Baseball Esoterica

Another Big Start!

2006-04-21T00:36:00.000-04:00

Sorry I haven't been posting...just got a new job.

I remember a couple of years ago when Kaz Matsui homered in his MLB first plate appearance, that was pretty cool. Then, last year, when he did it again, that was really cool. So I was looking forward to his return to the Mets lineup. First time up tonight? Not out of the park...but he circles the bases for an inside-the-parker! I don't have the data, but I bet no one's ever hit homers in his first plate appearance of the year three years in a row, never mind in his first three years. I mean, if Albert Pujols did it, nice--but Matsui is no home run hitter. This is a guy who hits a home run once every hundred plate appearances when not leading off the season. So the tally stands at: 3 homers in 3 first-of-the-year PA's, 8 homers in 805 non-first-of-the-year PA's. Wow. Interestingly, Matsui's trifecta occurred in the same game as Julio Franco becoming the oldest player to ever hit a homer.

Extra Esoterica
In 2004, Matsui went 88 plate appearances until his next homer. In 2005, it took him 110 plate appearances to hit another one.

What's So Special About Opening Day?

2006-04-03T12:00:00.000-04:00

Happy Opening Day, aka, Christmas!

We're always hearing about team's won-lost records in season openers, like the Red Sox not having won since 2000, or the Mets being 27-9 since 1970. Yes, it's significant since it's the first game of the year, but looking at teams' records for Game 1 of the season is really no more significant than their records for Game 101. So, I decided to do just that: I have checked the handy-dandy database for the best records for any particular game of the season...and came up with a few awesomely Esoteric tidbits. Here are the top five (since 1960, as usual, for team games).

5. The best record in a particular game for teams that have played in every season, and for games that have been played in every season (the schedule expanded from 154 games to 162 in 1962) is 34-12 (.739), shared by three teams: the Dodgers in Game 62, the Braves in Game 77, and the Reds in game 103.

4. The Yankees are 7-0 in game 163, and 1-1 in Game 164. For the record, there have been 50 Game 163's and five Game 164's (not counting the LA-SF three game playoff in 1962. If you keep that in, there was actually one Game 165!). Oddly, in 1964, almost half of the 20 teams (nine) played in more than 162 games.

3. Despite their .397 winning percentage in all other games, Tampa Bay is a perfect 8-0 in Game 156's!

2. Colorado does even better...at least Esoterically. Since their inception in 1993, they have never won the 21st game of the season, putting up a surprising (even for a bad team) 0-13 mark! Just for good measure, they're also 12-1 in Game 114!

1. Because of the sheer volume of baseball games played, there are always some nice outlier stats. Those are nice. Then there are the extreme cases, which are totally sweet and totally Esoteric! San Diego can proudly claim one of those extreme outliers. Here's why. Since their inception in 1969, they have played the 36th game of the season 37 times...and won...wait for it...five of them! Yep, that's an Esoterially rapturous 5-32 (.135) record. And that's even after winning that game last year. No one else really comes close. The second worst record (in at least 37 games) is Montreal/Washington with 8-29 (.216) record in Game 32.

So, you can see, the arbitrary Opening Day stuff doesn't really mean anything...but that doesn't mean it can't be fun!

Extra Esoterica
The team with the best worst-game-of-the-year record is Boston, whose worst is their not-so-terrible 18-28 (.391) mark in Game 93.

2005 Flashback III – Last Licks

2006-03-31T12:00:00.000-05:00

A few Random lists and stuff:

HR/RBI Efficiency
Most RBI's with fewer than X HR, 2005.

 X Player          Team  HR(Rank)   RBI(Rank)
40 Gary Sheffield  NYY   34(T15)   123(6)
30 Joege Cantu      TB   28(T31)   117(T8)
25 Hideki Matsui   NYY   23(T53)   116(T11)
20 Garret Anderson LAA   17(T98)    96(32)
15 Garrett Atkins  COL   13(T140)   89(T39)
10 Edgar Renteria  BOS    8(T220)   70(T89)
 5 Jason Kendall   OAK    0(T492)   53(T172)

Wait for it...
Bobby Abreu saw 284 more pitches than anyone else (3,159 to Jeter’s 2,875). If you go 284 fewer than Jeter, you'd be in would be 39th place. This is because Abreu led the majors with 4.39 pitches per PA and played in all 162 games. Miguel Tejada also played in 162 games…and saw 669 (21%) fewer pitches (2,490)! Angel Berroa played in 159 games and saw 975 fewer pitches!

Also, oddly, Casey Blake ranked second in pitches per plate appearance with 4.38, but somehow only walked 43 times, compiling a lousy .308 OBP!

Staying on First
Willy Taveras came to the plate 635 times last year and managed only 20 extra-base hits! That's 1 every 32 times up (less than once a week). Historically, believe it or not, both Horace Clark (9 EBH in 602 PA in 1968) and Sandy Alomar, Sr (8 EBH in 504 PA in 1973) actually blow Taveras away here!

Speaking of EBH, Jason Kendall gets another mention for another interesting feat: getting hit by a pitch almost as often as getting an extra-base hit. He was hit 20 times while hitting 29 EBH. Here are the top ten seasons (min 400 AB), with an unsurprising king:


Name         Year  HBP EBH DIFF
Ron Hunt     1971   50  28 -22
Ron Hunt     1973   24  14 -10
Ron Hunt     1972   26  20  -6
Ron Hunt     1968   25  21  -4
Ron Hunt     1974   14  15   1
Ron Hunt     1969   25  29   4
Wally Gerber 1926    3   8   5
Alex Cora    2004   18  23   5
Dave Chalk   1976   10  15   5
Ivy Griffin  1920   11  16   5

And that's about it for 2005. See you on Opening Day...and find out an amazing and Esoteric record the Padres have been building since 1969.

Extra Esoterica
Paul Molitor is the last player to amass more than 100 RBIs with fewer than 10 home runs. He drove in 113 runners with only 9 homers in 1996.

2005 Flashback II – Scarily Bad (And Good) Baserunning

2006-03-30T10:01:00.000-05:00

Just a quick follow-up to my previous post on Doubles and Homers, in which I listed the players who hit at least 40 more two-baggers than round-trippers. So, as a proper Esotericist, you must have been asking yourself, "Well, what about the opposite situation?" Well, funny you should ask. Here are those with 35 or more homers than doubles.

Name              Year    2B  HR Diff
Mark McGwire      1998    21  70  49
Sammy Sosa        1998    20  66  46
Roger Maris       1961    16  61  45
Mark McGwire      1999    21  65  44
Barry Bonds       2001    32  73  41
Sammy Sosa        1999    24  63  39
Harmon Killebrew  1964    11  49  38
Mickey Mantle     1961    16  54  38

It's interesting, if unsurprising, that Maris and Mantle from the '61 home run chase as well as McGwire and Sosa from the '98 and '99 editions all make the list. McGwire is the king, though. He hit 20 more homers than doubles eight times in his career. Killebrew tops the under-50HR group with crazy-low total of 11 doubles. Interestingly, Maris actually hit more doubles (34) than home runs (33) in '62.

A couple of Honorable Mention seasons:

Name          Year  2B  HR Diff
Dave Kingman  1982   9  37  28
Mark McGwire  2001   4  29  25

Kingman actually led the league in homers in '82, while compiling an astonishingly miniscule nine two-baggers...in 607 trips to the plate! McGwire? Well, 2001, his last season, was just a bizarre (and shortened) year for him.

Robles and Runnels
No, that's not the newest online fantasy game, it brings us to today's topic. 2005 saw some historic stolen base futility. Imagine attempting to steal for the first time and getting caught. And then the second time, too. And then the third and fourth time. I'd think you would get discouraged, or (at least, if I were the manager) that you would get a big fat don't-even-run-on-a-hit-and-run red light! But apparently Jim Tracy had unbelievable faith in rookie Oscar Robles and let him run into a ball-filled glove eight times! Robles' 0-for-8 was the second worst o-fer of all time, next to his friend in futility (and alliteration) Pete Runnels' 0-for-10 fiasco in 1952 (he definitely did not put the "Run" in Runnels :). This followed an 0-for-3 rookie campaign for Runnels, meaning he began his career by being thrown out each of the first 13 times he tried to steal (and maybe worse)! Hopefully, Robles won't follow in his, ahem, footsteps and better Runnels' career 42% (37-for-88) stolen base percentage. For the record, the only other SB shutout of that magnitude was turned in by Jose Offerman in 2000, who was also 0-for-8.

Just a hair behind Robles was Angel Juan Rivera, whose pathetic 1-for-10 effort was also historic. Check out the 10% club:

Name           Year SB  CS  SB Pct
Zeb Terry      1921  1  13   7.1%
Eddie Yost     1957  1  11   8.3%
Jose Vizcaino  1994  1  11   8.3%
Bobby Doerr    1939  1  10   9.1%
Juan Rivera    2005  1   9  10.0%
Soup Campbell  1941  1   9  10.0%
Hod Ford       1924  1   9  10.0%
Eddie Mayo     1948  1   9  10.0%
Elliott Maddox 1980  1   9  10.0%

I love these kinds of lists: some notable names mixed in with Hod Ford, Soup Campbell, and Eddie Mayo. Man, what was Vizcaino thinking in '94?

The Good Guys
There was also some historic and near historic base-stealing in 2005, including a much-larger-than-usual number of near-perfect seasons. Check it out.

Player             SB   CS   SB Pct
Jason Bay          21    1    95.5%
Johnny Damon       18    1    94.7%
Reggie Sanders     14    1    93.3%
Willie Bloomquist  14    1    93.3%
Mike Cameron       13    1    92.9%
Vladimir Guerrero  13    1    92.9%
Joe Mauer          13    1    92.9%
Craig Biggio       11    1    91.7%
Emil Brown         10    1    90.0%

There were a total of nine 10+ SB near perfect seasons, the most ever. The previous high was eight in 1995. As many of you know, Kevin McReynolds set the record for a perfect season in 1988, going 21-for-21. But did you know that Paul Molitor nearly matched him in 1994 with a 20-for-20 mark (and then went 12-for-12 the next season!)?

Additionally, Alfonso Soriano finished a fabulous 30 out of 32. Here's where Soriano fits in with history with other 30-base stealers since 1920.

Name            Year  SB  CS  SB Pct
Brady Anderson  1994  31   1   96.9%
Carlos Beltran  2001  31   1   96.9%
Max Carey       1922  51   2   96.2%
Doug Glanville  1999  34   2   94.4%
Amos Otis       1970  33   2   94.3%
Jack Perconte   1985  31   2   93.9%
Alfonso Soriano 2005  30   2   93.8%

One last flashback tomorrow, and then come back and celebrate Opening Day (woo-hoo!) Esoteric-style with some Fun With Meaningless Stats!

Extra Esoterica
Between 2000 and 2004, Carlos Beltran was an unbelievable efficient stolen base machine, giving catchers fits in both leagues. In that five-year span, he AVERAGED 34 steals and only 3 times caught!! That's an almost unfathomable 162-for-177 (91.5%)!!! Sometime this season, I will try to find out if, or, rather, by how much, this is a record.

Join Baseball Esoterica Group on Yahoo!

2006-03-28T15:00:00.000-05:00

I've started a Yahoo! Group to provide a forum for "special" people like us to discuss the Esoterica that only we can appreciate. Go to the following link and click the "Join This Group!" button on the upper right.

http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/baseball_esoterica/

-Eric

I'm Baa-aack!

2006-03-27T11:00:00.000-05:00

Hey all! Sorry for my extended hiatus. I got busy with other things, but I’m back, ready, and psyched for a fresh season of Esoterica. What wild, unbelievable “achievements” do we have waiting for us in the next six months? Well, we all know that with 2,430 games to be played; 22,365 innings to pitch*; 188,568 batters to come to the plate**; and more than 650,000 pitches to be thrown…yeah, you know tons of crazy stuff is gonna happen. Keep it here to keep up with all the Esoterica 2006 gives us!

*based on the average game length since 1960: 9.204 innings
**based on the average PA/game since 1994 (the power/steroids era): 77.6

2005 Flashback I – Doubles and Homers

2006-03-27T10:00:00.000-05:00

What better way to start off 2006 than with…one last look at last season. Yes, this is the stuff I was promising at the end of last season, but, well, better late than never.

Brad Wilkerson and Marcus Giles hit a lot of doubles in 2005, with 42 and 45, respectively. But, contrary to what you’d think (like everything I ever write about, come to think of it!) they had below-average power, with only 11 and 15 homers. With both of these guys hitting 30 more doubles than homers, it got me thinking…is that historically significant? So I went back the ol’ players database and came up with the following list of seasons with the largest double/homer discrepancy, and it turns out that 30 is not exactly historic. Since 1950*, there have actually been 18 seasons of 40 or more doubles than homers.

Player              Year  2B  HR  Diff
Mark Grudzielanek   1997  54   4   50
Wade Boggs          1989  51   3   48
George Kell         1950  56   8   48
Brian Roberts       2004  50   4   46
Jeff Cirillo        2000  53  11   42
Dave Cash           1977  42   0   42
Ferris Fain         1952  43   2   41
Pete Rose           1980  42   1   41
Lou Brock           1968  46   6   40
Jody Reed           1990  45   5   40
Ozzie Smith         1987  40   0   40
Craig Biggio        1999  56  16   40
Chuck Knoblauch     1994  45   5   40
Wade Boggs          1988  45   5   40
Matty Alou          1969  41   1   40
Pete Rose           1975  47   7   40

Grudzielanek takes this one hands down. You know, it’s tough to hit 54 two-baggers and not even slug .400, but Grudzie did it, slugging only .384 that historic year. But that’s not all. He also tallied more doubles than RBIs, an even rarer feat. Since 1950, this has only been done 10 times (min. 400 AB).

Player             Year  2B  RBI   Diff
Frank Baumholtz    1953  36   25    11
Mark Grudzielanek  1997  54   51     3
Billy Hatcher      1990  28   25     3
Ron Hunt           1972  20   18     2
Jody Reed          1989  42   40     2
Frank Taveras      1980  27   25     2
Don Blasingame     1959  26   24     2
Mickey Morandini   1997  40   39     1
Eric Young         2002  29   28     1
Eric Young         2001  43   42     1

Grudzie almost takes this one, too. But a dude named Frank Baumholtz destroys the comeptition in this bizarre category. Just how is it possible to bat .306 with 159 hits--including 36 doubles and a league-average .778 OPS--and only drive in 25 runs all year? His few stolen bases and unimpressive runs scored totals tell me that he probably wasn’t a leadoff hitter. Too bad we don’t have the batting-with-men-on-base splits for the Fifties! And by the way, in true Esoteric style, he never came close to duplicating that “magical” season (his second best was 19 doubles and 30 RBIs in 1948).

As usual, we ended up a ways away from where we started. You just never know where the Esoterica will take you! Tune in next time for some top-notch--and some decidedly lower-notch--baserunning from 2005. It was a delightfully Esoteric year in both directions!

*1950 is somewhat arbitrary, but when comparing home run stats, I prefer modern-day comparisons.

Extra Esoterica
Oddly, four years after his landmark 1997 campaign, Grudzielanek's put up only 21 two-baggers, but "exploded" for 13 dingers (a difference of only 8!), both career extremes for a full season.

Schizo Streaks

2005-11-21T14:16:00.000-05:00

So what's the most alternating wins and losses?

The most is 16, done twice since 1960. It was first done by the Phillies between June 3 and June 20, 1974. The ironic part is that after the "anti-streak", they went 20 games without a "one-game streak" (and nine games before it, as well!) Then the Dodgers did it, though it took them...two and a half months. Huh? Well, they happened to begin their streak on June 6, 1981, just five days before the two-month strike. When play continued on August 10, they picked up right where they left off, ripping off 11 more one-gamers through August 21. Now that's tough to do!

Upgrading...Be Back Soon

2005-11-18T00:00:00.000-05:00

Hey all. Sorry for not posting. I am currently upgrading my systems so I don't have to say "I wonder if that's a record" quite as much. For example, I now have the ability to find the longest "schizo" streak, that is, the most alternating wins and losses. How many do you think? Leave a comment. Answer Monday...

The Great and the Ugly II - Range Rovers

2005-11-11T23:11:00.000-05:00

Now let's look at the runs these guys surrendered this year. First here's where their ERA's wandered in 2005.

          
   Season
ERA Range
   Post-April
ERA Range
  
     Lima    6.08 - 15.00    6.40 - 8.39   
     Milton    4.86 - 7.97    5.79 - 7.97   
     Clemens     0.32 - 1.89    1.10 - 1.89   
     Carpenter    1.29 - 7.84    2.21 - 4.24

Here's a timeline of their season's progress. (Click to enlarge)

Yes, Clemens' ERA really never rose above 1.89 all season. It's unbelievable that he never even challenged that "2.00" line until very late in the season. Wonder if that's a record.
And, yes, Lima's ERA really never fell below 6.08 all season. It's unbelievable that he never really challenged that "6.00" line. That is definitely a record. It was as high as 8.39 twelve starts into the season on June 4.
Milton at least had a decent start. Between April 10 and 21, he actually had a better ERA than Carpenter!
Carpenter's ERA didn't stay below four until May 23, largely because of a disasterous three-inning eight-run start in April 10. If it weren't for that, he'd have been dipping below three at that point.
Oddly, all four pitchers displayed very similar patterns after the Break, steadily improving, and then fininshing poorly.

Here's the earned runs (bottom axis) given up per start.

Here's another way to look at it:

            
   0-1    2-4    5+   
     Lima    4    14    14   
     Milton    7    14    13   
     Clemens    20    10    2   
     Carpenter    14    15    4

Some "wows" here.

Lima allowed five of more runs 14 times, and Milton 13 times! Considering their average start was just over five innings, that is truly tragic. And, unsurprisingly, there was no shortage of "disaster starts"--those in which the pitcher allows more runs than innings pitched. Milton had 13 of them, an astonishing 38% of his starts. Lima wasn't far behind with 11 (34%). Both pitchers started seven games in which the opposing team finished with at least ten runs. I suppose there were money and reputation considerations, but it's hard to figure how you could keep sending these guys out there.

Milton was the most Jeckyll and Hyde of the four, surrendering at least six runs ten times, but only allowing zero or one run seven times. Clemens was the most consistant. He didn't allow six runs in a start all season, and gave up only zero or one an amazing 63% of the time (20 of 32). In fact, he only gave up more than two runs five times all season! Now that's damn good.

Next up, the rest.

Extra Esoterica
I meant to mention this in my last post when I discussed innings pitched. As you may know, Mark Buerhle ended a streak of 49 consecutive games of pitching at least six innings this past year. Well, Lima had the longest "non-Buerhle" streak of the four, and probably MLB when he went eight straight starts pitchingfewer than six between May 1 and June 9. All told, he went fewer than six in 21 of his 32 starts, as opposed to three of 33 for Carpenter.

The Great and the Ugly

2005-11-08T13:01:00.000-05:00

I'm sure many of you have tracked the seasons of two of 2005's best pitchers--Roger Clemens and Chris Carpenter--and two of the worst--Jose Lima and Eric Milton. I've tallied some interesting numbers from their performances this past season. First up, "Going Deep".

The Great and the Ugly I - Going Deep

2005-11-08T13:00:00.000-05:00

Pitching deep into games is a good indicator of effectiveness. Check out how they match up.

                        
   
   Inning Reached    
   

  
     
   Starts    5    6    7    8    9    Comp    IP 
  
     Lima    32    23    16    6    3    1    1    168.2 
  
     Milton    34    29    20    10    2    0    0    186.1 
  
     Clemens    32    31    28    23    4    0    1    211.1 
  
     Carpenter    33    31    31    26    17    8    7    241.2

Lima Time didn't last very long in 2005. He made it past the fifth inning in only half of his starts, averaging a mere 5.27 per outing. He compiled only 168.2 innings despite 32 starts. That's the second-lowest total ever for a 32-start season with no relief appearances. Who beat him out? Steve Cooke made it through only 167.1 innings in 32 starts for the 1997 Pirates. Who did Lima bump out of second place in that category? Why, Eric Milton! In 1998, the rookie Milton pitched only 172.1 innings in 32 starts for the Twins. And the most innings in a 32-start season (since WWII)? Why, it's Roger Clemens! In the same number of games as Lima, he threw 246.2 innings for Boston in 1992. To add insult to injury, in the only start in which Lima made it to the ninth, a complete game 5-hitter on August 14, he still lost 1-0.

Milton, on the other hand, did make a little history here, becoming the reigning king in the 34-plus start category of Not-Even-Coming-Close-To-Finishing-What-You-Started. Since 1900 there have been 743 seasons in which a pitcher has started at least 34 games without a relief appearance. Of those, only 11 have failed to log at least 200 innings in the process. And only one didn't make it to 195 . And then along came Milton, who, in blowing past the immortal Chuck Rainey, denies him his only claim-to-fame: an anemic 191 IP over 34 starts for the 1983 Cubs. Milton stomped all over Rainey with an even more unimpressive 186.1 IP. Who could have seen that coming? Well, actually, Milton narrowly escaped joining this club just last year, compiling only 201 innings in his 34 starts, good for 50th place in innings per start amongst 2004's 57 30-plus-game starters. But that didn't stop Cincinnati from giving him more than $25 million!

Clemens was an interesting case. He had pretty good staying power, averaging 6.60 innings each time on the mound. But what makes that impressive--unbelievable, actually--is that he only got to the eighth four times! That's only one more time than Lima. He apparently had a predictable tiring point: he pitched exactly 7 innings in 19 of his 32 starts. Verrry interesting...

Carpenter was the workhorse. He pitched 73 more innings than Lima despite making only one more start than him, and 55.1 innings more than Milton despite making one fewer start. He reached the eighth an amazing 25 times as opposed to Milton's...um...two. His 241.2 innings is the most in a 33-start, no relief season since Charles Nagy logged 252 IP in 1992. And Carpenter's 7.47 innings per start is the most since Randy Johnson's amazing 7.76 mark in his memorable 364-strikeout 1999 campaign.

Tune in next time for some ERA fun.

Extra Esoterica
How about this for a contrast: In 1982, Bob Stanley averaged 3.51 innings per appearance in 48 games without a start. Yes, that's a record by far. He threw an amazing, only-topped-by-inhuman-Mike-Marshall 168.1 innings in relief, just about the same number as starter Lima. And each time out there, Lima, on average, got only 5 more outs than Stanley!

But Wait, There's More!

2005-11-01T12:53:00.000-05:00

Just because the season's over, doesn't mean that there's no more esoterica to discover! In the coming chilly months, I will wade through this year's stats and find many more inna-resting things that you never knew you never knew! Stay tuned.

2,500 Games Later...It's Another Sox!

2005-10-27T12:00:00.000-04:00

Some game and series esoterica:

Chicago surpassed Houston in every major offensive stat in the series...except walks! That's pretty weird, because...

As mentioned in my last post, the Chicago pitching staff has been extremely frugal with free passes, yielding a mere 13 in their first 10 playoff games, up to WS Game 2. So how unbelievable is it that in their 11th they set the record for most walks in a World Series game, giving up 12?? I don't have data for 2005 yet, but they'd only walked 12 or more three times in their previous 1,400 games dating back to 1996!

Houston struck out 36 times in 143 at-bats...that's a K every four at-bats! For a player, that would be a 150-whiff pace, meaning Chicago pitching made all Houston hitters into Preston Wilson. During the season, they averaged one every 5.3 AB, sixth in the NL.

Check out the White Sox relievers' crazy line for Games 3 and 4. It's reminiscent of an AJ Burnett masterpiece.
```
  IP   H   R  ER  BB  SO  HB
HR   ERA  
   9.0  2  1
 1
 11
 10
 2
0
  1.00
 
```
Nine of the 11 pitchers did not allow a hit. For the series, Chicago's relievers gave up a hit in only four of their 16 appearances. Only five did not allow a baserunner, though.

The Sox only scored six more runs than the 'Stros. I haven't checked it out, but I that's got to be the record--or just off it--for the smallest margin in a four-game sweep. It's reminiscent of the 2000 Series, when all five games were one- or two-run games.

After a season of no home runs and one triple in 129 games, Scott Podsednik had three three-baggers and two homers in 12 post-season games. In fact, he had three total in just the four-game World Series! After getting to actually watch him drive the ball into the right-centerfield gap and sprint around the bases, how the heck did he not hit a triple until September??

The White Sox had two batters, Geoff Blum and Willie Harris, finish with a 1.000 average. Blum also had a 5.000 OPS!

More Runs, Less Walks

2005-10-24T10:00:00.000-04:00

A few extra bits about yesterday's game:

Once again, Guillen did not use his bench, and with good reason: the Sox are hitting up and down their lineup. In Game 1, eight of nine starters got a hit. Game 2? How about all nine. Only Iguchi has failed to hit in both games!

When Bobby Jenks walked Chris Burke in the ninth inning, it ended an amazing string of White Sox stinginess. Sox pitching hadn't issued a free pass since the fourth inning of Game 5 of the ALCS, a span of 86 batters! (And, of course, that walk then scored the tying run!)

12 different players scored the 13 runs in yesterday's game.

Believe it or not, the 13 runs scored made this the highest scoring game in more than two weeks. It was 15 games ago, on October 9, that Chris Burke scored the last 13th run of a game in a certain 18-inning affair.

Extra Esoterica
So Brad Lidge has now surrendered game-winning homers to one player with 41 in the regular season and one with...yikes!...zero. In their their last 900 AB (including post-season), Pujols had hit 65 dingers. Pods? How about four. Wow. Check out Jayson Stark's definitive account of these strange goings-on.

Low Variance, High Esoterica

2005-10-20T11:26:00.000-04:00

It's been pointed out that in the NLCS, neither team scored more than five runs for the first time in a while. But I've noticed that this is not an isolated phenomenon. If we make the standard 10 runs for two teams rather than five runs for one team, the trend persists throughout the almost all playoff series. In fact, 20 of this year's 26 playoff games have featured 10 or fewer runs, including all 11 LCS games! I don't have data for 2005, yet, but in 2004, the average game featured 9.6 runs, so this is like two regular season days of games being way below average.

But wait, there's more!

What makes this note transcend to the next level of esoterica is that, despite all the low scoring games, there have been no shutouts! The closest regular season couple of days like this since 1993--when offense spiked above nine runs a game--was on August 5 and 6, 1993, when 10 or fewer runs were scored in 22 of 28 games, with nary a shutout.

With the pitching matchups scheduled for the Big One, we just may ascend further into rarified esoterica.

Extra Esoterica
The "best" pair of days like this since 1960 (min. 26 games) was August 19 and 20, 1977, when 25 of 28 games fit these criteria.

Is One Bigger Than Five?

2005-10-19T11:00:00.000-04:00

OK, here's a little quiz. Look at the following table. Which team is the Angels in the entire five-game 2005 ALCS and which is the Yankees in Game 3 of last year's ALCS? No cheating!

          
   Team A    Team B   
     Runs    19    11   
     Hits    22    27   
     Players with 3+ hits    4    4   
     Players with 5+ hits    1    0   
     Players with 2+ RBIs    5    2   
     Players scoring 2+ runs    4    2   
     Walks    5    4   
     Doubles+Triples    9    6   
     Home Runs    4    3   
     Total Bases    44    41   
     Stolen Bases    0    2   
     AB    47    154

Well, that last line kinda gave it away, but I'm sure you'd already figured it out. Unbelievable.

Extra Esoterica

During the season, the Angels averaged a paltry 2.8 walks a game, good for 24^th in the majors. But over both of their playoff series, the entire team averaged…I still don’t believe this…0.9 walks per game (nine walks in 10 games).

Hideki Matsui’s five Game 3 hits in 2004 is more than any Angel over the entirety of this year's series!
Late Breaking News: The Yankees achieved a rare (I think) esoteric feat in that game: six consecutive batters in their order drove in a different number of runs.
```
          Slot    Player    RBIs   
     3    Sheffield    4   
     4    Matsui    5   
     5    Williams    3   
     6    Posada    1   
     7    Sierra    2   
     8    Olerud    0   
     
```
If you're a fan, you'll remember that this also happened this year, just three weeks ago, as described in the post Craps, Anyone?. And if you remember, it was done...against the Yankees!

(Again) Too Little, (Again) Too Late

2005-10-13T08:00:00.000-04:00

For the fourth game in a row, the Cardinals have scored the first four-plus runs of the game, got outscored afterwards, and had the tying run unsuccessfully come up to bat!

They did this in all three games against the Padres, as discussed in this post. And then, last night, sure enough, they jump out to a 5-0 lead (again)--dominating the first six innings (again)--then allow an ultimately futile Houston rally which nonetheless brought up the tying run (again).

This is just too weird. Baseball is random...game patterns don't repeat themselves four times in a row. I mean, St Louis simply won four in a row--with any pattern--only twice after the All-Star Break.

So check out this breakdown. During innings one through six of these four games, the Cardinals' opponents came to bat 24 times, and scored in only one of those at-bats. But in innings seven through nine, the Cards' opponents came to bat 12 times, and scored in nine of them!! This is beyond "Well, their starters are great and their bullpen is terrible." It defies logic.

Extra Esoterica
St. Louis won 100 regular season games despite never winning more than five in a row. That has got to be a record. I bet almost every team just this year had at least one six-game streak. By the way, they never lost more than three in a row, either. They're just the most consistant SOB's ever, I guess! [I will look into these notes and report back soon] Oddly enough, including the last three games of the reglular season, tonight's win was their seventh in a row!

Vlad the Paler

2005-10-11T10:00:00.000-04:00

No Horde of the Rings
The Yankees have now gone five years without a Ring. Actually, on their post-season roster, those who have won a championship with the Yankees outnumber those who have won for Boston by only 5-2! And players who have gone all the way with another team outnumber them 8-5.

Everyone's talking about A-Rod...
A-Rod's five game RBI-less streak in the series is not unprecedented, though still somewhat of an anomaly. This year, Rodriguez had only one streak of at least five games without an RBI, when he had an 11 game slump between May 27-June 7. Interestingly, he had driven in a run in eight of nine games before the extended dry period! He had two four-game streaks, as well.

But what about Vlad?
He didn't drive in a run all series, either. And didn't have an extra-base hit. If Matsui had hit a home run in the ninth last night and won the game, I bet all the chattering would have cast Vlad as the goat. It's less surprising from him, though. This season, he had two long RBI-poor stretches: he drove in two runs in a 16-game span between May 6 and June 12 (including a trip to the DL), and only one run in another 16-game span from August 16-Sept 1.

Extra Esoterica

Sluggers Sheffield and Rodriguez combined for one extra base hit in the series.

Nine of the ten Yankee pitchers gave up a run in the series.

The Angels had only two more walks (5) than triples (3)!

Darrin Erstad and Adam Kennedy combined to score one run.

Backup catcher Jose Molina batted 1.000 in the series (1-for-1). Chone Figgins pulled off that same feat for Anaheim in the 2002 ALCS.

No Joy, No Surprise

2005-10-10T13:14:00.000-04:00

Glad I'm not a Braves fan. In their unprecedented 14-season playoff run, 13 times they have fallen short, and 12 different team have done the trick. Check it out:

Yr	Res	Opp	Rnd
1991	Lost	Minnesota	WS
1992	Lost	Toronto	WS
1993	Lost	Philadelphia	NLCS
1995	Won	Cleveland	WS
1996	Lost	NY Yankees	WS
1997	Lost	Florida	NLCS
1998	Lost	San Diego	NLCS
1999	Lost	NY Yankees	WS
2000	Lost	St Louis	NLDS
2001	Lost	Arizona	NLCS
2002	Lost	San Francisco	NLDS
2003	Lost	Chicago	NLDS
2004	Lost	Houston	NLDS
2005	Lost	Houston	NLDS

The Astros just joined the Yankees as the only teams to do it twice.

Here's their series results. There was no NLDS before 1995.

Yr	NLDS	NLCS	WS
1991		Won	Lost
1992		Won	Lost
1993		Lost
1995	Won	Won	Won
1996	Won	Won	Lost
1997	Won	Lost
1998	Won	Lost
1999	Won	Won	Lost
2000	Lost
2001	Won	Lost
2002	Lost
2003	Lost
2004	Lost
2005	Lost
Record	6-5	5-4	1-4

After earning a spot in the World Series in four of five years, they've been in only one of the past nine. Atlanta has now participated in ten consecutive post-seasons without winning it all. And to top it off, after losing six of seven series in the '00's, they now have a losing record in post-season series at 12-13. And poor Smoltzie has been there for every one. Sigh.

Things That Make You Go Hmmm...

2005-10-09T12:00:00.000-04:00

While reading today's Elias Says... on ESPN, two items caught my interest:

Craig Biggio hit three doubles Saturday, two of them going to left field and one to center. Biggio had 67 extra-base hits during the regular season, 64 of which were hit to left field (he had two to center, one to right). Biggio had the highest percentage of pulled extra-base hits among players with at least 50 extra-base hits this season.

This made me think of the other night when Chone Figgins legged out a triple hit to left, and I thought "Wow, you don't see that often". And then a light bulb. In one of my Triples and Stolen Bases posts, I wondered how a player could hit so many doubles but so few triples--especially those with a bunch of stolen bases--and postulated that they were "anti-hustlers". But maybe they were just right-handed extreme pull hitters? Here are the single-season leaders, again. Anybody know about these guys?

 Name    Year    SB    3B    2B   
     Miguel Dilone    1978    50    0    8   
     Mariano Duncan    1986    48    0    7   
     Davey Lopes    1985    47    0    11   
     Jose Canseco    1988    40    0    34   
     Rickey Henderson    1999    37    0    30   
     Bob Dernier    1983    35    0    10   
     Eric Davis    1993    33    0    17   
     Frank Taveras    1980    32    0    27   
     Derek Jeter    2002    32    0    26   
     Larry Lintz    1976    31    0    0   
     Lenny Dykstra    1992    30    0    18   
     Jeff Bagwell    1999    30    0    35

And this one:

Aaron Small, 10-0 during the regular season, was the first pitcher ever to lose a postseason game following a season in which he was 5-0 or better. Two pitchers suffered postseason losses after seasons in which they were 4-0: Larry Gura of the 1976 Royals and Chad Qualls of the 2004 Astros.

Gee, if you read this blog, you would have (pretty much) known this already....Hmm, maybe they're readers??

Too Little, Too Late

2005-10-09T10:00:00.000-04:00

It was a weird series for San Diego. They managed to average a respectable 3.7 runs/game, but talk about late starters--they never scored until St. Louis scored at least four runs! In the series' three games, they started down 8-0, 4-0, and 7-0. But, despite that, San Diego amazingly got the tying run to the plate in all three games before losing 8-5, 6-2, and 7-4! Check out the composite boxscore:

STL  2 4 5  2 6 0  1 1 0
SD   0 0 0  0 2 0  3 3 3

First six innings: Cards 19-2
Final three innings: Padres 9-2

So there must be a crazy starter/bullpen split, right? Yeah, you can say that.

                    
   
   IP     H     R    ER    BB    SO    HR    ERA   
     STL    Starters    18.2    16    3    3    7    9    0    1.45   
     
   Bullpen    8.1    16    8    8    3    8    3    8.64   
     
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  
     SD    Starters    10.0    17    17    15    8    9    3    13.50   
     
   Bullpen    15.0    12    4    4    5    8    0    2.40

The Cards' bullpen better revert back its regular season 3.22 selves, or else it may be trouble next time!

Extra Esoterica:
I wonder if this is the first series in which every run total was unique. Easier to show than to describe: the Pads scored 2, 4, and 5 runs, and the Cards 6, 7, and 8 runs...no repeats!

Yankee Deja Vu, Esoteric Style

2005-10-08T11:07:00.000-04:00

Well, yes, we all know that this series is following the same pattern as the 2002 Division Series (An aside: if it's called the Division Series, why can't teams from the same division play each other?? But I digress). No, I, of course, am referring to something a little more esoteric.

Last night's game was a weird back and forth, with the Angels scoring five to take a 5-0 lead, then the Yankees coming back with six to take a 6-5 lead, and then the Angels scoring six more, themselves, to go up 11-6. Each rally took at least two innings, with the other team waiting politely until the other had finished.

Believe it or not, a mere 10 days before (as covered in this post), the Yankees lost a game in which nearly that exact thing happened, as well. After New York took a 1-0 lead, Baltimore scored five in their next two turns up to take a 5-1 lead. The Yanks answered back with six in their next two at-bats to go up 7-5, only to have the O's score eight in their next couple of innings to regain the lead, 13-7. Crazy stuff!

Extra Esoterica

Aaron Small lost in his first post-season appearance after going 10-0 in 15 regular season appearances, including nine starts!

Six Yankees had exactly two hits. Everyone else? How about none?

A tidbit I neglected to mention about the O's-Yanks game: of the eight New York pitchers used that game (two off the nine-inning record), Mike Mussina had the lowest post-game ERA with a unimpressive 4.41. The ERA's of all of Baltimore's five pitchers were lower.

Sox's Sixth Surprise

2005-10-08T10:29:00.000-04:00

I thought I'd do a special weekend post on a bit of the boxscore from last night's Sox-Sox game.

Did you happen to see the game? Well I didn't. I checked out the boxscore and the line that stood out to me was Damaso Marte's:

 
 IP   H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR  PC-ST  ERA  
  F Garcia
5.0
5
3
3
4
1
3
98-58
5.40
 D Marte (H, 1)  0.0  1  0  0  2  0  0  16-7  ###

Wow, I thought, how'd that happen? The next pitcher must have gotten out of it! But I looked up and saw that Boston had actually scored a run in the sixth. Huh? So I proceeded to the play-by-play and, as it turns out, this was the unusual turn of events:

  Garcia pitching for ChicagoRamirez homered
  Marte relieved GarciaNixon singled
Mueller walked
Olerud walked
  Hernandez relieved Marte
Varitek popped out
Graffanino popped out
Damon struck out

Now that doesn't happen every day!

This sequence demonstrates a case in point why a middle reliever's ERA is less than meaningful and holds are even less so: Marte comes into the middle of the game (the sixth) and retires none of the three batters he faces. If Hernandez allows a routine fly ball, or a bases-clearing double, Marte would have been charged with all those runs (and his ERA would be...ooooh...infinite). But because of Hernandez's heroics, he comes out spotless...and with a hold! Hernandez, actually, for his three nearly perfect innings in a one-run, series-clinching game against the defending world champs, got a hold, too. That's gotta be the worst, most meaningless hold of all time followed by perhaps the most meaningful!

Great Pitching Only Gets Ya So Far

2005-10-07T08:00:00.000-04:00

In August, I mentioned that Texas went 3-9 in a string of games in which they scored at least 5 runs in each. Well, in September, the Mets did the opposite. In their first 13 games of the month, they never allowed their opponent to score more than 5 runs...and went 2-11. Through the first 17 games of the month, they allowed only 61 runs, or only 3.6/game while going 4-13. I guess that could be because they only scored 49 (2.9/game) themselves. (For those of you counting, that an average of only 6.5 runs combined per game!)

And that all came after a historic two-game outbutst in which they scored 32 runs. It took them 13 games to score 32 more. And they reached as many as seven runs just once in the next 33 games.

Extra Esoterica:
The Mets finished their season with an interesting series of occurrences. In each of their last three series, two pitchers with the same last name either won or lost consecutive games!

On 9/23, the Mets' Roberto Hernandez picked up the win in relief against Washington; the following day, Livan Hernandez beat the Mets.
On 9/27, the Mets' Juan Padilla got a relief win against the Phillies; the next day, Philly's own Padilla--Vincente--beat the Mets.
On 9/29 and 9/30, the Mets defeated two Kims: Colorado's Sunny and Byung-Hyun.

What makes this even more impressive is that this comes on the heels of their celebrated August 7 Zambrano-Zambrano affair!

When the Dust Settles...Right Back Where You Started

2005-10-03T09:00:00.000-04:00

On September 8, Arizona and Pittsburgh combined for 5 ninth inning runs, and the game went into extras. For both teams to score a bunch of late runs and end up tied is pretty cool in my book, so it made me wonder what was the wildest "when the dust settled, everything was exactly tied" game.

As it turns out, there was--woo hoo!--an anomalous game! Mmmm...anomalous. One game stood out head and shoulders from the rest, defying probablilties and standard deviations.

Since 1969, six pairs of teams managed to combine to put up nine ninth-inning runs on the board, only to continue playing. But one game in 1994 blew them all out of the water with an astounding twelve!

Going into the ninth, Toronto led California 8-6 after putting up a five-spot in the eighth. But then, in the top of the ninth, to really put it away, they scored five more to take a 13-6 lead...only to allow the Angels to score exactly seven in the bottom of the ninth to tie it! They then lost it in the tenth. Oops!

This is also the game with the most eighth and ninth inning runs combined to go to extra innings...four more than the next highest game! This is definitely a future Esoteric Boxscore of the Day.

So this is how it went:

Start of eighth: 6-3
Start of ninth: 8-6
Final score: 14-13

Pretty amazing, eh?

Psych!

2005-09-30T14:00:00.000-04:00

In a span of a month, Washington was involved in four crazy, almost spookily similar games.

On August 20, they couldn't solve Pedro Martinez. Meanwhile, the Mets built an 8-0 lead. As soon Pedro left after six, though, the Nats mounted a dramatic comeback to tie the game and take to extras. They promptly lost in the 10th. Sigh.

Then, 12 days later, John Smoltz and the Braves roared out to a 7-1 lead. After Smoltz left after five, still up 7-3, Washingon beat up on the bullpen again and tied the score. On to extra innings again! They then promptly lost in the 10th. Choke!

Fast forward 10 more days. That same John Smoltz and those same Braves build a 6-0 lead over these feisty (g)Nats. After Smoltz leaves, still up 6-2, the Nats, jump on the bullpen (yet again!) in the eighth and take the lead 7-6. They didn't even need extra innings this time. They promptly gave up two homers in the ninth, and lost 9-7. I mean, come on!!

Six days later, they tried a variation on the theme.

On September 17, San Diego couldn't touch Washington starter Hector Carrasco, who left with a 5-0 lead. In the ninth, the Pads came back against the Nats' bullpen and tied the game. On to extra innings! Now you know the Nats must be experts at this by now. They're figuring that it must be their turn to pull out the rug. Funny story...they give up a homer in twelfth, and lose 8-5. Scream!!!

Has another team ever experienced such unbelievable frustration? I'm not sure, but I'll try to figure that one out...

Craps, Anyone?

2005-09-28T00:34:00.000-04:00

The Orioles achieved an admirably estoeric feat last night against the Yankees: each of their first six batters drove in a different number of runs. Check it out:

Slot   Player    RBI's
1     Castro      0
2     Mora        5
3     Tejada      3
4     Gibbons     4
5     Surhoff     2
6     Lopez       1

(This reminds me of when Garret Anderson did this on his own. In six games between June 3 and June 8, 2003, Anderson drove in four, five, two, zero, three, and one runs. Cool, eh?)

And to make it just a little bit better, Gary Sheffield of the Yanks drove in six runs. Now, how many games have had different players drive in one, two, three, four, five, and six runs? Not many, I'm sure.

Also, twice in this game did one team score at least five unanswered runs after the other team scored at least five unanswered runs: After the Yanks scored the first run, Baltimore went up 5-1, then the Yanks took a 7-5 lead, then the O's came back with six to make it 11-7. What made it even more fun was that each set happened over two innings.

Extra Esoterica:
And even more esoterically, Javy Lopez, in his five plate appearances, managed to get exactly one hit, drive in one run, score one run, strike out once, and walk once. And just for good measure, he allowed one stolen base.

Below Average Bonus

2005-09-27T17:12:00.000-04:00

Loyal reader Will noticed another esoteric fact about our good friend Ryan Zimmerman: of his 16 hits this season, seven are doubles. Is that special?

Well, it depends how you look at it. Since 1920, a player has had at least as many hits and doubles as Zimmerman 25 times. That number drops to 17 if pitchers are excluded. To his credit, no player has ever hit more than four doubles in a season with his number of at-bats (38). The fewest at-bats in a seven-double season is 41, by the amazing Rudy Pemberton. In 1996, he went an other-worldly 21-for-41 (.512) with eight doubles. This guy had a .336 career average over three seasons, believe it or not. What's the highest...ahh, I'll save that for another day.

I'll revisit Mr. Zimmerman after the season's over...

Below Average

2005-09-26T08:00:00.000-04:00

Currently, Ryan Zimmerman of the Nationals is in the odd state of having his on-base percentage (.400) being 12 points lower than his batting average (.412). Um, how can this happen? You pretty much have to never walk or get hit by a pitch, but hit a sac fly. Should he keep this up he'll be joining some elite company...really!

The only non-pitcher to keep this up with more than Zimmerman's number of at-bats (34) is Dante Bichette in his rookie year, 1988, when he hit .261, but only managed a .240 OBP in 46 at-bats. How'd he do that? Try no walks or HBP's, and four sacrifice flies! Other rookie notables: Don Mattingly (.167, .154), Bruce Bochy (.214, .205), and Joe Crede (.357, .333). And, I swear, John Shave and Razor Shines.

The player to pull this off with the most at-bats is San Francisco utility-infielder Ernie Bowman. In 1963, he batted .184 in 125 at-bats, while only compiling a .181 OBP.

Extra Esoterica:
Dante Bichette only had four other RBI's in 1988, meaning that sacrifice flies accounted for 50% of them. Believe it or not, this is not the "record". In 1979, Rance Mulliniks (one of my all-time favorite baseball names) hit five SF's, but only compiled three other ribbies in his 68 official at-bats. And since we're here, I might as well tell you that the player with the most RBI's, all of which came from sac flies was Mark Leonard in 1993 with three.

The Big 1-2 Punch

2005-09-23T12:21:00.000-04:00

On September 7, Florida managed to score 12 runs without ever plating more than a couple in an inning (1 0 2 2 1 2 2 0 2). That is just one off the Esoteric record of 13, by those wonderful 1999 Colorado Rockies (1 1 1 1 2 1 2 2 2).

It's happened only three other times:

8/16/80, Texas: 2 1 1 2 1 2 0 1 2
7/1/99, Pittsburgh: 1 2 2 2 2 1 0 2 x
4/19/03, Oakland: 0 2 2 2 1 2 1 2 x

Extra Esoterica:
Honorable mention goes to Oakland, who on 6/27/84 barraged KC pitching with eight scoring innings, but only nine runs: 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 0 1.

Note:
This Florida game was also part of my post Company In Seventh Heaven.

Phils Do a Vanessa Williams?

2005-09-22T08:00:00.000-04:00

Welcome Esoteric Boxscore fans! Ready for some more Esoterica?

Vanessa Williams once sang about saving the best for last, which the Phils sure did on Saturday. But stay tuned...she has a very meaningful, I mean, meaningless connection to doing just that.

After scoring exactly zero runs on exactly three hits in exactly eight innings, the Phils--with significant help from exactly four Marlins errors--put up a ten-spot in the ninth! Watch the inning here.

PHI  0  0  0   0  0  0   0  0 10  -  10 11  1
FLA  0  0  1   0  0  0   0  1  0  -   2  7  4

Yikes. Believe it or not, Dontrelle actually began the ninth looking for a shutout and his 22nd win. And it looked like a foregone conclusion after allowing only three baserunners through eight. Here's one for Elias: When was the last ten-run inning started by a pitcher was as many as 21 wins??

Twice in the past 35 years, a team awoke from an eight-inning slumber with a huge ninth, scoring eight each. And here's where the creepy Vanessa Williams connection comes in.

The last time it was done was 22 summers ago, in the year Ms. Williams was crowned. And on what day that year was she annointed America's ambassador to the world? Why, it was on September 17, the date the Phillies just did it. Wow. You know, it just doesn't get any more Esoteric than that!

A few more notes on the game:

Endy Chavez and Shane Victorino entered the game in the ninth as pinch-runners. And then Chavez nearly got up to bat with no outs! I wonder if that’s ever happened. He hit an RBI single and finished with the batting line 1 1 1 1, which is the “I hit a pinch-hit homer” line. I wonder if it’s ever been done his way. Not to be outdone, Victorino (isn’t that a sub-atomic particle? Or what the Italians yell when they kick the winning goal?) composed tough-to-do batting line of 0 1 0 1. It’s not easy to go 0-0 with a run and an RBI! The only other way I can think of is if, in your only AB of the game, you:

draw a bases-loaded walk or HBP and then score.
get on base on a dropped fly ball ruled a sac fly and then come around to score.

Here's a quote from the game article on ESPN:
"The stunned Marlins fell two games back with their fourth consecutive loss -- and the latest was the kind that can have a lingering effect."
Why won't journalists ever give up on the idea of momentum? They'll remember Gibson's homer that "set the tone" for the '88 Series, but not the '96 Braves, whose postseason was absurdly streaky. Of course, Florida came out and beat the Phils the next day. By eight runs.

Most Unlikely Hitting Streak Ever?

2005-09-21T10:00:00.000-04:00

Last night, as Elias reported, Jimmy Rollins became the third player to advance a 25+ game hitting streak with two outs in the ninth. Wow. But here at Baseball Esoterica, we like to take things a step further. To me, that factoid begged the question: what were the chances of Rollins continuing it? How unlikely was it, really?

If he was the scheduled third batter of the inning, then it's actually no big deal. In that case, he would have had approximately a 25.9% chance (percentage of plate appearances with a hit), or 1 in 4. Not that high, but certainly nothing to get excited about.

But that's not what happened. He was scheduled fifth up. His chances still weren't that great--two of the first four guys had to get on and then he had to get a hit...around a 1 in 13 shot.

But then the screws were turned...the first two batters made outs. And the next two guys up were Mike Leiberthal and Michael Tucker, both with sub-par OBPs of .327 and .315, respectively. So at this point, as Rollins sat in the dugout, he must not have been very hopeful, even without his calculator handy. If he did have it, though, he'd know that he only had a 1 in 37 shot at continuing his hitting streak! (.327 * .315 * .259 = .0267 = 2.67%). So wouldn't you know it, both Lieberthal and Tucker walked, and then Rollins singled!

I wonder what the most unlikely scenarios have been for continuing a long hit streak? Both of the other two who did this, Paul Molitor and Marquis Grisson, were due up third in the ninth, so it wasn't them.

NB: Yes, I know I didn't consider the pitcher's OBP against or park factors or whatnot...just keeping it simple.

Extra Esoterica:

Rollins was only batting .262 going into streak, which must be one of the lowest starting points for a 25+ gamer, especially this late in the season. Earlier this year, Jose Reyes began a 20-game streak with a .258 average.

Rollins is even streaky in his streaks! Observe: Before his current streak, Rollins went 17 games without hitting in more than a two in a row. Before that stretch? A 10-game streak.

Triple and SB Fun III - Anti-Hustlers

2005-09-19T10:00:00.000-04:00

Anti-Hustlers

Even more mysterious than the hustler is the player or team that steals bases at a good clip, but cannot make it past second on a batted ball.

Starting with teams, there have been a number with unbelievablely lopsided 3B/SB ratios. It seems pretty illogical that a team can steal a base every day, but hit a triple only once a week. But in baseball you never say never. Eighteen--count 'em!--eighteen teams have done this.

Teams with 150 SB, 25 or fewer 3B

Team	Year	SB	3B	2B
LAN	1986	155	14	232
NYN	1999	150	14	297
OAK	1991	151	19	246
TOR	1998	184	19	316
CAL	1992	160	20	202
NYA	2001	161	20	289
NYN	1989	158	21	280
SDN	1999	174	22	256
ATL	1982	151	22	215
HOU	1995	176	22	260
ATL	1999	150	23	309
CLE	1996	162	23	345
LAN	1999	167	23	253
HOU	1999	166	23	293
CAL	1993	169	24	259
NYN	1991	153	24	250
CIN	1988	207	25	246
OAK	1989	157	25	220

So how does a team like the '96 Indians steal 162 bases, hit 345 doubles, and only 23 triples? That's 15 doubles for each triple! For a fast team that seems strange indeed. Were these accomplished in bad triple-hitting parks? A few of them, at least. I'll save that for another day (or another person...anyone?). A regression analysis of triples to stolen bases would also be instructive. There's an intuitive correlation, but is there a real one?

My favorite team season is the 1976 Oakland A's, who stole an astonishing 341 bases--123 more than any other team--but finished 18th of the 24 teams in with only 33 triples.

And the offending individuals? Some you'd expect, some not. Here are the players who have stolen 30 bases while hitting nary a triple.

Name	Year	SB	3B	2B
Miguel Dilone	1978	50	0	8
Mariano Duncan	1986	48	0	7
Davey Lopes	1985	47	0	11
Jose Canseco	1988	40	0	34
Rickey Henderson	1999	37	0	30
Bob Dernier	1983	35	0	10
Eric Davis	1993	33	0	17
Frank Taveras	1980	32	0	27
Derek Jeter	2002	32	0	26
Larry Lintz	1976	31	0	0
Lenny Dykstra	1992	30	0	18
Jeff Bagwell	1999	30	0	35

Bagwell, Jeter, and Dykstra are surprises. They are generally known as hustlers. How'd they never make it to third? Henderson and Canseco, less so. By the way, Larry Lintz having zero doubles is not a misprint...he actually had only one at-bat all season! Manager Chuck Tanner used him exclusively as a pinch-runner that year. He retired with almost as many steals (128) as hits (140)!

Props to loyal reader Ankur Roy for this bit of Extra Esoterica: This season, Scott Podsednik is leading the league with 56 steals and is holding steady with exactly zero triples. If he keeps it up, he will take the above title away from "freak-1980" Miguel Dilone. My guess? He'll pull a Rey Ordonez (he of the one homer a year, hit in September) and get one in the next week or two. Update: As I wrote this paragraph a week ago, this was true. Wouldn't you know it, last Tuesday, Podsednik hit his first triple of the year! Oh well...sadness in the world of Esoterica.

Careerwise, there are 10 speedsters with 250 steals who finished with 10 times as many steals as triples (min. 2000 AB). Here they are.

Name	Year	SB	3B	SB/3B	2B
Otis Nixon	1983	620	27	22.96	142
Rickey Henderson	1979	1406	66	21.30	510
Eric Davis	1984	349	26	13.42	239
Billy North	1971	395	31	12.74	120
Julio Cruz	1977	343	27	12.70	113
Tommy Harper	1962	481	38	12.66	266
Davey Lopes	1972	557	50	11.14	232
Miguel Dilone	1974	267	25	10.68	67
Don Baylor	1970	285	28	10.18	366
Eric Young	1992	450	45	10.00	312

Wow. Considering that Rickey hit over 500 doubles, you'd think he'd be able to get to third more than one out of every nine non-HR extra-base hits. Some of the others just didn't get a lot of hits, period. Park factors could be a factor for Dodger Davy Lopes. The others? I call them anti-hustlers. Maybe there are factors I'm not considering, but consider this: Tommy Harper stole at least 23 bases 11 times and hit at least 22 doubles six times in 12 years, but never hit more than five triples in any of them...

Honorable mention to the venerable Henry Cotto with just nine triples to go with his 130 steals.

Additional kudos to Bengie Molina for steering clear of this debate. The eldest Molina has compiled the fewest total triples and stolen bases (min. 2000 AB) with only 2 triples and 2 steals.

Any ideas on the hustler or anti-hustler phenomenon? I'd love to hear your ideas. Leave a comment or drop me a line.

Updates and Last Month's Leftovers IV - One-derful August

2005-09-16T08:00:00.000-04:00

One Is Enough Update: On August 16, I reported that there had been an amazing six 1-0 games in a span of three days, with two on each day. When Kansas City one-zipped Minnesota on August 31 (see below), it capped a surprising month, in which there were 12 1-0 games! There has never been more of these in a month's time during the current uptick in offense. It's actually been 13 years--there were 14 in July 1992. There were also 12 1-0 games in August of 2002. This year's number is also surprising since the first one came on August 9!
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Saving the Best For Last
Minnesota, on their way to losing the last 1-0 game of the month, actually outhit KC 13-5! The eight hits is the most a losing team has been outhit by in a 1-0 game in 12 years. No losing team has been outhit by more in the past 35 years. And it’s the most hits in a 1-0 game (18) since 6/7/91.

Extra Esoterica:
Jose Reyes went 4-for-4 in a 1-0 gamefor the Mets on 8/19. I wonder the last time that happened?? For the record, in the 12 1-0 games in August, only 22 players got more than one hit: there were 19 with two hits, two with three hits, and Reyes. Oddly enough, one of the two three-hit performances (by Preston Wilson) came in the same game as Reyes'!

Coming Soon
Tune in Monday for the third part of my Triples and Stolen Bases series--the "Anti-Hustlers"!

Updates and Last Month's Leftovers III - Bonds and Jeltz Duel

2005-09-15T08:36:00.000-04:00

In honor of Barry Bonds' return this week, here's some genuine Bonds Esoterica you'll only find here, folks!

On August 29 Detroit scored 5 in the first inning and lost the game. What's the most scored in the first in a losing effort, you ask? Would you believe...ten?!

On 6/8/89, Barry Bonds led the Pirates to a roaring start with a three-run dinger in a big 10-run first inning. Staked to that huge early lead, Bobs Walk and Kipper couldn't hold down those fightin' Phils. Long story short, by the end of the sixth inning, the Bucs clung to a slim 11-10 lead, led by two homers by...Steve Jeltz?! (For those of you who don't know the Amazing Jeltz, he was a career .210 hitter with two homers in 1,500 AB entering the game) And then the Phils put them away with a five-run eighth. So there you have it...up 10-0 in the first, and lose by four! Tough to do. Just as rare as Steve Jeltz out-homering Barry Bonds!

Theme Week at Esoteric Boxscores!

2005-09-14T12:00:00.000-04:00

Check out my other blog, Esoteric Boxscore of the Day, where I'm having my first "theme" week. Throughout the week, there will be posts about games that all have something interesting in common. This week, I look at games in which teams had an odd consistency...

Updates and Last Month's Leftovers II - Company in Seventh Heaven

2005-09-14T08:00:00.000-04:00

On September 7 both Florida and Milwaukee had seven scoring innings in their respective games. Last time that happened? How about 15 days earlier when the Mets and Rays did it! Before then? How about six years ago? And, the only other time two sets of teams were so prolific and timely in the past 35 years was when the Rangers/Cubs and Cards/Dodgers came up big just four days apart on June 3 and 7, 1987!

Updates and Last Month's Leftovers I - Exceeding Expectations

2005-09-12T08:00:00.000-04:00

Extra Effort Update: On August 29 I reported that there had been three games--including two in one day--in which a team scored five runs in an extra inning. The full moon must have been affecting me as well as the players, because I missed it on 8/20 when San Diego scored five in the 13th and Seattle scored six in the 10th! And, this past Sunday, Cincinnati did it yet again, putting up a five-spot in the 12th! So now that's six times in three weeks! In the past 35 years, I haven't found a three week period with that many--the most being four occurrences in July-August 1994. And it had only happened on the same day once in the past 20 years, when the White Sox and Indians both scored five in different games in the 12th inning on 8/7/94. And then it happened twice in five days! Unreal.

Extra Esoterica

In his first 45 games (as of 8/23), Carlos Pena had more multi-homer games (3) than single homer games (2).

From the Gee, Bob...That's Moderately Interesting! Department: In the NL on that same date, there were 10-0, 10-1, and 10-2 games. That actually also happened on 6/7/69. And just for your viewing pleasure, I will note that on 7/29/00, there were three 10-2 games.

Is This Thing On?

2005-09-09T11:37:00.000-04:00

Just checking if anyone is out there. I haven't gotten much feedback on this site. I enjoy writing it, but it takes a lot of time, and would prefer if someone besides my Mom actually read it. So I was just wondering if you 1) exist, and 2) like what you see. Make a comment or drop me a line!

Remember also to check out my Esoteric Boxscore of the Day blog. The link is also just over there to the right in the Links section.

Triple and SB Fun II - Hustlers

2005-09-08T08:40:00.000-04:00

Along the same lines as my doubles and triples post, you'd expect a guy with a lot of triples to steal some bases. And then there's Dale Long.

In 1955, the year before his famous 8-game home run streak, Long did something pretty weird. He hit 13 triples to lead the league...but did not steal a base all year! Joe DiMaggio actually did something similar five years earlier, stealing no bases (no surprise so late in his career), but still legging out 10 three-baggers. In fact, in his last three years, he hit 20 without a stolen base. Oddly enough, Long also did the reverse seven years later, stealing six bases while hitting zero triples! The last "modern" time this was done was by good ol' Roy Howell in 1980, who hit nine and never even attempted a steal! Here's the complete list, since 1950.

Name	Year	3B	SB	CS
Dale Long	1955	13	0	1
Joe DiMaggio	1950	10	0	0
Vic Power	1955	10	0	2
Jerry Lumpe	1962	10	0	2
Roy Howell	1980	9	0	0
Bill Mazeroski	1962	9	0	3
Billy Goodman	1956	8	0	3
Gene Woodling	1951	8	0	4
Dick Stuart	1961	8	0	3
Gil McDougald	1959	8	0	3
Bill Howerton	1950	8	0	0
Mickey Vernon	1955	8	0	4
Walt Dropo	1950	8	0	0

How about over a career? Well, here, our heroes are Russ Nixon and Dick Stuart. Nixon hit 19 triples over 12 seasons and never stole a base. Not one. Even by mistake. Stuart hustled for 30 three-baggers during his 10 seasons, while compiling a measly two thefts. These guys were hustlers. Here's my list of all-time hustlers, based on triples and stolen bases.

Name	First Yr	3B	SB	SB Pct
Roberto Clemente	1955	166	83	64%
Brooks Robinson	1955	68	28	56%
Ernie Banks	1953	90	50	49%
Willie Stargell	1962	55	17	52%
Bill Skowron	1954	53	16	47%
Wade Boggs	1982	61	24	41%
Gus Bell	1950	66	30	49%
Joe Torre	1961	59	23	44%
Bill Mazeroski	1956	62	27	54%

No big surprises. I suppose you could say that a lot of them were both great hitters and baserunners who found a lot of gaps. Though, with the possible exception of Clemente, they didn't have great judgement when it came to steals. (well, maybe there were a lot of busted hit-and-runs...) I'd be curious how many times they were thrown out at third.

How about for a team? Here are the ones that had more triples than stolen bases since 1970, when teams began stealing at a "modern" clip.

Team	Year	3B	SB	3B/SB
PIT	1973	44	23	1.91
DET	1972	32	17	1.88
TOR	1978	39	28	1.39
DET	1970	38	29	1.31
CHA	1977	52	42	1.24
BOS	1984	45	38	1.18
MIN	1982	44	38	1.16
DET	1973	32	28	1.14
CHN	1970	44	39	1.13
DET	1971	38	35	1.09
BOS	1983	32	30	1.07
NYN	1975	34	32	1.06
PIT	1970	70	66	1.06
MIN	1981	36	34	1.06

The 1973 Pirates hold that mark, finishing third in the majors with 44 triples, but dead last in steals, with only 23 all season. Those early 70's Tigers were also a bunch of slow hustlers, stealing an expansion-era low 17 bases in 1972 while still hitting more triples than 13 other teams...including Texas, which led the AL with 127 steals, but finished dead last in three-baggers, with a mere 18. Huh? A nice segue for the next post...

Extra Effort

2005-08-29T12:38:00.000-04:00

On August 16, Boston and Detroit combined for the highest scoring tenth inning in at least 35 years, and the highest scoring extra inning outburst in a losing cause in more than 25!

Tied 3-3 after nine, the Red Sox scored seven in the top of the tenth, and the Tigers answered back with four in the bottom (a grand slam, no less), making the final score an incredible 10-7. No home team has scored more than four runs in an extra inning and lose since June 30, 1979, when the Cubs scored five in the bottom of the eleventh, but still lost to the Mets because they allowed them to score six in the top of the frame.

And the 11 tenth-inning runs are the most since at least 1969 in a tenth inning. The last game with more total extra-inning runs was a Colorado-San Diego game on June 28, 1994, when they compiled this amazing boxscore:

SD   1  0  0    0  0  0    0  0  0    1  9  -  11 14  0
COL  0  0  0    0  1  0    0  0  0    1  1  -   3  8  4

That was actually a 1-1 game at Coors field after nine, the first of only three times that has happened. And in typical Coors fashion, a team still managed to score more than ten!

But Wait, There's More!
On the same day, Minnesota also had a big extra inning, scoring five in the top of the 16th in their 9-4 win. The only other time that three teams had four-run-plus extra-innings (since at least 1969) was May 23, 1991, when San Diego (4), Atlanta (4), and Texas (5) did it.

And to top it all off, including Tampa Bay's 11th inning run, the 17 extra inning runs scored that day were the most since an insane August 15, 1998 saw 19 runs in extras. On that day, seven games went to extras, and 10 of the 14 teams involved pushed across an extra-inning run.

And Yet More!
On Saturday, Minnesota did it again, putting together a five-run eleventh. It's not as unusual as you'd think, though. Seattle did it twice last year (April11 and May15). But it's the shortest time period (11 days) between occurrences since 1994, when the White Sox actually did it on consecutive days against the Angels! (August 6 and 7).

Extra Esoterica: What's the most runs scored in extras?

Both teams: 13, in that crazy 19-inning Mets-Braves game on July 4, 1985. They went into extras at 8-8. Ten innings and countless hours later, the final was 16-13.

One team: would you believe...12?! On July 3, 1983, Texas had a mind-boggling 12-run 15th inning. What is it about Independence Day that makes teams put in that "extra" effort?

Next Week -- Most Efficient Thieves

2005-08-27T12:24:00.000-04:00

Tune in next week for the answer to the question: Which team had the highest stolen base percentage over a season? You will be very surprised by the answer. Any guesses? Leave a comment.

Mets, Mets, Mets!

2005-08-25T10:02:00.000-04:00

It's been a heady two days for the young Mets. Here's some of what they've done:

Before August, the Mets hadn't scored more than seven runs in any consecutive games, but have since scored at least nine on back-to-back days three times.
Before scoring 32 runs over the last two nights, the most they'd scored over two games was an unimpressive 20.

And they did it on the road (where they had been 24-35). The last team to score more than 32 runs in consecutive road games was Seattle on April 15-16, 2000, when they destroyed Toronto pitching in 17-6 and 19-7 victories. Unbelievably, they lost 18-11 the next day! Seven other teams have also done it since 1969:

Runs	Dates	Team	Game 1	Game 2	Road Record
36	5/16-17/1979	Philadelphia	13-0	23-22	41-40
35	5/4-5/1991	Cleveland	20-6	15-6	27-53
35	4/24-25/1996	Minnesota	24-11	11-1	39-41
34	6/12-13/1990	NY Mets	19-8	15-10	39-42
34	6/14-15-1969	Oakland	21-7	13-5	39-42
33	8/20-21/1986	Boston	9-1	24-5	44-36
33	4/24-25/1993	Detroit	17-1	16-5	41-40

We've all heard that Mike Jacobs has hit four homers in his first four games. He has also driven in nine runs in 13 AB. The Dodgers' Mike Edwards has nine RBI's in 166 AB!

Jacobs has also reached base in 10 of his first 16 plate appearances (that's gotta be a record), including three walks. Last night, Jeff Francoeur worked his first non-intentional walk in his 139th appearance!

They hit five homers last night: two by 24-year-old Jacobs, two by 22-year-old David Wright, and one by 22-year-old Jose Reyes. That makes the average age per home run: 22.8!

Besides those home runs, those three young'uns went for variety--each was a hit away from the cycle: Wright and Jacobs needed a triple and Reyes needed a double.

Ramon Castro had five RBI's from the eight-hole Tuesday and two more yesterday. When's the last time someone drove in seven runs in two games from down there?

The Mets' 3-4 hitters last night: 1-for-11. Everyone else: 17-for-32.

Extra Esoterica: Check out the Braves 3-6 lineup spots last night:
C. Jones
A. Jones
J. Franco
J. Francoeur

Triple and SB Fun I - What's up with Roger Metzger?

2005-08-23T16:45:00.000-04:00

Jayson Stark's interesting recent column on triples and stolen bases has inspired me to expand upon his research with some additional interesting findings.

More Triples than Doubles
Considering the rarity of our beloved triple, it seems impossible to hit more of them than the common double. Consider the following chart, which plots the ratio of doubles to triples since 1950...that is, the number of doubles hit for each triple.

2B/3B since 1950

Even in the fifties, there were five doubles hit for every triple. These days, that's doubled to 10 to one. That said, unsurprisingly, there have been only 22 player-seasons since 1950 (min 250 AB) in which a player achieved this feat. Here they are, and, for some context, I've included the doubles to triples ratio for the year it was done. You'll NEVER guess who done it the most.

Player Deion Sanders	Year 1992	2B 6	3B 14	Year's 2B/3B 7.76
Wes Covington	1957	4	8	5.05
Rafael Belliard	1988	0	4	7.62
Roger Metzger	1973	11	14	6.62
Roger Cedeno	2000	2	5	9.32
Lance Johnson	1994	11	14	8.16
Sonny Jackson	1969	3	5	5.71
Luis Alicea	1992	9	11	7.76
Larry Bowa	1972	11	13	6.24
Mike Felder	1987	5	7	7.59
Roger Metzger	1975	7	9	6.12
Andy Pafko	1955	3	5	4.66
Mike Phillips	1976	4	6	5.43
Craig Reynolds	1981	10	12	6.09
Craig Robinson	1974	4	6	6.15
Carlos Bernier	1953	7	8	4.82
David Hulse	1993	9	10	7.94
Jerry Lynch	1954	4	5	4.38
Tom Upton	1950	5	6	4.69
Roger Metzger	1979	7	8	6.02
Jorge Orta	1973	9	10	6.62
Fred Kendall	1972	3	4	6.24

It's not surprising that the inimitable Deion Sanders would head this list. His eight more triples than doubles is twice the second largest difference. And you've gotta love Mendoza-clone Rafael Belliard's zero double, four triple season...huh? (This is actually the only modern 250 AB season with no doubles!) But the king? Why, it's...Roger Metzger?? I can't quite explain his three appearances on the list...no one else has done this even twice! I mean, he was a stolen base threat early in his career, but...um...any ideas?

Deion and Roger appear on the career list as well. While no one has sustained such a pace over a career, these eight guys have hit more than half as many triples as doubles (min 2000 AB).

Name	2B	3B	2B/3B	3B/H	SB
Roger Metzger	101	71	1.42	7.3%	83
Lance Johnson	175	117	1.50	7.5%	327
Rodney Scott	43	26	1.65	5.2%	205
Deion Sanders	72	43	1.67	7.7%	186
Mike Felder	59	32	1.84	5.7%	161
Willie Wilson	281	147	1.91	6.7%	668
Omar Moreno	171	87	1.97	6.9%	487
Vince Coleman	176	89	1.98	6.2%	752

And just for good measure, here's the bottom of the list.

Name	2B	3B	2B/3B	3B/H	SB
Ramon Hernandez	118	1	118.00	0.2%	4
Mike Lowell	205	2	102.50	0.2%	17
Scott Servais	130	2	65.00	0.3%	3
Willie Aikens	129	2	64.50	0.3%	4
Rich Dauer	193	3	64.33	0.3%	6
Chris Hoiles	126	2	63.00	0.3%	5
Joe Oliver	174	3	58.00	0.4%	13
John Flaherty	171	3	57.00	0.4%	10
Mike Sweeney	228	4	57.00	0.4%	45
Jim Leyritz	107	2	53.50	0.3%	7
Charles Johnson	207	4	51.75	0.4%	6

What's Mike Sweeney doing on that list with a bunch of cathers? He's got a lot of doubles, and he's gotta run better than Charles Johnson! He's must be on the list of most doubles in a season without a triple.

Name	Year	2B	3B	SB
Craig Biggio	1999	56	0	28
Edgar Martinez	1995	52	0	4
Craig Biggio	2004	47	0	7
Mike Sweeney	2001	46	0	10
Shawn Green	1999	45	0	20
Jody Reed	1990	45	0	4
John Olerud	2000	45	0	0

Ah yes, there he is...but, now, what's up with Craig Biggio?? How do you hit 56 doubles, have the speed to steal 28 bases, and never manage get to third on a batted ball...even once? (a la Carlos Delgado's 2000 campaign: 57 doubles, 1 triple) Heck, teammate Mike Hampton had three triples that year! I guess that's why we love this game. (By the way, John Olerud and Frank Thomas have the most 20-plus double/zero triple seasons with seven. Which I'm sure you were wondering.)

That's it with triples for now...check back soon for some stolen base feats.

When It's Not Good to Hit Like Your Father

2005-08-22T12:45:00.000-04:00

Poor Pedro Feliz. Last Tuesday, the Giants' cleanup hitter had his first five-hit game, including two doubles and a triple, but managed to knock in exactly zero runs! Huh? How does that happen in a game in which your team scores 10 runs on 19 hits and you're the cleanup hitter?? Most of the credit for this can be given to his predecessor in the lineup, number three hitter Lance Niekro. Not only was Niekro hitless in five at-bats, but he also made a third out in four of them! (the first, fourth, sixth, and eighth innings) The only time Feliz got to hit in the middle of an inning, he doubled with Niekro on first from a fielder's choice, but of course Niekro couldn't score without help from a Willy Mo Pena error, so no RBI.

I'd love to find the last time this happened, but I don't have the individual game data to do more research. Does anyone know if there's player-game data available anywhere?

Interesting Streaks III - Willis, Ichiro, & Carpenter

2005-08-18T15:57:00.000-04:00

Gotta Be Perfect
Dontrelle Willis has gone since June 13 (12 starts) without a win in a game in which he allowed a run...any run! In part this is because he has been bizarrely Jeckyll and Hyde during this stretch. Check it out:

How about that 8-start stretch in which he allowed no runs four times and five or more runs four times?!

Slump!
Unlike last year, Ichiro is not having an eye-popping season. So Ichiro's 5-game, 22 at-bat hitless streak was unexpected, but not shocking. But it's more unusual than you'd think. He's actually been just as consistent as last season, if less prolific. Before the streak, only twice had he gone even two games without a hit, hitting safely in 83 of Seattle's 103 games--similar to last season. Also, he hit in 12 of 13 games before, and now has an 11-game hit streak after. Love those anomolies!

Carpenter's Finishes
Chris Carpenter has completed 6 of his last 11 starts! He has gone at least 8 innings in 10 of those 11. Unsurprisingly, he is 9-0 in that stretch. Compare that to Kirk Reuter, famous for his 195-start incomplete streak, or to the Devil Rays, who have, um, zero all year.

Interesting Streaks II - Texas Feast and Famine

2005-08-17T15:28:00.000-04:00

We all saw Texas manage to lose six games in a row while scoring 5 runs in each...wow...but wait, there's more! Including those six, the Rangers actually scored at least 5 runs in 12 consecutive games (Aug 2-13), and went an astonishing 3-9 in that stretch. For the season, they have lost more than 35% of these high-scoring games, with an incredible 25 such losses.

One Is Enough

2005-08-16T20:46:00.000-04:00

Something amazing happened recently that I haven't seen mentioned anywhere. Over three days last week there were a total of SIX 1-0 games: two on August 12, two more in the 13th, and two more on the 14th. To put that in perspective, consider:

There is only one other three-day span in the last 40 years with more than five 1-0 games: August 8-10, 1968, when there were seven. That's easy to imagine for The Year of the Pitcher, but unbelievable in this hitters' era!

Just having two or more 1-0 games on the same day has never been a common occurrence. From 1993-2001, no season had more than three!

1965  4   1975  2   1985  5   1995  2
1966  6   1976 13   1986  1   1996  1
1967  6   1977  2   1987  3   1997  1
1968 15   1978  5   1988  9   1998  2
1969  6   1979  4   1989  6   1999  2
1970  2   1980  6   1990  4   2000  3
1971 14   1981  1   1991  6   2001  3
1972 14   1982  1   1992  5   2002  4
1973 10   1983  3   1993  3   2003  1
1974 11   1984  5   1994  1   2004  4

Only once since 1991 has there been as many as four 1-0 games in a three-day period, with at least one on each day.

Now that's improbable!

Extra Esoterica:

There were four 1-0 games on September 2, 2001, the most on any one day in the past 30 years. Those four accounted for 11% of the season's 36 1-0 games!
There were 1-0 games on nine consecutive days (and 11 of 12) in May of 1968.
There was exactly one 1-0 game on eight consecutive days from April 24 to May 1, 1989 (and on 10 of 11 days from April 21 to May 1).

1-0 Games: 1965-2004

Interesting Streaks I - Kirk's K's

2005-08-09T11:26:00.000-04:00

Oakland starter Kirk Saarlos, earlier in the season, went nearly four weeks between strikeouts! On May 28, he struck out Casey Blake leading off the fifth inning. He then pitched to 82 batters over 19.1 innings without striking out any of them, until he threw that elusive third strike by Richie Sexson on June 23. (If I had more time, I'd love to find out how many hitters he got two strikes on and didn't finish off.)

He actually went three consecutive starts without a single K! Impressively, two of those starts were against Atlanta and Philadelphia, teams that are near the top 10 in whiffs. Of course, in his next start he fanned 7.

He's struck out one or none in an incredible 55% of starts (11 of 20), and has exceeded three only twice! In addition, before this K-less streak, he had another 36-batter steak, making Blake the only strikeout in a 119-batter stretch!

He's the only pitcher in history to have more K's in his name than in his game!

Extra Esoterica: The scores of the last five games Saarloos has started: 5-2, 5-4, 5-2, 5-4, 5-2. In fact, Saarloos hasn't started a game in which either team scored more than five runs since May 28! Only twice in his 20 starts have teams combined to score more than ten runs, including his last 17. Weird.

Quantrill's Quota

2005-08-08T01:23:00.000-04:00

Check out Paul Quantrill's ERA over the years. I've read articles about how relievers are notoriously inconsistent from year to year, but Quantrill has been the absolute poster child! Here they are:

Year    ERA    Diff   %Diff
1992    2.19
1993*   3.91   +1.72   +79%
1994    4.92   +1.01   +26%
1995**  4.67   -0.25    -5%
1996*   5.43   +0.76   +16%
1997    1.94   -3.49   -64%
1998    2.59   +0.65   +34%
1999    3.33   +0.74   +29%
2000    4.52   +1.19   +36%
2001    3.04   -1.48   -33%
2002    2.70   -0.34   -11%
2003    1.75   -0.95   -35%
2004    4.72   +2.97  +170%
*Also started more than 1 game
**Used primarily as a starter

Wow. Only in 1994-95 did he ever have an ERA even beginning with the same number! He seems to have career arcs, such as the amazing 1997-2003 stretch: 1-2-3-4-3-2-1. And this after starting his career 2-3-4-4-5, which included stints as a starter.

Another way to look at it:

ERA range Count
1.xx      2
2.xx      3
3.xx      3
4.xx      4
5.xx      1

If his ERA stays above 6, he'll add yet another dimension to his game!

But while Quantrill's performance is numerologically interesting, I wonder if is it statistically unusual among relievers. Has a comprehensive study has been done on this? It would be interesting to see the comparison between relievers and starters, as well.

Check out this interesting article on the proposed stat Quality Reliefs. You need to be an ESPN "Insider" to view it.

Extra Esoterica: In yesterday's Mets-Cubs game, Mets starter Jae Seo was relieved by Dae-Sung Koo. Seo-Koo has got to be the shortest name combo ever. I think that's Seo-Koo(l)!

	Season ERA Range	Post-April ERA Range
Lima	6.08 - 15.00	6.40 - 8.39
Milton	4.86 - 7.97	5.79 - 7.97
Clemens	0.32 - 1.89	1.10 - 1.89
Carpenter	1.29 - 7.84	2.21 - 4.24

		Inning Reached
	Starts	5	6	7	8	9	Comp	IP
Lima	32	23	16	6	3	1	1	168.2
Milton	34	29	20	10	2	0	0	186.1
Clemens	32	31	28	23	4	0	1	211.1
Carpenter	33	31	31	26	17	8	7	241.2

	Team A	Team B
Runs	19	11
Hits	22	27
Players with 3+ hits	4	4
Players with 5+ hits	1	0
Players with 2+ RBIs	5	2
Players scoring 2+ runs	4	2
Walks	5	4
Doubles+Triples	9	6
Home Runs	4	3
Total Bases	44	41
Stolen Bases	0	2
AB	47	154

Slot	Player	RBIs
3	Sheffield	4
4	Matsui	5
5	Williams	3
6	Posada	1
7	Sierra	2
8	Olerud	0

		IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
STL	Starters	18.2	16	3	3	7	9	0	1.45
	Bullpen	8.1	16	8	8	3	8	3	8.64

SD	Starters	10.0	17	17	15	8	9	3	13.50
	Bullpen	15.0	12	4	4	5	8	0	2.40

	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	PC-ST	ERA
F Garcia	5.0	5	3	3	4	1	3	98-58	5.40
D Marte (H, 1)	0.0	1	0	0	2	0	0	16-7	###

IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HB	HR	ERA
9.0	2	1	1	11	10	2	0	1.00