Currently Historic: Down the stretch they come
by Jason LindenSeptember 06, 2012
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.
Jason has too many irons in the fire. He fancies himself a fiction writer and also writes about the Reds at Redleg Nation, books at Elephants for Bookends, and everything else at The Winesburg Eagle. Email him at winesburgeagle *at* gmail or follow him on Twitter @jasonlinden
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