UPDATED – Game nibbles for Tuesday, April 2

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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.

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Free agency and the Yankees “formula” for success

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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.

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Notes from last night’s Astros-Rangers game

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Justin Maxwell / Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

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
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 4/1/2013.

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
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 4/1/2013.

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
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 4/1/2013.

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?

Announcing the High Heat Stats Player Quiz!

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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!

Opening Day Starters

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Throughout the winter months, this site has been primarily devoted to history.  We’ve dissected Hall of Fame cases, debated the relative merits of Circle of Greats candidates, and mulled over the value of the stats we use to measure value.  With meaningful baseball on the docket for tomorrow, let’s get back to the present.

Thirty men will take the mound in their teams’ first tilts of 2013, each representing said team’s greatest hope.  Someday we’ll dissect the Hall cases of eight to twelve of these guys, making sure to properly adjust for parks and eras and defenses.  But tomorrow is not about objective analysis and advanced metrics- it’s about baseball.  Let’s celebrate (after the jump) by slicing and dicing the 30 opening day starters by their rankings in a few categories, some more meaningful than others.

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