Mets 3, D-backs 1: Matt Harvey was 4 for 15 with a HR at Buffalo, so I guess he’s not just kidding around up there. In his MLB debut, Harvey went 2 for 2 with a double and then a single, each with 2 strikes. On the hill, the touted righty (picked 7th just 2 years ago) fanned the first man he faced, and went on to set a new Mets debut record of 11 strikeouts, 3 more than the old mark by Tom Seaver (who else?) and matched by Bill Denehy just 3 days later.

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In a recent post, John Autin identified that Jim Thome has the most career games with at least one of each of the TTO components – a walk, a strikeout and a home run. John called this phenomenon the “Thome Trifecta”, but I’m going to try a different moniker – triple-W, for a walk, a whiff and a whallop.

The leader in this category for 2012 is Adam Dunn of the White Sox, with 14 triple-W games so far this season, including 3 in a row against the Royals coming out of the All-Star break. After the jump, I’ll take a closer look at this phenomenon.

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H-Ram triples on the 1st pitch he saw as a Dodger / US PRESSWIRE

Hanley Ramirez got off to a nice start with his new team, but let’s take a bit of a look at his career arc. Continue reading →

@Cardinals 3, Dodgers 2 (12): Rafael Furcal had the game-winning hit, giving him 2 of their 4 walk-offs this year. But my focus is elsewhere.

• Hey, I remember this guy!
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ESPN reports that Miami has traded 3B Hanley Ramirez and RP Randy Choate to the Dodgers for SP Nathan Eovaldi and minor-league RP Scott McGough. No cash was reported in the transaction. Ramirez is signed through 2014, with $31.5 million coming in those next 2 years.

How the mighty are fallen, eh?

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On Tuesday, Fernando Rodney converted his 13th straight Save chance and 28th in 30 tries, while running his scoreless streak to 15 innings. Awaaay back on April 6, after the Rays-Yankees opener, some cynic wrote this:

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@Phillies 7, Brewers 6: It was 1-1 through 5. Four HRs later, Cliff Lee was staring at a 1-7 record. But one bullpen acid flashback after that, Lee was off the hook, and the Phils were going home with a happy sense of deja vu.

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With Ichiro‘s arrival in the Bronx, he joins Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriquez as Yankees with 2500 or more career hits.

How unusal is that? I’ll take a look after the jump.

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There have been some funky things going on with 1-run games in 2012. The Orioles have played 25 of them already and won 19, a remarkably high percentage. (This is thanks mainly to luck and unlikely to be maintained the rest of the season.) The Athletics just swept four games from the Yankees and won each one by 1 run. The Phillies had been 11-18 in 1-run games until winning two such games in a row the last 2 days.

All of this 1-run-ness has me wondering if it’s more common in 2012. Certainly, it would seem likely that 1-run games would be more common when overall scoring is lower. When teams average closer to 4 runs a game than 5, it means that a higher fraction of final game scores will be 1-run decisions. There’s also something to be said for strategy–when overall scoring is lower, managers are more likely to “play for” 1 run, i.e. use sacrifices to advance runners, lessening the chance of a big inning.

Anyway, there’s a quick way to look up the basic numbers for such a study. Continue reading →

Everyone has heard the news now of Seattle trading Ichiro to the Yankees. On one level, just a seller/buyer trade and one that probably wouldn’t have been made but for an injury on the buying team. But, perhaps more significantly, an icon moving from his only team late in his career and not voluntarily, leaving his fans a little perplexed and bewildered but, in this circumstance, also happy for the player who now has a good shot at finally winning a championship.

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