Angels 7, @Nationals 2 — There would be no long wait at the doorstep for Albert Pujols. In the 1st inning, first time seeing Taylor Jordan, he watched a ball and a strike, then focused all eyes on the 3-run moonbeam that put him on the hill. Jordan won the next battle on strikes, and he got ahead 1-and-2 in Albert’s third trip. Kid, this ain’t yer night. The historic wallop was all that you’d want it to be.
Most home runs through Albert’s current total of 1,978 career games, and when they got #500:
| Rk | Player | HRs thru 1,978 G |
Hit #500 in G# |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mark McGwire | 583 | 1,639 |
| 2 | Babe Ruth | 576 | 1,741 |
| 3 | Alex Rodriguez | 537 | 1,855 |
| 4 | Sammy Sosa | 529 | 1,879 |
| 5 | Harmon Killebrew | 507 | 1,955 |
| 6 | Jimmie Foxx | 500 | 1,971 |
| 7 | Albert Pujols | 500 | 1,978 |
| 8 | Junior Griffey | 499 | 1,979 |
| 9 | Manny Ramirez | 496 | 2,004 |
| 10 | Willie Mays | 496 | 1,987 |
| 11 | Jim Thome | 492 | 2,000 |
Sosa hit #499 in his first AB of the last game of 2002, but then whiffed twice and walked, and had to wait out the offseason; the big’un came early the next year. Killer needed 13 going into 1971, and started fast, but tailed off; after #498, it took 37 games to reach 500. But that loosed the gates; he hit another that game, and 16 in his last 45 games.
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Marlins 1, @Braves 0 — Two bright young stars staged an old-fashioned “I can top that” pitcher’s duel, one for the books. Jose Fernandez and Alex Wood, age 21 and 23, and with less than 50 career starts between them, put their signatures together, combining for 25 strikeouts and no walks in their 8-inning stints.
Each gave up a hit to the first man, then set down at least nine in a row. Fernandez seized total control after that hit: first a DP grounder, then 10 of the next 14 men down on strikes. One reached on a 4th-inning error; he fanned the next five. Miami broke through in the 4th, Giancarlo’s double cashed in by Casey McGehee’s single. Wood whiffed a pair to end that, and gave up only Jose’s infield hit in the rest of his night.
In the 8th, Atlanta raised what passed for a threat — a leadoff knock, their first man aboard safely since the 1st; and after Jose racked up K nos. 13-14, a roller beat out by Andrelton. That brought up Wood’s spot, so Ryan Doumit came off the bench, a pretty good pinch-hitter. But he hit back to Fernandez on 2-and-2, and the young ace had his career-best outing: 8 scoreless innings, 3 hits, 14 Ks, 90 game score.
Wood finished with 11 strikeouts, his first double-digit affair. The relievers tacked on three more Ks, with Steve Cishek whiffing Freddie Freeman on three pitches to close it out.
- It’s just the fourth game since 1914 where both starters fanned 10 or more without walking anyone. The others: Kershaw-Bumgarner 2012; Prior-Vazquez, 2003; Clemens-Sele, 1997. But none of those games matched either the 1-run-or-less or 4-hits-or-less standards of tonight’s duelists.
- Also, the first searchable game with at least 13 Ks and no walks for each team.
- It’s the 12th 1-0 game so far this year; 4th for Atlanta (3-1), and 3rd in their last 7 games.
- Third 1-0 home loss ever by the Braves to the Marlins. Alex Wood started the last one.
- Jose’s sixth career 10-K game, but first on the road. He tossed a gem in his one other start in Atlanta, but Freddie beat him with a 1st-inning tater.
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Reds 4, @Pirates 1 — Edinson Volquez kept up his surprising renewal, but Johnny Cueto’s on some other planet right now. He took a 2-hit shutout into the 9th, giving him 20 straight scoreless innings before Andrew McCutchen’s home run.
- Cueto’s the first Red in 20 years with consecutive 9-inning CGs on 3 hits or less; Tom Browning did it in April ’94. Only two others did it for any team in the last 10 years: R.A. Dickey’s one-hitters in 2012, and Roy Oswalt 2008.
- Baby steps: Slidin’ Billy has 9 hits and 5 runs in his last 7 games, five of them Reds wins.
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Yankees 9, @Red Sox 3 — Tanaka was rolling, Lester was reeling. Suddenly, the lead shrunk by half, as Papi & Napi got lift-off. Then A.J. doubled with two outs. But Tanaka caught Bogaerts spectatin’ on 1-and-2, and the Bombers racked up a 4-spot after Napoli dropped a 2-out liner. Tanaka worked into the 8th with no further damage, bowing out after his 7th whiff.
- Tanaka has 35 strikeouts, 2 walks, in 29.1 innings. He stretched his post-1914 record to 4 straight games with 7+ Ks and no more than one walk to start a career. On the K side alone, Strasburg and Jose DeLeon both got to five.
- Not many were happy to see Ellsbury back in Boston, but he didn’t mind.
- Hard to believe: The Captain hasn’t hit well in Fenway — .263 BA, .694 OPS before 2 hits tonight.
- Ichiro’s not playing a lot, but he’s 13 for 35; he needs 20 more hits to crack the top 50.
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@Blue Jays 9, Orioles 3 — All runs scored on 3-run HRs. Nelson Cruz struck with no outs in the 6th, off R.A. Dickey, but Edwin Encarnacion matched that to a T. To the 8th, when the first two Jays reached for Brett Lawrie, and he reached for the stars. One out and two hits later, Melky slugged his 5th, all in 7 home games.
- The O’s have just 5 quality starts, besting only the Snakes. They’ve averaged 5-2/3 IP per start, topping only the Twins in the AL.
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@Tigers 8, White Sox 6 — David Schoenfield called it: “[I]if you’re Charlie Leesman and making just your second career start Tuesday night for the White Sox … be careful. Miggy is due.” Cabrera stroked an RBI double and 2-run HR his first two trips, both driven to right field (a very good sign), and Detroit batted around in the 3rd, sending the rook to an early shower. It got tight in the 9th, thanks to an ongoing delusion regarding Phil Coke, but Joba halted the madness.
- There’s no buzz around Justin Verlander, but he’s getting the job done, 2 ER or less all five starts. He’s won 13 of 16 starts vs. Chicago since 2009.
- The ball does jump off the bat of Jose Abreu, no?
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Cardinals 3, @Mets 0 — Matt Holliday was a two-way wonder, knocking 3 hits, scoring the first one, driving in the last, and maybe taking two off New York’s line in between. Adam Wainwright didn’t need much more than that, giving no walks and 4 singles and running his nil streak to 17 innings before tweaking a knee in the 7th.
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Royals 8, @Cleveland 2 — Danny Salazar’s battle with One-Bad-Inning Syndrome continues. He gave up 4 in the 4th tonight, 4 in the 5th last game, each time blowing a lead. A 2-out, 3-run shot by Mike Moustakas cracked this one open, and each of Eric Hosmer’s 4 hits led to marks on the board. James Shields went 6 solid innings, with 9 Ks, leading KC back into the black.
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@Cubs 9, D-backs 2 — And the beating goes on … Snakes bitten in 10 of their last 11, 11 of 12 on the road so far, and 18 of 21 regulation games. Jason Hammel’s 4 for 4 in QS, 14 hits in 27.2 IP. Brandon McCarthy gave exiled rotation mate Trevor Cahill some company in the 0-4 ranks.
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@Rockies 2, Giants 1 — Two solo shots are better than one. Tulo and Nolan Arenado went deep in the 4th and 5th innings, and the second one took, hanging a loss on Madison Bumgarner despite the Giants’ first CG. His mates had 2 on with one out or none in four innings, including the last two, but they went 0 for 9 in their RBI chances.
____________________
Late Monday
@Cubs 5, D-backs 1 — Chicago took no pity on the one NL club slinking lower than they. But there’s no shame for ‘Zona getting beaten by Travis Wood, on the hill or at bat. The righty ranks 13th in ERA+ since the start of last year; his 7 career HRs are second among active pitchers, his 12 RBI tops since 2013. Wood’s three-run bazinga built a 4-0 lead in the 2nd, giving Arizona a 47-29 run deficit over the first three innings so far. Not that it gets better; they’ve been trounced 54-22 in innings 4-6.
But shame or no, Arizona is 5-17; only two teams since 1998 have started worse. Even leaving those out, the 19 teams that started 5-17 or 6-16 since 1998 had an average final record of 66-96, and none reached .500.
- Wood is the first pitcher to swat three taters with 2 or more runners aboard since Steve Carlton, whose third came in 1986.
- Diamondback starters have a 7.46 ERA; next-worst in the NL is 4.33.
- Don’t night-time homers in Wrigley look great?
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Phillies 7, @Dodgers 0 — Any GMs browsing the late-night shop-at-home network were reminded of what Cliff Lee still does better than anyone, four months from his 36th birthday: strike one. Lee faced only one 3-ball count in 8 innings, gave LA just four singles, and had his one Excedrin moment relieved by the headache himself. Twenty straight Dodgers went down after that.
- I’ve no more clue than you how Ryne Sandberg chose rib-less Chooch to bat 4th, but it worked like a charm.
- In Lee’s 30 career starts of 10 Ks or more, he’s issued 23 walks.
- In 8 career starts against LA, he’s gone 7+ innings each time, totaling 10 runs in 61 IP, 1.48 ERA and 0.79 WHIP.
- For starts with 70% strikes, Lee has led every year since 2008, except ’09 when he was tied for second. His total of 98 such outings since 2008 is 15 more than the next two actives combined.
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- Good golly, Sir Charlie? The current Blackmon already leads the majors in hits, total bases, batting and slugging — so what would he ask from the genie?
- Colorado hasn’t gotten a lot from their top spot over the years. No Rockies leadoff man ever hit 10 HRs in a season, and just one drove in more than 46 runs. The team is #1 in NL runs since their 1993 inception, which makes their leadoff scoring numbers look good — but they’re next-to-last in percentage of team runs coming from the leadoff spot.
- My hopes were dashed when SF reeled off three hits in the 3rd, ending their 7-6-5-4-3 hit pattern en route to a grand total of six safeties. But maybe 6 hits in Coors should only count as 2 in real life.
- Tulo is walking more, striking out less. Last year’s .391 OBP was a career high, but he’s pushing .500 so far — and that’s one reason Colo’s #5-6 hitters have 38 RBI, 11 more than the #2 NL team.
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Ranger 4, @Athletics 3 — A 17-21 mark against Oakland in 2012-13 left Texas looking up at the division winners. So with the A’s starting off hot again and building a 2.5-game lead heading into this first head-to-head test, Ron Washington’s club hoped to strike first, especially with Yu Darvish going. Their ace went 1-6 against Oakland those last two years, though the bats bore the brunt of the blame (12 runs in 7 games). Yu had his struggles again, but he toughened after falling behind 3-1 in the 2nd. Oakland’s 4th proved key in holding the line: a leadoff single was erased by DP, and though the A’s filled the bases with two outs, Darvish dispatched Josh Donaldson with a breezy aspect. Texas tied up by the 5th, with the Prince complicit in both plots. But they lost Shin-Soo Choo in the 7th — off the bases, thanks to review, and out of the game after that rough landing.
When the unstoppable Kevin Kouzmanoff started the 8th with a double, Ron Washington called for his #6 batter to lay down the club’s 10th sacrifice, twice the next AL team and more than all but 3 NL squads. Mitch Moreland got that job done — his second sac in the 6th spot, matching all others combined this year — and Donnie Murphy delivered the git-‘er-done hit.
- Dan Straily’s effort (3 runs in 5 IP) was just the 4th time in 19 games that the A’s fell short of a quality start.
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Astros 6, @Mariners 2 — Another make-what-you-will-of-it: Since his 2005 debut, 10.7% of the runs charged to Felix Hernandez have been unearned. In that same span, just 7.7% of all other MLB runs were unearned, and 6.9% of other Seattle runs. If Felix had the same UER as the rest of his teammates, his career ERA would rise from 3.17 to 3.31.
So, what am I saying? We’ve all seen occasions that seemed like the home scorer protecting the ace’s ERA. But Felix’s UER rate is 6th-highest of 99 active pitchers with 700 IP. Of the top 20 in active WAR, only Felix and CC Sabathia have a UER rate over 9%. I’m not doubting the error charged to Kyle Seager in last night’s 6th inning; I haven’t even seen the play. But Felix gave up a leadoff double; and after the error, with two outs in the inning, he gave up a single, a triple and a double, and all four runs were unearned. So, I’m just sayin’.
John, I’ve been very busy this spring, and these are the first Game Notes that I’ve been able to read in 2014; great stuff, as always. Is there a PI search that could find how many games have had four (or more) 3-run homers as their only scoring?
On a side note, Sergio Santos’ current rate stats are giving me a migraine: 6.1 IP, 8 BB, 13K. That translates to 11.4 BB/9 and 18.5 K/9. There have been only 6 outs made in the field while facing 32 batters, plus 6 hits (1 HR). Talk about your Three True Outcomes.
Hi, Daniel. Glad you could make it! To your question, I can’t think of an effective way to find those games. The Event Finder can find 3-run homers, but it’s not game-based, so it would take an absurd amount of sifting the results to find the games we want. The Game Finder could give us the games wherein 4+ players had at least one homer and 3 RBI, but still an awful lot of sifting to find the nuggets.
I can say that it’s the first game since 2012 with 4 players having a HR and 3 RBI.
Here’s something you could do. Select Team Batting Game Finder, team won, R = 9 and HR = 3. The Results spreadsheet contains 1266 such games and includes the scores. Click on every game with a score of 9-3 and 9-6 and view the boxscores. Of course it will take a bit of time but it could be done. You could also run R = 12 and HR = 4.
Also setting RBI = 9 will reduce the number of games from 1266 to 1068.
My bad. Make that reduced to 919 games.
Chris Davis and Adam Jones came to the plate in the 9th inning with 2 men on and home run-prone Esmil Rogers pitching. Although I’m a Jays fan, with a 6 run lead I was really hoping for another dinger, for a 15 run game, all runs coming from 3 run homers.
This was the 92nd game since 1914 with 3 or more different players on the same team having exactly one HR and 3 RBI. Of those 92, it’s the first where those 9 runs resulted from 3-run HRs and were all of the runs that the team scored.
As usual, Doug, you are the king of obscure stats. I knew that there had to be something historic (or at least unusual) about that game. More specifically, I meant to inquire about the 12 runs scored/4 three-run HR totals for both teams. But, this is great regardless.
Yes!
Somebody at b/r read my mind and moved FIP away from ERA.
I was either going to go crosseyed or give up looking at baseball stats.
Relief!
Now all they need to do is change “SO/W” to “SO/BB” – it wasn’t always “SO/W” was it? I mean, “SO/W” to me means “strikeouts per win” and not “strikeouts per walk.”
But maybe I’m the only one.
I think “SO/W” is a step in the right direction. We know from the context that “W” means walks, not wins. However, I would go farther.
I think K and B are sufficient to denote strikeouts and walks. Virtually everyone who follows the game understands K for strikeout. B might not be immediately obvious, but the context would make it so; what else can it mean?
I hate “SO” and “BB”.
The problem is when people who DON’T know the game go to the site. There is a column for Wins and it is labelled “W”. If I were not a baseball fan and saw a column for “W,” another column for “SO,” and then a column for “SO/W” I would assume it meant “SO/W” and not “SO/something that is not labelled as W in the rest of the table”.
It’s about consistency – labeling it “K/BB” is fine with me as long as strikeouts are labelled Ks and walks BBs in the table (and walks are labelled BB everywhere else). I like the BB designation because “W” can mean something else (like wins) when you don’t know the context. “Base on balls” is very descriptive of what occurs in the game.
But maybe I’m turning curmudgeonly – I also dislike the use of the word “blinker” for “turn signal” because I think if more people called it a “turn signal” they would actually know what the point of it is (to signal to other drivers what you intend to do) and possibly use it more frequently. “Base on balls” is similar in that it tells the reader/listener something a little more than “walk” does.
On this side of the pond we call them “indicators”, which I think you’d approve of. I’m also not a fan of W for walk; there’s no need for two “W” stats. Reminds me of this scene from an old BBC comedy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-5LksGdddY#t=254
they seem to be getting their red and green confused on ERA-FIP, however
Although Holliday for the Cards was good in the field and good at the plate, he wasn’t too hot on the basepaths. He made the third out at 2nd base in the first trying to stretch his single into a double, and then in the 9th he made the third out again on the basepaths, this time trying to advance to 2nd on the throw to the plate on his RBI single.
The other Missouri team manage to be an above .500 team, despite the fact that Mike Moustakas remains in single digits for hits on the season (although 6 of his 9 hits are for extra bases) and Billy Butler is currently the slowest singles hitter (2 doubles and 0 triples or HRs) in the history of the world.
This is true, Brent. But I would definitely challenge Eric Young’s arm in that 1st-inning situation, to get to 2nd with 2 outs. E.Y. threw a strike on the run, which won’t happen often.
The second time Holliday was caught “stretching” was an instance of what has become ridiculously commonplace, daring the defense to concede the run in exchange for the out. What Holliday should have known is that Granderson can’t throw on target to save his life, so there was no need to “insure” the run.
I’ve seen Grandy throw home three times now. Every one was at least 15 feet up the line.
I know he’s not on Pujols’ career comp list, but Pujols reminds me of Jimmie Foxx more than anyone on his actual comp list with the possible exception of Frank Thomas. And by “reminds me” I mean reminds me of Foxx’s statistical line – I have no recollection of Foxx as a player.
So I was perusing Foxx’s page, and there are just some things that I find amazing because they almost certainly would never occur today. Well, maybe some would.
In 1945, Foxx actually pitched 22.2 innings. Mostly relief, but he started 2 games and went 1-0 with a 1.59 ERA (and allowed no unearned runs) overall. This season was Foxx’s last so maybe, with MLB still not having everyone back from the war, this was just a way to fill in some pitching when the Phillies were behind (the only game he appeared in that the Phillies won was one of the ones he started). Still, Fox had more WAR pitching (0.9) than batting (0.6) that year. He was a forerunner of Brooks Kieschnick, only better.
What boggles my mind even more concerns his catching. Now I knew he started out as a catcher, but in his age 21 season he played 1st (142 games) and 3rd (8 games, 7 starts). So they moved him off catcher by age 21 (he had only started 21 games at catcher in parts of 3 earlier seasons). And so they kind of “Miguel Cabrera’ed” him in that he played 1st and 3rd (mostly 1st though) through age 26. What interests me is that in 1935, at the age of 27 and being just 1 year removed from having won consecutive MVPs, he played 26 games at catcher (24 starts, 21 CGs).
And then they go back to playing him at 1B with a few games in the OF for ages 28-31. In 1940, having played only 1 game at catcher since 1935 (it looks like it was in an emergency role for an inning or two in 1937 as he had no chances) and now being 32 years old, he plays 42 games (all starts, 39 CGs) at catcher. He won another MVP award in 1938 and finished 2nd in 1939 – and now he’s playing 40 games as a catcher. It would be like the Blue Jays (or Marlins or Mets) looking at Carlos Delgado and saying “Okay, you were a catcher when you were 19 – we need a catcher so we’re putting you in there”. Or maybe they were punishing him for not winning an MVP every year.
Again, I knew that Foxx came up as a catcher, so I assumed his 108 games as a catcher occurred early in his career with maybe a handful of emergency catcher role games later in his career. But 42 games came when he was 32, and 26 when he was 27.
Don Zimmer had never played catcher professionally when he caught his first games in the majors at age 33. Had 33 games catching (27 starts) in his final age 34 season.
Re; Jimmer Foxx pitching. I guess when your team goes 46-108, you’ll do whatever you can. Oddly, of the 24 retired players with 500+ home runs, many of them spent their final seasons on bad teams (though they didn’t necessarily play the whole season or play a major role).
In addition to Foxx, the following players were on 90+ loss teams in their final years – Bonds, Griffey, Aaron, Ruth, Schmidt, Sheffield.
Ted Williams only missed out (89 losses) because it was still the 154 game schedule. And Mel Ott would be on the list as well but he came back for one last “year” and got 4 plate appearances. Palmiero (88), Sosa (87) and McCovey (86) were also close to the 90 loss threshold.
Not really how you expect some of the greatest home run hitters to finish their careers.
Don’t forget Mantle. The Yanks lost 90 in 1967, the year Mantle reached 500.
On the flip side, a few (Mathews, Murray, Mays) have ended up (courtesy of fortuitous trades) as spare parts on some pennant winners. Actually, Murray was more than a spare part on the ’95 Indians – produced 2.4 WAR at 39 as the mostly regular DH.
Doug – Just to clarify, I was looking specifically how the player’s team did in his final season. Just seems kind of sad for a great player to finish their career on a bad team.
David, this doesn’t strike me as an unusual circumstance for 500-HR hitters. Some of them would have hung on to pass that milestone, and being on a losing team without hope for a quick reversal of fortune could give them the reason they need to step away. I’d imagine that this would especially be true for players who spent their entire career with just one organization (i.e. Schmidt, Mantle).
Highest pitching WAR for players with 24 or fewer career IP: Jimmie Foxx, 1.0.
Albert is just the eighth player to reach 500 HR by his age 34 season, most of which is still to be played. If he stays healthy, should move up to 2nd or 3rd on this list.
Generated 4/23/2014.
Felix’s UER rate is 6th-highest of 99 active pitchers with 700 IP.
In my study of pitcher effectiveness in avoiding/preventing unearned runs, Hernandez ranked 431st and 549th for two statistical measures, both out of 589 pitchers with 1000 IP since 1961.
http://www.highheatstats.com/2013/02/masters-and-victims-pitchers-and-unearned-runs-part-2/
But, he can still pitch on my team.
ESPN is reporting that Conrado Marrero – the oldest living MLB – has passed away two days short of his 103rd birthday.
Conrad was born in 1911, the same year as Hall of Famers Hank Grenberg and Joe Medwick. Interestingly, he debuted in the majors a few years after Greenberg and Medwick retired. In fact, when he debuted, only one other person (Al Benton) from his birth year was still active.
Marrero lasted 5 years in the majors, making an all-star team, finishing 34th in an MVP vote and compiling 9.6 WAR.
RIP Conrado.
Amazing- 10 WAR in a career that didn’t start until he was 39 years old.
Marrero debuted in 1950 which was his age 39 season. Only 4 other players are listed with an older starting year, Satchel Paige, Diomedes Olivo, Ken Takahashi and Chuck Hostetler. Mike Sandlock is now the oldest still living former player. I noticed that Bobby Doerr is now the only still living former player who was active prior to 1940.
Here’s a nice bio on Connie Marrero.
http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/7920d04b
These are the career lines for pitchers debuting in their age 39 season or later.
Generated 4/23/2014.
Those 51 CGs for Marrero rank 7th since 1901 among all pitchers aged 39 or older.
Marrero is the modern leader in pretty much everything by a pitcher listed at 5′ 5″ or less.
Re: Fernandez and Wood
Their matchup was the first searchable game with two starters aged 23 or less going 8+ IP and allowing <= 1 runs, <=4 hits and no walks. Never mind the strikeouts. Removing the age criterion, it was still only the 9th such game, regardless of the number of strikeouts. These are the games.
Generated 4/23/2014.
Bravo, Doug. That last one surprised me.