Looking at the NL slate today.
Rockies 2, @Braves 3 – Gerald Laird‘s two-out single in the 8th inning scored Ramiro Pena from second to break a 2-2 tie and Craig Kimbrel did the rest, striking out the side in the 9th for his 13th save. For Kimbrel, it was his 21st time facing 3 batters and striking out all of them, tying him with Armando Benitez for the second highest career total, trailing only Billy Wagner‘s record 32 games.
More after the jump.
Indians 8, @Orioles 7 After sweeping the division-leading Tigers, the suddenly resurgent Indians outlasted the Orioles in 13 innings for a 4-game winning streak, tying their longest of the season. Baltimore suffered its 3rd loss when leading after 6 innings, and 2nd when leading after 7.
More after the jump.
The first list are pitchers who began their careers between 1893 and 1919. The second list are pitchers who played their entire careers between 1920 and 2000.
For both lists, only these pitchers had a particular career accomplishment. What is it?
Hint: while rare in the above periods, this feat has recently become more common, accomplished by 15 retired pitchers active since 2001.
I evidently stumped our readers with this one. The solution is that, among starting pitchers with 1000+ IP careers played entirely between 1893 and 2000, only the quiz players had a career FIP either below their SO/BB ratio, or no more than 20% higher than their SO/BB ratio. More after the jump:
How is WAR contributed by major league pitchers? At what age do pitchers become most valuable to a team? I’ll be looking at those question in response to a suggestion by mosc, a regular and thoughtful contributor to our discussions here at HHS.
More after the jump.
Johnny Cueto is thus far having a pitching season for the ages. While his level of dominance is surprising, Cueto’s past performance coming into this, his age 28 season, did project to a superior performance and possibly a career best year.
After the jump, more on Johnny Cueto and prime pitching seasons.
On Monday night, Seattle had its way with Tampa Bay, with a 12-5 thumping that stood at 8-0 after two innings. Mariner hitters feasted on the offerings of Rays’ starter Cesar Ramos who was abandoned by his defense which committed 4 errors in those first two frames.
What was notable about this game, though, was this – Ramos stayed in to pitch 6.2 innings, holding Seattle scoreless over the last 3.2 IP of that stint. It was the first game this season with a starter going 6+ innings and allowing 9 or more runs. There was only one such game last year, by Ramos’s teammate David Price, and none in 2012.
These games haven’t always been so rare (this was the 268th such start since 1946), but staying in for 6+ innings after allowing 8 runs over the first two frames is very rare indeed. More on starters who “take one for the team” after the jump.
Willie Wilson, all-star center-fielder with the dominating Kansas City Royal teams of the 1970s and 1980s showed up recently as one of the players in a quiz I was researching. Rest assured you quiz afficionados will get your chance to try your luck, but first I wanted to tell you about what I found to be a truly startling result.
Those who remember Willie will recall a lightning-fast singles hitter who, unfortunately, couldn’t take a walk to save his life. Thus, he ended up his playing days with a .285/.326/.376 slash, good for just a 94 OPS+. But, wait. Wilson parlayed that 94 OPS+ into a nice 46 career WAR in just over 2000 games. How many outfielders have done that? Actually, only Willie. And, among those with a career OPS+ of 95 or worse, there’s nobody else even close.
| Rk | Player | WAR | From | To | Age | G | PA | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Willie Wilson | 46.0 | 94 | 1976 | 1994 | 20-38 | 2154 | 8317 | 1169 | 2207 | 281 | 147 | 41 | 585 | 425 | 1144 | .285 | .326 | .376 | .702 |
| 2 | Darin Erstad | 32.3 | 93 | 1996 | 2009 | 22-35 | 1654 | 6628 | 913 | 1697 | 316 | 33 | 124 | 699 | 475 | 939 | .282 | .336 | .407 | .743 |
| 3 | Lance Johnson | 30.1 | 95 | 1987 | 2000 | 23-36 | 1447 | 5800 | 767 | 1565 | 175 | 117 | 34 | 486 | 352 | 384 | .291 | .334 | .386 | .720 |
| 4 | Marquis Grissom | 29.4 | 92 | 1989 | 2005 | 22-38 | 2165 | 8959 | 1187 | 2251 | 386 | 56 | 227 | 967 | 553 | 1240 | .272 | .318 | .415 | .732 |
| 5 | Jim Piersall | 28.5 | 93 | 1950 | 1967 | 20-37 | 1734 | 6592 | 811 | 1604 | 256 | 52 | 104 | 591 | 524 | 583 | .272 | .332 | .386 | .718 |
So, how did Willie rack up the WAR? More after the jump.
In honor of Yogi‘s induction into the COG, a related quiz involving players who have a particular game accomplishment since 2012 that no other player has managed. What is it?
| Rk | Player |
|---|---|
| 1 | Gregor Blanco |
| 2 | Zack Cozart |
| 3 | Brian Dozier |
| 4 | Austin Jackson |
| 5 | Matthew Joyce |
| 6 | Ian Kinsler |
| 7 | Gerardo Parra |
| 8 | Jose Reyes |
| 9 | Jimmy Rollins |
| 10 | Adam Rosales |
| 11 | Denard Span |
Or, maybe it is over? Congratulations to Richard Chester! He correctly identified that since 2012 only these players have produced the game-winning margin at the earliest possible moment, via a 1st inning lead-off home run on the road, en route to a shutout of the home team. After the jump, more on getting ahead early and making it count.
These players enjoy the distinction of a certain seasonal batting feat since 1901 of which only they can boast. What is it?
| Rk | Player |
|---|---|
| 1 | Mark McGwire |
| 2 | Mark Reynolds |
| 3 | Clyde Vollmer |
| 4 | Carlos Pena |
| 5 | Barry Bonds |
| 6 | Kent Hrbek |
| 7 | Jay Buhner |
| 8 | Richie Hebner |
Bonus: Hebner’s season is the most recent with what related accomplishment?
Congratulations to the Goof and Stuart! They teamed up to solve the two parts of today’s quiz, both related to efficient run production. In particular, only our quiz players have a season since 1901 with 80+ RBI produced from fewer than 100 hits. Richie Hebner’s season doing that is also on a second list of players with an 80 RBI season since 1901, with RBIs amounting to more than half of total bases. More after the jump.
Adam Dunn is now three years removed from his historic cratering to a 54 OPS+ in 2011. Since then, he has compiled almost as many strikeouts as total bases, but has still managed a modestly respectable 112 OPS+ with a nice total of 80 home runs and almost 200 RBI.
That one season of 54 OPS+ is the only time in Dunn’s 14-year career that he’s finished south of 100. While nobody else can say that about an OPS+ season in the 50s, other players have turned in truly dreadful campaigns the only time they’ve been below 100 OPS+. More after the jump on the very worst single seasons in otherwise consistently good careers.