@Rays 5, Royals 1: In his last outing, Jeremy Hellickson ran into a buzzsaw named Felix and took a 1-0 loss. This time, his mates rapped out 11 hits, including 6 knocks by the bottom third of the order, a HR by cleanup man Jeff Keppinger (stop smirking!), and a couple of extra-baggers by Desmond Jennings, who’s scored 19 Runs in his last 20 games.

• In their last 30 starts, Tampa’s rotation has an 18-6 record, 2.42 ERA, 0.98 WHIP, 8.4 SO/9, and 4.3 SO/BB. The team is 21-9 in that stretch, trimming their division deficit from 10.5 games down to 4.

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In 2011, Blue Jays’ starter Ricky Romero had a breakout season with 6.2 WAR and an All-Star selection, but this year … not so much. Perhaps, another in baseball’s rich history of players who suddenly shine brightly on the biggest stage, then just as quickly fade away, never again to approach that brief flirtation with stardom?

You’ve probably heard that sentiment expressed in various ways and, perhaps, without thinking a great deal about it, presumed there was some measure of truth to it. Well, I’m here to tell you – it ain’t necessarily so. In fact, the true one-year wonder may indeed be about as likely as catching lightning in a bottle.

After the jump, I’ll look more closely at the one-year wonder phenomenon (or non-phenomenon). If you’re like me, I suspect you may be surprised.

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It’s no secret that the 2012 Rockies have had a ton of bad luck (and bad everything else) in their pitching staff; some would say they’ve already capsized. Here’s a look at some historic aspects of their struggle.

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Rays 8, @Angels 3: For the first time in their 52-year history, the Angels were swept in a 4-game series while allowing 7+ runs each game. Their record for 7+ runs is 5 straight games in 1999, all losses, but split among 2 series. The last time they allowed 7+ in 4 straight games was 2006; the last time in one series was 2000 to Toronto, but only 3 were losses.

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As has already been remarked upon, the rookie seasons of Mike Trout and Bryce Harper are reminding a lot of people of earlier rookie seasons way back in 1951 by two players who would become first ballot HOFers. The similarities include the players being the same ages, playing the same positions, and being in different leagues. Potentially, Trout and Harper could face each other in the post season, as happened with the earlier pair in 1951.

After the jump, I’ll look more at the similarities, and differences, in these pairs of players 61 seasons removed from each other.

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Posters and commenters have frequently noted here at HHS that major league hitters are striking out at an unprecedentedly high rate this season.  But it is also true that in 2012 no single team is threatening to break the all-time record for most strikeouts per game by a team.

Here are the 2012 teams whose hitters are currently striking out most frequently, along with their K per game rates:

A’s 8.43 Ks per Game
Astros 8.29
Nationals 8.20
Pirates 8.10
Orioles 8.09

You can compare those numbers to the all-time highest team season strikeout rates, after the jump. Continue reading →

I ran out of steam. Wanna help fill in the gaps?

@Royals 4, White Sox 2: Chris Sale, the AL’s SO/BB leader, tied a career high with 4 walks and took his 2nd loss since May 12. He used 2 IBBs to get out of jams, but he went to well once too often: After he wide-oned Billy Butler to load ’em with 2 out in the 7th, Salvador Perez golfed an ankle-high 1-2 pitch off the LF fence for the winning runs.

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Sure, Barry Bonds has more career home runs than anyone else, but he is not even close to being  the leader in late-inning home runs. Bonds hit 201 regular season homers after the sixth inning in his career, well behind Hank Aaron (236), Babe Ruth (233) and Willie Mays (215).

Indeed, although Bonds is the all-time career leader in homers hit in the third inning, and also the fourth inning, and he is tied with Ruth for the all-time lead in homers hit in the first inning, he is not the career leader in homers in any one inning after the fourth.  I’ll look at the career leaders in homers for each inning, one by one, but first you need some exercise, so click on “Read the rest of this entry”   Continue reading →

It ain’t easy keeping up with the Joneses….

@Braves 6, Padres 0: It’s still hard to believe he’s retiring, but Jason Marquis won’t miss him. With 2 HRs tonight, Chipper is now 8 for 17 with 5 HRs against Marquis.

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Much has been written this season about the exploits of Adam Dunn. But, until now (and with apologies to William Shakespeare), probably not this.

Dunn is among a short list of players with a peculiar “accomplishment”. Though all have played only in the expansion era, these are the only players to make this list among all players to have played their entire careers since 1901.

The quiz has been solved. Congratulations to Richard Chester! He identified that these players all have careers of 5000 PAs or more with career OPS+ of 125, yet career WAR of only 25 or less (or a 5:1 or worse OPS+ to WAR ratio). Thus, despite good offensive numbers, these players’ WAR scores are reduced dramatically due to poor defense.

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