THT Awards

Welcome to the awards.

All stats are for Monday, May 27 through Sunday, June 2. Please see the week one column for category explanations.

This week’s proof that assigning wins and losses to a pitcher is an archaic practice that must stop

Good luck division

Thanks to the fact that his teammates shelled Jose Fernandez for seven runs in three and a third, it didn’t matter that Jake Odorizzi allowed six runs in four innings of work. He didn’t receive the loss.

C.J. Wilson and Zack Greinke combined to allow 12 runs in eight and two thirds innings of work. Neither took the loss despite game scores of 26 and 23 respectively.

In Denver, Greinke and Jhoulys Chacin combined to throw 11 and a third, allowing nine runs on 18 hits and five walks, striking out five. Neither was given the loss.

Yovani Gallardo took the win despite getting taken to the woodshed for five runs in five and two thirds by the Phillies.

Paul Maholm was peppered with five runs in six innings on 10 hits and a walk yet he was still in line for the victory until Anthony Varvaro blew the hold. Brandon Morrow and Ramon Ortiz each had bad days at the office.

Kevin Slowey and Jeremy Hellickson combined to allow nine runs in 10 and two thirds on 15 hits and a walk, striking out seven. Hellickson was in line for the loss until the Miami bullpen coughed up the lead.

Scott Diamond and Alfredo Figaro each allowed four runs. Diamond pitched four and two thirds. Figaro went an even five. Neither took the loss. Their bullpens combined to allow three runs in 18 and a third.

Chris Tillman allowed six runs on eight hits and a walk in four and two thirds. He allowed home runs to four of the 22 batters he faced (three coming off the bat of Ryan Zimmerman) and still managed to avoid the loss.

A Scott Rice blown hold took Slowey off the hook after the Marlins starter was smacked around for six runs in four and a third. Lucas Duda, Omar Quintanilla and Ike Davis all hit home runs off of Slowey in the contest.

Bad luck division

Mariano Rivera’s first blown save of the season came at a bad time for Hiroki Kuroda. Kuroda threw seven scoreless against the crosstown Mets, allowing only four hits, walking none, striking out seven. Matt Harvey did his best on the other side as well, holding the boys from the Bronx to one run in eight frames, striking out 10, walking one.

James Shields continued to receive little or no run support, tossing seven innings, allowing one run on the road in Arlington. He held the Rangers to five hits and a walk, striking out five. But Nick Tepesch held the Royals to one run in six and a third and Shields ended up with a no-decision.

A Hardball Times Update
Goodbye for now.

Jeanmar Gomez and Rick Porcello are among the more unexpected pairings for this category this week but nonetheless they each pitched well, combining for 15 shutout innings, allowing six hits and two walks, striking out 13. The victory went to Mark Melancon in the Pirates bullpen.

Phil Hughes and Jon Niese combined to throw 14 frames, yielding two runs on 12 hits and one walk, striking out 10. Neither took the win.

Ubaldo Jimenez and Mike Leake combined to throw 14 and a third, allowing four runs on nine hits and four walks, striking out 13. Neither claimed the victory.

Jhoulys Chacin and Bud Norris combined to pitch 14 innings, allowing four runs on 13 hits and four walks, striking out 12. They each received a no-decision in the game, which went 12 innings.

Jorge de la Rosaand Jordan Lyles combined to allow two runs in 14 frames on 11 hits and five walks. They combined to strike out seven at Coors Field. Neither took the win.

Ryan Dempster threw seven innings, allowing two runs on six hits and three walks. He took the loss as the Red Sox were held to one run in the game by Cliff Lee and Jonathan Papelbon.

Lance Lynn held the Royals to two runs in seven innings on eight hits and one walk. He ended up with a no-decision.

Joe Saunders and Eric Stults combined to pitch 15 innings, allowing one run each. Neither walked a batter. Stults struck out 12 Mariners. Neither took the win.

In Thursday’s infamous rain delay game, Michael Wacha threw seven innings, holding the Royals to one run on two hits, walking none, striking out six. The blown lead removed him from the decision.

Dan Haren pitched seven and a third, allowing two runs. He took the loss as Freddy Garcia and the Orioles shut out Haren’s teammates from the District.

Doug Fister shut out the Pirates for seven innings, striking out 12, walking one. But the Tigers did not score in the game. He not only had a game score of 80 but he also posted the highest WPA in the contest at 0.40.

Max Scherzer pitched eight innings and allowed three runs on only three hits and two walks. He struck out 10 and posted a 72 game score. Jose Valverde pitched the ninth inning and blew the save, taking away Scherzer’s win.

Gio Gonzalez and Tim Hudson combined for 14 and a third innings of work, yielding just two runs on six hits and two walks, striking out 11. Neither claimed the win.

Ervin Santana and Yu Darvish combined for 14 innings, allowing one run on six hits and four walks, striking out 11. Neither factored into the decision.

Vulture Award

Brandon League allowed a two-run home run to Todd Helton, blowing the lead. The Dodgers then rallied to retake the lead and hand League the victory.

Wes Littleton Award

Of the three batters Glen Perkins faced on the way to his 10th save of the season, one was Ryan Braun acting as a pinch hitter. The other two were Jeff Bianchi and Alex Gonzalez. The three-run lead he was tasked with protecting stayed intact.

In protecting a three-run lead in the ninth, Tom Wilhelmsen retired Ryan Doumit, Chris Parmelee and Aaron Hicks for his 12th save of 2013.

Please hold the applause

On Monday, Joaquin Benoit pitched one inning, allowing three hits, including a double. Two runs scored and he still got the hold.

In the process of protecting a three-run lead, Trevor Rosenthal retired David Lough, George Kottaras and Elliot Johnson.

Any sufficiently advanced defense is indistinguishable from pitching

Jeanmar Gomez struck out only two of the 24 batters he faced along the way in his seven scoreless innings. Only three balls in play found open pasture, a .143 BABIP.

Joe Carter Award

Jason Kubel, Evan Longoria, Matt Dominguez and Eric Hosmer all drove in five runs. They hit .261/.292/.391, .161/.182/.290, .154/.143/.269, and .240/.240/.280 respectively.

Sanchez Award

Chris Denorfia collected six hits in 21 PA but none of those hits took him past first base. Denorfia ended the week hitting .300/.333/.300.

Emilio Bonifacio went .280/.280/.360 in 25 PA.

And David DeJesus and A.J. Pollock each posted a .278/.316/.333 in 19 PA.

Harmon Killebrew Award

Mark Trumbo collected only two singles on the week in 27 PA. Luckily for the Angels, he added other stuff to that. He rapped out a double and two home runs and he walked five times for a .227/.357/.545 line.

Derek Dietrich rode three walks, a double, and a triple to a .231/.355/.346 week, which is nice for a rookie middle infielder.

Anthony Rizzo isn’t winning any trophies for .227/.320/.500, but Cubs fans will take it.

Derek Norris went .235/.350/.471 in 20 PA.

And James Loney posted an astonishing .192/.344/.615 in 32 PA for the Rays. Where did this come from?

Steve Balboni Award

Kottaras has always been a three true outcomes hitter. And when you are as pure a three true outcomes guy as he is, you will occasionally have weeks where the two positive sides of that three legged stool desert you and leave you with something like what Kottaras did this week, fanning 11 times in 17 PA, resulting in an ugly .118/.118/.176 line.

Dayan Viciedo struck out 10 times in 21 PA, leading to a .048/.048/.048.

Not even Dan Uggla’s five walks this week could save him from nine strikeouts in 22 PA. .059/.304/.059.

Travis Hafner took a page out of the Kottaras playbook, whiffing eight times in 13 PA for a .077/.077/.077 week.

John Buck continues to remember that he is still John Buck following his early season amnesia. He struck out eight times and posted a .192/.192/.231 line in 26 PA.

And Pedro Alvarez will hit some home runs from time to time but he too toes the line of effectiveness with a dismal contact rate. He didn’t do well this week, whiffing eight times in 18 PA and posting a .188/.278/.438 line for the Pirates.

Among other notable batters whose bad weeks were fueled by an inability to put wood to horsehide were Rick Ankiel, Gaby Sanchez, Drew Stubbs, Jason Kubel, Mike Napoli, Justin Upton, Andrew McCutchen, Evan Longoria, Scott Van Slyke, Mark Teixeira and Ronny Cedeno.

Three true outcomes

Miguel Cabrera went yard three times, walked three times, and struck out eight times in 34 PA.

Stephen Drew posted a one-five-eight TTO line in 29 PA.

Carlos Pena went two-four-eight in 31 PA.

Carlos Gonzalez went one-three-nine in 30 PA.

Jason Bay did his best to remind me that he is still earning a paycheck to play baseball for a living, going four-two-seven in 25 PA.

Shin-Soo Choo went one-four-seven in 30 PA.

Josh Willingham went two-four-seven in 32 PA.

Dexter Fowler posted a two-nine-four in 35 PA.

Joe Mauer went two-seven-six in 33 PA.

And Domonic Brown’s banner week included a seven-two-six in 29 PA.

The anti-TTO

Norichika Aoki did not hit a home run this week. He walked only once. And he did not strike out in his 29 PA.

Hosmer went zero-zero-three in 25 PA.

This week’s MVP

AL: Four of Chris Davis’ 13 hits were home runs. He posted a nice .481/.500/.963. But the story is in the other league as the only other American League batter in the top 10 in OPS among players with at least 25 PA was Napoli, who went .417/.462/.750 for the Red Sox. Davis’ teammate, J.J. Hardy finished just outside of that list at 11th with his .304/.429/.696. One of the reasons for the disparity is the fact that the Rockies played seven games at home against the Astros and the Dodgers.

NL: Domonic Brown came up in the TTO category, but here is where he shines, courtesy of the big-time power display. Brown blasted seven home runs in seven days and chipped in a triple and four singles for good measure. His astonishing .444/.483/1.296 week took his season line from .257/.296/.463 to .282/.321/.574. The entire Royals team hit 14 home runs in all of May. Brown hit half as many home runs in 29 PA as an entire team did in 967 PA.


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Mitch
10 years ago

Dennis, I think what he means is that the majority of top hitters for the week were in the NL, specifically b/c the Rockies got to beat up on the Astros and Dodgers at Coors field.

John Barten
10 years ago

Sorry guys. I should have explained that better. I don’t remember the specifics, but I know there were two Rockies in the top 10 that I alluded to and another just outside the top 10. I think there might have been a Rockies opponent who made the top 10, but I don’t recall who it was and I could be misremembering that. But yes, my intention was to say that seven games in Coors in a week tends to distort NL vs AL leaderboards. It would have been a good week for the NL even without Coors, but it was a factor in the volume of NL hitters among the leaders for the week.

So sorry about any confusion that might have come as a result of my clumsy writing.

Dennis
10 years ago

Sorry, John.  I must be a little thick this morning, but I didn’t get the Rockies reference in the AL MVP comments. Keep up the good work.