The Hardball Times Live http://www.hardballtimes.com/main en ccalcaterra@gmail.com Copyright 2013 2013-05-17T10:40:15+00:00 And That Happened http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/blog_article/and-that-happened051713/ http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/blog_article/and-that-happened051713/#When:10:40:15 Rangers 10, Tigers 4: So much for pitching porn. Darvish wasn't exactly sharp early but he ultimately settled down. Meanwhile, who put the benzedrine in Mr. Verlander's Ovaltine? He was a hot mess. And I do mean hot. He was lighting up the radar gun in the early innings but was overthrowing and seemed to have no idea where the ball was going. Just a mechanical disaster, really, unlike I've ever remembered seeing him. Darvish ended up going eight innings and improving to 7-1.

Mariners 3, Yankees 2: Andy Pettitte left with a muscle injury. Andy Pettitte is 40. So basically, this is his life now (warning: a bit of bad language, but if you're 40, you NEED to hear this because it's 100 percent true).

Mets 5, Cardinals 2: The Mets end a six-game skid behind five hits from Daniel Murphy and David Wright. From the AP gamer about Jon Niese:
Terry Collins thought it was no coincidence the lefty rediscovered his groove in shirt-sleeve weather and paved the way for the New York Mets' slump-buster.

That word he used: I do not think it means what he thinks it means.

Pirates 7, Brewers 1: Travis Snider hit a 458-foot homer that ended up in the Allegheny River. Snider went 3 for 5 with three RBI and the Pirates won their sixth of seven.

Red Sox 4, Rays 3: Down 3-1 in the ninth, the Red Sox loaded the bases off Fernando Rodney, and Will Middlebrooks cleared them with a double. Just bananas. Oh, sorry Fernando, not bananas at all. Rodney has already blown three saves this year. He blew only two last year.

Reds 5, Marlins 3: [Craig press three keys and his "The ____ sweep the Marlins" macro is activated]. This one was competitive at least, as Mat Latos ran out of gas in the ninth and Aroldis Chapman couldn't close the deal either, sending it to extras. Brandon Phillips, who had homered earlier, hit a sac fly for the go-ahead run in the 10th.

Giants 8, Rockies 6: Down 6-0 early, the Giants put up five in the fourth and three in the sixth. I didn't see the broadcast, but I'm gonna assume the announcers said "no lead is safe in Coors Field" approximately five times. San Francisco has beaten Colorado 10 straight times.

White Sox 5, Angels 4: Yet another rally on a night that seemed to have many of them. The Sox were down two in the eighth when they scored three. The go-ahead run came on a bases-loaded walk to Jeff Keppinger, who had not walked in over 140 plate appearances so far this year.

Nationals 6, Padres 2: Stephen Strasburg pitched eight innings allowing only one earned run. Bryce Harper shook off his ailments from the fence collision in L.A. and hit a 432 foot homer in the seventh.

Read more great baseball stuff at The Hardball Times.]]> Craig Calcaterra 2013-05-17T10:40:15+00:00 40th anniversary: Bobby Valentine breaks his leg http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/blog_article/40th-anniversary-bobby-valentine-breaks-his-leg/ http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/blog_article/40th-anniversary-bobby-valentine-breaks-his-leg/#When:07:17:15
It was May 17, 1973, when Angels player Bobby Valentine broke his leg.

Valentine had been a huge prospect. As an 18-year-old in the Pioneer League, he was named league MVP. The club thought enough of him to bring him up for a few games in 1969, when he was still a teen.

At age 20, Valentine starred for the Dodgers’ Spokane club in the Triple-A Pacific Coast League. Valentine hit .340 with 29 stolen bases, 39 doubles, 16 triples, and 14 homers.

Figuring he was done with the minors, he became a major leaguer for almost all of 1971-72. The results weren’t quite what the Dodgers hoped for, though. Valentine had versatility in the field, playing all over the infield and outfield, but at the plate he was lackluster. He had virtually no power, and had a mediocre batting average.

In the 1972-73 off-season, the Dodgers sent him to the nearby Angels as part of a blockbuster trade also featuring Frank Robinson, Bill Singer, Andy Messersmith and Ken McMullen. Though Valentine’s career hadn’t quite taken off, he was still very young—just 23, an age at which many stars-to-be were toiling in the minors.

The change of scenery seemed to do Valentine a world of good. California settled on shortstop for Valentine, with occasional games in the outfield. A fifth of the way through the year, and Valentine was hitting over .300. The future appeared bright.

Then came May 17, 1973. This would be another of those games with Valentine in center. In the top of the second, Valentine’s career came to a sudden, shocking halt. Oakland’s Dick Green hit one to deep center field. Valentine went to the wall hoping to leap and rob Green of a home run. It didn’t work out that way. It really, really didn’t work out that way.

Valentine leaped up all right, but the ball missed his glove by a hair, for a home run. More importantly, gravity made a disastrous appearance. Valentine began descending, and when he did, his leg got tangled in the wall. It went between a pair of supporting poles. The wall gave way a bit, just enough to trap his leg. Then it flipped him to the ground. The middle part of his shin was bent. That middle part of a shin is never supposed to bend, but bend it did. It was the closest baseball got to a Joe Thiesman-Lawrence Taylor moment.

Valentine had multiple fractures to his right leg. He spent the rest of the 1973 season in various casts, but when they were taken off more bad news was in store for him. His bones hadn’t healed properly. Another surgery could fix it, but would mean Valentine would miss all of 1974, at the very least. He decided to play on his messed-up leg. He would play more than 100 games in 1974, but was soon relegated to backup duties. No more star-to-be, Valentine became a hanger-on. He bounced from the Angels to the Padres to the Mets to the Mariners, where his career ended in 1979, when he was still not even 30 years old.

Maybe Valentine wouldn’t have lived up to his potential. Plenty of prospects don’t. But maybe he would’ve. It’s a shame we’ll never know—and we won’t know because of the terrible injury that happened 40 years ago today.

Aside from that, many other baseball events today celebrate their anniversary or “day-versary” (which is something that happened X-thousand days ago). Here they are, with the better ones in bold if you’d rather just skim.

Day-versaries


1,000 days since Arizona signs free agent pitcher Mike Hampton.

1,000 days since Matt Stairs hits his 21st career pinch-hit home run.

4,000 days since the 2002 draft. Among the more memorable picks are these: Florida gets Josh Johnson and Scott Olsen; the Dodgers get Russell Martin; the Reds gets Joey Votto; Detroit gets Curtis Granderson; the Mets get Scott Kazmir; the Brewers get Prince Fielder; the Royals get Zack Greinke; the Rays get B.J. Upton, the Giants gets Matt Cain, and the Braves get Jeff Francoeur and Brian McCann. Oh, this is also the famous Moneyball draft where the A’s pick up Nick Swisher, Joe Blanton, Mark Teahen, and the fat catcher Jeremy Brown.

5,000 days since Steve Finley hits three home runs in one game. It’s the third time he’s done that.

6,000 days since Florida signs free agent outfielder Moises Alou.

7,000 days since Atlanta releases Ron Gant, who broke his leg in a motorcycle accident, violating the terms of his contract.

8,000 days since Mickey Tettleton becomes the 17th person to hit a ball completely out of Tiger Stadium.

9,000 days since Jack Morris throws a one-hitter. The only hit is a single in the seventh inning by Mickey Tettleton. Boy, don’t mess with Tettleton in this interval of 1,000 days.

15,000 days since Buddy Bell mashes the first of eight career grand slam.

20,000 days since Reds manager Birdie Tebbetts resigns. Jimmie Dykes will take over as interim skipper.

20,000 days since Vic Power, rather amazingly, steals home twice in one game. The second one is the winning run in the 10th inning for a 10-9 Indians triumph over Detroit.

Anniversaries


1860 Frank Mountain is born. He’ll pitch in the 1880s American Association (a major league at the time) and lead it in losses in 1883, with a 26-33 record.

1865 Al Mays is born. He’ll lead the American Association in losses in 1887 with a 17-34 record. The year before he was 11-27. Those records are more reflective of his offensive support, though.

1882 Charlie Buffinton, a pitcher who would go on to win around 200 games, makes his big league debut.

1887 Pud Galvin, the first pitcher to win 300 games (and also the first to lose 300), gives up the only grand slam of his career.

1892 The Louisville Colonels (a major league team back then) sign Hughie Jennings. He’ll go on to a Hall of Fame career.

1892 Hal Carlson, NL pitcher, is born. He’ll play for the Cubs in the 1929 World Series and then shockingly die in the middle of the 1930 season, while still a member of the club.

1893 Mickey Welch, a 300-game winning pitcher, plays in his final game.

1903 Cool Papa Bell, Negro Leaguer and Hall of Famer, is born. Legend has it he was so fast he could turn the switch off and get into bed before the room was dark. There’s truth to that legend, of a sort. Staying at one motel, he realized there was a short in the wiring causing a delay from switch to lights. Taking advantage of that, he bet his roomie he could beat the speed of dark—and then he did. And that’s how one legendary story began.

1912 The Red Sox have the official dedication of Fenway Park. They could’ve done it earlier, but management figures if they have one day for its grand opening and another for the dedication, they can sell more tickets. It’s a good idea, but Mother Nature doesn’t cooperate. It doesn’t rain enough to cancel the game, but it does rain enough to dampen attendance.

1913 The grandstand section of Comiskey Park collapses. Oops.

1913 Washington purchases veteran pitcher workhorse George Mullin from Detroit.

1915 Zip Zabel of the Cubs pitches the longest relief stint ever: 18.1 innings. He gets the win in a 19-inning, 4-3 Chicago triumph over Brooklyn.

1920 The New York Times reports that at the end of the year the Giants will evict their Polo Ground tenants, the Yankees. This report will be rescinded a few days later, but the Yankees aren’t long for the Polo Grounds either way.

1921 Hall of Famer Burleigh Grimes allows a personal-high 18 hits in one game. His line: 9 IP, 18 H, 7 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K.

1921 Iron man infielder Everett Scott plays in his 700th straight game. He’ll become the first person to play in 1,000 consecutive contests and will hold the iron man record until Lou Gehrig breaks it.

1927 Bob Smith of the Braves becomes the last pitcher to last over 21 innings in game. His line: 22 IP, 20 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 9 BB, 5 K. Unfortunately for him, it’s all for naught as the Cubs win, 4-3, and Smith gets pegged for the loss. The Cubs were just three days off an 18-inning game, too. In this game, the Cubs used three pitchers; most notably, Bob Osborn pitching 14 innings of shutout relief for the win.

1929 Pete Alexander loses his 200th game. He’s 366-200 at this point in his career, which is almost over.

1932 Tigers pitcher Billy Hoeft is born. He’ll represent them in the 1955 All-Star game and then win 20 for them in 1956.

1934 Rogers Hornsby hits his 300th career home run. He’s the first National Leaguer to do so, and third overall, behind Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig.

1934 Former Phillies great Chuck Klein returns to the Baker Bowl for the first time since becoming a Cub. He bangs out two home runs.

1939 It’s the first time a baseball game is televised: Princeton against Columbia in the Baker Bowl.

1940 Chuck Klein gets his 2,000th hit in only 1,576 games played. He is one of the fastest to get there.

1941 May 17, 1941 is a legal holiday in the state of Pennsylvania and city of Philadelphia to honor longtime A’s owner and manager Connie Mack.

1944 Boston’s Hall of Fame second baseman Bobby Doerr hits for the cycle.

1945 For the fourth straight day, rain causes the postponement of all AL games.

1947 Old Folks Ellis Kinder gets very lucky, or is almost extremely unlucky, depending on how you look at it. While he’s pitching at Fenway Park, a seagull flies by and poops on the mound, narrowly missing him.

1948 Carlos May is born. For much of his career, May will have the uniform number 17. He gets this number whenever he’s on a team that lists the player’s name on its back, so all the world can see “MAY 17”—his name, number—and also birthday. Pretty neat, eh? He’s also a two-time All-Star.

1957 Pascual Perez, Braves pitcher, is born.

1958 Stan Williams, a hard-throwing pitcher known for aiming at people’s heads, makes his big league debut.

1959 In the second game of a doubleheader, Harmon Killebrew has his fifth multi-home-run game of the month. Not bad, especially given it’s only midway through the month.

1959 Jim Perry, pitching in relief, surrenders the only walk-off walk of his career. And he can’t blame his fellow pitchers: he’s the guy who loaded the bases this inning, too.

1959 A Roberto Clemente home run ball juuuuuust misses hitting the Wrigley Field scoreboard. It flies a little to the left of it. To this day, no homer has ever hit it.

1960 The Dodgers release long-time right fielder Carl Furillo.

1961 Stan Williams out-duels Braves ace Warren Spahn and himself in 2-1 victory over 11 innings. He holds the Braves to only four hits but walks 12 batters while striking out 10. It’s one of only six times in the last 90 years a pitcher walks 12 and still gets the win.

1961 Roger Maris hits his first Yankee Stadium home run of the year and No. 4 overall. It’s a slow start, but he’ll pick up the pace as the year continues.

1961 Veteran hitter Walt Dropo appears in his last big league contest.

1961 Otto Knabe, second baseman, dies at age 76. He led the NL in sacrifice hits four times from 1907-13.

1963 Bob Allison becomes the first Twin to belt three home runs in one game.

1963 Don Nottebart hurls the first no-hitter in Astros history (or Colt .45s, as they were called back then): Houston 4, Philadelphia 1. He walks three while fanning eight in the game.

1965 Dodgers skipper Walter Alston wins his 1,000th game: His career record is 1,000-754.

1965 New York Mets release former Yankees legend Yogi Berra.

1966 Joe Torre enjoys his only four-walk game. He’s 0-for-1 in five PA. One of the walks is intentional.

1967 Tom Seaver surrenders the only walk-off home run of his career. Joe Torre hits it. It’s the third of four career walk-off blasts by Torre.

1968 After 41 straight scoreless innings, Indians ace Luis Tiant finally gives up a run. He ends up losing to Baltimore, 6-2.

1969 Pants Rowland, manager of the 1917 White Sox world champion club, dies at age 90.

1970 Hank Aaron laces his 3,000th career hit. It’s only taken him 2,460 games. He’s the ninth person to have 3,000 hits, and the first to combine 3,000 hits with 500 homers (though Willie Mays will join him in the 3,000 hit club later that year).

1971 Johnny Bench hits his 100th home run.

1971 Atlanta’s Ralph Garr homers twice in extra innings of one game, in the 10th and 12th frames.

1971 Jim Bunning helps his own cause. He hits a solo home run and drives in another run with a sacrifice fly and that’s the difference in a 3-2 Phillies win over the Reds.

1971 The Red Sox sign free agent pitcher Luis Tiant, whom the Braves cut two days previously. Tiant will go 1-7 for the Red Sox this year but then turn things around dramatically, going 96-58 over the next five seasons.

1971 As once noted here at THT, one of the most famous blooper plays in baseball history occurs on May 17, 1971. Washington infielder Tom McCraw hit a pop-up to shallow left-center, and three Cleveland defenders converged to catch it but instead ran into each other. John Lowenstein, Vada Pinson and Jack Heidemann ran into each other at full speed, and all had to leave the game after the play. McCraw got an unlikely inside-the-park home run out of it.

1971 Roberto Clemente hits a memorable clutch shot with the rare walk-off triple. There were two outs at the time, too.

1974 Hank Aaron gets his first sacrifice hit since July 27, 1961, when he bunts over Dusty Baker against Dodger reliever Mike Marshall in the eighth inning of tied game. Aaron went 7,863 consecutive plate appearances between sacrifices.

1975 Phillies reliever Gene Garber ties a modern record by recording his third win in three days.

1976 The Cubs trade Andre Thornton to the Expos for Larry Biitner and Steve Renko

1976 Jose Guillen is born. He’ll play 14 seasons as an outfielder.

1977 After reaching on a fielder’s choice in his 3,176th career plate appearances, Oakland A’s catcher Earl Williams steals second, his first ever stolen base. The embarrassed pitcher-catcher combination is Ron Guidry and Thurman Munson. Making this especially odd, Guidry’s a lefty, so you’d figure he could do a better job holding the runner. Then again, when the runner hasn’t stolen a base in over 3,000 trips to the plate, you probably aren’t thinking of him as a threat.

1977 In the very same game that Earl Williams steals his first base, his teammate Vida Blue pitches 13 innings, the longest outing of his career, but gets stuck with a no-decision as the game keeps going on. His line: 13 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 6 K. The Yankees win in 15 frames, 5-2.

1977 It must be windy. The Cubs bash seven homer runs in a 23-6 rout of the Padres.

1978 Carlos Pena is born. In the internet era, he has transformed from hot prospect to disappointment to washout to comeback player to aging vet.

1978 The Dodgers trade Glenn Burke to the A’s for Billy North, reputedly because Burke was gay.

1978 Lee Lacy sets a record with his third straight pinch-hit home run.

1979 Games don’t come much wilder than this: Phillies 23, Cubs 22 (10). Philly led 7-0, and then the Cubs came back to make it 7-6. Then the second inning began—really, that’s how it started. The Phillies scored the game’s next 10 runs, but the Cubs came back behind a trio of Dave Kingman homers, but still lost. Why yes, it was windy in Wrigley that day.

1979 After 45 days, the major league umpires strike is settled.

1982 Dixie Walker, star outfielder from the 1940s, dies at age 71.

1985 On the 12th anniversary of the play that ruined his promising playing career, Bobby Valentine manages his first game in the majors.

1985 After 990 career at-bats, Jack Perconte hits his first home run.

1985 St. Louis trades outfielder Lonnie Smith to the Royals.

1986 Slugging first baseman Fred McGriff makes his big league debut.

1988 Greg Maddux has the longest outing of his career: 10.2 innings and 167 pitches. He gets the loss.

1992 Gary Carter joins Bob Boone and Carlton Fisk in the 2,000-games-caught club.

1992 Wade Boggs gets his 2,000th hit in only 1,515 games. That's even faster than Chuck Klein.

1993 Dave Winfield hits his 500th double. He’s the 29th member of the club.

1993 It’s a pretty good week to be Mike Blowers of the Seattle Mariners: He hits a grand slam in his second consecutive game.

1994 Veteran skipper Buck Rodgers manages in his last game.

1994 The Phillies top the Expos 6-5 with two runs scoring in the bottom of the ninth. It’s one of the rare occasions where a walk-off error lets the tying and winning runs both score. Expos third baseman Sean Berry, who had just entered the game as a pinch hitter in the eighth, threw the ball away trying to nail the lead runner at the plate.

1994 It takes 12 pitches, but it’s well worth it for Kenny Lofton. On the dozenth pitch of an at-bat against Cal Eldred, he smacks a home run. It’s the only time he took more than eight pitches to homer.

1996 Jermaine Dye, MVP of the 2005 World Series, makes his big league debut.

1996 In just the 92nd game of his career, Jason Giambi lays down his second, and last, career sacrifice hit. Giambi does advance the runner, but that just allows the opposition to intentionally walk Mark McGwire, which in turn sets up an inning ending GIDP. Giambi has had over 8,100 PA since then without any more sacrifice bunts.

1997 Kenny Lofton enjoys his only 5-for-5 game. He had four other five-hit games, but all with six at-bats.

1998 David Wells throws a perfect game in Yankee Stadium in a 4-0 win over the Twins.

1999 Larry Walker hits his only inside-the-park home run.

1999 Edgar Martinez scores five runs in a game for the only time in his career.

2000 Cal Ripken passes up Hank Aaron by grounding into his 329th double play, the new record. Ripken will retire with 350 GIDP, which is still the record.

2001 Steve Trachsel becomes the first pitcher in Mets history to surrender four home runs in one inning. It happens in the third inning against San Diego.

2002 Erubiel Durazo hits three homers for Arizona in one game.

2002 Jeremy Giambi hits a memorable grand slam—a walk-off slam in the bottom of the 14th to give his new Yankee teammates a 13-12 comeback win over the Twins.

2004 Buster Narum, former pitcher, dies at age 63. In 1963, he became just the second person ever to homer in his sole at bat of the season.

2005 Mike Hargrove manages his 2,000th game. He’s 1,011-987 for his career so far.

2007 Curt Schilling allows seven doubles in one game. For most pitchers that would be a personal high, but not Schilling. He once allowed nine doubles in one game.

2007 John Mabry plays in his last game.

2007 Bill Wight, post-World War II pitcher, dies at age 85. In 1948, he led the AL in walks with 135 while posting a 9-20 record for the White Sox.

2009 Ivan Rodriguez hits his 300th home run.

2009 Joe Maddon screws up filling out the lineup card, forcing Tampa to go without a designated hitter. As a result, pitcher Andy Sonnanstine gets an RBI double in a 7-5 win over the Indians. Go figure.

2009 Mike Pelfrey balks three times in one game, the first time any pitcher has done that in 15 years (when Al Leiter did it).

2010 Arizona releases veteran reliever Bob Howry.

2010 The Red Sox and Yankees have a titanic battle. The Yankees go up 5-0 only to see Boston storm back to a 9-7 lead. The Yankees get a pair of two-run homers in the bottom of the ninth to win it, though, 11-9.

2010 Forget walk-off homers. In the bottom of the 11th of the Rays-Indians game, Tampa shortstop Jason Bartlett does something much rarer. He lays down a walk-off sacrifice bunt to win the game, 4-3. Most walk-off sacrifices are actually defensive errors, but this is the genuine thing, a sac with runners on the corners in which the winning run scores. It’s not a physical error by Indians pitcher Jamey Wright, who has a brain fart and throws to first for the fielder’s choice despite the winning run scoring.

2011 Legendary Twins slugger Harmon Killebrew dies at the age of 74.

2012 San Diego release veteran infielder Orlando Hudson, who is done. The White Sox will pick him up, but he’ll be terrible for them.

Read more great baseball stuff at The Hardball Times.]]> Chris Jaffe 2013-05-17T07:17:15+00:00 Dear Jonathan Sanchez: Do you mind if we ‘Oliver Perez’ you? http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/blog_article/dear-jonathan-sanchez-do-you-mind-if-we-oliver-perez-you/ http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/blog_article/dear-jonathan-sanchez-do-you-mind-if-we-oliver-perez-you/#When:15:10:15 Jonathan Sanchez to Oliver Perez. They're both lanky left-handers with similar stuff and around the same age who had early success before the wheels came off. The comparison is so easy that it runs the risk of seeming lazy, something I've warned about in the past, but this is one of those situations where the fit is just really strong.

Sanchez, who was cut by the Pirates after posting an 11.85 ERA in five outings (including four starts), is about to sign a minor league deal with the Dodgers. Some are using the move to belittle the Dodgers as an example of how desperate they are, but like many minor league deals, this is a low-risk, high-reward transaction.

Perez and Sanchez both had their first big year in their third season in the majors. For Perez that was 2004, where he posted a 2.98 ERA in 30 starts thanks to a 3.45 FIP and 3.62 xFIP (good for 4.4 WAR overall). For Sanchez that was 2008, where he amassed 2.6 WAR thanks to a 3.85 FIP. His 5.01 ERA was obviously high, but a .317 BABIP (as compared to his .294 career mark) and a left-on-base percent of just 67.5 contributed mightily to that number.

After 2004 Perez imploded, tallying consecutive years of below-replacement level WAR and FIPs above five. Sanchez actually had a nice run after 2008, with ERAs of 4.24 and 3.07 the next two seasons.

After finding a home with the Mets in 2006 (and even starting and pitching decently in Game Seven of the 2006 NLCS), Perez had pretty good seasons in '07 and '08, posting solid ERA's that were significantly below his FIP and xFIP. In 2009, Sanchez hit a road bump when he started just nineteen games and walked 5.86 batters per nine innings, a career high. Still, he put up a 4.26 ERA and a nearly identical FIP, so it wasn't all that bad.

Then both pitchers simply became shells of their former selves in exactly the same way: they started walking everybody. For Perez it was the 2009 season, when he became a villain in Queens by posting a 6.82 ERA and walking 7.91 batters per nine innings. He was even worse the next year (if that's possible to believe), finishing at -1.1 WAR for the season. He was released by the Mets and could not make a major league roster for the 2011 season.

For Sanchez, the crash happened last year. Like Perez, he went from walking four to five batters per nine to walking over seven, and his strikeouts decreased as well, leading to a perfect storm of terrible pitching. In 15 starts he had a 8.07 ERA, a truly horrid number. But it was last season when Perez put himself together. After finding an opportunity in Seattle's bullpen, Perez had the lowest walk rate of his career (3.09/9) and finished with an astounding 2.12 ERA in 33 appearances, pitching primarily to left-handers.

This season has been even worse for Sanchez, who now finds himself, like Perez in 2011, off a major league roster. Although his ERA was 11.85, he did have a 5.03 xFIP (a HR/FB rate of 36.8 percent, as well as a .419 BABIP, really did him in). Perez is shining once again this year with a 1.17 ERA and 3.58 FIP.

What the Dodgers need to do is what the Mariners did with Perez: put him in the bullpen and make him a LOOGY. Here are the career splits for the two relievers:

Oliver Perez
vs. lefties: .223/.315/.364 (3.03 wOBA), 3.36 xFIP
vs. righties: .243/.355/.431 (.345 wOBA), 5.01 xFIP

Jonathan Sanchez
vs. lefties: .215/.313/.363 (3.04 wOBA), 3.75 xFIP
vs. righties: .245/.356/.416 (.342 wOBA), 4.58 xFIP

Those numbers are strikingly similar, and it shows that neither is good enough versus lefties to make up for how mediocre they are versus righties. The best bet is the bullpen, where they can be mixed and matched late in the game. That's what the Dodgers should do with Sanchez, and if they don't figure it out, somebody else will.

Read more great baseball stuff at The Hardball Times.]]> Pat Andriola 2013-05-16T15:10:15+00:00 And That Happened http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/blog_article/and-that-happened051613/ http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/blog_article/and-that-happened051613/#When:10:32:15 Mariners 12, Yankees 2: This one was over almost before it started, with Phil Hughes getting knocked around for seven runs in the first inning, which he did not escape. Raul Ibanez hit two homers and drove in six off his old team. Which, I imagine, will cause some columnist who has been lauding Brian Cashman for putting together a chemistry-laden scappy bunch of no-names this past offseason to change gears and talk about how much of a mistake it was for him not to re-sign Ibanez.

Cardinals 4, Mets 2: Shelby Miller didn't get the decision and wasn't particularly sharp, but he did pitch five and two-thirds shutout innings and left with a lead. Rick Ankiel, like Ibanez,  hit a homer against his former team. He said this after the game:
"It's unfortunate we didn't win but for me it's a positive, so I'm happy about it. For me it was just fun to do because it was against that team."

Yeah, you really want to stick it to that team if you're Ankiel. I mean, after all they did to him, sticking with him for years while he completely transformed himself in the minors and dealt with multiple career-threatening injuries when just about every other team would've released him. Yep, they really had it comin'.

Rangers 6, Athletics 2: Nelson Cruz hit a three-run homer and made this diving catch off Brandon Moss. Not too shabby. Also not shabby: The Rangers have a seven-game lead in the division despite the fact they've played 25 of their 40 games on the road.

Diamondbacks 5, Braves 3: Paul Goldschmidt hit three doubles and Eric Chavez drove in three as the Braves lose yet again. They probably need to win a few in a row sometime soon or else the thing I'm comforting myself with -- that this team is gonna be streaky -- is not going to be true. They're just gonna be kinda blah.

White Sox 9, Twins 4: Who woke up Adam Dunn? He hit two homers and drove in five. But now he's gonna be up all night and that's no good.

Indians 10, Phillies 4: Cole Hamels is now 1-6 with a 4.61 ERA after being beat up by Cleveland. But at least Carlos Zambrano will be around soon to help out the pitching staff.

Astros 7, Tigers 5:  Carlos Corporan hit a tiebreaking double in the top of the ninth and Miguel Cabrera's would-be game-winning three-run home run fell just short of the wall in the bottom of the ninth to end the game. Houston finally wins one against a Tigers team which has abused the the Astros in two straight series.

Padres 8, Orioles 4: San Diego sweeps Baltimore in the two-game series behind a 17-hit attack. The Padres are now 13-6 in their last 19. A nice bounce-back after dropping all three against Tampa Bay.

Reds 4, Marlins 0: Shin-Soo Choo with two homers. He's hitting .322/.465/.589 with nine bombs on the season. Mercy.

Pirates 3, Brewers 1: Yovani Gallardo was 7-0 in his last eight starts against the Pirates, but Wandy Rodriguez outdueled him.

Cubs 6, Rockies 3: Jeff Samardzija pulls a Baseball Bugs, hitting a two-run homer and pitching eight strong innings.

Red Sox 9, Rays 2: A costly loss for the Rays as they drop not only the game but lose David Price to an injured triceps (or is it tricepts?). Meanwhile, Jon Lester improves to 6-0. Stephen Drew hit a grand slam.

Dodgers 3, Nationals 1: Zack Greinke was apparently ready to return. He allowed one run in five and a third and didn't walk anyone while striking out four. He added an RBI single to boot.

Blue Jays 11, Giants 3: Shh! Four in a row for the Jays. If they keep this up and climb back into contention a lot of early-season memes will be obsolete, eh? Ryan Vogelsong gets rocked again. He may lose his slot in the rotation.

Royals 9, Angels 5: The Angels seem less into meme-busting, as they drop two of three to the Royals. Billy Butler came into Anaheim in a slump. Then went 8-for-13 with a homer and nine RBI in the series. They must serve some good country breakfast in Orange County.

Read more great baseball stuff at The Hardball Times.]]> Craig Calcaterra 2013-05-16T10:32:15+00:00 And That Happened http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/blog_article/and-that-happened051513/ http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/blog_article/and-that-happened051513/#When:10:26:15 Pirates 4, Brewers 3: Andrew McCutchen with a walkoff bomb in the 12th. John Axford surrendered the lead in the eighth. He's got a nifty 9.20 ERA now.

Dodgers 2, Nationals 0: Clayton Kershaw stuck out 11 in eight and two-thirds shutout innings. He tossed 132 pitches, the most in his career and the most in baseball since Justin Verlander threw the same amount last August.

Padres 3, Orioles 2: Yesterday on a radio spot we talked about how automatic Jim Johnson has been, having converted 35 straight saves. Sorry for jinxing you, dude. The Padres rallied for two in the ninth giving Johnson his first blown save of the year. Johnson couldn't quite wriggle out of the jam he created for himself. Single, single, double play, HBP, single, single, blown save. Death by, well, four or five cuts.

Phillies 6, Indians 2: Jonathan Pettibone got to the bigs because of injuries but he's staying there because he's getting the job done. Two runs allowed in six and two thirds. A 3-for-4 night with three RBI for John Mayberry.

Yankees 4, Mariners 3: Felix Hernandez was cruising until he tweaked his back in the sixth and had to leave after allowing only one run. The Yankees capitalized, scoring three off Yoervis Medina and Charlie Furbush. CC Sabathia struck out 10. Allowed 10 hits too. But he kept New York close, which was good enough last night.

Reds 6, Marlins 2: Homer Bailey went the distance, striking out 10. Ricky Nolasco, in contrast, walked two dudes with the bases loaded and just had a miserable night. But hey, it's Miami.

Blue Jays 10, Giants 6: Melky Cabrera welcomed his former teammates with a 4-for-5, two RBI night. R.A. Dickey struck out 10 in six innings. The Jays put up a six-spot in the first inning off Barry Zito and that was almost all she wrote.

Rockies 9, Cubs 4: Carlos Gonzalez went 5-for-5 with two homers. And he was -- all together now -- a triple shy of the cycle.

Tigers 6, Astros 2: Miguel Cabrera had a homer, but it came after the game was effectively decided. The night before he didn't do much of anything as the Tigers routed Houston. Basically, the Tigers could be sending out a team full of Don Kellys and Andy Dirkseseseses and still be sweeping this series. Really, it's like watching an exhibition series between the big club and Triple-A or something.

Cardinals 10, Mets 4: The Mets are ... not good. Carlos Beltran is, though. He drove in four, reminding those in New York who still think he's a bum that in fact he's arguably a borderline Hall of Famer. John Gast pitched well for five innings before running into some trouble in the sixth. Still, impressive for the kid. Who, if he really takes off, we can start calling "The Great Gastby" or something. [dodges thrown fruit] or maybe not.

Rays 5, Red Sox 3: Matt Moore was smacked around for three runs in the first but then settled down and moved to 7-0 on the year. Six straight wins for the Rays.

Diamondbacks 2, Braves 0: This Patrick Corbin kid continues to impress, winning his sixth straight start to kick off the year despite walking five dudes. Double plays helped, as he had three turned behind him to get him out of jams. The Braves have lost four of five.

White Sox 4, Twins 2: Adam Dunn and Dayan Viciedo hit back to back homers. Jake Peavy was solid again. The Sox win despite two pretty clearly blown calls by umps, one at first base and one at home.

Angels 6, Royals 2: I guess Jeremy Guthrie is mortal after all. The Angels tagged him for five runs on 11 hits in seven innings. Homers from Albert Pujols and Josh Hamilton. This is how it was supposed to go.

Rangers 6, Athletics 5: Two homers from Mitch Moreland, including one that helped ice it in the 10th inning. Adrian Beltre hit one in the 10th as well. Joe Nathan was shaky as all get-out in the bottom of the inning but finally nailed it down, needing 31 pitches to do so.

Read more great baseball stuff at The Hardball Times.]]> Craig Calcaterra 2013-05-15T10:26:15+00:00 And That Happened http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/blog_article/and-that-happened051413/ http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/blog_article/and-that-happened051413/#When:10:49:15 Braves 10, Diamondbacks 1: Justin Upton went 4-for-5 with a homer and two RBIs. Chris Johnson went 3-for-4 with a homer and three RBIs. Martin Prado had a couple of hits and I suppose he was gritty. Gonna say that the first visit to Arizona for the Braves post-trade falls to their advantage.

Twins 10, White Sox 3: Aaron Hicks hit two home runs and robbed one from Adam Dunn in center. If I remember by college accounting course, that's a +3 in the home run column.

Indians 1, Yankees 0; Yankees 7, Indians 0: An old-timey doubleheader with no multi-hour break in the middle and one ticket buying access to both games. Don't see that happen much anymore. Takes a couple of rainouts to make it happen I guess. Justin Masterson was outstanding in the first, shutting out the Yankees and striking out nine. Vidal Nuno, I'm guessing a hair stylist/cosmetics mogul, pitched five innings of shutout ball himself in the second game, backed by a couple of RBIs each from Vernon Wells and Lyle Overbay. Those three names, if I had told you were important parts of a Yankees game before the season started, would have likely had you thinking the team was in last place. They're, instead, a game up in the AL East, tied for the best record in the American League.

Cardinals 6, Mets 3: Rick Ankiel's Mets debut: 0-for-3 with two strikeouts. And he made a diving stab at a catch in the seventh inning, but just missed it, which led to the Cardinals scoring three runs. He said after the game if he'd had his own glove -- which was still back in Houston -- he would have caught it. Instead he had to use a pitcher's glove. I'm actually inclined to believe him here. Outfielder gloves are gigantic.

Brewers 5, Pirates 1: Milwaukee stole six bases off Pirates backup catcher Michael McKenry. I haven't seen a defender so abused since Jerry Rice embarrassed Charles Dimry back in 1990. Maybe Jerry Glanville thought McKenry could handle throwing out Brewers base runners like he thought Dimry could cover Rice in man-to-man.

Cubs 9, Rockies 1: Travis Wood joins the increasingly long list of pitchers making the Rockies look lost at the plate lately, tossing seven shutout innings. The AP gamer said "He's the first Cubs pitcher since Hippo Vaughn in 1919 to start with eight quality starts." I'm guessing that Hippo Vaughn had no idea what a quality start was. And even if he did, it wouldn't fit the same definition of "quality start" we know today. In 1919 it probably included cigarettes, Spanish Flu masks and trips to a brothel.

Tigers 7, Astros 2: A grand slam for Andy Dirks and, ouch, a dislocated jaw for Jose Altuve. These losses are getting increasingly painful for the Astros.

Nationals 6, Dodgers 2: Bryce Harper needed 11 stitches on his chin and he jammed his shoulder hitting the outfield wall. This is the quintessential "guy who plays really freakin' hard" kind of injury, I suppose. He actually hit a chain link fence which sits in front of a scoreboard. Don Mattingly said after the game "That fencing we have is a little dangerous. If you hit that, you're going to feel it, especially face first." You know THAT's gonna be thrown back in Mattingly's face during his deposition. Man.

Royals 11, Angels 4: Five hits and five RBIs for Billy Butler, breaking a horrendous slump for Country Breakfast. Speaking of nicknames, Ned Yost called pitcher Luis Mendoza "Mendy" after the game, extending his streak of awful, unimaginative nicknames for his players to, like, 15. He and Eric Wedge probably have a little cheat sheet with every player's name on his team with a little "y" next to it in case they need to use a nickname in a postgame interview.

Athletics 5, Rangers 1: Eight Ks for A.J. Griffin. Back to back homers for Yoenis Cespedes and Brandon Moss. The A's needed this one after dropping six of their last seven.

Read more great baseball stuff at The Hardball Times.]]> Craig Calcaterra 2013-05-14T10:49:15+00:00 25th anniversary: The Jose Oquendo Game http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/blog_article/25th-anniversary-the-jose-oquendo-game/ http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/blog_article/25th-anniversary-the-jose-oquendo-game/#When:07:08:15 Jose Oquendo Game, after the Cardinals utility infielder who played such a key role in it.

On May 14, 1988, Oquendo and the Cardinals hosted the Atlanta Braves. It would prove to be a game that just wouldn’t die.

Early on it looked like it would be a good day for St. Louis. The Cardinals jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead, but things wouldn’t keep going that way. Instead, in the top of the fourth the Braves rallied for four runs against Cardinals pitcher Cris Carpenter and took the lead. They wouldn’t get to keep it for long, as St. Louis pushed a pair of runs across in the bottom of the frame. In fact, the Cardinals chased Braves starting pitcher Zane Smith from the game with just four innings pitched.

This would prove to be a day you didn’t want to lose your starter early.

After four offense-fueled innings, the game’s pace shifted. The pitchers took over, and the game remained 5-4 Cardinals until the seventh, when the Braves pushed Carpenter out of the game and tied it, 5-5.

With a tie score in the late innings, both teams could safely assume the next run would win it. That would be correct—but no one could foresee how long it would take to get that next run across the plate.

St. Louis nearly put it away in the eighth when Ozzie Smith and Willie McGee belted back-to-back singles to lead the inning. Alas, they stranded Smith on third. In the ninth the Cardinals had a pair of one-out singles, but again couldn’t score the run.

One of those ninth inning singles came from Jose Oquendo. He had just entered the game to replace first baseman Bob Horner. Well, technically Oquendo replaced relief pitcher Ken Dayley, but that was just part of a double switch. No one would ever think to have Oquendo pitch, right? Sure position players sometimes pitch in games, but only in garbage time in blowouts, not late in a tie game. It would take some really bizarre circumstances to get Oquendo on the mound. …. Not that I’m foreshadowing anything. …

The game entered extra frames, but neither team could get someone home. In a sign of the year, the umpires called both teams for balks—one on St. Louis’ Todd Worrell in the 11th and another on Atlanta’s Rick Mahler in the 12th. This was the year of the balk—the league wanted a crackdown on that arcane rule. Neither balk led to a run scoring.

As the game churned on, a key question emerged: Who was going to pitch? At a certain point in time, the bullpen runs out of arms. Atlanta, whose starting pitcher left earlier, ran into this problem first. The Braves' solution was to bring in starting pitcher Mahler in the 12th and see how long he could hold up.

St. Louis should’ve had a deeper bullpen because its starter went longer, but the Cardinals had a problem. Whitey Herzog blew through two relievers in the seventh, when Atlanta tied the game. He had a third man last just one inning before pulling him in the double switch that brought Oquendo in the game.

Ace reliever Todd Worrell lasted three full innings, allowing just one hit and a walk, but Herzog pulled him for a pinch hitter in the bottom of the 11th. On came veteran Bob Forsch, who could go a long time, but Herzog yanked him for a pinch hitter in the bottom of the 14th.

This was the ninth straight game the Cardinals played a game. Just two days earlier, they’d been in a 13-12 contest that used up his bullpen. The day before that the Cardinals played in a 16-inning marathon, with the bullpen throwing 10 innings. His staff was fried. When Herzog pulled Forsch, he had no relievers left to use.

Okay, do the best you can. Herzog called on Randy O'Neal. He’d been the starting pitcher in that 16-inning game on May 11. He threw six innings that day, and couldn’t pitch much here—but he could pitch some, right? Herzog’s basic approach was to try to win the game in each inning. There’s no point worrying about the 17th inning when it’s the 10th—and how often do games go that long anyway?

O’Neal pitched one scoreless inning, and that’s all he could give. Herzog was out of relievers, and he was out of starting pitchers who could fill the gap. Time to get creative.

That’s when he called on Oquendo. No, he wasn’t a pitcher. Yes, he was an infielder. But he had the best stuff of any position player available, so to the mound went Oquendo. Oh-kay then.

Oh, and there was one other odd little wrinkle. Because Herzog had used so many players as pinch-hitters or in double switches or whatever, when Oquendo shifted from first base to the mound, Herzog had no one to put on first. He wasn’t just out of pitchers—he was also out of position players.

Time to stay creative. Herzog moved Duane Walker, who had been playing in left, to first. In left he put Jose DeLeon—a starting pitcher. Yes, that’s right—Herzog put a pitcher in left, and a utility player on the mound.

You see, DeLeon was the starting pitcher the day before. He threw 8.2 innings, and so was far too tired in the arm to take the hill today. So that’s why Oquendo was on the mound instead.

Of Herzog’s remaining starting pitchers, he figured DeLeon would be the best bet in the bat and in the field. Not that Herzog wanted to risk DeLeon doing anything in the field. He kept switching DeLeon with right fielder Tom Brunansky. If a lefty was at the plate, he put Brunansky in right and DeLeon in left. When a righty was up, flip them. By the end of the day, DeLeon’s defensive assignment would read like this: LF-RF-LF-RF-LF-RF-LF-RF-LF-RF-LF-RF.

Oquendo nearly lost the game right away, though. The first batter he faced, Ken Griffey Sr., doubled. After an intentional walk, a single by Ozzie Virgil threatened to end the game. Griffey pushed past third and on to home, but Brunansky threw him out at the plate. Given a new lease on life, Oquendo got the next two batters out to end the inning.

He allowed another single in the 17th, but survived without any real danger. He issued a pair of two-out walks in the 18th, but Ron Gant’s line drive was snared by third baseman Tom Lawless to end the inning.

Meanwhile, Mahler was having a hell of a game for himself. Heading into the 18th, he’d already pitched six innings in relief—and surrendered just two meager singles and a pair of walks, one of them intentional walk.

But in the 18th, St. Louis finally staged a rally against Mahler. First, Brunansky hit an infield single to third, and an error by third baseman Ken Oberkfell let him advance to second. Lawless tried to bunt Brunansky to third, but Mahler fumbled the bunt and everyone was safe on to the second error of the inning. Brunansky was just 90 feet from victory—and there were still no outs. Incredibly, Jose Oquendo was about to post a victory.

However, half the Cardinals players were weak hitting backups, and one was due up right now: catcher Steve Lake. He grounded weakly to third. Oberkfell made sure to check Brunansky and then threw to first for the first out, with Lawless advancing to second.

Next, Atlanta walked Luis Alicea. It’s not listed as an intentional walk, but it’s not a bad time to give out a base on balls, as the run is meaningless and now there is a force at every base.

Up next, Duane Walkermashed a hard hit liner—but a horribly placed one. Shortstop Andres Thomas caught it and before you could say “on to the 19th inning” he threw to third to double off Brunansky, who’d been running on contact. Mahler survived. But how much longer could Oquendo?

Turns out that a fourth inning was too much for St. Louis to ask of its utility man. Though he got two of the first three batters out, he issued two walks and a wild pitch. Up came Griffey, the man who nearly ended the game about an hour earlier. This time he didn’t hit a single, but bopped a double to bring home in both runners.

Mahler had an easy 1-2-3 inning to close it out. It was one of the best relief stints of the era: eight scoreless innings with just three hits and three walks (two intentional) for the win. Atlanta won, 7-5—but St. Louis had put up a brave effort in that game from a quarter century ago.

Aside from that, many other baseball events today celebrate their anniversary or “day-versary” (which is something that occurred X-thousand days ago). Here they are, with the better ones in bold if you’d rather just skim.


Day-versaries


1,000 days since the Cubs trade Derrek Lee to the Braves.

2,000 days since the Angels sign free agent center fielder Torii Hunter.

3,000 days since Kerry Konrad, who won a contest to name Boston’s Fleet Center Arena whatever he wants it to be for a day, says he wants to call it the Derek Jeter Center. Eventually he’ll be talked into a compromise: the Jimmy Fund Center.

4,000 days since Bobby Abreu belts his 100th home run.

6,000 days since the Red Sox sign free agent pitcher Bret Saberhagen, whose career is nearly over.

6,000 days since the Marlins sign free agent pitcher Alex Fernandez.

8,000 days since the Giants release pitcher Rick Reuschel.

8,000 days since Tom Glavine sets a personal best by fanning 12 in one outing.

15,000 days since the A’s sign what’s left of veteran pitcher Joe Horlen.

30,000 days since the Reds select Edd Roush off of waivers from the Giants. He’ll return to the team where he became a star.

Anniversaries


1878 James L. Wilkinson, Hall of Fame owner of Negro Leagues’ Kansas City Monarchs, is born.

1881 Ed Walsh, Hall of Fame iron man White Sox pitcher, is born.

1886 Savvy St. Louis first baseman Charlie Comiskey breaks up a double play by running full tilt into Cincinnati second baseman Bid McPhee. The Reds are furious, but the play stands.

1890 Hall of Fame Negro League scout Alex Pompez is born.

1896 Jake Stenzel becomes first Pirate ever to tally six hits in one game.

1896 Dave Foutz appears in his last game. He was a pitcher who was good enough at hitting to double as a position player.

1899 Earle Combs, Hall of Famer who played center field for the 1927 Murders Row Yankees, is born.

1911 The Cleveland Indians play their first0-ever Sunday home game.

1912 Major league debut: Herb Pennock, arguably the least-deserving Hall of Famer ever voted in by the BBWAA.

1913 Walter Johnson runs his scoreless-inning streak to a then-record 56 innings before a run in the fourth inning ends it.

1914 White Sox hurler Jim Scott throws a no-hitter through nine innings but allows two hits and a run in the 10th, losing the game 1-0 to Washington.

1916 Rogers Hornsby hits his first home run, an inside-the-park shot.

1918 Sunday baseball is legalized in Washington, D.C.

1920 Walter Johnson wins his 300th game. He’s the 10th member of the club, with a record of 300-194.

1920 Hall of Fame spitballer Burleigh Grimes has probably the best game of his career, setting personal bests in Game Score (102) and innings pitched. His line: 14 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 9 K in a complete-game victory as Dodgers beat Cardinals, 5-1 (14). Opposing pitcher Marv Goodwin also goes the distance, though his line isn’t as good (though three of the runs allowed are unearned).

1922 The Phillies win, giving them an all-time cumulative franchise record of 2,827-2,827. It's the last time it's ever been at .500. They're now around 1,000 games under .500.

1924 It’s Babe Ruth day at Yankee Stadium. He gets the AL MVP Award, and the team’s first World Championship banner is unfurled. But the Browns win the game.

1927 It’s an all-time great pitchers’ duel as Cubs hurler Guy Bush and the Braves’ Charlie Robertson both go the distance in an 18-inning, 7-2 Cubs victory.

1927 An entire section of the Baker Bowl’s right field stands in Philadelphia collapses. Thankfully, only one person dies, but scores are injured. It could’ve been much worse, but it is still horrific.

1928 Jimmie Foxx hits the first of his 12 career walk-off home runs. It’s also his only pinch-hit walk-off home run. To this day, no one’s had 13 walk-offs in the regular season.

1928 John McGraw is hit by a car outside Wrigley Field while trying to hail a cab. He takes responsibility for it and doesn’t try to get the driver’s name.

1932 Earle Combs gives himself a nice birthday present. He celebrates his 33rd birthday by belting a lead off homer off veteran pitcher Sad Sam Jones. It’s the only leadoff homer Jones ever surrenders in 487 career starts.

1933 Al Simmons bangs out his 100th career triple.

1933 Hack Wilson lashes a walk-off grand slam, a pinch-hit one, too. Dodgers 8, Phillies 6.

1934 Lou Criger dies at age 62. He served as a big league catcher for 16 seasons.

1936 Dick Howser, the late Royals world champion manager, is born.

1936 Hall of Fame catcher Bill Dickey gets his 1,000th career hit.

1938 Enos Slaughter’s career is off to a nice start. Today he hits his second career home run, and it’s a walk-off homer.

1939 Charlie Gehringer hits his 500th double. He’s the 14th member of the club.

1939 On Mother’s Day, Mother and Father Feller come watch their son Bob pitch. They get more than they bargained for when a foul ball off the bat of Marv Owen catches Mother Feller flush in the face. She needs six stitches over her right eye.

1939 The Giants sign longtime Yankees star second baseman Tony Lazzeri.

1940 Jimmie Foxx hits arguably the longest home run in the history of Comiskey Park. It clears the left field roof.

1940 Brooklyn releases former star AL pitcher Wes Ferrell.

1941 Dizzy Dean retires. Technically, he pitches once more in 1947, but that’s just a gimmick. (As a broadcaster, he criticized the Browns, saying he could do better, so the team gave him a chance to prove it.)

1942 Cooperstown-bound first baseman Tony Perez is born.

1944 A Connie Ryan single ruins what was otherwise a perfect game for Bucky Walters in Cincinnati victory over the Braves.

1944 Stan Musial loses the ball in the sun, and it conks him on the head. Pepper Martin runs over to ask him if he’s okay and then asks if it’s okay that he laughs at Musial. Then he bursts out laughing. Can’t blame the guy, really.

1948 Dave LaRoche, a two-time All-Star reliever, is born.

1950 The Yankees farm out Billy Martin to the minors, but not before he argues with team boss George Weiss about it.

1950 Johnny Hopp gets six hits for the Pirates in one game, including two homers, as they top the Cubs, 16-9.

1952 Red Dooin dies at age 72. He served the Phillies first as catcher and then as manager.

1952 Bert Cunningham, 19th century pitcher, dies at age 86. He posted a pair of 20-win seasons, most notably a 28-15 mark with the 70-81 1898 Louisville Colonels.

1955 Long-lasting starting pitcher Dennis Martinez is born. He has a great nickname: El Presidente.

1958 The Kansas City A’s purchase Whitey Herzog from the Senators.

1959 Today is the worst known WPA game for Stan Musial: 0-for-3 with an RBI, two walks, a strikeout, a sacrifice hit, and a GIDP. WPA: -0.578 as Braves beat Cardinals, 8-7.

1961 The Indians win a great pitchers duel over the Orioles, 1-0 in 15 innings. The only run scores on a throwing error by Baltimore shortstop Jerry Adair. Ouch.

1963 Pat Borders, the eternal backup catcher, is born. He’ll play in a touch over 1,000 games in 17 seasons.

1964 Former batting champion Pete Runnels appears in his final game.

1965 Carl Yastrzemski hits for the cycle, going 5-for-5 with two home runs. He sets personal bests for total bases (14) and extra base hits (four). He also gets five RBIs.

1965 Joey Cora, infielder, is born.

1967 Mickey Mantle becomes only the sixth member of the 500-home run club. Two months later, Eddie Mathews joins him.

1967 Vic Saier dies at age 76. He replaced Frank Chance at first base for the Cubs and led the NL in triples in 1913.

1968 Don Drysdale begins his scoreless inning streak with the first of six consecutive complete-game shutouts.

1968 A young Nolan Ryan shows glimpses of his future as he fans 14 batters in a game, leading the Mets to a 3-2 win over the Reds.

1968 Veteran skipper Bill Rigney manages his 2,000th game. He’s 960-1,039 so far.

1972 Willie Mays first plays with the Mets.

1973 According to WPA, the best game for any player for the WAS/TEX franchise comes today when Toby Harrah goes 2-for-4 with two runs, a homer, three RBIs, and a walk for a 1.011 WPA. Texas 7, Twins 6.

1973 Yaz gets his first sacrifice hit in over six years and won’t have another for more than three seasons.

1975 Mets honcho M. Donald Grant fines player Cleon Jones $2,000 for “betraying the image of the club.” Jones had recently been arrested on an indecent exposure charge in Florida. (The charge was later dropped).

1977 Jim Colborn of the Royals throws a no-hitter versus the Rangers. He fans six and walks only one.

1977 Roy Halladay is born.

1978 Dave Kingman of the Cubs hits three home runs in one game and gets eight RBIs on the day. According to WPA, it’s the second greatest performance by anyone with three homers in a game. A three-run blast in the 15th is the highlight. Or rather, it’s the highlight of the game. After the game, the real highlight takes place when a reporter asks Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda what he thought of Kingman’s performance on the day. His response:

What's my opinion of Kingman's performance!? What the BLEEP do you think is my opinion of it? I think it was BLEEPING BLEEP. Put that in, I don't BLEEP. Opinion of his performance!!? BLEEP, he beat us with three BLEEPING home runs! What the BLEEP do you mean, "What is my opinion of his performance?" How could you ask me a question like that, "What is my opinion of his performance?" BLEEP, he hit three home runs! BLEEP. I'm BLEEPING pissed off to lose that BLEEPING game. And you ask me my opinion of his performance! BLEEP. That's a tough question to ask me, isn't it? "What is my opinion of his performance?


1980 It’s the best WPA game Alan Trammell ever had: 0.924 WPA. 4-for-5, one double, three runs, and two RBI. Tigers 6, A’s 5.

1980 Steve Carlton has his 10th consecutive Quality Start, his longest such streak ever. His line in that time: 8-2 W-L record, 78 IP, 46 H, 16 R, 15 ER, 26 BB, 68 K and a 1.73 ERA.

1981 George Brett injures his ankle in a game and whaps reporter on the head with a crutch afterwards. (He apologies the next day).

1983 Ben Oglivie hits three home runs in one game for the third time in his career as Brewers beat Red Sox 8-7 in 10 innings. His third homer tied it, 6-6, in the bottom of the ninth.

1983 The longest hitting streak of Darrell Evans' career peaks at 13 games. He’s 26-for-52 with six doubles, a triple, and seven homers in that span.

1984 Elmer Riddle, 1940s pitcher, dies at age 69. In 1941 he led the NL with a 2.24 ERA while posting a 19-4 record with the Reds. Two years later he led the NL in wins, with 21. Five years later he was an All-Star for the Pirates. Then he blew his arm out.

1986 Frank O’Rourke dies at age 92. The infielder hit .122 in over 60 games as an 18-year-old rookie, but managed to stay in the game until he was 37 years old.

1987 Former catcher Luke Sewell dies at age 86. He caught for the Indians and other AL teams for 20 seasons.

1988 Don Sutton records his 324th and final career win.

1989 Benny Distefano joins the exclusive club of left-handed catchers when he works the backstop for one inning. The last southpaw catcher was Mike Squires, nine years before.

1993 Wally Backman, second baseman, plays in his last game

1993 Woody Williams, one of the few pitchers to beat all 30 franchises, makes his big league debut.

1993 Jay Gainer of the Reds hits a homer run in his first at-bat—on his very first pitch.

1994 It’s the 30th/final multi-homer performance for Dave Winfield.

1994 In only his second major league appearance, relief pitcher Paul Shuey fans four in the ninth inning.

1994 The Royals retire No. 5 for George Brett.

1995 Sammy Sosa belts his 100th career home run.

1996 Dwight Gooden pitches a no-hitter: NYY 2, SEA 0. I looked it up once and figured it was against the fourth-best lineup ever no-hit.

1997 Jim Thome laces his 100th home run.

1998 Florida Marlins owner Wayne Huzienga has a hissy fit. The Marlins trade Gary Sheffield, Bobby Bonilla, Charles Johnson, Jim Eisenreich, and another guy to the Dodgers for Mike Piazza and Todd Zeile. Huzienga is upset the city won’t finance a new stadium for him and is doing this in response.

1999 Starting pitcher Ted Lilly makes his big league debut.

2000 It’s one of the wildest games of the 2000s: Expos 16, Cubs 15. The Cubs lead 6-2 early but blow it. They rally to lead 11-9 in the middle of the eighth, but that’s when things get really ridiculous. First, Montreal scores four in the bottom of the eighth for a 13-11 lead. Then the Cubs came back for four immediately after for a 15-13 lead, but Montreal scores thrice more in the bottom of the ninth. It’s not too often you see 11 runs scored in the last inning and a half and neither team’s lead is ever more than two runs.

Sammy Sosa gets five hits, Eric Young steals five bases, and Henry Rodriguez tallies seven RBI, all for the Cubs—and the team still loses.

2000 Jim Fregosi manages his 2,000th game. He is 966-1,034 in his career.

2002 Jimmy Carter throws out the first pitch in a Cuban League All-Stars game. Fidel Castro coaches him as he warms up.

2006 A month after reaching .500 for the first time in 44 years, the Astros franchise record falls back to .500 (3,519-3,519) and it’s never been that high ever since.

2006 Jim Lemon dies at age 78. He led the AL in strikeouts three straight seasons and later managed Washington for one year, 1968.

2006 Andy Pettitte ties his personal-high Game Score: 87. His line: 9 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K.

2008 The Cubs sign center fielder Jim Edmonds.

2010 Ron Gardenhire orders his team to issue an intentional walk to Mark Teixeira in order to face Alex Rodriquez with the bases loaded. This highly questionable strategy immediately backfires, as A-Rod launches his 19th career grand slam.

2012 Major League Baseball fires Shayn Das, the arbitrator in the Ryan Braun PED case.

2012 St. Louis releases reliever J.C. Romero.

2012 Young Cubs shortstop Starlin Castro messes up an attempted sacrifice bunt. Instead, he grounds into the rare 3-5-4 double play to wipe out both runners on.

Read more great baseball stuff at The Hardball Times.]]> Chris Jaffe 2013-05-14T07:08:15+00:00 And That Happened http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/blog_article/and-that-happened051313/ http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/blog_article/and-that-happened051313/#When:10:00:15 White Sox 3, Angels 0: Chris Sale was fantastic. And not just because of that suh-weet 1983 throwback jersey. A perfect game into the seventh and then the hit that inning to Mike Trout was all the Angels could muster.

Indians 4, Tigers 3: Watched this one with the girlfriend's parents. Tigers fans. Let's just say that Jose Valverde will not be getting a Christmas card from them. Her dad called the implosion before it happened. I suppose one can do that when one watches Valverde enough. In other news, lots of praise for Asdrubal Cabrera's fancy footwork on a double play in the bottom of the ninth. And it was. But if Torii Hunter was actually running it out at full speed it wouldn't have been a double play. No word on this from the announcers. Found that odd.

Reds 5, Brewers 1: Nothing so fun in this one as some things I saw in Cincinnati when I went to the game on Saturday. Best thing there: Brewers pitcher struck out a Reds hitter, Jonathan Lucroy fires it off to third base to send it around the horn and Yuniesky Bentancourt ... drops it.  Pretty epic. Here Donald Lutz drove in three. God, shut up, Lutz.

Cubs 2, Nationals 1: Storen and Soriano should film a buddy cop movie in which they take over cases from ace detectives and then totally lose the trail of the killer.

Pirates 3, Mets 2:  I suppose Matt Harvey isn't going to be near perfect every time. And plays like this and like this don't happen every day either.

Blue Jays 12, Red Sox 4: Two homers for Jose Bautista. Three more from other Blue Jays. Two of three from the Sox. Maybe that's something to grow on.

Rockies 8, Cardinals 2: After being shut down on Friday AND Saturday night, the Rockies return the favor with a gem from Jorge De La Rosa and a three-run homer from Troy Tulowitzki.

Rays 4, Padres 2: The Rays are heating up. They've won five straight. Here a homer from James Loney -- where the hell is his heat coming from? -- and solid bullpen work brought it home.

Giants 5, Braves 1: Highlight of the game was Pablo Sandoval hitting a ball into McCovey Cove and the guy in the kayak totally eating it face first into the water when he tried to get the ball. I may or may not have wished for a great white shark to eat him when it happened, but I may or may not have been aggravated at my team playing like garbage too, so there was an excuse for my hostility.

Yankees 4, Royals 2: Homers from Vernon Wells and Robinson Cano. Umpire Laz Diaz also tried to goad Hiroki Kuroda into a fight, which was simply ridiculous.

Dodgers 5, Marlins 3: Nice bounceback start for Chris Capuano, who had one to forget last Monday against the Diamondbacks. Miami cures a lot of ills.

Orioles 6, Twins 0:  Wei-Yin Chen was cruising along for five shutout innings before having to leave with an oblique strain, but the bullpen finished the shutout for him. Baltimore has won six of eight.

Phillies 4, Diamondbacks 2: Brandon McCarthy's best start of the year went for naught when Philly came back late, scoring two off Heath Bell in the ninth and then capped off by a two-run single by Ryan Howard in the 10th. Thank you, by-the-book managing from Kirk Gibson. McCarthy had 87 pitches through eight shutout innings. He has thrown over 100 pitches four times this year. You'd think he'd get a chance to pitch the ninth.

Rangers 12, Astros 7: "[Team] completes sweep of Astros" is Shift + CTRL + A on my machine. What is it on yours?

Mariners 6, Athletics 1: Kendrys Morales hit a three-run homer. Joe Saunders remains unbeatable at home. Jason Bay hit a homer and Jesus Montero had an RBI. No word what the other six or seven DHs they have did.

Read more great baseball stuff at The Hardball Times.]]> Craig Calcaterra 2013-05-13T10:00:15+00:00 30th anniversary: Reggie’s 2,000th K http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/blog_article/30th-anniversary-reggies-2000th-k/ http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/blog_article/30th-anniversary-reggies-2000th-k/#When:07:18:15
It was on May 13, 1983, that Reggie Jackson fanned for the 2,000th time.

Striking out that many times takes some doing. When Jackson began, the game’s all-time strikeout champion was Mickey Mantle, with over 1,500. That was huge back in those days, as only eight men had ever struck out 1,000 times prior to 1967.

But things were changing. No one had struck out 1,000 times until Babe Ruth, and the 1920s and '30s were very low strikeout times in general. World War II also hindered admittance to the club because many of the best players were serving overseas.

Strikeout rates went up in the 1950s and then further in the 1960s. By and large, they’ve been on an upward trend ever since. Thus, while there were only eight men who had fanned 1,000 times by Opening Day, 1967, by the time Jackson had reached that mark in 1975, he was one of 44 members.

And Jackson kept on whiffing. He fanned at least 100 times in 18 of his 21 seasons. The three times he didn’t were his abbreviated 35-game rookie season, the strike-shortened 1981 season, and his last year, when he fanned 97 times in 336 at-bats. Jackson swung for the fences and was willing to take the big miss to get the big blast.

By the late 1970s, Willie Stargell had overthrown Mantle to become the all-time whiff king. During 1982, Jackson passed up Stargell, and has been the strikeout leader ever since. Stargell retired just shy of 2,000 Ks, showing the way for Jackson to set the milestone.

Jackson did it in appropriate fashion, I suppose. May 13, 1983, began with Jackson sitting on 1,997 punchouts. Twins starter Frank Viola fanned him twice to put Jackson on the cusp of history. In the bottom of the 11th, Minnesota reliever Len Whitehouse got the historic strike three for Jackson’s 2,000th strikeout.

In the years since, despite the ever-increasing strikeout rates, Jackson remains No. 1 in batter strikeouts, and there are just five others over 2,000. Andres Galarraga was one of the first men to join Jackson over 2,000 Ks, but barely as Galarraga retired with 2,003 strikeouts.

For a while it looked like Sammy Sosa might pass him up, but Sosa aged poorly in the early 21st century, and he never got to Jackson’s 2,597 punchout total. Jim Thome likely would’ve passed Jackson up this year had any team signed him, since he’s just 49 back: 2,548 Ks to Jackson’s 2,597. But Thome went unsigned, preserving Jackson’s record.

Two active players are the others over 2,000. For a long time it looked like Adam Dunn might break the record, as he is the all-time king of the three true outcomes: home run, walk, or strikeout. But he’s having a horrible 2013, after a rotten second half in 2012, which came after a historically futile 2011. He still needs 500 more Ks and isn’t likely to get there.

That just leaves Alex Rodriguez. He is 37 years old and 564 whiffs behind Reggie. If A-Rod can recover from his hip injury and be productive enough at the plate to last several more years, he has a chance. That said, it’s not necessarily a good chance. Over his last five seasons, he fanned fewer than 564 times. He’s likely to play less as he gets older, and so he’d need to last until he’s 43 or older. That’s tough to do.

There’s no one else on the horizon that looks likely to catch Jackson. Miguel Cabrera would be the next person with any sort of shot, but he just completed his third straight year with under 100 punchouts.

Reggie Jackson is still the strikeout king, and he looks to remain so for quite some time. And the strikeout king fanned for the 2,000th time, 30 years ago today.

Aside from that, many other events today celebrate their anniversary or “day-versary” (which is something that happens X-thousand days ago). Here they are, with the better ones in bold if you’d rather just skim.

Day-versaries


1,000 days since the mother of Sadaruh Oh dies at age 108. Normally I wouldn’t include a player’s mother’s death, but … 108 years old!

1,000 days since the Mets put closer Francisco Rodriguez on the disqualified list. He is facing criminal charges for punching his father-in-law, and he injured his thumb in the process, too.

1,000 days since Jim Thome ties a record with his 12th career walk-off home run. He’s since broken the record.

2,000 days since the Brewers sign intense veteran catcher Jason Kendall.

4,000 days since the Royals hit three straight home runs in the 11th inning.

4,000 days since the Phillies all-time record bottoms out 1,243 games under .500 (8,360-9,603). They’ll tie it five days later but never go lower.

4,000 days since Carlos Beltran has his greatest game according to WPA. He’s 3-for-5 with a pair of homers and a walk in a 10-7 Royals win over Texas for a 0.916 WPA.

5,000 days since Pedro Martinez fans 15 Seattle Mariners in eight scoreless innings.

8,000 days since former pitcher Dave Dravecky has his arm amputated.

8,000 days since Robin Ventura connects for the first of 18 career grand slams.

15,00 days since Dick Tidrow makes his big league debut.

20,000 days since Eddie Mathews gets his 1,000th hit.

20,000 days since Pirates center fielder Bill Virdon has two assists in the seventh inning of a game against the Reds.

60,000 days since the Knickerbockers become the first team to wear uniforms for a game: straw hats, white shirts, and blue trousers.

Anniversaries


1886 Larry Gardner is born. He’ll be a star infielder for the Red Sox and arguably the best third baseman of his day.

1896 Elton "Ice Box" Chamberlain pitches in his last game. Aside from having a memorable nickname, he won 157 games, including a 32-win season.

1899 Hall of Famer Ed Delahanty connects for four doubles in one game.

1901 300-game winner Gettysburg Eddie Plank makes his big league debut.

1902 Outfielder Davy Jones jumps from the Browns to the Cubs. He’ll later switch to the Tigers, where he’ll play for many years.

1911 Pete Alexander pitches eight inning of hitless relief in a 16-inning, 5-4 Phillies win over the Reds. It’s the longest game of the 1911 NL: three hours and 45 minutes.

1911 Ty Cobb belts his first grand slam. It gives Detroit a 10-1 lead, but they blow it, losing 13-11 to Boston.

1912 Bob Ewing pitches in his last game. Though he didn’t make it to the majors until he was nearly 30, he won 124 games, mostly with the Reds, including a 20-11 season for them in 1905.

1912 It’s a prank with a big future ahead of it. Western Union operator Lou Proctor jokingly inserts his own name in the box score of a Red Sox-Browns game, and that will allow him to make the original MacMillan Encyclopedia.

1915 Scott Perry makes his major league pitching debut. He’ll have some very nice seasons for Connie Mack during the A’s down years but blow his arm out.

1918 Connie Mack manages his 3,000th game. His record: 1,566-1,384.

1919 Charlie Robertson makes his big league debut. He’ll throw a perfect game in his short career.

1921 The Cardinals lose, dropping their all-time franchise record to its lowest point, 458 games under .500 (2,493-2,951).

1921 A jury acquits Bernie Kauff, who was accused of throwing games. He’ll be banned for life anyway.

1923 Joe Sewell, the hardest player to strike out in history, strikes out twice in a game. It’s the first of two times he does that.

1929 It’s the first time ever that both teams have all their players with uniform numbers on their backs. The Indians top the Yankees, 4-3.

1929 Bill Doak, veteran spitballer, appears in his last game.

1933 Johnny Roseboro, Dodgers catcher, is born.

1934 Lou Gehrig hits the 15th of his record 23 career grand slams. It’s just three days since No. 14.

1934 Chuck Klein belts his 200th home run. It’s just three years and two days since No. 100. He’s the eighth person ever to reach 200 homers.

1934 Hank Greenberg records two sacrifice hits in one game for the only time in his career.

1934 Leon Wagner, Daddy Wags, is born.

1937 Angry at a balk call, Dizzy Dean leaves the mound, only to return when the crowd chants his name. He isn’t cooled down when he comes back, though; he throws at the next batter.

1937 Carl Hubbell ties Rube Marquard’s record with his 21st straight win. He’ll get to 24 before losing, and that’s still the all-time record.

1939 The St. Louis Browns trade the well-traveled Bobo Newsom and three others to the Tigers for a half-dozen players.

1940 The Indians release veteran pitcher Willis Hudlin.

1940 Johnny Mize hits three home runs in a game. It’s the third time he’s done that.

1942 Joe DiMaggio gets his 1,000th hit.

1942 Braves pitcher Jim Tobin has a historical day, becoming the only pitcher to smack three home runs in one game. He needs them, as it gives him a 6-5 win over the Cubs.

1943 Cubs pitcher Pat Malone dies at the stunningly young age of 40.

1944 Calvin Coolidge Julius Caesar Tuskahoma McLish, pitcher, makes his big league debut.

1946 The Yankees become the first team to start flying to their games on a regular basis. Some of the team, including veteran pitcher Red Ruffing, opt to take the train instead.

1947 For the second time in his career, Bobby Doerr hits for the cycle.

1949 Age be damned, 42 year old Luke Appling hits an inside-the-park home run. Hall of Famer Early Wynn surrenders it.

1950 Bobby Valentine is born.

1950 The Red Sox release Piper Davis, their first black minor leaguer. He was leading his Class A team in hitting at the time of his release.

1950 Longtime batter Juan Beniquez is born. He’ll play 17 years in the major leagues.

1952 Ron Necciai of the Briston Twins in the Appalachian League fans 27 batters in a 7-0, no-hit win. He hits one, walks one, and one batter reaches on error. Another hitter reaches on a passed ball on a swinging strike three, so one person was able to ground out.

1952 For the only time in his career, Mickey Mantle plays third base. He fields four balls and makes two errors.

1954 Robin Roberts surrenders a leadoff home run to Bobby Adams—and then retires the next 27 batters.

1955 For the first (but not last) time, Mickey Mantle homers from both sides of the plate in one game. He gets three homers in the day in all, the only time he ever does that. He’s 4-for-4 with a single.

1956 Duke Snider hits his fifth and final grand slam. He has about 170 or so homers left, but no other slams.

1956 Eddie Mathews plays both ends of a doubleheader despite having glass shards deeply lodged in his face. A woman threw something at him the night before while partying. Somehow, he goes 4-for-8 in a doubleheader.

1956 For the third time in his career, Warren Spahn belts a home run while throwing a complete-game shutout. The Braves destroy the Reds, 15-0.

1958 Stan Musial gets his 3,000th career. It takes him just 2,301 games.

1958 Willie Mays has a great day, going 5-for-5 with a pair of homers and a pair of triples. It’s also the second straight day he has two homers in a game.

1959 Warren Spahn wins his 250th game.

1959 The White Sox purchase veteran outfielder Larry Doby from the Tigers for $30,000.

1960 The Tigers top the A’s, 4-3, on a 14th-inning walk-off error.

1960 Dick Groat of the Pirates becomes the first NL player in seven years to get six hits in one game.

1962 Carl Yastrzemski legs out the first of his three career inside-the-park home runs.

1964 The Reds purchase hard-throwing Ryne Duren from the Phillies.

1965 Milt Pappas picks up his 100th win, for a 100-65 career record.

1965 25-year-old Angels reliever Dick Wantz dies following surgery from brain cancer.

1965 Hard-throwing pitcher Jose Rijo is born.

1965 Catfish Hunter makes his big league debut.

1965 Yankee infielder Horace Clarke plays in his first major league game.

1969 Mr. Cub, Ernie Banks, drives in his 1,500 run during a 19-0 whumping of the Pirates.

1969 Rod Carew circles the bases for his sole career inside-the-park home run.

1970 After more than a decade in the big leagues, Bob Gibson gives up his first grand slam. Al Oliver does it, after Gibson had thrown 2,569.2 innings.

1972 The Brewers and Twins complete yesterday’s curfew-limited 22-inning game (21 innings played yesterday, one today), and then begin today’s regularly scheduled game, which goes 15 innings. The Twins win it, 5-4.

1972 Mets pitcher Buzz Capra throws a shutout and drives in the only run in a 1-0 victory.

1973 Willie Mays, in his final season, goes on the DL with a sore shoulder.

1973 Jerry Reuss has the best start of his career: a three-hit, complete-game shutout with a dozen whiffs. His Game Score is 91, his all-time best.

1976 An Indians ball girl named Debbie Brandt dresses in white to be a fairy godmother. She’s there to counteract the Red Sox using a witch to put a curse on Cleveland just prior to a Boston triumph over the Indians. Fairy godmother Brandt sprinkles fairy dust on the glove of Rick Manning, but it doesn’t work, as he makes two bad misplays in the field.

1976 For the sixth straight game, George Brett gets at least three hits.

1978 Giants pitcher Barry Zito is born.

1979 Mike Schmidt cranks out his 200th career home run.

1980 Boston star Fred Lynn hits for the cycle.

1980 Ray Knight smacks two home run in the fifth inning for the Reds.

1982 The Cubs record their 8,000th franchise win, a 5-0 shutout over Houston.

1985 Tony Perez’s eighth and final pinch-hit home run is his sole pinch-hit grand slam.

1986 The Phillies release reliever Larry Anderson, allowing Houston to pick him up three days later. They’ll later trade Anderson to the Red Sox for Jeff Bagwell. Nicely done, Houston, nicely done.

1986 Tim Raines' longest hitting streak maxes out at 17 games. He’s 29-for-70 during the run.

1988 The Royals sign free agent first baseman Bill Buckner.

1989 Kirby Puckett clubs four doubles in one game.

1990 The Dodgers trade aging second baseman Willie Randolph to the A’s for Stan Javier.

1990 Former All-Star catcher Jody Davis appears in his last game.

1991 For the only time in his career, Tom Glavine steals a base. Rather remarkably, it’s a steal of third. It comes right after he doubles off Shawn Boskie of the Cubs.

1993 George Brett hits his 300th home run in a Royals-Indians game marred by a bench-clearing brawl that began when Albert Belle charged the mound. Belle will be suspended for three games.

1993 Paul Molitor enjoys his best game according to WPA. He’s 2-for-5 with a double, homer and four RBIs in Toronto’s 6-5 win over Detroit. Molitor’s WPA is 1.000 even.

1994 Tim Salmon gets his 13th consecutive hit. Not bad.

1998 The Braves ties a record by getting a home run in their 25th consecutive game.

1999 The Mexico City Tigers crack three grand slams in a 16-5 win. Julio Franco has one of the slams.

2000 Mike Trombley surrenders three homers without recording a single out. It’s just the fourth time any hurler has done that.

2000 Todd Stottlemyre wins his 136th game, which gives him and father Mel Stottlemyre a combined 300 victories.

2000 The Mets release the aging Ricky Henderson.

2000 Ken Griffey Jr. has his best game ever according to WPA: 1.011 WPA. He’s 3-for-4 with a double, hit-by-pitch, stolen base, and two homers in the Reds' 8-7 win over Houston.

2001 Jeff Kent hits his 200th career home run.

2002 Jeff Kent draws a walk-off walk.

2007 Fred Lewis hits for the cycle.

2009 For the first time ever, a reviewed home run call is reversed. It’s an Adam LaRoche shot for the Pirates against St. Louis. It’s just the 14th reviewed call overall.

2009 Alfonso Soriano hits his 53rd leadoff homer, passing up Craig Biggio for second-most ever, still well behind Rickey Henderson’s 81 leadoff home runs.

2009 Nice start! Arizona’s Gerardo Parra becomes the 100th player to homer in his first plate appearance.

2009 Ken Griffey Jr. celebrates the ninth anniversary of his best WPA game with his worst WPA game. In a 6-5 Seattle loss to Texas, he’s 0-for-5 with a pair of strikeouts and a GIDP for a –0.460 WPA.

2009 Ryan Zimmerman’s 30-game hitting streak comes to an end.

2010 Mat Latos not only nearly throws a no-hitter but also drives in the only run in a 1-0 victory. In the sixth inning, he allows the only hit of the game, an infield single to third, where the batter was just ever so slightly ahead of the throw to first.

2010 The Royals hire manager Ned Yost.

2011 Harmon Killebrew issues a statement that he’s entering hospice care for his final days.

2012 There are only three walk-off grand slams in all of 2012, but two of them come on this day. Joey Votto hits one for a 9-6 Reds win over the Nationals, and Miami’s Giancarlo Stanton hits the other in an 8-4 victory over the Mets. The Marlins score six times in the bottom of the ninth in a stunning comeback.

2012 Long-lasting pitcher Jeff Suppan gives up a leadoff homer to Jimmy Rollins. It’s the 19th leadoff homer off Suppan, which ties Pedro Martinez for the most ever against one pitcher.

Read more great baseball stuff at The Hardball Times.]]> Chris Jaffe 2013-05-13T07:18:15+00:00 60th anniversary: Whitey Ford’s near no-hitter http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/blog_article/60th-anniversary-whitey-fords-near-no-hitter/ http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/blog_article/60th-anniversary-whitey-fords-near-no-hitter/#When:07:16:15 On May 12, 1953, Whitey Ford dang near hurled a no-hitter. He didn’t quite pull it off, falling short the most frustrating way possible. The sole hit tallied against him came from the bat of the opposing pitcher. Oh, and it wasn’t just any hit; it was an infield single.

Sixty years ago, Ford was still a young arm looking to establish himself. He’d broken in with the 1950 Yankees, posting an impressive 9-1 record, but he then lost the next two years. The government called Ford into military service during the Korean War, and Ford didn’t pitch at all in 1951 or '52. Now it was 1953, time for Ford to prove he was more than a flash in the pan.

May 12 would be Ford’s fourth start of the year and so far, so good. He had a record of 2-0 with a 1.29 ERA. But today would be a much bigger test. Facing off against Ford was New York’s top rival, the Cleveland Indians. The Tribe had finished in second place each of the last two years and would do so again this year, coming in as runner-up to the Yankees each time. While the Indians had a notable pitching staff featuring Hall of Famers Bob Lemon, Early Wynn, and Bob Feller, they also had a solid core of hitters.

Only the Yankees would score more runs in the 1953 AL than the Indians. And all of Cleveland’s top bats—Larry Doby, Al Rosen, and Dale Mitchell—were in the lineup that game, so this would be a true challenge for Ford.

Ford started off on the wrong foot with a leadoff walk to Ray Boone, but then Boone was out trying to steal, and Ford retired the next two batters without a problem.

Ford walked Doby in the second frame but then nearly picked him off. But thanks to an error, Doby ended up on second base with one out. However, Ford forced a couple ground outs to strand Doby.

Ford walked another batter in the fourth and still another in the fifth, but since he was only letting one baserunner on an inning, nothing came of it. Meanwhile, the Yankee hitters had given Ford a commanding 5-0 lead. Heading into the sixth, the drama wasn’t if the Indians would come back, but if they would get a hit. They still hadn’t done so as the sixth began.

Leading off the sixth was Wynn, the veteran Indians pitcher. Sure he’d allowed five runs so far, but it was the 1950s. You let pitchers bat late in the game when down 5-0. Besides, he was one of the best-hitting pitchers in baseball. He would hit .275 on the year.

Sure, Wynn was a terrific hitter for a pitcher, but note that qualifier—for a pitcher. Yes, he’d hit. 275 in 91 at-bats in 1953, but that came in between seasons hitting .222 and .183. For his career, Wynn hit .214. That .275 number was a big of a fluke caused by the relatively small number of at-bats.

Regardless, Wynn hit one to the third baseman and managed to churn his 33-year-old legs fast enough to make it to first before the throw. Ford’s no-hitter was no more.

Ford didn’t surrender another hit, though. He retired 12 of the last 13, giving up just another base on balls. Most notably, in the eighth inning Ford faced three different pinch-hitters and fanned all three of them, recording the complete game for a 7-0 win.

But there was no no-hitter. And, though he’d star on the Yankees for another 14 seasons, Ford would never get to the promised land of a no-hitter. He’d throw two more one-hitters, which interestingly enough came in back-to-back starts in 1955, but this was as close as Ford would come to a no-hitter. You’d figure that if all that stood between a man and a no-hitter was preventing the opposing pitcher from getting an infield single, he’d get it 99 times out of 100. Well, this was time No. 100. And it was 60 years ago today.

Aside from that, many other baseball events celebrate their anniversary or “day-versary” (which is something that happened X-thousand days ago) today. Here they are, with the better ones in bold if you’d rather just skim.

Day-versaries


1,000 days since Bobby Thomson, hitter of the most famous home run in history, dies at age 86.

2,000 days since the White Sox release Scott Podsednik.

3,000 days since the Rangers signs free agent pitcher Pedro Astacio.

5,000 days since Angels manager Terry Collins resigns.

5,000 days since the federal courts uphold the resignations of 22 umpires in July, 1999.

9,000 days since Darrell Evans hits his 400th career home run.

9,000 days since Wade Boggs becomes the first 20th-century player to get 200 hits in a half-dozen seasons.

15,000 days since the Phillies host the first of three Kiteman promotions. It’s a bike with kites on it, and it crashes into the center field bleachers immediately after taking off the ramp.

Anniversaries


1862 Chicken Wolf, quality hitter for the 1880s Louisville Colonels, is born.

1866 Lave Cross, great-fielding third baseman who played forever, is born.

1890 Back in the day, there are two major league ballparks adjacent to each other in New York. Today, the New York Giants’ Mike Tiernan hit a homer out of the National League park and into the Players League park. Fans in both places cheer the shot.

1894 Nixey Callahan makes his big league debut. At different points in time, he’ll be a starting first baseman and a starting pitcher.

1897 Joe Dugan, starting infielder for the 1927 Yankees, is born.

1910 A’s star pitcher Albert Bender throws a no-hitter. (He's more famous as Chief Bender, but he preferred to be called his given name.) He walks just one in a 4-0 victory over the Cleveland Indians.

1915 Young White Sox pitcher Red Faber needs just 67 pitches in a complete-game win.

1916 Hank Borowy, pitcher, is born. He’ll be one of the few men to defeat all 16 teams in the pre-expansion era.

1919 For the second straight day, the Yankees and Senators have a marathon game. It ends in a tie, 4-4 after 15 innings.

1923 Babe Ruth hits his 200th home run, something no one else has ever done previously .

1925 Yogi Berra is born.

1926 Walter Johnson picks up a win, giving him a career record of 403-258, which is his most games ever over .500 (145).

1929 Hall of Fame pitcher Waite Hoyt endures his 100th loss. His record is 155-100.

1930 The Boston Braves pick up veteran pitcher Tom Zachary off waivers from the Yankees.

1930 Cleveland pitcher Milt Shoffner balks three times in the third inning against the A’s.

1932 Carey Selph of the White Sox fans for the ninth time on the year. There won’t be a No. 10. He’ll play 89 more games without striking out.

1933 The Red Sox pick up George Pipgras from the Yankees for the princely sum of $100,000.

1934 Joe Judge, veteran first baseman, plays in his last game.

1935 Felipe Alou is born.

1940 Gus Suhr, a fine player for the Pirates in the 1930s, plays in his last game.

1941 After five years being called the Bees, the Boston NL team decides to switch back to Braves.

1941 Lefty Grove, in the last year of his career, loses a game at Fenway. This ends his 20-game winning streak in the park.

1944 Hall of Fame second baseman Bobby Doerr connects for his 1,000th hit.

1948 Doc Cramer, outfielder, plays in his last game.

1951 Scratched from the lineup due to a bout of the flu, Stan Musial comes up as a pinch hitter in the eighth inning and promptly belts a three-run homer for an 8-6 Cardinals win.

1953 Ed Summers, Tigers pitcher, dies at age 68. As a rookie in 1908, he went 24-12 and a 1.64 ERA.

1955 It’s one of the most memorable ninth innings of any no-hitter. Toothpick Sam Jones of the Cubs hasn’t allowed a single hit through eight innings against the Pirates, but he then walks the bases loaded to begin the ninth. However, he immediately recovers by striking out Dick Groat, Roberto Clemente, and Frank Thomas to stop the rally and finish off the no-hitter. It’s the first no-hitter by a black big league pitcher and the first one in Wrigley Field since the 1917 double no-hitter. Only 2,918 are on hand to see it.

1956 Carl Erskine throws his second career no-hitter, walking two and fanning three in a 3-0 Dodgers win over the Giants.

1957 Lou Whitaker, fantastic second baseman, is born.

1958 Who hits the first ever grand slam for the San Francisco Giants? Willie Mays, of course.

1959 Mickey Mantle legs out the third of his four career inside-the-park home runs.

1959 One-time Astros All-Star outfielder Kevin Bass is born.

1959 With two out in the ninth, Earl Averill Jr. smacks a pinch-hit, walk-off grand slam against Lew Burdette for a 7-3 Cubs win over the Braves.

1961 It’s one of the best pitchers' duels of the decade. Boston beats Washington, 2-1, despite getting only two hits. Boston’s Bill Monbouquette gets the win by fanning 17 in a complete-game shutout.

1961 Rocky Colavito sees his dad in an altercation in the stands and jumps in to defend him. He’s ejected but defiant, telling reporters, “What would you do if you saw someone belting your 60-year-old father?” He has a point.

1962 The Mets will win just 40 games this year, but they claim both ends of a doubleheader. Even stranger, pitcher Craig Anderson picks up the win in both games—and never wins another. He’ll end the year with a 2-16 record and his career with a 2-19 mark.

1963 Tigers star Mickey Lolich makes his big league debut.

1964 Juan Marichal posts his 12th consecutive win, his longest ever streak. His line in that time: 14 G, 14 GS, 10 CG, 118 IP, 99 H, 35 R, 25 ER, 21 BB, 97 K, and a 1.91 ERA.

1964 Third baseman Don Hoak plays in his last game.

1964 The Braves release veteran Gus Bell.

1965 Houston signs free agent second baseman Nellie Fox.

1966 It’s a new day in St. Louis, as Busch Stadium debuts. It’s a great game, as they top the Braves, 4-3 in 12 innings. They use the same home plate from old Sportsman’s Park. In the bottom of the 12th, Orlando Cepeda lays down the first sacrifice hit in his career—in career plate apperance No. 4,539. At the time, it’s the record for most plate appearances with just one sacrifice hit.

1967 Jim Palmer throws the first of his five career one-hitters. Horace Clarke gets a seventh-inning single, but otherwise it’s a perfect game for Palmer. And Palmer faces just 27 batters because a double play wipes out Clarke.

1967 When aging Tiger Al Kaline tries to steal second, catcher Bob Tillman throws—but hits relief pitcher John Wyatt in the back of the head.

1968 Luis Tiant throws his fourth consecutive complete-game shutout. He’s allowed just 14 hits and seven walks while fanning 35 in 36 innings.

1969 Leo Durocher manages his 3,000th game. His record is 1,626-1,354.

1969 Bob Gibson strikes out the side on just nine pitches in the seventh inning against the Dodgers.

1969 It’s bullpen wars. The Royals and Orioles bullpens will duel all year long, and today Baltimore pitchers Pete Richert and Eddie Watt throw a firecracker at the KC bullpen.

1969 In today’s Yankee-Pilots game, New York announcers Phil Rizzuto and Jerry Coleman kill time trying to figure out the all-time Yankees team. They agree that Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle both belong in the outfield. For the third slot they disagree. Coleman prefers Maris while Rizzuto goes with Ruth. Yes, initially, they both forgot about Babe Ruth.

1970 Ernie Banks bashes his 500th career home run.

1971 Bert Blyleven throws the first of 15 career 1-0 complete-game shutout wins. That’s the most by any pitcher since Walter Johnson.

1971 Hall of Fame outfielder Heinie Manush dies.

1972 Today’s Twins-Brewers game just won’t end. After 21 innings, it’s all tied up at 3-3 when the contest hits the AL curfew. The Brewers will win in the 22nd inning when the game resumes on May 13. The losing pitcher is Bert Blyleven in one of his few relief appearances. Twins star Rod Carew reaches bases eight times but never scores. He walks three times and hits three singles and a pair of doubles.

1974 It’s one of the ugliest moments of fan misbehavior of the era. Bob Watson crashes into the wall at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati and hits it so hard that his sunglasses shatter and he gets glass in his eye. Staring down on him, Reds fans pour beer and debris on him.

1976 Someone actually thought this was a good idea. The Red Sox hire a witch to cast a spell for them prior to the day’s Indians game. It must be desperation, as Boston has lost 10 straight. Maybe it was a good idea, as Boston wins, 6-4, thanks in part due to some terrible fielding by John Lowenstein.

1976 Cubs pitcher Rick Reuschel enjoys the best Game Score of his career: 91. His line: 10 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, and 6 K, but he gets a no-decision as the Cubs don’t win until the 11th, 1-0 over the Giants.

1978 It’s a rare inside-the-park, walk-off home run hit by Famous Amos Otis off Yankees relief ace Rich Gossage. It’s actually a routine fly ball, but New York outfielders Reggie Jackson and Mickey Rivers collide trying to catch it.

1979 For the only time in his career, Keith Hernandez gets two triples in one game.

1979 Relief pitcher Bill Caudill is born.

1982 The Angels make a bad trade, sending young slugger Tom Brunansky and a second player and $400,000 to the Twins for pitcher Doug Corbett and infielder Rob Wilfong.

1982 The Twins are in a trading mood on May 12, 1982. Aside from the Brunansky trade, they also send catcher Butch Wynegar to the Yankees for Larry Milbourne, two others, and cash.

1982 Paul Molitor has the game of his life, going 4-for-5 with three home runs and four RBIs.

1984 One out from a no-hitter, Reds ace Mario Soto surrenders a game-tying home run to George Hendrick. The Reds win it in the bottom of the ninth, 2-1.

1984 Pirates skipper Chuck Tanner endures his 1,000th managerial defeat. He is 1,077-1,000 in his career so far.

1984 Jim Palmer appears in his final big league contest.

1986 Tony LaRussa manages his 1,000th game. His record is 506-491.

1989 Rick Reuschel wins his 200th game, giving him a record of 200-177.

1990 Davey Johnson manages his 1,000th game. His record is 591-409.

1990 Kirby Puckett hits his 100th career home run.

1993 Dave Winfield plays first base for the first time in 15 years.

1994 Milwaukee loses, leaving Phil Garner with a record of 178-179 for his career. It’ll stay under .500 from here on out.

1994 Former pitcher Si Johnson dies at age 87. He led the league in losses twice and ended his career with a 101-165 record.

1995 Kenny Lofton endures possibly his worst game. He’s 0-for-4 with a whiff and two GIDP. It’s one of just two career two-GIDP games.

1996 Rafael Palmeiro gets his 200th career home run.

1996 Alex Rodriguez enjoys his first career multi-home run game.

1997 The Royals release veteran reliever Mitch Williams.

1997 Chris Carpenter makes his major league debut.

1998 Tony LaRussa wins his 1,500th game. He’s the 15th man to get there.

1998 Jim Thome draws three intentional walks in one game.

1998 Mark McGwire crushes a 527-foot home run, his longest ever—until he hits one even further four days later.

1999 Angels pitcher Chuck Finley fans four Yankees in one inning in a 1-0 win.

1999 Pedro Martinez fans 15 Mariners in one game. It’s his second straight 15-K game.

2000 For the second year in a row, Pedro Martinez fans 15 on May 12. It’s a complete-game two-hitter against Baltimore for a Game Score of 98, which ties his high.

2000 Curt Schilling uncorks three wild pitches in one game, his worst showing.

2000 It’s one of the most famous home runs in Wrigley Field history. Glenallen Hill hits a ball onto the rooftop across Waveland Avenue in left. It’s estimated to travel around 500 feet.

2000 Star catcher Ivan Rodriguez legs out two triples in one game. It’s his only time doing that.

2001 Alex Rodriguez hits his 200th home run.

2001 A.J. Burnett throws a no-hitter, walking nine in a 3-0 Marlins win over the Padres.

2001 An arbitrator orders major league baseball to reinstate nine of the 22 umpires who resigned two years earlier. Also, baseball has to give them back pay.

2001 Carlos Delgado belts his 204th home run with Toronto, passing up Joe Carter as the all-time franchise leader in longballs.

2002 Joe Torre becomes the 17th manager in history with 1,500 wins.

2004 Edgar Martinez bashes his 300th home run.

2004 Alex Cora fouls off an incredible 14 consecutive pitches and then homers off Matt Clement to end an 18-pitch battle.

2005 For the fifth straight game, Bobby Abreu homers.

2006 Cole Hamels makes his big league debut.

2008 Asdrubal Cabrera pulls off the game’s rarest play: an unassisted triple play. At the game is Phillies scout Ron Hansen, who himself pulled off an unassisted triple play back in 1968.

2009 Carlos Beltran gets a walk-off walk from Jeff Bennett of the Braves for a 4-3 Mets win in 10 frames.

2011 Carlos Beltran belts three home runs in one game.

2012 Boston purchases what’s left of Scott Podsednik from the Phillies.

2012 Arizona has a new type of promotion: tattoo arms. They give slip-on sleeves to fans that will make their arms look like those of Diamondbacks third baseman Ryan Roberts.

Read more great baseball stuff at The Hardball Times.]]> Chris Jaffe 2013-05-12T07:16:15+00:00