Nobody got swept, so we’re still in business with another quad-play day.
Let us know what grabs you about today’s games.
Wednesday quadruple-header action
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Well, Zito left early, to precisely no one’s surprise. SF may have won his last 11 starts, but he averaged less than six innings per start in that span, and it took him 92 pitches on average to get there. His 3.92 ERA in that streak was also nothing special.
Looks like Timmy will be trying to pitch a couple of innings at least. His game 1 relief = good. His relief appearance in the 2010 NLCS = not so much, although Brian Wilson bailed him out that time.
Editor
Looking for a relatively recent comp to Lincecum’s long-relief effort today — 4.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 6 K, and a vultured win — I settled on Bob Welch in the 1978 NLCS opener (4.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 5 K). Both entered with the tying run at the plate or on base, and both stranded 2 runners.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/PHI/PHI197810040.shtml
When I read the first part of your sentence, I thought about Mat Latos in Game 1 of the series but you found a perfect match. Mat wasn’t quite as good as Timmy or Welch (4 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 SO, 1 BB) but I was surprised to see that LeCure got the win for his 1.2 IP of work. FWIW, Latos’ effort had a higher WPA than LeCure’s.
Editor
Other than practically no legitimate power threats this year? The 2010 Giants had power guys like Aubrey Huff, Juan Uribe and Pat Burrell, with contributions from career-year Andres Torres and ROY Buster Posey. The 2012 Giants are just stacked with limited power guys like Gregor Blanco, Joaquin Arias, Ryan Theriot, Brandon Crawford and to a lesser extent, Angel Pagan. The only two batters other than Posey with double-digit homeruns, Panda (12) and Melky (11), both missed significant portions of the season through injury and shenanigans respectively. Sandoval’s injury also seemed to curtail his power for a long time post-DL (3… Read more »
Oh, sorry, I only just realised you wanted to know the reasons behind the discrepancy in the road/home percentage reductions, hah. I’m guessing then that the lack of power in the current SF line-up shows up more prominently in a pitchers park like AT&T, whereas it’s still possible for relatively light-hitting guys to hit homers in more friendly, away parks.
Editor
It’s possible that neither like pitching to Posey, but as far as I’m aware the Zito/Sanchez battery was set up more because Posey needed regular rest post-injury and having a consistent battery made sense. Also with the Giants winning lots of Zito starts, I guess they then didn’t want to upset a winning formula. I don’t know if there’s a problem with Lincecum. Posey himself has stated his belief in being able to catch Timmy. All the moves have come from Bochy publicly, but I guess that doesn’t rule out somebody saying something behind closed doors.
Editor
Ibanez hit the 3rd postseason pinch-hit HR in the #3 spot in the order. The others:
– 1981, NLDS Game 4, George Vukovich walk-off HR pinch-hitting for pitcher Tug McGraw.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/PHI/PHI198110100.shtml
– 2001, ALCS Game 3, Jay Buhner tack-on HR pinch-hitting for Bret Boone in a 14-3 blowout win in the Bronx.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYA/NYA200110200.shtml
(There’s another game that turns up on a search, but Brian Daubach struck out as a PH and then stayed in and homered.)
Editor
Here’s the only other Yankees postseason hit pinch-hitting for the #3 man: Allie Clark, PH/defensive replacement for Yogi in RF:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYA/NYA194710060.shtml
Editor
Sinatra.
Well, Sinatra was one of many who covered it.
But end-of-Yankee-game is Sinatra territory.
Few things more fun in the 80’s than doing the Rockettes kick line in the RF Bleachers after a win to “New York New York”
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And the 4th multi-HR game by a DH.
This one’s the most memorable, tho’ for other reasons:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYA/NYA200310160.shtml
Editor
Doug, if I’ve added correctly, Ibanez got a 0.827 WPA for his 2 HRs. It’s real tough to get to Shamsky’s 1.503 with just 2 PAs — you’d need one of them to be, say, a tying slam with 2 in the 9th, and then a game-winner.
http://www.fangraphs.com/liveplays.aspx?date=2012-10-10&team=Yankees&dh=0&season=2012
Thanks, John, for doing the calculation. I saw Ibanez doing his on-field post-game interview, and they asked him about pinch-hitting for A-Rod, of course. He said all the usual stuff about being a team game, etc. and mentioned that A-Rod was the first guy at the top of the steps to greet him when he got back to the dugout after the 9th-inning shot. I looked at the video of that and, sure enough, A-Rod was there to greet Ibanez but A-Rod looked liked he’d lost his best friend (or lost something important) in contrast to the excitement and elation… Read more »
Editor
If 0.827 is correct for Ibanez’s WPA, it’s just about tied for #5 in postseason history.
#1 is 0.969, David Freese, last year, WS game 6.
#2 is 0.870, Kirk Gibson.
#3 is 0.854, Steve Garvey, 1984 NLCS game 4.
#4 is 0.832, Lance Berkman, same game as Freese.
#5 is 0.826, Charlie Keller, 1941 WS game 4 (highest without a HR).
I wonder if anyone would notice if next inning, instead of sending the real Prince back out onto the field, they just sent out a life sized cardboard cutout with flypaper stuck all over it?
When the ball left Reddick’s bat I got as far as “Ohhh, shh…” before they showed the outfielders making the play on it.
C’mon Miggy, put a little icing on top of that MVP. A three run homer next inning would be just the ticket.
The Rogers Centre is also a football stadium and they are able to put up and take down the railings.
I guess the only other teams of recent times that shared their stadium with a football team were the Marlins (before this season), Twins (before Target) and Nats (in RFK). What a change from twenty years ago.
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Valverde can add his name to this list of relievers getting this post-season trifecta: blown save, loss, and serving up a walk-off hit. Player Date Series Gm# Tm Opp Rslt App,Dec IP H R ER BB SO HR Jonathan Broxton 2009-10-19 NLCS 4 LAD PHI L 4-5 8-9f ,BL 1.0 1 2 2 1 0 0 Ryan Franklin 2009-10-08 NLDS 2 STL LAD L 2-3 9-9f ,BL 0.1 2 2 0 2 0 0 Mariano Rivera 2001-11-04 WS 7 NYY ARI L 2-3 8-9f ,BL 1.1 4 2 1 0 3 0 Byung-Hyun Kim 2001-10-31 WS 4 ARI NYY L… Read more »
Of course, the Cards D was pretty crappy too that inning. After the bad call, it went foul pop up (dropped by Clark), followed by single by Balboni, failed bunt by Sundberg, force at 3rd, passed ball by Porter with McRae at the plate, runners move up anyway, IBB to McRae, then 2 run single by Iorg. As a fan of both Missouri teams, I can tell you by heart the sequence. Strangest move of the inning, after the IBB to McRae loads the bases, Dick Howser (moment of silence) pinch runs for McRae at 1st base rather than Sundberg… Read more »
With 3 games in the Eastern time zone, one of them was going to be the early game. Admittedly, it does stink that they picked the game against the West Coast team to be that game. What time will it be in Frisco, 10:30 a.m.? If they had just went the same way as yesterday, then the St. Louis fans at least would be at lunch when the game started. Not sure why they switched up the game times for the two games.