“In Defense of the RBI” was the title of Graham Womack’s provocative post here at HHS on Thursday, a post that led to much interesting discussion on the topic of Runs Batted In and alternative statistics. Let’s suppose we want a stat that does what the RBI stat does, but narrowing some of its flaws. How might that be done? One approach is after the jump. Continue reading
(Trying out a different format here; let me know how it plays. I can only scratch the surface of all that happened on this crazy day.)
Phil Humber‘s perfect game was the first CG shutout this year by a non-Giants pitcher.
I still haven’t seen a clear angle on that last pitch, but I think Brendan Ryan might be feeling what Dale Mitchell always felt. (Go to the 2:50 mark.)
Lest we think that personnel decisions have been taken over completely by objective analysis, consider the case of Darren O’Day.
The Cardinals have one of the richest histories in baseball, right?
They’ve won more modern pennants and World Series titles than any other NL team, right? (18, 11)
They’re the only team ever to win 105+ games for three straight years, right? (1942-44)
So isn’t it a shock … Continue reading
Jerry Lynch passed away recently. Lynch was an outfielder for the Pirates and Reds in the 1950s and 60s. He also caught a few games (and did so without a passed ball or error).
But, Lynch is remembered mostly for his prowess as a pinch-hitter. After the jump, I’ll look a bit more into how Lynch ranks among the game’s premier pinch-hitters.
The Angels faced Jim Kaat as a starter 57 times, more times than they have faced any other starting pitcher. That does seem like a lot, being more than a third of a full season worth of games and 0.7% of all the regular season games the Angels franchise has ever played. But how does it compare to the number of starts accumulated by the most frequent starting pitcher opponent for other franchises? The answer after the jump. Continue reading
I’ve been a member of the Society for American Baseball Research for about two years now, a baseball blogger for about three, and among the many things I’ve learned, certain topics raise the ire of fellow baseball researchers. Jack Morris’s Hall of Fame candidacy. Over-reliance on traditional counting stats like wins or batting average. Runs batted in.
I don’t know when the first attacks began on the RBI, a counting stat that dates to the late 19th century, though I get where some of the criticisms come from. It’s easier to drive in runs on teams that score a lot of them in good offensive eras. It’s one reason Hank Aaron had 86 RBIs and a 153 OPS+ on the 1968 Braves while Dante Bichette had 133 RBIs and a 102 OPS+ on the 1999 Rockies. By no advanced measure did Bichette have the superior season, he just was in the right place at the right time. The stat converter on Baseball-Reference.com suggests that if Aaron had played on the ’99 Rockies, he’d have had 43 home runs, 157 RBIs, and a .370 batting average.
But, as it is with Morris or sub-replacement level WAR players who manage to hit .320 (George Sisler in 1929 and Bob Dillinger in 1949, by the way), I think some of the criticisms with RBIs are unfounded. It may not be as important a stat as its proponents suggest, but it’s also not altogether meaningless or a complete fluke to drive in a run.
Justin Masterson put his team in a 7-run hole Tuesday by allowing 8 runs in 3.2 IP. But after Seattle knocked him out with 6 runs in the bottom of the 4th, Cleveland answered with 7 in their next time up, and went on to claim their 4th straight win, 9-8.
How rare is it to overcome such a disastrous start as Masterson had? Find out after the jump.
| Rk | Player | Date | Tm | Opp | Rslt | App,Dec | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mark Melancon | 2012-04-17 | BOS | TEX | L 3-18 | 8-7 | 0.0 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 2 | Pedro Viola | 2011-07-07 | BAL | BOS | L 4-10 | 7-7 | 0.0 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 3 | Phil Dumatrait | 2007-09-09 | CIN | MIL | L 5-10 | GS-0 ,L | 0.0 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 4 | Todd Jones | 2002-09-19 | COL | STL | L 6-12 | 8-7 | 0.0 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 5 | Mike Trombley | 2000-05-13 | BAL | BOS | L 1-5 | 8-8 ,BL | 0.0 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 6 | Dave Stevens | 1995-06-11 | MIN | DET | L 2-8 | 9-8 | 0.0 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 7 | Wade Blasingame | 1972-06-27 | NYY | DET | L 2-5 | GS-1 ,L | 0.0 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 8 | Warren Hacker | 1953-07-18 | CHC | NYG | L 7-12 | GS-1 ,L | 0.0 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
There are a lot of awful things to say about Mark Melancon’s performance yesterday, but this might be the worst.