Sunday game notes: Doc gets it

Phillis 2, @Marlins 1: The Phils had left 9 men on base and were about to squander Roy Halladay’s first good shot at win #200.

 

But Laynce Nix, a .194 career pinch-hitter, batted for Doc in the 9th and destroyed a 1-1 pitch from Jon Rauch. Jon

  • Papelbon started the 9th with a 4-pitch walk to Polanco, but survived.
  • Juan Pierre is 8 for 46, all singles, 1 walk, no RBI.

Brewers 4, @Cardinals 3: Milwaukee went 0-8 with RISP, but scored all their runs in the last 3 innings for the comeback win. Ryan Braun got it started with a 2-run shot off Trevor Rosenthal, and Jonathan Lucroy had the 10th-inning tiebreaker.

  • Marco Estrada, 2013: 18 IP, 21 Ks, 2 walks … but 21 hits, 4 HRs and a 4.50 ERA. He’s one of four actives with 200+ IP and SO>IP who’ve allowed a BA of .250 or higher.

Braves 9, @Nationals 0: Is it too early for a statement series? The streaking Braves finished off the first sweep since 2011 by an NL visitor to Nationals Park, after the hosts had begun 6-0 at home. Paul Maholm has 3 straight scoreless starts for the first time ever. Evan Gattis started the onslaught with an RBI double. Chris Johnson had 4 hits and is 13 for 30 as Freddie Freeman’s fill-in.

  • Two doubles for B.J. (his first), raised his BA to .163.
  • Last year, Gio Gonzalez had just 2 games with more Runs than IP, and 2 games with 2+ HRs.
  • Ryan Zimmerman went 0-4, now hitting .220 with no HRs and 1 run, and made a throwing error for the 3rd straight day.

@Yankees 3, Orioles 0: Hiroki Kuroda went the distance in his first good game of the year and 18th win in 36 pinstriped starts. The O’s got no one past 1st base until 2 outs in the 9th. Wei-Yin Chen had one bad inning, with leadoff hits in the 5th leading to one run and Brett Gardner’s big fly raining 2 more.

Giants 10, @Cubs 7 (10): Down to their last strike, Hunter Pence tied it. The winning run scored on a balk in the 10th. Cubs had edged in front with 2 in the 8th off Jeremy Affeldt, who forced in the leveler with a 5-pitch walk to #8 man Luis Valbuena after an intentional walk to Dioner Navarro.

  • SF scored their first run on a passed ball, and got 4 runs in a 5-wild-pitch 6th inning.
  • Will the bullpen phone be ringing soon for Tim Lincecum? He gave up 2 HRs for 4 runs in the 1st — shades of last year’s 7.64 1st-inning ERA — and fell behind 11 of 21 batters.

Rockies 2, @Padres 1: Todd Helton was just 8 for 50 as a pinch-hitter, but his 2-run blast in the 7th was the big difference, his 3rd straight game with an extra-base hit. He’s a .345 hitter in Petco. Rafael Betancourt started the 9th with a 4-pitch walk to Everth Cabrera and a 5-pitch walk to Yonder Alonso, but he survived. Cleanup hitter Jesus Guzman bunted the runners over — discuss.

  • Rox are 5-4 on the road; they’ve had just one year over .500 away from Denver (2009, 41-40).

@Pirates 10, Reds 7: The Bucs finally got some production from their backstop, as backup Michael McKenry smashed 2 HRs. His solo shot in the 7th started their comeback from 5-0 down, and he equalized in the 8th-inning with a 2-run drive after a 5-pitch walk to the uber-struggling Pedro Alvarez (3 for 38). Their 6-run outburst off Jonathan Broxton rendered moot Joey Votto’s first HR since last June 24, a span of 50 starts and more than 200 PAs.

  • Just the way they planned it: Shin-Soo Choo has a .483 OBP, with 28 times on base and 11 runs in the Reds’ first 12 games. Last year, the leadoff spot in their first 12 games produced 3 runs and 9 times on base; they finished last in OBP and next-to-last in runs from that spot.

@Red Sox 5, Rays 0: Wrote this after 3 innings: “Clay Buchholz and the Rays hitters both have proven no-hit potential, so stay tuned.” Buchholz had them stymied through 7, left after 8 innings, 2 hits, career-best 11 Ks. He’s 3-0, with 1 run in 22 IP. In his last 23 starts, Buchholz has averaged just over 7 innings; he averaged 5.8 IP from 2008-11.

@D-backs 1, Dodgers 0: Is there a better feeling than a game-winning hit after an intentional walk? Our second 1-0 walk-off of the weekend. (There were 4 all of last year.) First walk-off RBI for Paul Goldschmidt, whose slap to right foiled an overshift. Dodgers went 0-6 with RISP, 5 of those in the 7th & 8th; now hitting .167 in that split.

Tigers 10, @A’s 1: Detroit’s nos. 1-4 hitters sport OBPs of .435, .418, .404 and .527. They were on base 11 times today and scored 8 runs. Jarrod Parker had his worst game ever, yielding 8 runs against 10 outs. It’s the 2nd time this year he was knocked out in the 4th, and he’s given 23 hits and 8 walks in 11.2 IP, with just 4 Ks out of 65 batters.

White Sox 3, @Indians 1: Vintage Jake Peavy, who allowed a leadoff HR but little else in his 2nd career game of 11 strikeouts and no walks. Paul Konerko made it a win with a turnaround 2-run HR on a 3-and-1 pitch from Brett Myers.

  • In 1990, Carlton Fisk became the all-time White Sox leader with HR #187; he retired in ’93 with 214 HRs. Frank Thomas passed Pudge in ’96, his 7th season, and finished with 448 as a ChiSox. Konerko now has 417 HRs for Chicago, averaging 30 per year.

@Angels 4, Astros 1: First big game of the year for Mike Trout, 3-3-2-1 with a HR, double and walk. Josh Hamil$10 homered for the 2nd straight day, a 2-run insurance policy in the 8th. Phil Humber is 0-3 with a 2.89 ERA. The run he got today was his first.

  • In the 2nd and 3rd innings combined, the Angels had a HR, a triple, 2 doubles and a walk — but scored 1 run.

@Royals 3, Blue Jays 2: Ervin Santana’s 2nd straight start of 8 IP and 1 ER wasn’t enough for the win, but Alex Gordon’s ground single off Darren Oliver brought his mates off the bench to jubilate. Gordon’s only other walk-off RBI came in 2010, when he was still struggling to get established.

  • Oliver has had an outstanding “old” career, with a 2.52 ERA over ages 37-41, but his “42” isn’t drawing rave reviews — 9 hits and 5 runs in 4.1 IP, and just 1 strikeout.

_______________

Late Saturday

Dodgers 7, @Diamondbacks 5: Hyun-jin Ryu had 9 Ks and 3 hits, and left with a 6-1 lead. The Snakes closed within one, but LA got one back while batting against Heath Bell in the 9th, and held on to keep pace in the hot-starting NL West, where a 7-4 record is good for 2nd or 4th place, depending on your outlook.

  • Batters are 10 for 20 off Bell, 2 HRs, 2 doubles.
  • Kenley Jansen, who gave 3 hits and 2 runs in his inning, has held foes to a .152 BA in his career and rarely goes more than 1 inning — so I’m surprised that he’s allowed 3 or 4 hits in 6 of his 147 career games. All 3 hits Saturday came with 2 strikes (PH Aaron Hill just missed a tying HR), raising his BA in that split from .088 to .095. He did whiff 2, and has fanned 58% of batters after 2 strikes.

_______________

Rockies 9, @Padres 5: Wilin Rosario had a HR and 4 hits, Josh Rutledge scored 3 runs without a hit (first in the majors since last June), and Edinson Volquez must invent a new approach, whether by inspiration or perspiration.

Rosario’s 35 HRs in 143 career games is tied for the 10th-best career start by that measure. That neighborhood is a mixed bag — those with 33-34 HRs in their first 143 games include Albert Pujols and Giancarlo Stanton, but also Walt Dropo, Ron Kittle and Kevin Maas.

Volquez has an 11.68 ERA, the worst of the 31 pitchers with 3 starts to date. Vance Worley (10.50) and Cole Hamels (7.56) are next. Last year’s worst with 3 starts in the first 11 games:

  • 11.91, Francisco Liriano (wound up at 5.34);
  • 10.54, Tim Lincecum (wound up at 5.18);
  • 7.79, Jeremy Guthrie (wound up at 4.76).

Everth Cabrera (HR, 3B, CS) was caught just 4 times in 48 steal tries last year. This year, 3 CS in 5 attempts. Sunday’s CS was egregious — trying to steal third base with 2 outs and his team behind 5-2 in the 3rd inning, on the first pitch to the cleanup hitter. He earned back a few points towards a normal baseball IQ for not trying to stretch his 9th-inning single into the double that would have completed the first cycle in Padres history and in the history of Petco Park.

There were 2 cycles in their former home, but none from their 1969 debut until June 16, 2001, when John Olerud hit his only triple within a 5-year span.

From 2007 to present, there have been 3 regulation games in Petco Park wherein both teams had 5+ extra-base hits. Colorado was the accomplice in all three.

Jhoulys Chacin (5 IP, 2 runs) is the second SP to win this year while throwing 44 strikes or less. He had ten 3-ball counts out of 20 batters, but walked just 2.

 

 

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Doug
Doug
10 years ago

Darren Oliver was something of an odd choice by the Jays for the 9th in a tie game. In a spot when you absolutely must stop the opposition from scoring, wouldn’t your closer be the guy to go to? Evidently, after 20 pitches the day before (after two days off), it was too much to ask Janssen to go again?

Doug
Editor
10 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

Good point, John.

My hunch, though, is if it had been three righties coming up, Gibbons would still have gone with someone other than his closer … because it wasn’t a save situation.

If Oliver hits a wall, at least Toronto has some other lefty options with Cecil and Loup (only one run allowed in 14 IP combined).

Doug
Doug
10 years ago

Good on Doc,

87 pitches in 8 innings – that explains only two strikeouts and one walk (or is it the other way round). In any event, nice to see Doc get a win and show better control.

It’s only Doc’s 5th career start of 8+ innings with as few as two strikeouts. He had an almost identical line (one more hit allowed) on almost the same pitch and strike count, beating the Twins on 8/1/2001.

GrandyMan
GrandyMan
10 years ago
Reply to  Doug

I’m cautiously optimistic about his return to form, but optimistic nonetheless. I didn’t know what to think after the first two innings, as he was having no trouble getting outs but also seemed totally incapable of finding the strike zone – it seemed like he was just benefitting from the impatience of the Marlins hitters. His control improved as the game went on and he induced a lot of ground balls – he did a good job of keeping his pitches low in the strike zone. Overall, I saw a lot of good signs.

mosc
mosc
10 years ago
Reply to  GrandyMan

I find it hard to believe that one of the most effective control pitchers of the modern era has irreparably lost it. You could also mention how much movement he has on his fastball pitches as positive signs. His stuff is still there.

Ed
Ed
10 years ago
Reply to  GrandyMan

I’m not optimistic about Halladay until he does it against a MAJOR league team. The Marlins simply don’t count.

GrandyMan
GrandyMan
10 years ago
Reply to  Ed

@Ed (10)

I know the Marlins are terrible, but he was really dominating them. They were lucky if they hit the ball out of the infield. Against just about any lineup, he would’ve had a good outing with his efficiency, stuff, and (after the first couple innings) control.

deal
10 years ago

Totally Off Topic – but does anybody know about the demise of Conor Jackson’s career. I just read of his retirement.

He may not have ever been great but after 2008 apparently he contracted something called Valley Fever lost a lot of weight and never came close to his early production.

mosc
mosc
10 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

I can’t believe they were leading in the 8th in 6 games…

birtelcom
Editor
10 years ago

Marlins have 2 homers in 12 games, the fewest for a team over the first 12 games of a season since 1985, when the Astros had 2 and the Pirates (the year before Barry Bonds debuted) had only 1.

--bill
--bill
10 years ago

And the Mets-Twins game Sunday was snowed out.

I was looking for this on Baseball-Reference, but there seems to be no record of the game even having been scheduled. Does anyone know how to get records of games cancelled/postpooned? In particular, I’m interested in games cancelled/postponed because of snow.

Richard Chester
Richard Chester
10 years ago
Reply to  --bill

I have a copy of The Ultimate New York Yankees Record Book which shows all Yankee postponements from 1903 to 1983. I can tell you this much, the Yankees had 4 games postponed due to snow at the start of the 1982 season, April 6,8,9 and 10. And it’s a certainty that there were other postponemets in the Northeast.

Jawes
Jawes
10 years ago

Does anyone know where Jackie Bradley stands historically with his 3/30 career start?

Jawes
Jawes
10 years ago
Reply to  Jawes

Make that 3/31 now.

Jawes
Jawes
10 years ago
Reply to  Jawes

Twins rookie Aaron Hicks is off to a 2/43 start to his career this year. BA of .047 and a mind-boggling 20 K’s.

Doug
Editor
10 years ago
Reply to  Jawes

Chris Carter started his career in 2010 at 0 for 32, then went 7 for 18.

Vic Harris started his career in 1972 at 1 for 44, then went 9 for 30.

Those are the only two players (excl. pitchers) with 9 hitless games of their first 10 with 2+ PAs.

Jawes
Jawes
10 years ago
Reply to  Doug

Thanks a lot Doug. Maybe I’ll add him to my fantasy team.

Doug
Editor
10 years ago
Reply to  Doug

Yeah, don’t write him off yet.

Steve Yeager came up in Aug 1972, and had a 0.313 OPS in 40 August PAs. For Sep/Oct, he bumped that up to a 0.988 OPS (of course, his BABIP was 0.404, so he was probably walking on water too).

Mike L
Mike L
10 years ago
Reply to  Jawes

Willie Mays started out 1-26. He did turn it around a bit after that….

Voomo Zanzibar
10 years ago
Reply to  Mike L

Speaking of dubious beginnings, I looked up Jim Bouton’s first start.
The start he describes in Ball Four (and interviews) as “the worst shutout in baseball history.”

He says that he walked the first three batters and that he pitched ball four to the 4th batter… but that the ump called it a strike.

And Ralph Houk stepped back into the dugout (he was going to take him out – career over).

Bouton scattered 7 hits and 7 walks.
_______________

Great story.
But he didnt walk the first three batters.
Not even close:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYA/NYA196205062.shtml

birtelcom
Editor
10 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

So the top two base-stealers in the NL since 2006 both move to the AL this season and immediately injure themselves sliding. What, are the basebaths a different length over there or something?

Most SBs in the NL, 2006-2013
1. Jose Reyes 318
2. Michael Bourn 276
3. Hanley Ramirez 237
4. Jimmy Rollins 235
5. Juan Pierre 230

RJ
RJ
10 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

Gregor Blanco made some interesting comments after he unsuccesfully dove into first during the World Series:

“I was called out, though replays showed I was safe. But I’m mad at myself for sliding into first. It’s the dumbest thing you can do. I had no intention of sliding but I wanted to get to first base so badly that I just found myself diving for the bag. Hunter told me as soon as I got back to the dugout that it makes no sense to slide into first. “I know, I know,” I said.”

http://gregorblanco.mlblogs.com/2012/10/28/until-the-last-out/