By Kyle Soppe
Baseball is a game of numbers. So why not take a look at some odd stats and trends over the past week or so. This is Pickin Splinters answer to Baseball Tonight’s “Kurk Gems” as we look to identify information that would typically be overlooked.
When the Pirates lost on Sunday August 7th, they set a record for futility that even this franchise hasn’t seen. Ranging from July 25th to August 7th, the Bucco’s went from co-leader in the NL Central to 10 games back. This represents the largest drop off by a 1st place team in a 2 week span of all time.
On Monday, the dominant Roy Halladay beat the Dodgers, becoming the first NL pitcher to 15 wins. It is Doc’s sixth straight season with 15 wins, is the longest active streak, but is a long way from catching the all time mark. Greg Maddux won 15+ games in 17 consecutive seasons.
On Tuesday, Dan Uggla stretched his hit streak to 30 games. That not only matched Andre Ethier for the longest of the season, it also marked the first time this millennium that 2 players had a hit streak of at least 30 games in the same season. The last duo to accomplish this feat was Luis Gonzalez and the free swinging Vlad Guerrero in 1999. Uggla also has the honor of lowest batting average (minimum 10 at bats) prior to a hit streak of at least 30 games. When the streak started on July 5th, the Braves second basement was batting .173. This last month has raised his average to .220, still 9 points under the Mariners team batting average, which is the lowest in the MLB.
Speaking of Seattle, Tuesday night saw the anemic Mariners offense put up a 6-pack on the board and still lose at Texas. This marks the first time that they have scored 6 or more runs and lost when not playing an AL East opponent.
James Shields threw his 8th complete game of the season on Tuesday night when he led the Rays to a 4-0 victory over the Royals. He now has 11 victories, and has gone the distance 8 times. Of pitchers with at least 23 starts, Shields has the highest ratio of wins to complete games since the Expos’ (when talking odd stats, an Expo mention is fair game) Livan Hernandez won only 11 times despite 9 complete games in 2004. If Shields continues to hold the league lead in CG’s to himself, currently leads Halladay by 2 complete games, the 6’4” righty will become the shortest pitcher to do so since Steve Sparks did in 2001.
Late Tuesday night, the Indians beat the Tigers thanks to a walk off HBP. Newly acquired Kosuke Fukudome was plunked by David Pauley with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 14th inning. Fukudome became the first Japanese born player to win a game for his team by sacrificing his body. The walk-off hit batsmen would seem to be a rare occurrence, but this was actually the 6th time a game has been decided in this fashion in the last 4 seasons.
Curtis Granderson’s 1st inning home run on Wednesday night gave him 30 on the season, and upped his RBI total to 90. He is the only the second Yankee in the last 50 years to hit 30 bombs, knock in 90, and score 100 times before August 11th. Alex Rodriguez did it in 2007, the first Yankee to do so since Mickey Mantle did in 1961.
With roughly 45 games remaining on the schedule, the Pittsburgh Pirates and Arizona Diamondbacks will match last year’s win total with their next victory. On the flip side, the “DisAstro’s” would need to win as many games as they did in the first 117 games (38) in the final 45 games to equal last year’s mark.
Christian Laettner’s perfect shooting performance in 1992 vs Kentucky; Roy Halladay’s perfecto on May 29th last year; Floyd Mayweather’s unmatched 41-0 record as a pro. All of these performances are as good as one can do. Add to the list Chris Bostick’s (Aquinas Institute Class of 2011) professional debut to the list. Though slightly less earth moving, the 18 year old infielder made his debut for the Arizona League Athletics on Tuesday night as a pinch hitter, and singled in his only at bat. He would score 3 batters later on an RBI double. The following night, his encore performance was a 2-2 day with 2 RBI and a triple. Bostick has a perfect pro-career going, with a 1.000 batting average as well as a 1.000 fielding percentage. Small sample size you say? Maybe. But it would be impossible to ask for much more.
Got any MLB splinters? Share them here.
Bostick went 3-4 today, so the dream of a perfect season goes by the wayside. Gotta take a .857 average though
Dang! He made an out! 🙂
I am kinda chuckling as after reading a bunch about Joe DiMaggio – I think he would be rolling over in his grave if a .231 hitter knocked off his 56 game hit streak.
I don’t think he ever wanted anyone to beat it, let alone a Mendoza line toeing hitter. 🙂
Yea, ya gotta think this would be a tough way for Joe to lose it. But i wouldn’t worry. A .231 hitter is a .231 hitter, and as impressive as this hit streak is, he is likely to go through a similar stretch, in the opposite direction, sooner rather than later.
Low batting average or not, Uggla is hardly Mario Mendoza. One more home run and this will be his 6th consecutive season of 25 or more. That said, because of his power, he’s a little overrated…can’t field, no speed, doesn’t hit for average, strikes out too much.
Let’s give Uggla a little more credit on his hitting … he’s a .258 career hitter and he hit .287 last year. Anyway … don’t worry Joe D … it all ends by Monday.
Another Justin Verlander milestone … notched his 17th win last night and #100 for his career. 100+ wins in his first 7 seasons … that’s pretty good!
Just want to point out that one of my favorite WhiteSox, Mark Buerhle, is quietly having a nice season and potentially his best single season ERA. He’s 10-5 with a 3.06. Other than two no-hitters and being a winner, he’s got absolutely nothing in common with Verlander. 🙂
Actually, we should really only count this year as Verlander’s 6th season. He pitched 11 innings (and one zero games) in 2005. It took CC Sabathia 7 full seasons to get to 100 wins, but check this out:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/W_active.shtml
CC is now 31 and has 173 wins. He definitely has the best shot to get to 300 among active pitchers, although Felix Hernandez’s 81 wins at age 25 (for a team that hasn’t supported him very well) is nothing to scoff at either.
won zero games, that is.
“Fukudome became the first Japanese born player to win a game for his team by sacrificing his body.” – That is the most random stat I’ve seen in a while. Where would you find something like this?
Kyle? C’mon give the Montreal Expos some love. You could have mentioned that Vladdy was north of the border when he had his streak. 🙂
haha. i coulod have. but 2 mentions of the Expo’s would have been overkill
Rey .. what can i say, im good at what i do 🙂 actually i came across a website devoted to detailing HBP’s. their slogan was “trying to find the next Craig Biggio” haha
Proof that there’s a stat for everything now-a-days. I thought maybe there was a web site dedicated to statistics based on ethnicity.
The Greg Maddux stat is amazing. Too bad that the Braves did not win more World Series during their dominant run because they had some great players and teams. Too bad for the Pirates and their tortured fans…
Kyle – there is no overkill when it comes to the Montreal Expos. Viva L’Expos!
Wally… I hear there is a new movie coming out this fall – it is romantic comedy called : Wally and Justin.. Some of the previews include your write ups on Justin Verlander. 🙂
Well thank you, Chas, on your Open Thread comment. I just try to keep up.
Speaking of the Tigers, Kyle, how did Granderson go to the Yanks? Free agency or trade? Because every time I watch the Yanks he is doing something spectacular either at the plate, in the field or on the basepath. If the Tigers had him, the AL Central certainly wouldn’t be this close. In the end, I still think it’s the Tigers’ bats that will win this division over my beloved Tribe. Indians are too inconsistent despite a halfway decent pitching core of Masterson, Tomlin and now Ubaldo. Though the Indians hold the upperhand on the Tigers this year, Verlander has absolutely eviscerated the Tribe: In 2 starts he has them batting .096 with a 1.69 ERA, his best stats against any MLB team. I looked this up because Detroit has only beaten Cleveland 3 times this year, two of those being when Verlander was on the mound.
Why am I so concerned about all of this? My mother-in-law is a Detroit fan and it’s seasons like this that I consider matricide-in-law.
Haha, Smitty! 🙂 I can see why you think we have the bromance going. Yes, I guess I’m a big fan which is a bit confounding cuz he plays for the team ahead of the WhiteSox. I just think we are seeing and will continue to see some greatness from Verlander over the next several years. Any starter who can bring it at 100 mph in the late innings is special.
Rey, Grandy was dealt to that Yanks. It was a 3 team deal i believe. The center piece in the deal was Austin Jackson to Detriot. Max Scherzer also came over in that deal
i must have jinxed Bostick .. his average plummeted to .750 today after a 3-5 performance .. dude is a studdd
Re: Granderson trade, from baseball-reference.com:
Traded as part of a 3-team trade by the Detroit Tigers to the New York Yankees. The Detroit Tigers sent Edwin Jackson to the Arizona Diamondbacks. The New York Yankees sent Phil Coke and Austin Jackson to the Detroit Tigers. The New York Yankees sent Ian Kennedy to the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Arizona Diamondbacks sent Max Scherzer and Daniel Schlereth to the Detroit Tigers.