I’m a little punchy, but here’s what I’ve got for you:

@Indians 9, A’s 2: Take that, skeptics. Those (like me) who scoffed at the odds of Scott Kazmir‘s comeback, 4 years since his last good season and after dropping all the way to the independent Sugar Land Skeeters, now have a reason to eat their words. Coming off his first quality start in almost 3 years, Kazmir fanned 10 while holding the AL’s #2 offense to one run in 6 innings, with no walks against the club that’s far out front in that department.

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[If you’ve had enough Harvey by now, skip down to “Other Monday action.”]

Six inches, maybe four: That’s what came between Matt Harvey and 9 perfect innings. The only blot on his line was a 2-out infield hit in the 7th by Alex Rios, gloved in the hole by Ruben Tejada with a jump-throw that was a split second late. Move that grounder a few inches to the right….

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The players in this quiz include a number of all-time greats, some sabermetric favorites, and a  couple of other guys.

So, what seasonal feat have only these players accomplished since 1901?

Hint: none of these players accomplished this feat more than once.

Congratulations to Phil, RJ and Richard Chester! They teamed up to identify these hitters as the only players since 1901 to have a qualifying season with more walks than hits, 25 or more HRs and 100 or fewer RBI. Despite the somewhat modest RBI totals, that is a pretty potent combination as 9 of the 10 seasons (listed in comment #30) scored 130 OPS+ or better, including two seasons over 200. Evidently, pitchers were justified in pitching around these guys frequently.

Belated happy 82nd birthday, Willie! May 6 is otherwise a dull day in MLB birthday history: no one else had more than Dick Wakefield’s 56 HRs, 315 RBI or 334 Runs, Walton Cruise’s 644 hits or 49 SB, or Mike McCormick’s 748 games (the ’40s OF, not the pitcher). Gerardo Parra and Jose Altuve, you have something to shoot for.

To the games we go!

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• A starting nine to honor the Kentucky Derby winner: Orber Moreno, Neal Ball, Joe Circle, Jimmy Ring, Emil Planeta, Joshua Glober, Richard Circuit, Pablo Sandoval, and this mysterious fellow. (Fight song and epic poems supplied by Henri Rondeau.)
• Unless KC wins their next 4 games, this will be 2nd straight year that no team won more than 20 of their first 31 games. The last such year was 1996.

And now to the games. As always, I’m sorry if your faves are neglected; no slight is intended.

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This post is for voting and discussion in the eighteenth round of balloting for the Circle of Greats.  This round adds those players born in 1953. Rules and lists are after the jump.  Continue reading →

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067128/

Voters got Carter, Gary Carter, as the 17th inductee into the Circle of Greats.  It is sad indeed that Gary is the first of our inductees to be voted in posthumously.  More on Carter and the voting after the jump. Continue reading →

@Marlins 2, Phillies 0: Youth shall be served. At the very least, with Miami, youth shall get playing time. Jose Fernandez (20) earned his first victory with a dazzler, allowing a hit to the 2nd batter and no more through 7 innings, while 22-year-old slugger Marcell Ozuna supplied the only run needful with his first career HR. Fernandez fanned 9, and sent 17 straight to the dugout between the hit and his only walk, both by Freddy Galvis. The other run off Cole Hamels was career HR #2 for Chris Valaika, who added a hit-saving play.

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This just in – strikeouts are up again in 2013, averaging more than 7.5 per 9 innings. This is the 10th year-over-year increase in the past 14 seasons, and the 5th straight year setting a new all-time high. Not news to most readers here. Question, though, is this – is it good for the game? Does striking out a lot as the price for belting more homers really help a team score more runs? At what point, if any, does the cost outweigh the benefits?

What follows is a visual statistical analysis of strikeouts and home runs, the relationship between the two, and how that relationship contributes to or detracts from run scoring. No heavy lifting, but I hope you may come away with some new insights on this very pervasive influence on today’s game.

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@Giants 2, Dodgers 1: LA is 13-15, but games like this make it seem like they’re 10 games under. A typical effort by Clayton Kershaw (1 run in 7 IP) went for nought as the bats failed time and time and time again to get the timely hit. They parlayed 18 baserunners (11 hits, 7 walks) into a single run, scored by Kershaw himself after he opened the 5th with a double, their only extra-base hit.

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