Paul Konerko / US PRESSWIRE

The White Sox are an  original American League team dating back to 1901. The had a good amount of success early on, winning the World Series in both 1906 and 1917. Then came the infamous 1919 World Series, which they lost ostensibly because several players were paid to tank. The team then entered a long dry spell, without a 1st-place finish from 1920 to 1958. In 1959, they lost another World Series (presumably played on fair terms). The team experienced another long drought until a first-place finish in 1983, when they lost the ALCS to the eventually-champ Baltimore Orioles. From 1990 to 2006, the team never finished lower than 3rd, including a World Series win in 2005. Since then, they’ve been about a .500 team.

Let’s take a look at the best personnel this team has had. Continue reading →

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.

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.

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Asked right after the Tampa game how it felt to lose his Mets-record scoreless string on an unearned run in the 9th, the ever-placid Dickey said only, “It’s a good time to start another one.”

And how.

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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.

Hi everyone,

When I’m not posting here, I can be found at Baseball: Past and Present. I’ve kicked off a project at my website today having people vote on a 50-player inner circle for the Hall of Fame, and I’d like to invite anyone who’s interested to take part. I could also use some help getting the word out.

To vote, please visit this Google form. More info about the project can be found at this post or by emailing me at thewomack@gmail.com.

I’ve added 3 games at the top of the post, and an overanalysis of one move at the very bottom.

Red Sox 7, @Cubs 4: Franklin Morales was spot-on in a spot start, his first time in that role since 2009: 5 IP, 9 Ks (3 more than his best from 15 prior starts), no walks, 65 strikes in 80 pitches. The strike percentage was the highest in almost a year in a start of 5+ IP. He had just one 3-ball count, and fanned 5 of his last 6 batters.

• In his last 30 games, Adrian Gonzalez is hitting .226 with a .254 OBP, with 4 walks against 25 strikeouts.
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Pedro Alvarez, in photos from the last two days, approaching home plate after homering. Photos are courtesy of US Presswire.

Pedro Alvarez of the Pirates has hit 2 homers in each of the Pirates’ last two games.

Here are the last 10 times a guy has gone for 2 homers over each of 2 games:

The last time a Pirates player hit 2 homers in 2 straight games was in 2010, When Pedro Alvarez himself did it on July 20th and 21st. Before that? You have to go all the way back to Jason Thompson in 1984.

The last guy to hit 2 homers in 3 straight games was Jeff DeVanon in June of 2003.

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.

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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.

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I’ve added a few more games to the top of this post, above the solid line.

Brewers 5, @Twins 3: Just when it seemed the Crew would waste a leadoff double in the 9th and perhaps skid to a 4th straight loss against weak AL Central foes, Martin Maldonado‘s 2-out, 2-and-2, 2-run HR gave them a lead, and John Axford (working a 3rd straight day) converted his first 1-2-3 save since May 23.

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