Saturday:
@Mets 3, Cubs 1: Ike Davis had the big hit — a 2-out (of course), 2-run, 0-and-2 HR on a splitter that never forked — but I think Mets fans (who’ve seen so many bullpen blowups) all agree that this was the play of the game.
No, Roger Clemens is not holding an auction to pay legal defense costs. I’m talking about the White Sox’ Chris Sale, who currently has the most Wins Above Replacement (Baseball-reference version) of any pitcher in 2012. Chris is a mere tenth of a point ahead of Justin Verlander in b-ref”s WAR calculation. If you check the Fangraphs version of the current AL pitching WAR leaderboard, you’lll find that over there Verlander is first in the AL and Sale is second. By either standard, Sale is having a brilliant season thus far. What caught my eye in particular is what Sale’s current pace represents in historical terms. Details after the jump. Continue reading
In any discussion of Hall of Famers or HOF candidates, you’ll usually hear the term “compiler,” a mild pejorative meaning a player who reaches career totals in counting stats like Hits, Runs or RBI, without having great individual seasons.
The term is often applied to two of my favorite players, who I think are among the most deserving HOF candidates not yet enshrined: Lou Whitaker and Alan Trammell.
Orioles 4, @Mariners 2: In his season debut, Chris Tillman didn’t allow a man past 1st base until his last batter, with 1 out in the 9th.
Perhaps nothing is more quintessentially American as taking in a ballgame on Independence Day. Even better is if the game features some special and memorable plays.
After the jump, I’ll recount some heroic Independence Day performances at the ballpark.
Fireworks Night at the ol’ ballpark!
@Brewers 13, Marlins 12 (10): They had it all the way. After blowing a 9-2 lead, the Crew fell behind in the 10th on a Jose Reyes HR, Miami’s 5th of the game. But they came back and rang the Bell: After a leadoff 5-pitch walk to Carlos Gomez (how could you?), the struggling-again closer got the next 2 men before Aramis Ramirez mushroomed an 0-1 pitch way out to CF for his first game-ending hit as a Brewer.
Sunday afternoon, on the way home to NY from a family function in the Philly area, my grown nephew John and I stopped in Camden, NJ to see an Atlantic League game between the hometown RiverSharks and the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs.
Field level, behind the plate, day of game: $1,300 at Yankee Stadium; $13 at Campbell’s Stadium.
(And nice work with the cellphone camera, young John Autin!)
Bryce Harper is thus far the only player born in 1992 to reach the majors. His current Wins Above Replacement (WAR) (Baseball-reference version) career total of 1.4 is thus tops by default so far for his birth year.
Five players born in 1991 have reached the majors, but Mike Trout is the only one with positive WAR. At 4.8 career WAR with half a season still to play, Trout is on pace to have one of the great very-young-career starts ever, according to b-ref’s WAR. The only MLB hitters in history to reach more than 6.5 career WAR through the end of his age 20 season have been Ott, Cobb, Kaline, A-Rod, Mantle, Junior Griffey and Ted Williams.
Among players born in 1990, b-ref has Brett Lawrie as the career WAR leader with 8.3 WAR, ahead of Starlin Castro at 7.2. Fangraphs, however, has Castro ahead with 7.6 to Lawrie’s 5.5. Averaging b-ref and fangraphs puts Castro ahead 7.4 to 6.9.
More year-of-birth WAR leaders after the jump. Continue reading
Monday in Oakland, Jarrod Parker hurled 6.2 innings of 1-run ball in beating the Red Sox for the 2nd time in as many tries.
It’s the 9th time out of 14 career games that he’s gone 6+ IP allowing 1 run or less. No other pitcher from 1918 to the present had as many starts of 6+ IP and 1 run or less through 14 career games.
Three pitchers had 8 such starts: Jered Weaver, Orlando Hernandez and Dwight Gooden.