5th of July game notes — now with fully stocked Trout stream!

@Angels 9, Orioles 7:

  • One of our favorite things here at the Recap Research Megaplex is a box score combo that’s never been seen before. As far as we can tell, Mike Trout‘s bundle of 3 steals with 2 sac flies is unique. There are just two prior games of two SB and two SF, the first by … B.J. Surhoff???
  • Trout leads the AL in batting average and stolen bases. The last two players to turn that trick were Jackie Robinson in 1949 and Ichiro Suzuki in 2001, both named MVP. Trout also leads in OPS+ and Runs per Game, which neither of those guys did.
  • 3 HRs for the O’s (including a 3-run job), none for the Halos. Teams that hit 3+ HRs in a game are now 196-46 (.810). But the Angels are 2-3 when allowing 3+ HRs, getting out-homered by a total of 8-1 in the two wins. Teams that allow no HRs in a game are now 651-321 (.670); Baltimore is 21-7.
  • For the 2nd time in this young month, old LaTroy Hawkins bailed his starter out of a tight spot to earn the game’s pitching WPA honors, a rarity for a middle-innings appearance. Thursday, he entered in the 5th with 1 out, 2 aboard and a 1-run lead, and put out the fire. Last Sunday, he slayed C.J. Wilson‘s no-out, bases-full dragon to preserve a 1-run lead.
  • The 8th and 9th were pitched by Scott Downs and Ernesto Frieri, who have Angels ERAs of 0.31 and 0.00, respectively. For the live-ball era, what is the lowest ERA mark met by teammates with at least 50 IP? The answer is 1.52, by Robb Nen (1.52) and Steve Reed (1.48) of the 1998 Giants. Frieri and Downs have combined to allow just 2 runs (1 ER) in 54.1 IP with the Angels, earning 1.6 WAR apiece. The Angels, Orioles and Rangers are the only teams thus far with 2 relievers worth at least 1.5 WAR.
  • I haven’t found a way to check this … The Angels used 5 relievers, and each one earned a Win, Hold or Save. Seems unusual.
  • Despite losing 11 of 16 and falling 5.5 games behind the Yankees, Baltimore still holds the 2nd wild card spot, one game ahead of Cleveland. The Angels hold the first WC.

Royals 9, @Blue Jays 6:

  • Does J.P. Arencibia have a twin? He has 38 career HRs, but six 2-HR games.
  • Henderson Alvarez tied a season high in strikeouts … with 4.
  • Before this series, these teams combined had just 1 game this year in which every starter had a hit. Then Toronto did it Tuesday and Wednesday (nicely distributing their 13 and 12 hits), and KC did it Thursday for the first time this year.

@Indians 3, Rays 1:

  • First time since 2008 that Cleveland had 3+ HRs and HRs=Runs.
  • Tampa’s first 41 games: 25-16, .248 BA/.333 OBP, 47 HRs, 4.44 R/G.
  • Tampa’s last 42 games: 18-24, .215 BA/.292 OBP, 33 HRs, 3.83 R/G.

_______________

@Nationals 6, Giants 5: A walk-off fielder’s choice?!? Go crazy, folks! Go crazy!!!

  • Washington’s 2-run rally started with a leadoff pinch-double by rookie folk hero Tyler Moore (.328/.981 in 72 PAs).
  • Then Santiago Casilla, who suddenly can’t get out of his own way, erred on a sac bunt, and Bryce Harper tied it up on a 3-1 pitch (his 4th tying-or-go-ahead RBI in the 9th or later this year — tied for 3rd in the majors).
  • Ryan Zimmerman was IBB’d to load the bags, and Mike Morse’s slow grounder became a nifty force at the plate.
  • But Adam LaRoche hasn’t hit into a sacks-full DP since 2009 (19 chances): the relay throw by newly-inserted SS Brandon Crawford would have had LaRoche and brought on surplus stanzas, but he bounced itBrandon Belt couldn’t dig it out, and Harper scored the winner.
  • It was the 2nd game-winning fielder’s choice this year, and just the 3rd career game-ending RBI for LaRoche; believe it or not, his last 2 are fielder’s choices. He has 179 career HRs, but no walk-offs.
  • Casilla has been scored upon in 4 of his last 6 games, blowing 3 saves and letting 14 of 28 batters to reach safely.
  • Washington’s rallies, including 3 in the 7th, with back-to-back jacks by DP tandem Ian Desmond and Danny Espinosa, left Matt Cain short in his 3rd try for his 10th win.
  • Desmond‘s last 10 games: 17 for 40, .950 SLG, 12 RBI, raising his season slugging mark to .502. He leads all shortstops in SLG, HRs and RBI. (But you knew that.)
  • SF tied their season high with 15 hits, but left 11 on base, including Angel Pagan after a no-out triple in the 7th. Career .122 hitter Cain made the last out there, then gave up the HRs in the bottom half.

@Mets 6, Phillies 5“Ya gotta believe! (Who said that?) On an off night for R.A. Dickey (7 IP, 5 R), New York fought back again and again, winning in the 9th on David Wright‘s third 2-out RBI hit — a bloop to right on the 28th pitch thrown by Jonathan Papelbon.

  • The Mets have given Papelbon 3 of his 4 longest battles this year and 2 of his 3 games allowing multiple runs. With 2 out and the bases full, Daniel Murphy ripped a 1-2 pitch back at Pap and it caromed off his foot into foul ground, tying the game.
  • Wright went 5-1-3-4, with a 2-run bomb. He’s 16 for 49 with 3 HRs off Cole Hamels.
  • The Mets’ first run was a solo laser by Scott Hairston, who’s now 11 for 28 with 5 HRs and 4 doubles vs. Hamels — 1.071 SLG, and tied with Cody Ross for the most HRs ever off Hamels. Against southpaws, Hairston is hitting .307 in 101 ABs, with 9 of the team’s 25 HRs against sinister offerings and .644 SLG.
  • Hairston also earned his first OF assist since 2010, hard-charging Chase Utley‘s line-drive hit and firing a perfect throw to nail Mike Fontenot at the plate. Foolish aggression by the 3B coach with 1 out and the top of the order coming up; Jimmy Rollins had been on base all 4 times.
  • No hits for Juan Pierre (first time in 7 starts vs. NYM), but he still drove in the go-ahead run with a squeeze bunt in the 6th.
  • Antonio Bastardo worked a clean 8th, retiring Wright and Hairston, who both rake LHPs. Bastardo has virtually no platoon differential for his career — .205/.642 vs. righties, .202/.652 vs. lefties. If he can ever cut down his 4.2 BB/9, he could be as devastating as he was for much of last season.
  • Like the Nats, New York got a leadoff double in the 9th when down by 1, then sacrificed on a 1-0 count despite having a decent LHB up against a RHP. Color me not pleased, especially with “fan”-tastic Kirk Nieuwenhuis coming up next (83 Ks in 275 PAs, and 2 in 3 prior trips this game). He indeed whiffed feebly on 4 pitches. Granted, Kirk had delivered the runner from 3rd with less than 2 out in 5 of 7 prior chances; I still think the K% outweighs that small sample.

@Pirates 2, Astros 0Jeff Karstens blanked toothless Houston for 8 frames, sending them to their 8th straight loss and 9th shutout (the most in the NL). Garrett Jones had a hand in both runs, scoring one after a 2nd-inning double and driving in Karstens with a sac fly in the 3rd.

  • Jones has just a .299 OBP (8 walks, 50 Ks), but he’s brought needed power to the Pirate lineup, slugging .527, and he’s 2nd on the team in OPS+.
  • Pittsburgh is 3rd in NL run prevention and 4th in ERA+, but this was just their 3rd team shutout this year and they don’t have an individual SHO since Karstens did it last July 15.
  • The Bucs are 6-1 vs. Houston and 20-11 within the division.

_______________

@White Sox 2, Rangers 1: Chicago took 3 straight from Texas for the first time since 2004, as Jose Quintana rebounded from his lone bad outing by dominating the top offense in baseball on 2 singles and a walk in 8 IP, with 8 Ks. He’s walked just 10 in 57 IP this year.

  • Kevin Youkilis broke a 6th-inning tie with his 6th HR, going deep for the second time in three games. Just as importantly, he’s started all 10 games since joining the Pale Hose (7-3 record), going 12-39 with 10 RBI.
  • With Youk at 1B, Paul Konerko was the DH against lefty Matt Harrison, and Adam Dunn (hitting .163 vs. southpaws) got his first rest of the year.
  • The Yankees let Quintana go last fall as a minor-league free agent at age 22 despite a career 2.76 ERA, 10 SO/9 and 4 SO/BB in the minors. Chicago gave him his first taste of AA this year (2.77 in 9 starts). His MLB debut in long relief: 5.2 IP, 1 hit, no runs — the longest scoreless relief debut since 1977 (Jeff Holly)

@Tigers 7, Twins 3: Minnesota out-hit their hosts 15-9 over all and 6-4 with men in scoring position. How the heck did they lose this game?

  • Punch & Judy vs. Pure Power: Out of Minny’s 15 hits, the only extra-bagger was a double, and 2 of the 6 RISP hits stayed on the infield. Detroit had 2 HRs (plating 4 runs), 2 doubles (a Run and a Ribby) and a triple that wound up as the tying run in their 5-run 8th.
  • Outs on the basepaths: Darin Mastroianni and Brian Dozier combined for 5 steals in 6 tries, yet their baserunning sorely hurt their team in the end. Mastroianni singled to start the 8th, Twins up 3-2, then sandwiched 2 steals around a strikeout, but was caught stealing home (missed squeeze?) for the 2nd out with Jamey Carroll up. Both speedsters were thrown out at home in the 2nd inning: Mastroianni made the 2nd out coming home on a grounder to 3rd (with the top of the order coming up), and Dozier was cut down trying to score from 2nd on a 2-out single. A GIDP squelched a 1st-inning rally, and they left 5 on in the 3rd and 4th.
  • Alex Burnett has been the Twins’ best reliever (1.77 ERA in 40.2 IP coming in), but a .210 BAbip can’t last forever, and he was touched for 3 runs while getting just 1 out.
  • Rick Porcello faced 22 batters in 3.2 IP and gave up 12 hits plus a walk, but just 3 runs. It’s the first start of less than 4 IP since at least 1918 with 12+ hits but no more than 3 runs. Better yet, Porcello broke the mark set by Heinie Meine (The Count of Luxemburg) on 1931-07-24, who did 12H/3R in 4 IP while furthering one of Babe Herman‘s cycles. The Robins rapped out 21 hits — 5-5 by Lefty O’Doul, 0-5 for Crowded House frontman Neal Finn — but lost, 8-7. (Actually, Finn’s tale has a sad end.)

Marlins 4, @Brewers 0Mark Buehrle has won his last 3 starts with 7+ whiffs in each. It’s the first time he’s ever fanned that many in 3 straight games.

  • Mike Fiers lost his scoreless streak around 22 IP, but hardly deserved to lose on 2 runs in 7.1 IP, with 9 Ks and a walk. He’s now started 7 times, with a 2.17 ERA and 48 SO/9 BB in 45.2 IP.
  • After 5-1/2 years in Houston, Carlos Lee began his Marlins career with 2 hits and scored the game’s first run after a double. The acquisition led to Gaby Sanchez going to the minors just hours after his clutch game-tying HR in the 9th on Wednesday.
  • In the 9th, Greg Dobbs added his 10th career pinch-HR, tops among active players since 2000, giving him 6 straight years with at least 1.
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birtelcom
Editor
11 years ago

At long last, David Wright had his seventh walk-off hit for the Mets. That ties him for the most career walk-off hits for the Mets — Ed Kranepool, Kevin McReynolds and and that Great Orange, Rusty Staub, also had seven. David had been stuck at six career walk-off hits, one away from tying the franchise record, since August, 2008.

birtelcom
Editor
11 years ago

Wright’s 73.4% Win Probability Added for the Mets in last night’s game made it the highest WPA game by a Met since, well, since Wright’s own two-homer game in Philadelphia in September, 2009.

Larry
Larry
11 years ago

With the sweep at the hands of the Pirates, the Astros will enter the All-Star break with an excellent chance to tie or set the record for fewest road wins in a 162 game season. IIRC – the 2010 Pirates hold the record, so it is especially good for Astros fans to see them in first now in 2012.

no statistician but
no statistician but
11 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

The 1935 Braves were the end of the line for Babe Ruth. No wonder he retired after a few games. The team had some good players, notably Wally Berger, who led the league in HR and RBI. Its manager was Bill McKechnie, a notable winner. The teams wins for the decade—1930: 70; 1931: 64; 1932: 77; 1933: 83; 1934: 78; 1935: 38; 1936: 71; 1938: 77; 1939: 63. Can anyone explain what happened in 1935? The curse of the Babe?

Lawrence Azrin
Lawrence Azrin
11 years ago

Their Pythagorean record was 50-103, so they were a very bad team, but not worst-of-the-20th-century bad.

So either they were unusually bad hitting with runners on base, or in similar “clutch” pitching situations, or more likely, just seriously unlucky.

e pluribus munu
e pluribus munu
11 years ago

It’s a great question, nsb. I’ve always wondered why the anomalous ’35 Braves season didn’t attract more attention. Ruth was gone by the end of May (with a .789 OPS). The team OPS+ of 87 wasn’t really much out of line with the league average 93 – way better than the Phillies (80); the pitchers’ ERA+ was, indeed, awful, but the rotation was not bad: all of them had pretty solid third-tier careers, and the ’35 Phillies actually allowed significantly more runs (in their bandbox park). Yet Boston – a normally mediocre team with an excellent manager – finshed 26… Read more »

Doug
Editor
11 years ago

Poor Wally Berger. He delivered his usual stellar season in 1935, leading the league in HR and RBI and driving in 22.6% of all the runs the Braves scored. His 148 OPS+ led the team, of course. Next highest regular was outfielder Hal Lee at 97. For 1930-36, the first seven seasons of Berger’s career, his slash was .305/.362/.533, good for a 141 OPS+ and 34.2 WAR. Meanwhile the Braves, under Bill McKechnie, never finished higher than 4th. Casey Stengel took over from McKechnie in 1938 and, in 6 seasons with the Berger-less Bees and Braves, never finished higher than… Read more »

Richard Chester
Richard Chester
11 years ago
Reply to  Doug

I have already noted in a recent post that Berger’s driving in 22.6% of his team’s runs is the second highest percentage ever. He is also one of 5 players on a last place team to lead the league in RBIs.

Big Daddy V
Big Daddy V
11 years ago

“Ya gotta believe” – that’s Parappa the Rapper, right?

Larry
Larry
11 years ago

Hard to say what happened to the 1935 Braves. There was the Babe Ruth circus going on – he wanted to be manager. It was said that he was such as awful fielder three Braves starters threatened to go on strike if he was in th lineup. It was Emil Fuchs last year as owner – maybe his financial difficulties led to an air of uncertainty. I guess that is why they became the Boston Bees in 1936. Crane will put his mark on the Astros next year: new uniforms, probably a new manager. The train, Tal’s Hill, the flagpole… Read more »

Doug
Editor
11 years ago

Re: Blue Jay starters all getting hits on July 3 and 4.

The Jays also did this against the Angels on July 3 and 4 in … 1992.

Start planning the victory parade. Or, maybe not.

Larry
Larry
11 years ago

@ John A. Regarding the 78 road versus 75 home games for the 1935 Braves – rainouts that did not matter in the final standings were not made up. That’s why the ’62 Mets went 40-120 with a 162 game schedule. Now, the interesting thing is there was at least one season back then when rainouts were not made up even though they had an impact on the league champion. It seems reasonable to expect the Astros to make a run at the largest home/road record differential in winning percentage. Hard to say what one can deduce from that. Regression… Read more »

Doug
Editor
11 years ago
Reply to  Larry

Rainouts that didn’t matter weren’t always omitted.

Most famous example was Oct 2, 1920, when the Pirates (14 GB) hosted the Reds (9.5 GB) in the last ML triple-header, and on the second-last day of the season. After their marathon, both teams traveled for a single game finale the next day, the Reds on a short trip back home to Cincinnati, and the Pirates on a longer jaunt to Chicago (Pittsburgh came from behind, scoring in the 7th, 8th and 9th innings of that finale to edge the Cubs 4-3).

Doug
Editor
11 years ago

All relievers getting a win, hold or save.

Angels also did this with 4 relievers on May 6 vs. Toronto, Jun 10 vs. Colorado and June 22 vs. the Dodgers. But, the starter was the winner in all of those games.

Doug
Editor
11 years ago

Re: Mike Trout and unusual box score lines

There have been only four 5-5-5-5 box score lines (in 5 PA) since 1918, but two came in the 1977 season, both against the Cardinals, and both times in games started by Bob Forsch. 5 of the combined 10 hits were home runs, and three others were doubles. Forsch, incidentally, went 20-7 that year, his only 20 win season.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SLN/SLN197705290.shtml
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/LAN/LAN197708280.shtml

Larry
Larry
11 years ago

The Braves had an odd schedule in 1935. Their last 25 road games were played consecutively when they went 3-22. The last six days they took the field that season were all doubleheaders. They played 78 road games when typically it was a 7 x 11 = 77 game road schedule in the 8 team league.

Richard Chester
Richard Chester
11 years ago
Reply to  Larry

Back in those days long road trips and long home stands were common. The reason for so many double-headers is that many games were postponed not just because of rain but also because of wet grounds on the ensuing days.

e pluribus munu
e pluribus munu
11 years ago

The reason for long trips/home stands was simply the pace of train travel. Teams on the East Coast would tour the Midwest and vice versa. I recall reading that one of the reasons why a fourth-place 1916 Giants team was able to put together a 26-game September winning streak was because all those games were played in the Polo Grounds. Fourteen of those games were double-header sweeps, too – must have been a rainy month in Manhattan – and there was also one tie in the streak (another reason for many double-headers)that was the nightcap of a double-header; plus the… Read more »

Larry
Larry
11 years ago

The extra road game was against the Phillies. An early home series vs the Phillies had 3 out of 4 games rained out. By the time they got back together the Braves were drawing as few as 95, so there was probably more money to be made by just playing one of them in Philly. I’d like to see the modern day player complete a 25 game road trip with 6 consecutive double headers – all day games in flannel uniforms. Working the count took back seat to survival. Tactics that promoted 3 and 1/2 hour games probably earned you… Read more »

bstar
11 years ago

Is Mike Trout the MVP of the American League? If not, who in the world is? Certainly not Brett Lawrie, who is the only AL player with a higher WAR total than Trout.

bstar
11 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

I agree Lawrie very possibly could be the next Brooks Robinson, or to a lesser extent the next Scott Rolen. What worries me about his dWAR on B-Ref is that it’s way higher than other respected metrics. A couple of articles opened my eyes to a lot of inconsistencies among the three or four top metrics, assuming people still look at B Prospectus’ FRAA(I have my doubts about that). It’s not just Lawrie putting up stunning defensive numbers. Andrelton Simmons of the Braves has 1.7 dWAR in only 30 games. That’s 8.5 dWAR over 150 games. Brendan Ryan and Darwin… Read more »

bstar
11 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

I agree! I’m a fan of Lawrie. I check the box score every day to see if this guy is showing signs that the offense he put up last year wasn’t a fluke. I’m actively rooting for him.

My point is simply that Lawrie isn’t as superhuman outstanding as this one metric is suggesting, and the implications of that are already being felt in the baseball blogosphere. This is not an issue that’s going to go away.

Doug
Doug
11 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

Re: Lawrie Well said, John. Suspicion that a metric may not be properly reflecting a player’s ability – and suddenly, the player is a fraud and a charlatan. As if it were his fault that dWAR may not be perfect. How silly is that. It’s not as if Lawrie is really Pete Rose (except in intensity), but dWAR is making him out to be Brooksie. As you say, he is really good, whatever his dWAR score might be. BTW, in Rose’s 4 years at 3B (1975-78) he was 20.3 oWAR (excellent for age 34-37), but -2.1 dWAR. Ironically, the Reds… Read more »

bstar
11 years ago
Reply to  Doug

Doug, I don’t mean to pile on Lawrie. I think he’s a blast to watch as a player. My fear is that his WAR total, as well as those of a few other players mentioned above, is going to be so wacky by year-end that it’s going to end up being a black eye to defensive metrics in general, to WAR in general, and, worst of all, to Baseball-Reference. It’s going to end up being fodder for those who want to discredit all advanced metrics. This is a bold statement here-but these high dWAR numbers could end up being a… Read more »

Doug
Doug
11 years ago
Reply to  bstar

Agree that the issue is the metric, not the players that the metric happens to love (or not love – see Cespedes). I know advanced defensive metrics have always been difficult and controversial (I remember the uproar when Voros McCracken came up with DIPS several years ago). So, from that perspective, not sure if it would really be a black eye for sabermetrics – just more of the controversy that has always surrounded defensive metrics. The ironic thing is that these metrics are suffering precisely because baseball is finally paying attention to advanced, play-by-play data and positioning defenses according to… Read more »

bstar
11 years ago
Reply to  bstar

Well, then there’s hope for Lawrie maybe not taking the brunt of this after all. Andrelton Simmons is actually on a higher dWAR rate pace than Brett. Assuming defensive metrics accumulate at a fairly even pace(meaning we don’t have to check the box score every day-we know what these guys are getting credited for and it’s not likely to change that much on a per game basis), Simmons is on a 8.5 dWAR/150g pace. Lawrie is at 6.8/150. Andrelton, if he can stay healthy, could potentially crank out 8+ WAR in less than 110 games with his defensive boost and… Read more »

Paul E
Paul E
11 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

Regarding Lawrie, 350 assists by a 3B is a great season (in most cases). In recent years, Brandon Inge (the Clete Boyer of our current generation) accumulated 398 (2006 – 8th all-time) and 378 (2005 – 24th all-time) assists. His dWARfor those seasons, per baseball-reference, were 2.7 and 1.2 respectively. The whole idea of Lowrie, on pace for ~370 assists) accumulating twice as much dWAR as Inge has to be absurd. I don’t care about strikeout/fly-ball pitching staffs and extraneous factors like the shift, the idea of Lawrie accumulating 7.0 dWAR in a season is a total distortion of what… Read more »