Forgive me for generalizing here, but when it comes to PEDs and the Hall of Fame, we can pretty much break everyone into two camps: those who will consider confirmed PED users for the Hall, and those who won’t. Of course, there are many sub-categories of each of these groups, but this distinction serves the intent of this post.

If you’re in the latter category–i.e. you’re against any confirmed PED user ever being inducted into the Hall of Fame–that’s OK. I’m not going to challenge that stance, but this post is not for you. Of course, I’m not trying to discourage you from reading it, but I’m going to ask some questions that can only be answered by those in the other group, the folks I like to call PED agnostics. Continue reading →

Angels 6, @Rays 5 — You live by the bow, you die by the bow.

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To call any of Mariano Rivera’s seasons elite seems kind of pointless. I don’t think anyone would argue that he is definitively the greatest relief pitcher of all time. He  currently has the 16th most Pitching Runs ever, despite having only the 805th most innings accumulated. His 205 ERA+ is the greatest in MLB history. He had stretch where  in 8 of 9 seasons he had an ERA below 2. There is a reason that he was the focal point of this years All Star Game. Nobody has been able to do what Mo has done. When you add in his postseason credentials it’s a slam dunk Hall of Fame case, something rarely, if ever, said about a relief pitcher. However, I feel there is one season that stands out among the rest. In 2008, at the ripe old age of 38, Mariano may have put together the best year of his career.

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(No crying in baseball; so then, what is this salty discharge?)

@Cardinals 8, Reds 6 — Allen Craig filled a blank column on the back of his RISP Superheroes trading card, his first grand slam building an 8-5 lead with 2 outs in the 7th to finish a comeback from 4-0 down.

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The players in this quiz share a single game accomplishment since 1961 that no other player has matched. What is this feat?

• Hint #1: the players are listed in chronological order of the games in which this feat was achieved, starting with the most recent
• Hint #2: no players accomplished this feat in the twenty seasons from 1966 to 1985
• Hint #3: except as noted above, all these players were on the winning team

Congratulations to William J. He correctly identified that the quiz players each had 3 sacrifice flies in a game, the only players to do so since sacrifice flies were first counted officially in 1954. Those games and the clue explanations are after the jump. Continue reading →

Braves 5, @Cardinals 2 — Given their hefty lead, there was no immediate cause for Atlanta to fret about losing the first three in this series, their first games since the loss of Jason Heyward reopened their leadoff hole. But with no certainty of Heyward’s productive return come playoff time, there’s no doubt that Jordan Schafer’s two extra-base hits in the first 2 innings raised a big sigh of relief, breaking his 0-12 skid and building a 3-0 lead for Mike Minor. The lefty contained the relentless Cardinals for 7 innings, and when they squawk a bit in the 8th, Fredi Gonzalez took no chances, but brought in Craig Kimbrel for just the second 4-out save of his career.

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Here is the 2nd part of the list of best offensive seasons listed by player age. For the criteria, and my picks for ages 18-29 please check out part 1. Enjoy! Continue reading →

A few days ago, Chris Davis reached 61 total homers in his most recent 162 MLB games.

Jimmie Foxx is just one of the many great players who weren’t inducted to the Hall of Fame within their first three years of eligibility. (Photo via Flickr)

Last night, a bunch of us on Twitter were having a discussing about Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker—as we baseball geeks are wont to do late on a Sunday night.

Then something happened… something shocking:

@HighHeatStats I don’t think either of them should be in, but I definitely think Whitaker is closer.

— David B (@obxleatherman) August 26, 2013

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HHS reader Jacob identified that Zack Cozart is currently leading the NL in both sacrifice hits (i.e. sacrifice bunts) and sacrifice flies. Should Cozart still have the same standing at the end of the season, he would become the first player since the sac fly was first officially recorded in 1954 to lead his league in both categories in the same season. Not only that, he would become just the fifth player to lead in both categories at any point in a career.

More on sacrifice hitting after the jump.

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