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.
A discussion started on yesterday’s Strikeout Milestone post concerning players who have appeared in the most games on the winning side. That topic arose in response to media coverage of Derek Jeter appearing in his 1500th winning game last week.
After the break are the top 5 winningest players for each franchise, during the game-searchable era (since 1918).
Following up on a post by birtelcom concerning the continually increasing trend to more strikeouts in the game, I noticed that there is likely to be a lot of action on the strikeout milestone list this year. After the break, I’ll take a look at today’s career strikeout kings and their predecessors.
Ewell Blackwell
Baseball-Reference.com
Sidearmer Ewell Blackwell was a top NL pitcher of the late 40s and early 50s (he may also possibly be a relative of Don “Ears” Mossi, don’t you think?). Nicknamed “The Whip” for his unusual delivery, Blackwell’s best season was 1947, when he led the senior circuit in wins and strikeouts, was the All-Star game starter and, in a close MVP vote, placed 2nd to Bob Elliott of the Braves. That season, Blackwell also nearly duplicated Johnny Vander Meer’s 1938 feat of consecutive no-hitters. After no-hitting the Braves on June 18, Blackwell took a no-hitter into the 9th inning against the Dodgers on June 22, only to be foiled by an Eddie Stanky single.
Blackwell is the subject of today’s quiz because of a peculiar singularity. He is the only pre-expansion pitcher in the game-searchable era to accomplish a particular feat.
What is it that Blackwell achieved, and that no other pitcher from 1918 to 1960 could duplicate?
Congratulations to Richard Chester! He identified that Ewell Blackwell in 1950 was the only pitcher from 1918 to 1960 to record more hit batsmen than wild pitches in a season with 10 or more of each.
In Monday’s action, Carlos Ruiz was a major contributor to the Phillies attack in an 8-3 romp over the Pirates, going 3 for 5 with 3 runs scored and a stolen base. That performance pushed Ruiz’s batting average back above the .350 mark, just 4 points behind current NL leader David Wright.
So far this year, Ruiz is having one of the best seasons ever for catchers aged 33 or older. Ruiz was last batting below .300 on Apr 27 and, since racing past .350 with a 4 for 5 game on May 17, has been above the .350 mark on all but 5 days, and never lower than .344. Yet, it seems hardly anyone outside Philly has noticed.
After the break, I’ll take a closer look on what is so far a quite remarkable season.
Reading the title of this post, you might be asking “Haven’t there always been intimidation pitchers?”. What I’m referring to, though, are pitchers who intimidate batters not only with their stuff, but also because the batter isn’t always sure where the next pitch may be headed.
To this point in the 2012 season, these three pitchers (min. 80 IP) are having dominating seasons, as evidenced by their ERAs and strikeout totals.
| Rk | Player | Year | BB | ER | IP | Age | Tm | Lg | G | GS | W | L | H | R | SO | HR | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brandon Beachy | 2012 | 29 | 18 | 81.0 | 25 | ATL | NL | 13 | 13 | 5 | 5 | .500 | 49 | 24 | 68 | 2.00 | 200 | 6 |
| 2 | Ryan Vogelsong | 2012 | 32 | 21 | 82.2 | 34 | SFG | NL | 12 | 12 | 6 | 2 | .750 | 64 | 22 | 58 | 2.29 | 156 | 5 |
| 3 | C.J. Wilson | 2012 | 38 | 22 | 86.0 | 31 | LAA | AL | 14 | 14 | 7 | 4 | .636 | 57 | 26 | 76 | 2.30 | 166 | 4 |
But, they’re also on pace for allowing 50% more walks than earned runs, something that hasn’t been accomplished by 3 pitchers in the same season in more than 20 years (if it happens this year, the trio will have to include someone other than Beachy, who was shelved for the year today pending Tommy John surgery).
After the jump, I’ll take a closer look at this unusual pitching profile.
Here’s a collection of hitters including All-Stars, journeymen, and even a player many might regard as obscure. But, there is a common link connecting them, a feat accomplished since 1918 only by these players. What is this feat?
Hint: the feat is in two related parts.
The quiz has been solved. Congratulations to Richard Chester and Nick Pain, who identified that these are the only players since 1918 to homer in both their first career regular season game, and also in their first career post-season game.
In a recent post about Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez joining the 500 doubles club in the same month, there was discussion about which pairs of teammates may have accumulated the most counting stats together. So, just for fun, I’ve compiled a table of prolific teammate accomplishments.
Take a look after the jump, and please let me know of any I may have missed.
Adam Dunn is enjoying a spectacular bounce-back season from his nightmarish 2011 campaign. Presently, he is on pace for 58 HR, 132 RBI, 127 BB … and 252 Ks. He is also very likely to pass the 400 HR, 1000 RBI and 2000 K career thresholds in this, his 12th major league season.
After the jump, I’ll take a look at some similar sluggers (could be hard to find), and consider the implications of an all-or-nothing approach to hitting.
Matt Cain recorded the first ever perfect game for the Giants’ franchise, as San Francisco bombed Houston 10-0 at AT&T Park. Cain’s 14 strikeouts tied Sandy Koufax for the most ever in a perfecto. The key defensive play came on a deep fly ball by Jordan Schafer leading off the 7th, as right-fielder Gregor Blanco made a diving catch on the warning track. The final out was recorded on a true Joaquin Arias throw from deep behind 3rd base, on a weak grounder by pinch-hitter Jason Castro.
Cain’s gem is the 9th no-hitter in Giants history, following former teammate Jonathan Sanchez who no-hit the Padres without a walk on July 10th, 2009. Earlier this season, Cain logged a one-hit 1-0 shutout against the Pirates, with opposing starter James McDonald the only Buc to reach base.
This is the second perfect game this season, following Philip Humber of the White Sox who blanked Seattle on April 21st. Two perfect games in a season has happened only twice before – in 2010 by Dallas Braden and Roy Halladay, and way back in 1880 by Lee Richmond and Monte Ward. This is also the 5th perfect game in the past 4 seasons, the most concentrated grouping of perfectos ever. In comparison, the 5 preceding perfect games occurred over 14 seasons, from 1991 to 2004.