullpen gap and handed the ball to temporary closer, Phil Coke, who insured that their season would have at least one more road trip.

Verlander, who threw more pitches than anyone during the regular season, surpassed by 1 his previous career high (set this May 29), and matched the postseason high of this century, set by Mark Prior in game 3 of the 2003 NLDS.

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The intentional walk that Ron Washington ordered for Miguel Cabrera in game 4 of the ALCS was the 10th bases-empty IBB known to have occurred in the postseason. It was the first that came with only 1 out: Read the rest of this entry »

Lance Berkman and Jacoby Ellsbury have each been awarded their league's comeback player of the year award.

Those 2 guys were among 20 this season to qualify for the batting title while posting an OPS+ of at least 140.

Here are those same 20 guys ranked by lowest career OPS+ prior to 2011:

The young guys near the top of this list just posted their career-best seasons.

Nelson Cruz did it again yesterday, belting a 3-run home in extra innings to help the Rangers win an ALCS game.

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Matt Kemp registered a WAR of 10.0 this season. Among his teammates, the next highest WAR for non-pitchers was 1.8 from Jamey Carroll. In fact, the sum of all other Dodger WAR (ignoring pitching) was 6.4, meaning Kemp outscored all the rest of his teammates combined.

His margin of 8.2 above the next highest player is massive. Here are the 200 most recent times that a single player (non-pitcher) achieved a seasonal WAR of 8.2.

Working chronologically backwards, here's what I found:

• In 2007, Albert Pujols had a WAR of 8.3 and his next-closest teammate was Scott Rolen at 2.3, a difference of 6 wins. All Cardinals besides Pujols totaled 9.1, so Pujols nearly outscored them.
• The last time before Kemp that a player had double-digit WAR (non-pitcher) was Barry Bonds in 2004. Indeed, he outscored runner-up Ray Durham by 9.1, besting Kemp's 2011 mark. But the Giants other than Bonds did manage 16.5 WAR, so Bonds didn't outscore them single-handedly.
• Adrian Beltre also had some big margins in 2004. He finished at 10.1 over teammate Milton Bradley at 3.6, a difference of 6.5 wins. The team minus Beltre totaled 14.2.
• In 2003 and 2001, Bonds came somewhat close to outscoring his teammates in WAR.
• In 2001, Sammy Sosa registered an 11.4 WAR, a whopping 9.2 wins above runner-up Ricky Gutierrez at 2.2. Sosa's teammates totaled 11.5, just a pinch more than Sosa himself.
• In 1997, Larry Walker had 9.0 WAR and was trailed by Andres Galarraga at 2.9 WAR, for a margin of 6.1. The Rockies minus Walker had 9.6.
• Got it finally: in 1997, Mike Piazza racked up 9.3 WAR. Next closest was Raul Mondesi at 5.8, but all the Dodgers except for Piazza had just 7.6.

This means that Kemp is the first player since Piazza in 1997 to outscore all of his teammates (non-pitchers) in WAR.

I wonder when the last time a non-Dodgers player did it? Feel free to keep looking at the list.

Thanks to reader Bip for emailing in about this.

In the post-season, when a team has 3 or more homeruns in a game, their record in these contests, to date, is 136-38.

Here are the winning games.  And, here are the losing games.

Memo to all teams:  If you want to win a post-season game, it's really good to hit at least 3 homers in it.

This from ESPN.com: White Sox GM considered Paul Konerko as player/manager before hiring Robin Ventura

I wonder if he tried to hire Billy Martin first?

The last player/manager in MLB was Pete Rose, who did it from 19084 to 1986 with the Reds.

Other player/managers include Frank Robinson in 1975-76 with the Indians and Joe Torre with the 1977 Mets.

It's always neat to look at the scoreboard and see that the home team won an extra inning game by 4 runs. There's only one way for that to happen--a walk-off grand slam.

Indeed Nelson Cruz did it yesterday, ending the game on his second homer of the day.

Cruz's walk-off homer was the first in a playoff game since 2009:

And it's the first grand slam to end a post-season game, ever. The best we'd seen before that was these 3-run homers to end a playoff game:

The full list of 42 post-season walk-off homers is here.

ALso, you might think Cruz's shot was "the ultimate" when it comes to clutch hitting. Do you know what the WPA was for his hit? Only 0.06, because the game was tied with the bases loaded and no outs. By the time Cruz stepped to the plate, the likelihood that the Rangers would win was exceptionally high (94%).

It was his earlier homer that was the money shot, as he tied the game in the bottom of the 7th with a solo homer. That was worth 0.21 WPA.

In fact Cruz's game isn't even the top WPA game in 2011. Here are single-game performances worth at least 0.4 WPA in the last 3 years:

Ryan Howard has the best game so far in 2011.

In game 2 of the NLCS, Albert Pujols went 4-5 with a HR and three 2Bs, driving in the first 4 runs in the Cards' series-tying rout (and 5 RBI total).

He tied the record of 4 extra-base hits in a postseason game, done thrice previously:

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