Fielding in baseball (if not fielders, necessarily) is getting better all the time. Improvements in equipment, field conditions and, especially, defensive positioning, mean today’s players have a leg up on their predecessors. Indeed, today’s computer analysis of batter and pitcher tendencies is of a sophistication unimagined even as recently as a decade ago. And, to top it off, recent years have seen progressively fewer balls in play due to ever increasing numbers of strikeouts. The end result – fewer errors and fewer unearned runs.

Nevertheless, unearned runs haven’t disappeared entirely and some pitchers seem to allow more of them than others. As an example, these are the starting pitchers of 2012 (min. 150 IP) with the three highest ratios of unearned runs allowed to total runs allowed.

Surprised? I mean those are all pretty decent pitchers. Why would it be those guys? After the jump, I’ll explain why perhaps this shouldn’t be so surprising.

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I’m too glum about Detroit’s loss to cover the races, so here’s some stupid stuff instead:

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The Nationals have 89 wins going into tonight’s game against the Braves.  The most wins any second wild-card in the NL can reach after 162 games is now 92 wins.  So Washington needs just four more wins to ensure at least a wild-card game post-season spot.

The Nats in the playoffs would mean that, barring any late injury, Bryce Harper will become the eleventh teenager to appear in an MLB post-season game. Harper turns 20 on October 16, which according to the National League schedule will be a couple of games into the NLCS.  A listing of the ten kids who Bryce Harper is seeking to join as teenage post-season participants is after the jump. Continue reading →

@Dodgers 4, Cardinals 3: Twice down to their last strike, LA rallied to tie on Andre Ethier‘s single and a double by Friday’s hero, Luis Cruz — then won it when pinch-hitter Juan Rivera‘s soft liner slipped free of Daniel Descalso‘s leather. And so the second wild card race, between the lame and the halt, is tied at 76-70.

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Rays 6, @Yankees 4: Three runs in the 5th (aided by 2 wild pitches) and a typical Price-is-right performance against the Bombers helped Tampa close their gap to 3 games in the division and WC2 races. Curtis Granderson homered in the 5th (just out of his counterpart’s reach) and Alex Rodriguez went deep in the 8th, but each one also made the last out of the other’s home-run inning, with the tying run on 2nd and lead run on 1st.

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@Orioles 3, Rays 2 (14): “Words fail / Buildings tumble / The ground opens wide; / Light beams / down from heaven / They stand before my eyes; / They’re actual size, but they seem much bigger to me….” (Apologies to They Might Be Giants.)

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Sorry, couldn’t think of any clever title for this one.

Here is a short list of players to compile a most unusual season. In fact, no other players since 1901 have done so.

What are the season accomplishments that only these players have compiled?

Hint: there is a rookie playing this season who is currently on track to join this group.

Congratulations to Nick Pain! He identified that these are the only players since 1901 to have a qualifying season with an extra-base hit total more than 50% larger than their RBI total (i.e. XBH > 1.5 * RBI). Zack Cozart, the Reds rookie shortstop, is on pace to join this group. He is also on pace for the lowest RBI total for any qualifying season with 15+ HR.

Last night, Derek Jeter tied Willie Mays for 11th on the all-time hit list:

1.	Pete Rose           4256
2.	Ty Cobb+            4189
3.	Hank Aaron          3771
4.	Stan Musial         3630
5.	Tris Speaker        3514
6.	Cap Anson           3435
7.	Honus Wagner        3420
8.	Carl Yastrzemski    3419
9.	Paul Molitor 	    3319
10.	Eddie Collins       3315
11.	Derek  Jeter 	    3283
 	Willie  Mays        3283

How high might Jeter finish on the all-time list? Continue reading →

Stephen Strasburg was shut down after pitching on September 7.  The Nationals are 4-1 since then.  This says absolutely nothing about Strasburg.

There’s been plenty of talk about the team’s decision to shut Strasburg down after nearly 160 innings.  The dissenting opinion tends to revolve around the idea that the Nationals are much more likely to win the World Series with Strasburg pitching.  This is probably true, unless we’re willing to attribute his late-season struggles to incurable fatigue.  But just how much worse are the Nationals without Strasburg?  Find out after the jump

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@Brewers 8, Braves 2: For 4 innings, Paul Maholm had a lead and a tight rhythm: out, on base, out, out. But when Chipper Jones‘s boot broke the pattern, all hell broke loose — an 8-run foam-over that featured both a sac bunt and an RBI double by Yovani Gallardo, who won his 7th straight decision.

• Remember when St. Louis had the NL’s top offense? Over the teams’ last 43 games, the Cards have averaged an OK 4.30 R/G, while the Crew has bubbled up to 5.67.
• Gallardo isn’t just consistent from year to year (ERA+ from 105-111 each of the last 4 seasons); he’s sneakily consistent in putting up Quality Starts. Would you have guessed that a guy outside the top 20 in ERA (3.72) is #1 in both number and percentage of Quality Starts? Gallardo has 24 QS in 30 starts, with a personal record of 15-3 and a 19-5 team mark in those games.

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