November 8, 2009
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News, Notes and Quotes (September 28, 2004)by Aaron GleemanSeptember 28, 2004 The New Dave Kingman I was reading a game recap of Los Angeles' 7-4 win over San Francisco the other day when I saw Dodgers second baseman Alex Cora described as "light-hitting." Cora hit a solo homer in the game, his second home run in two days, giving him 10 long balls in 396 at-bats on the year. While those power numbers aren't going to make anyone forget about Barry Bonds, 10 homers for a platoon middle infielder playing half his games in Dodger Stadium seemed pretty good to me. Then I looked at his other stats and noticed that Cora has 10 homers and four triples this year, but has managed just nine doubles. This struck me as odd, so I did a little digging. Cora should go over 400 at-bats in the final week of the season, and if he can do so without hitting his 10th double of the year, he'd join a pretty exclusive group. Here's the complete list of players since 1900 who have accumulated at least 400 at-bats in a season, hit at least 10 home runs, and failed to reach double-digits in doubles: HITTER YEAR 2B AB HR Tom Haller 1965 4 422 16 Jimmie Hall 1967 8 401 16 Curt Blefary 1968 8 451 15 John Bateman 1963 8 404 10 Charlie Neal 1958 9 473 22 Gus Zernial 1955 9 413 30 Darrell Evans 1988 9 437 22 Willard Marshall 1942 9 401 11 Jim Sundberg 1986 9 429 12 Willie Kirkland 1962 9 419 21 Dave Kingman 1982 9 535 37 Frank Thomas 1963 9 420 15Cora would slide right in there, making it a nine-way tie for fifth place all-time with the likes of Dave Kingman, Jim Sundberg, Darrell Evans and the original version of Frank Thomas. Kingman's 1982 season is my favorite from that group, as he was the only player to get over 500 at-bats and hit a league-leading 37 homers, but managed a measly nine doubles. The notable thing about Cora's potential placement on that list is that he'd be the only guy to make it on there while hitting higher than .260. In fact, while Cora is currently sporting a .270 batting average, six of the 12 guys already on the list hit below .220 and five hit .210 or lower. And in case you're curious, Cora hit four homers and 24 doubles last year and came into this season with 17 career homers and 73 career doubles. The New Les Straker Minnesota's search for a #3 starter has seemingly gone on since Opening Day, as Johan Santana and Brad Radke have been two of the top pitchers in baseball and the rest of the rotation, filled with names like Carlos Silva, Kyle Lohse, Terry Mulholland, Seth Greisinger and Matt Guerrier, has been shaky at best and downright awful at worst. Of late, Silva has separated himself from the rest of the pack with an outstanding September, going 4-0 with a 1.72 ERA in five starts this month to improve his season totals to 14-8 with a 4.16 ERA. At no point has Silva been dominant, even during this current stretch, but he's been quietly effective for much of the year. His ERA in the first five months of the season ranged from 3.76 to 5.48, so it's not as if the Twins have a new stud pitcher, but simply finding someone who might be able to beat a team in the playoffs is a lot more than they could have expected to find a few months ago. Silva, who came over along with Nick Punto in an offseason trade with the Phillies for Eric Milton, has had a very strange season, throwing 197 innings despite not being all that effective. Never a strikeout pitcher, Silva's strikeout rate has now dropped to the point that it is nearly non-existent; with 74 strikeouts, he has whiffed just 3.38 batters per nine innings to rank dead last among the 40 American League pitchers who qualify for the ERA title. Silva's 21 home runs allowed aren't bad for a guy not missing any bats, and the other reasons for his relative success are easy to spot: he has walked just 34 batters all year, forcing hitters to put the ball in play, and he has kept the ball on the ground when they do put it in play, inducing 1.59 ground balls for every fly ball hit against him. Because of the Twins' shaky middle infield defense, Silva has allowed a lofty .303 batting average on balls in play, which ranks 33rd among the 40 AL ERA qualifiers. However, he's an example of how a pitcher can be successful despite a lot of flaws. Even without striking anyone out or having great defense played behind him, Silva has gotten the job done because he's limited the walks, done a decent job keeping the ball in the ballpark, and gotten a ton of timely double plays in key spots. Whether or not that adds up to someone you want on the mound against the Yankees or Red Sox in October is debatable, but when the alternative is Lohse and his 5.31 ERA or Mulholland and his so-called "rubber arm" that was last consistently effective when the "read my lips" Bush was in office, Silva looks pretty good. Interestingly, Silva has a chance to go past 200 innings pitched and win his 15th game of the season in his final start of the year. If he can do both those things without suddenly turning into a strikeout pitcher, he could move into the top 10 for fewest strikeouts in a 15-win/200-inning season during the last 30 years. Here's what the list looks like right now: PITCHER YEAR SO IP W Bob Stanley 1979 56 216.2 16 Jack Billingham 1978 59 201.2 15 Bill Lee 1979 59 222.0 16 Jeff Ballard 1989 62 215.1 18 Lary Sorensen 1979 63 235.1 15 Dock Ellis 1976 65 211.2 17 Andy Hawkins 1985 69 228.2 18 Bob Forsch 1982 69 233.0 15 Jim Perry 1974 71 252.0 17 Gary Nolan 1975 74 211.0 15 Rick Honeycutt 1983 74 213.2 16Limiting the pool to the post-strike era, a span of soon-to-be 11 seasons, Silva would actually shoot to the very top of the list. In fact, only one post-strike pitcher has had 15 wins and 200 innings in a season without striking out at least 100 batters -- Omar Olivares, who went 15-11 with a 4.16 ERA in 205.2 innings for the A's and Angels in 1999 and struck out just 85 hitters. Coincidentally, Silva's current ERA is also 4.16. Quote of the Week From John Kruk's most recent ESPN.com column, in which he hands out his season-ending awards, called "Krukkies": MOST VALUABLE PLAYER I'm fairly certain there's no need for me to comment, so I won't. Aaron Gleeman is a freelance writer whose work can also be found regularly at AaronGleeman.com, Fox Sports, Rotoworld, and Insider Baseball. He welcomes comments, questions, and suggestions via e-mail. Commenting is not available in this weblog entry. Do you have a general question or comment for one of THT's writers? Send it in to our weekly mailbag We also welcome unsolicited op-ed pieces of approximately 500 words for consideration. We reserve the right to edit for length, clarity and consistency of style. Please include your whole name and location to be considered. If you have a comment about this specific article, please email the writer. Next Article: Around the Majors: Angels tie the A's>> <<Previous Article: Rivals in Exile: Until We Meet Again |
