@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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(Didn’t have much time for this set, alas.)

Padres 4, @Cubs 2: If it wasn’t for the two pitching changes, you could say the Pads’ 2-out, 4-run rally in the 8th happened quickly: With 2 on already, it went RBI single, pitching change, first-pitch tying passed ball, walk, pitching change, RBI single, steal, RBI single, and at last, the always-defensible frustration plunking of Carlos Quentin.

• All kidding aside … Travis Wood took a tough loss, reaching 2-2 with a 2.50 ERA and 0.91 WHIP through 6 starts. His ERA in 4 “not-wins” is 2.93.
• Travis also pulled off the second twirler’s burglary of the young season; there were but 3 all last year. In the opposing dugout was the other 2013 yegg, Andrew Cashner.
• Thanks to the fine efforts of Shawn Camp and Brad Brach in this contest, the ROOGYs claimed an early 11-10 lead in the always-hilarious “walked-the-only-guy(s)-they-were-brought-in-to-face” battle. The LOOGYs dominated the competition last year, 61-37. I see TBS summer filler potential.

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Nationals 2, @Braves 0: On the heels of his 1-hit, 1-0 shutout of the Reds, Jordan Zimmermann stiffed Atlanta for 8 innings on 2 hits, a single by Justin Upton in the 1st and a double in the 3rd by Paul Maholm. Continue reading →

For all you squeaky wheels….

Giants 2, @D-backs 1: “It seems like every time I leave one of those up it’s getting crushed right now,” said J.J. Putz. Well, there’s “up,” and there’s “thigh-high roller in the geographic center of the QuesTec zone.” Good luck getting that pitch past those thighs. Panda’s 15 for 29 with RISP so far.

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In Oakland Sunday afternoon, the Orioles screwed up two bunt plays in the 10th and lost, the run scoring on an overthrow at third base. They probably would have lost even if A’s third-base coach Mike Gallego had not been allowed to get so close to his runner, while alerting him to the overthrow, that he stepped on the foul line (which is fair territory) just afterwards, while the play was still on.

Did Gallego violate the rules?

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Here’s a unusual list of players, with a healthy dose of HOFers, including some all-time slugging leaders. Plus … some other players.

But there is a common thread that connects only these players, among all those to play their entire careers since 1901.

1. Hank Aaron
2. Babe Ruth
3. Willie Mays
4. Jimmie Foxx
5. Rogers Hornsby
6. Ron Fairly
7. Phil Cavarretta
8. Waite Hoyt
9. Jay Johnstone
10. Elmer Valo

Hint: think Thomas Wolfe.

Congratulations to Nomar’s Ghost and Richard Chester who teamed up to identify the players on the list as those to play in 20 or more seasons, starting and ending in the same city, but with a different franchise.

@D-backs 3, Rockies 2 (10): Patience at the plate usually pays off, but don’t tell that to the Rockies right now. They drew 7 walks from Arizona starter Wade Miley in his 4.1 innings, including 4 in the opening frame, but didn’t score off him.

A start with 7+ walks in 13 outs or less, but no runs, hadn’t happened in more than 50 years. But we’ll get to that.

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This post is for voting and discussion in the seventeenth round of balloting for the Circle of Greats. This round adds those players born in 1954. Rules and lists are after the jump.  Continue reading →