@Diamondbacks 10, Cardinals 9 (16): Ian Kennedy‘s pinch-sac-bunt, which was followed by Cliff Pennington‘s game-winning single, was valued at -0.013 WPA. Pardon the Snakes if they disagree. Arizona’s tying sac fly in the 12th was also set up with a sacrifice, by Gerardo Parra. He also homered, tripled and stole a base, becoming the first since Kenny Lofton ’92 with that assortment.
If you subscribe to USA Today Sports Weekly (which grew from Baseball Weekly) or buy it in your local news stand, you may have noticed that High Heat Stats is now a contributor:
This week’s piece is about high-leverage RBI as a fraction of a player’s total RBI, and shows how much better Prince Fielder was than Miguel Cabrera, and why the Angels might be in trouble.
Please pick up a copy locally if you’re not already a subscriber!
Here are some quick thoughts on Yu Darvish’s near-perfecto last night.
Thomas Campbell-USA TODAY Sports
Cardinals 6, @Diamondbacks 1: After three 2-out walks by Jaime Garcia, Edward Mujica got the game’s biggest out, slipping a called strike three past Jason Kubel in the home 6th to preserve a 3-1 lead. The Cards promptly rang the Bell and pulled away. Garcia hasn’t gone past 6 innings in 3 starts against the Snakes, but he’s won them all. Here he allowed just 2 hits by Miguel Montero, including a HR.
As of the end of the 2012 season, there were 200 hitters since 1901 with a career bWAR score of 43 or higher, and 98 pitchers at or above the same WAR level for the same period. Of those 298 players, eight were featured on the roster of the 2012 Yankees, the 11th straight year the Yankees have led the major leagues in having the most such players on one team. In fact, the fewest such players the Yankees have featured in any of those 11 years is 6 in 2011, a figure exceeded in the period only by the 2004 Astros (and, of course, the other 10 Yankee clubs).
One would expect teams to do well when stocked with high career WAR players (or players who will go on to accumulate high career WAR). After all, such players must be doing something right and will probably be a help to your ball club at just about any point in their careers (with the possible exception of the very beginning or very end of a career). Sure enough, the Yankees have been a perennial contender for the past 11 years but yet have recorded just one world championship, something of a drought by Yankee standards.
So, what’s gone wrong with the Yankees’ formula for success? More after the jump.
Fresh from the humidor, it’s … The inaugural edition of Game Notes 2013!
[Cue Gene Rayburn & the funky “Match Game ’77” music. All game feats are “since 1916,” unless noted.]
Justin Maxwell / Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports
There’s Justin Maxwell, standing on third base after tripling, as he did twice last night. Here are the only other guys since 1916 to hit two triples on Opening Day:
| Rk | Player | Date | Tm | Opp | Rslt | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tony Pena | 2007-04-02 | KCR | BOS | W 7-1 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| 2 | Tommy Henrich | 1950-04-18 | NYY | BOS | W 15-10 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| 3 | Arky Vaughan | 1941-04-15 | PIT | CHC | L 4-7 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| 4 | Bubbles Hargrave | 1924-04-15 | CIN | PIT | W 6-5 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | Tillie Walker | 1917-04-11 | BOS | NYY | W 10-3 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
Tillie Walker didn’t score after either triple, but he did drive in 4.
Rick Ankiel hit a pinch 3-run homer. Although this is also a pretty rare Opening Day feat, George Kottaras did it last year for the Brewers.
Since 1916, he’s only the 11th player to hit a 3-run pinch-HR (or grand slam) on Opening Day:
| Rk | Player | Date | Tm | Opp | Rslt | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | WPA | BOP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | George Kottaras | 2012-04-06 | MIL | STL | L 5-11 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.000 | 9 |
| 2 | Mendy Lopez | 2004-04-05 | KCR | CHW | W 9-7 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.443 | 9 |
| 3 | Mark Sweeney | 1999-04-05 | CIN | SFG | L 8-11 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.204 | 9 |
| 4 | Geno Petralli | 1992-04-06 | TEX | SEA | W 12-10 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.589 | 1 |
| 5 | Terry Whitfield | 1984-04-03 | LAD | STL | L 7-11 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0.120 | 6 |
| 6 | Bobby Murcer | 1981-04-09 | NYY | TEX | W 10-3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0.029 | 8 |
| 7 | Norm Miller | 1970-04-07 | HOU | SFG | W 8-5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0.451 | 9 |
| 8 | Duffy Dyer | 1969-04-08 | NYM | MON | L 10-11 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.030 | 8 |
| 9 | Charlie Maxwell | 1959-04-10 | DET | CHW | L 7-9 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.442 | 8 |
| 10 | Frank Welch | 1925-04-14 | PHA | BOS | W 9-8 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.000 | 2 |
These were all 3-run shots, save Bobby Murcer’s pinch homer, which was of the bases-full variety. Note there may be other players who entered as a pinch-hitter and amassed 3 RBI over more than 1 plate appearance, but these are the only guys to get at least 3 RBI on the homer.
Erik Bedard got a save the easy way, pitching 3+ innings in a game that was pretty much out of reach. He’s the first guy to get an Opening Day save while pitching at least 3 innings in a long time:
| Rk | Player | Date | Tm | Opp | Rslt | App,Dec | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Terry Adams | 2000-04-03 | LAD | MON | W 10-4 | 7-9f ,S | 3.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | Kevin Jarvis | 1997-04-01 | CIN | COL | W 11-4 | 7-9f ,S | 3.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 0 |
| 3 | Mike Perez | 1995-04-26 | CHC | CIN | W 7-1 | 7-9f ,S | 3.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 4 | Terry Leach | 1993-04-06 | CHW | MIN | W 10-5 | 7-9f ,S | 3.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | Wilson Alvarez | 1992-04-07 | CHW | CAL | W 10-4 | 7-9f ,S | 3.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 6 | Jeff Robinson | 1988-04-05 | PIT | PHI | W 5-3 | 6-9f ,S | 3.2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| 7 | Bill Dawley | 1987-04-07 | STL | CHC | W 9-3 | 6-9f ,S | 4.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 8 | Mark Davis | 1986-04-08 | SFG | HOU | W 8-3 | 7-9f ,S | 3.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 9 | Ron Robinson | 1986-04-07 | CIN | PHI | W 7-4 | 6-9f ,S | 3.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 10 | Bruce Sutter | 1984-04-03 | STL | LAD | W 11-7 | 7-9f ,S | 3.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
Before Sutter in 1984, as you would guess, it was done quite often.
The Astros played their first game as an AL team 15 years to the day after the Brewers played their first game as an NL team. In that game, Bob Wickman took the loss in the 9th as Kerry Ligtenberg won despite walking 4 while recording only 4 outs. I would love it if somebody could find a link between these two games–maybe a guy who coached in one but played in the other?
As first pitch is just hours away, here are some memorable opening day performances, some by notable players and some not.
Included is Raul Mondesi’s 1999 monster game (for which the card at left was issued) and lots more. Have some fun with a tour down opening day memory lane.
I’m very, very sorry to announce the High Heat Stats Player Quiz, as whatever free time you had is about to be sucked up.
This quiz is totally free (at some point you might have to watch a video ad when you begin a new session).
To learn more about the quiz, go to the quiz page. Note that you can reach this page from the button on the navigation bar at the top saying “Player Quiz”. From there, there’s a link to launch the actual quiz.
Thanks to Sean Lahman for the use of his database, and to Aaron M. for coding this to my specifications.
Go crazy, folks!
Thanks to Adam D. for this poster concept.