Athletics 6, @Angels 5: A 9th-inning roller-coaster left the Halos queasy and their fans downright nauseous. After the visitors tacked on 2 runs while the best Angel reliever sat idle, Anaheim quickly got those runs back and — with no outs — had the tying run on 3rd, and the winner on 1st in the speedy form of Peter Bourjos.
For my first post on High Heat Stats, I’m taking a shortcut and recycling something I wrote for Replacement Level back in April. It’s no more or less relevant today, but I think it’s worth a little more discussion than it got in my dark corner of the blogosphere.
Bonds 73, McGwire 70, Sosa 66…
Gibson 1.12, Gooden 1.53, Maddux 1.56…
Hornsby .424, Sisler .420, Williams .406
There are single season numbers like the home run totals listed above that the average baseball fan has committed to memory (even if some fans would prefer to remember Maris 61, Ruth 60, Ruth 59…). There are others, like Gibson’s 1.12 ERA and Williams’s .406 batting average, that may not actually be all-time records, but if we look past the deadball era, they stand out so far above more recent accomplishments that we can’t forget them.
Read the rest to see the numbers you should really know.
Athletics 3, @Angels 1: The fourth time was the charm for Jarrod Parker. Given just 2 runs total in his 3 prior starts against Anaheim, Parker had gone 0-2 (and the A’s 0-3) despite his run average of 3.05; and when he gave back an early 1-0 lead on a 2-out rally in the 3rd that began with a walk to Mike Trout, it seemed more of the same was in store. But Parker allowed just one more hit through 7, Brandon Moss did his thing, and the bullpen closed it out, pulling Oakland within 3 games of idle Texas and dropping the Angels to 1.5 games out of the wild card.
With Buster Posey’s homer and two singles last night, Baseball-reference now has the Giants’ backstop with 5.8 Wins Above Replacement (WAR) for the 2012 season.
Here are the highest WAR seasons by a Giants catcher, over the history of the franchise (minimum, one game caught during the season):
1. Buster Posey (2012) 5.8
2. Roger Bresnahan (1908) 5.6
3. Walker Cooper (1947) 5.1
T4. Buck Ewing (1883 and 1888) 4.6
6. Buck Ewing (1884) 4.5
In-season WAR can do down as well as up. So it’s possible that Buster could, if he slumps in this last few weeks of the season, drop from the top spot on the list above. But the guy sure isn’t in a slump at the moment.
Highest OPS in the Majors Since the All-Star Break (min. 100 PAs):
1. Buster Posey 1.118
2. Miguel Cabrera 1.047
3. Giancarlo Stanton 1.012
4. Albert Pujols 1.011
5. Josh Donaldson 1.007
Earlier this month, Rangers’ second baseman Jurickson Profar (an early finalist for the All-Name team) made his major league debut, homering in his first PA, only the third time since 1918 that a player under age 20 has done that.
| Rk | Gcar | Player | Age | Date | Tm | Opp | Rslt | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | BOP | Pos. Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Jurickson Profar | 19.195 | 2012-09-02 | TEX | CLE | W 8-3 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 2B |
| 2 | 1 | Denny McLain | 19.176 | 1963-09-21 | DET | CHW | W 4-3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 9 | P |
| 3 | 1 | Ted Tappe | 19.224 | 1950-09-14 (1) | CIN | BRO | L 3-6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 9 | PH |
| 4 | 1 | Whitey Lockman | 18.345 | 1945-07-05 | NYG | STL | L 5-7 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | CF |
The player on the list above who didn’t homer in his first PA is pitcher Denny McLain, who nonetheless homered in his first game and (as it turned out) for the only time in his career.
After the jump, I’ll look at bit more at these and other precocious players.
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Yankees 13, @Orioles 3: Fourteen hits, 7 with RISP, pulled the Bombers clear of their see-saw tie for 1st place. Curtis Granderson came off the bench for 3 hits and 5 RBI, tying the season high for a non-starter in both categories; Derek Jeter added 2 to his MLB-best hits total, pulling him within 4 hits of the Say-Hey Kid for #11 on the all-time list; and Alex Rodriguez scored 3 runs and stands 2 behind Lou Gehrig for #10 on that list (and 28 ahead of the Captain).
Photo credit: US PRESSWIRE
The New York Yankees close out the American League entries in our Mount Rushmore series, and this one is a doozy. Continue reading
Yeah, I know. I wish I could have gotten this out sooner — say, before Saturday’s games. But as the saying goes, life is what happens while you’re busy trying to follow pennant races….
The Yankees have hit a goodly number of home runs this season, as you have presumably noticed. Through last night’s games the (well-nicknamed) Bombers lead the majors with 207 dingers, through game 138 of the season. That’s a pace that would generate about 243 homers if maintained over 162 games, which is impressive but it is hardly unprecedented. A 243-homer season would tie for the 11th-most team homers in a major league season.
Where the 2012 Yankees are on record or near-record pace is in hitting home runs off of left-handed pitchers. Details after the jump. Continue reading