Tigers 6, @Twins 4 / Rays 10, @White Sox 4: Each Central challenger had their ace on the hill for the last time in the regular schedule. The veteran and reigning MVP left in the 8th with a 6-0 lead, allowing no ER for the 3rd time in his last 4 outings and collecting his 5th September win. The youngster had his worst and shortest start, departing in the 4th and charged with 5 ER. The Tigers came away with a 2-game lead.
Ryan Vogelsong / USPRESSWIRE
Check out some of Ryan Vogelsong’s stats in 2011 and 2012:
Stat 2011 2012 G 30 30 IP 179.2 184.2 H 164 169 HR 15 17 BB 61 61 SO 139 151 WHIP 1.25 1.24
The numbers above are, for all intents and purposes, identical. But there’s one big difference: in 2011, he allowed 54 earned runs, whereas in 2012 he’s allowed 71. Those translate into seasonal ERAs of 2.71 (2011) and 3.46 (2012), and ERA+s of 129 in 2011 and 101 in 2012.
Why has a guy who has seemingly performed exactly the same on the mound allowed such different amounts of earned runs?
Let’s dig in to find out… Continue reading
Reds 1, @Pirates no-no: Carl Hubbell (1929), Sam Jones (1955), Bob Gibson (1971): These were the only men to baffle the Bucs in the live-ball era. And now, Homer Bailey.
Nationals 7, @Phillies 3: “Nat Gio” set a franchise record with his 21st win, and
only a party pooper would dwell on Dickey’s NL-best numbers in IP, SO, QS and QS%, Game Score Average, CG, SHO, IP/GS, and being nice to kittens.
On October 27, 2011, the Texas Rangers were one strike away from their first World Series championship. They carried an impressive resume to that point: a franchise-leading 96 wins, their second consecutive division title in 12 seasons, and a six-game showdown against Detroit that culminated in a 15-5 finale for the league title.
Anyone glued to his TV last autumn knows how this story ends. David Freese ripped a triple off Neftali Feliz and the Cardinals shifted both the momentum and the result of the Series.
On September 27, 2012, the Texas Rangers are three games away from taking the AL West again. This year will mark their third succedent run at a postseason slot, an unprecedented event in club history. While it’s entirely possible that the Rangers could choke in yet another playoff push, they wouldn’t be the first to do so. In fact, nine MLB teams have clinched their division in 3+ consecutive seasons without locking down a World Series title: Continue reading
Throughout the course of baseball history, there have been nearly 20,000 men who have taken the field at the professional level. Many wash out after a cup of coffee, while a select few go on to be enshrined in Cooperstown. Needless to say, quite a few players are simply going to be lost to history. No players deserve to be forgotten, but when’s the last time you heard a rousing discussion about Hipolito Pichardo?
However, one would think that a player that won a Cy Young award and finished 2nd twice in a span of 3 seasons in the last decade would be brought up every now and then, right? Sadly, that’s not the case for one Brandon Tyler Webb. Mentions of the former D’Backs ace (in the media or elsewhere) are few and very far between these days, and it’s a damn shame.
Attention early readers — there’s a bit of new stuff at the bottom.
Indians 4, @White Sox 3 / @Tigers 2, Royals 0: All you zombies, show your faces! The race that will not die staggers hungrily into the final week, seeking brains or anything else that can make sense of it all.
We don’t always agree on everything here, but there’s at least one thing we can all agree on, right? It was a travesty when Ted Williams failed to win the MVP in his 1942 and 1947 Triple Crown seasons. And, when Lou Gehrig failed to win it 1934, and Chuck Klein in 1933, and Rogers Hornsby in 1922–despite all three both guys leading their respective leagues in HR, RBI and batting average–that was pretty ridiculous too.
But, I don’t really care about them anymore. The thing I think we all can agree on is, if Miguel Cabrera wins the Triple Crown this year, he clearly deserves to be the American League MVP.
Here’s why:
Seriously, folks. Is there anything else that needs to be said? Why is this even a controversy?
In another thread, longtime reader Topper wondered aloud: “Who is the all-time SABR whipping boy?”
In our first installment of Cannon Fodder: The Casualties of WAR, we look not at overrated players per se, but at those who managed the longest careers (since 1901) with a very poor WAR rate.
On Sunday, in their most recent appearances, Craig Kimbrel and Fernando Rodney again avoided surrendering any extra-base hits. Rodney and Kimbrel have each allowed only four extra-base hits all season. For Rodney, that means he’s allowed an extra base hit on average about one every 17.6 innings he’s pitched this year. For Kimbrel it’s about one in every 14.6 IP. Where those numbers fit historically is described after the jump. Continue reading