Currently Historic: Down the stretch they come

First, sorry for the off-week last week. Life intervened briefly, but I’m back now and ready for the stretch-run.

We have to start with Adam Dunn who continues to have the most interesting season in baseball. We’re getting close to the end of the season and AD is trying to make it close with the TTO record. He is currently on pace to finish with 390 TTOs. That would be the record, but only by three over Mark McGwire’s 387. Stay tuned.

As his pace has slowed, his, um, pace has slowed. That is, the rate at which Dunn is producing a TTO continues to decline. He’s now down to a 55.8 percent, which would trail Jack Custs and Mark McGwire for fourth all-time.

Dunn is still on pace for the ultra-rare, only-Babe-Ruth-has-done-it MLB TTO triple crown. However, at this moment, Josh Hamilton has tied him in homers. Dunn has four weeks to crack more than Hamilton. Here’s hoping he does it.

The single season strikeout record continues to look like a safe bet. Dunn is on pace to finish with 231, bettering Mark Reynolds record by eight.

Speaking of strikeouts, congratulations are in order. Adam Dunn just became the sixth person ever to strikeout 2,000 times. Thanks to Alex Rodriguez’s stint on the DL, Dunn is currently tied for fifth. Assuming, he out-Ks ARod for the remainder of the season (a safe bet), he’ll finish 2012 in fourth place (Andres Galarraga is next with only 2,003 strikeouts). After that, Sammy Sosa is about a season and a half away. If he continues to get regular playing time and stays healthy, we can expect him to approach the all-time record toward the end of the 2015 season.

There has been some movement in the strikeout race between Aroldis Chapman and Craig Kimbrel. Chapman has fallen off while Kimbrel has picked it up. Thus, Kimbrel’s rate of 16.16 batters per nine innings is now on track to be tops ever among seasons with at least 50 innings pitched. Chapman’s 15.95 places him fourth currently. These numbers could still swing wildly as we approach the end of the season, so we’ll have to keep an eye out.

We’ve had an on-again, off-again affair with the Red Sox this year, but their team pace of 355 doubles is no longer good enough to track. With just 25 games left on their schedule, they are too far of the pace for me to believe they have and chance of reaching the record of 376.

Juan Pierre is now tied for the 19th most steals ever with Maury Wills about to eat his metaphorical dust. He’s unlikely to get to 18th this year, but should pass Dummy Hoy in that spot sometime early next season.

Additional congratulations go out to Jose Reyes who swiped his 400th base since we last checked in. He sits at 404 now. Jimmy Rollins is still two away, but we here at Currently Historic certainly think he has it in him.

ARod is back now, though only just barely. He needs three strikeouts to pass Galarraga for what, with Dunn’s ascendance, will probably be fifth. He needs four runs to be 11th all-time, and just two RBI to pass Ty Cobb for seventh. Whether you like ARod or not (does anybody like ARod?) those are some neat names to be mentioned with. He’s still tied for 15th all-time in HBP.

Derek Jeter is wedged between Eddie Murray and Willie Mays on the hits list. He’ll likely pass Mays in a few weeks. He has, however, moved into sixth place all-time on the singles list. And that’s where he’ll stay for now. Willie Keeler is 85 ahead of him for fifth. He needs just six more runs to pass Mel Ott for 13th all-time. He is two HBP behind ARod and Kid Elberfeld. He’s now just three GIDP from the top 20.

R.A. Dickey is going to finish with more strikeouts than Stephen Strasburg, but suddenly, he needs to worry about Clayton Kershaw, the new leader and first to 200 this year.

Ryan Howard needs four homers to get to 300. It might be close.

Jason Giambi is still three HBP away from Andres Galarraga for 11th all-time.

Is there something I should be watching for as we approach the end of the season? Tell me about it in the comments.

A Hardball Times Update
Goodbye for now.

Jason teaches high school English, writes fiction, runs a small writing program and writes about education and literature. He also writes for Redleg Nation and both writes and edits for The Hardball Times. Follow him on Twitter @JasonLinden, visit his website or email him here.
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aweb
11 years ago

Jeter will make the top 20 in outs made, and Rodriguez the top 40. Rodriguez could make it to 6th in extra base hits (needs 9), but he’d be two full years from 5th (Mays). Could also make it to 100 SF, which would be the top 30.

Pujols will make likely it to 500 doubles, and a good month could get him past Babe Ruth into the top 50. Again, with a good month, he’ll make 1000 XBH total.

Nathan could make 300 saves if Texas wins a bunch of close ones.

I can’t see anything Clemens would achieve in 3-10 IP, but there might be something…

Will H.
11 years ago

Harper’s HRs as a teenager.

BarryL
11 years ago

You ask if anyone really likes A-Rod:  I do and I suspect many fans do.  Say what you want, but (as is stated so many times about Jeter) A-Rod plays the game right – he hustles, works hard is fundamentally sound and is perhaps the greatest all around player of the generation.  All the rest about selfishness, etc. is nonsense.

Fenderbelly
11 years ago

Jason, I really like this series, thank you for it.  TTOs are beautiful baseball – go Dunn!

Mrs. Rodriguez, no one is fooled by the “BarryL” handle.

Jason Linden
11 years ago

For the record, I actually do kind of like ARod. I mean, he plays for the Yankees who I don’t love, but he’s a great player. That question was more in the “I never see anyone say they like Rodiguez” vein.

BarryL
11 years ago

With all the A-Rod talk (ok, my fault), note that he just hit a milestone last night:  300 HRs as a Yankee.

i heard that
11 years ago

“does anybody like ARod?”
Maddona

I’ve forgotten about the Dunn quest, although I remember reading it, but the details are hazy on 390.  I suppose that must be over 4 seasons or so, and that the reason he might be a ‘contender’ is that teams past would get rid of anyone striking out at high rates??

ps, thanks for being first to call Boston out for the season grin

bstar
11 years ago

I love A-Rod. How could you not be a fan if you love counting stats? Agree with Barry above, the stuff about him being selfish or what the heck ever is a pile of horse shite.

You asked if there’s anything else you should be watching. It’s not just Craig Kimbrel’s SO/9 rate. He also currently holds the 50+ IP records for BA, SLG, OPS, and OPS+ against. Gagne in 2003 is second in a lot of these. He’s also got his SO% over 50 percent, which means he’s striking out every other batter.

rubesandbabes
11 years ago

A’s keep it going three more weeks and then lots of most rookies on a team record stuff comes to the fore..

Example: Already 39 wins for rookie pitchers – that’s a lot, right? What about rookie strikeouts by team?

==

Miguel Tejada will be forced into retirement – his counting stats are tremendous for a shortstop, way way up the list in many production categories.

Manny is done. Thome, too?

And no, I pretty much don’t like A-Rod anymore either – he is an unnecessarily semi-tragic icon who has a giant centaur painting of himself in his bedroom. He is bound for years of blame about his contract which totally unfair, but a convenient future excuse for the Yanks (A-Rod’s Yankees?) not winning.