THT Awards

Welcome to the awards.

All stats are for Monday, July 1 through Sunday, July 7. 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

Zack Greinke got his sixth win in Denver, where he allowed five runs in five innings. The Rockies smacked Greinke around for six hits and drew seven walks off him. But despite his 32 game score, Greinke was victorious as far as the official scorer was concerned.

Doug Fister and Chien-Ming Wang combined to allow 12 runs in seven and two thirds on 15 hits and two walks. Neither of them took the loss.

Fister followed that up by getting smacked around for six runs in six innings on Sunday. But Vinnie Pestano blew the lead for Cleveland and Fister eked out a no-decision.

Luis Mendoza made it through only four innings, allowing four runs. Ten of the 21 Cleveland batters he faced became base runners either by way of walk or hit. He walked twice as many as he struck out. But he did not absorb the loss as Corey Kluber, the opposing starter, allowed four runs in five and a third and Luke Hochevar was awesome in relief, holding the Indians scoreless for two more innings before giving way to Tim Collins, who subsequently allowed two runs and took the loss himself.

A.J. Griffin avoided the loss despite getting shelled for seven runs in five and a third on 10 hits and a walk. The Cubs peppered the Oakland righty but lost it late in the game with a James Russell blown save.

Jeremy Guthrie was actually in line for the win until Will Smith blew the hold. Guthrie had allowed five runs in six and a third on five hits and three walks.

Ubaldo Jimenez and James Shields combined to yield nine runs in 10 and a third. Neither was given the loss.

Jhoulys Chacin’s five and two thirds with four runs allowed on nine hits and three walks was enough for the win as Chris Capuano was terrible.

Joe Blanton escaped with a no-decision when Edward Mujica blew the save for the Cardinals. Blanton had allowed five runs in five and two thirds.

Nick Tepesch got the victory despite allowing the Astros to score four runs in five innings on seven hits.

Jerome Williams lasted only three frames, allowing five runs on seven hits and a walk. But Koji Uehara blew the save and Williams was off the hook.

Bad luck division

Stephen Strasburg went seven innings, holding the Brewers scoreless, allowing only three hits, walking four, striking out eight, posting a game score of 75. He took a no-decision as Wily Peralta and four Milwaukee relievers shut out the Nationals.

Edinson Volquez and Jon Lester combined to allow two runs in 13 innings of work on 13 hits and two walks, striking out 11. Neither was given the win.

Hector Santiago held the Orioles to two runs in seven frames on five hits and two walks. He struck out nine batters. But the White Sox scored only two runs and Santiago left with a no-decision.

Two solo home runs were all the scoring Felix Hernandez allowed the Rangers to do. But he wasn’t the winner of the game as Derek Holland also allowed two runs and the Mariners had to wait until extra innings to score more runs and win the game.

Ian Kennedy and Dillon Gee each went seven innings, allowing two runs on six hits and two walks. Kennedy struck out eight. Gee fanned seven. They dueled to a draw in a game that was decided in the 15th inning.

John Lackey allowed only two runs in seven innings on five hits and one walk, striking out nine. The Red Sox were shut out and Lackey took the loss.

Hiroki Kuroda was robbed of a win by Mariano Rivera’s blown save. Kuroda had tossed seven scoreless, holding the Orioles to three hits and a walk.

Chad Gaudin pitched seven innings for the Giants, holding the Dodgers to one run on four hits and a walk, striking out nine. But they were facing Clayton Kershaw and the Giants scored only one run in the game.

Vulture Award

In the Guthrie game on Wednesday, Will Smith blew the save by allowing two inherited runs to score in the seventh inning. Eric Hosmer turned around in the next half inning and made Smith a winner by homering off of Rich Hill.

Drew Storen allowed home runs to Yuniesky Betancourt and Carlos Gomez, squandering the Nationals’ lead. He walked away with the win as the Nationals scored later to retake a lead that was better protected by Tyler Clippard and Rafael Soriano.

Chaz Roe was given a high leverage assignment in the Mets/Diamondbacks extra innings marathon. He failed to protect a one-run lead when he allowed a Kirk Nieuwenhuis solo shot. The Snakes came back in the next inning to score another run and Roe was a winner.

Ross Ohlendorf blew the save and took the win over the Padres.

Wes Littleton Award

When Uehara tallied his fifth save of the season, he was protecting a three-run lead and entered at the start of the inning with no runners on base. He retired Kyle Blanks, Jesus Guzman and Nick Hundley. Had one of them reached base, the Padres would have had Alexi Amarista and Pedro Ciriaco. The final four batters in the Padres lineup in the game, played with the DH, all sported sub-.300 OBPs to go with sub-.400 slugging percentages. The Padres did not pinch hit for any of them at any point in the game.

Jason Grilli allowed a two run home run to Domonic Brown and still got the save.

I would poke fun at Jesse Chavez for getting the save in a game where the final score was 10-4, but he threw four innings. The only run the Royals scored after he entered was an inherited one. It was an 8-3 game with nobody out and runners on first and second when Chavez was called upon in the sixth. He did good work and his WPA was higher than A.J. Griffin, who got the win.

Please hold the applause

Jacob Deikman, J.C. Ramirez, Antonio Bastardo and Justin De Fratus all received holds for the Phillies on Tuesday. All four of them recorded one out before they were removed from the game.

For his 18th hold of the season, Trevor Rosenthal faced the eight-nine-one spots in the Marlins order. He retired Jeff Mathis, Donovan Solano and Justin Ruggiano.

Nick Vincent was given the hold and the loss on Saturday with help from Joe Thatcher, who allowed base runners he inherited from Vincent to score.

With a three-run lead, Joel Peralta retired Jeff Keppinger, Dayan Viciedo and Conor Gillaspie.

Any sufficiently advanced defense is indistinguishable from pitching

Samuel Deduno struck out only one of the 24 Yankees he faced and while he took the loss, he allowed less than a hit per inning and posted a quality start.

Joe Carter Award

Coco Crisp drove in six runs in 25 plate appearances this week. That happened despite the fact that he hit .167/.192/.167.

Bryce Harper also plated six runs. He went .200/.313/.320 in 30 PA.

Sanchez Award

Carlos Beltran went .300/.333/.300 in 21 PA.

Leonys Martin gave the Rangers seven hits in 22 PA. Only one of the seven went for extra bases and he didn’t reach base by any other method, leading to a .318/.318/.409 line.

Ryan Doumit ended the week with a .292/.292/.333 in 24 PA.

Zoilo Almonte tossed up a .280/.308/.320 line in 26 PA this week.

Juan Lagares went .278/.316/.389 in 19 PA.

Harmon Killebrew Award

John Buck had a good week despite a lack of singles, going .235/.409/.412 in 21 PA. One of his four hits was a homer and he walked four times.

Edwin Encarnacion walked in six of his 16 PA and hit a triple, going .200/.500/.400.

Gregor Blanco went .200/.400/.333 in 20 PA.

All three hits that Matt Wieters gave the Orioles this week were extra base hits and he ended the week at .214/.313/.571.

Similarly, A.J. Pollock went .222/.333/.500. Of his four hits, three were doubles and the other was a triple.

Matt Holliday went .231/.375/.615 in 16 PA.

Steve Balboni Award

Mark Reynolds had a nightmare of a week, striking out in 10 of his 21 PA, going .000/.136/.000.

Adam Lind struck out nine times in 21 PA for the Blue Jays and subsequently batted .100/.143/.200.

B.J. Upton fanned eight times in 20 PA and posted a .150/.150/.150 line.

Brett Gardner struck out nine times in 27 PA, which is a lot for somebody with his usual batting approach. He ended the week with a .115/.148/.192 line.

Ronny Cedeno collected 15 PA for the Astros this week and went .071/.133/.071, striking out seven times.

Mark Trumbo whiffed in seven of his 22 PA, going 190/.182/.381 for the Halos.

Among other batters who struck out too often this week for their own good were Chris Davis, Brandon Moss, Jay Bruce, Logan Forsythe, Jhonny Peralta, Prince Fielder, Wil Myers, Giancarlo Stanton and Nick Franklin.

Three true outcomes

Fielder homered twice, walked three times, and struck out 10 times in 34 PA.

Chris Carter posted a TTO line of two-two-nine in 20 PA.

Miguel Cabrera went three-five-five in 29 PA.

Josh Hamilton went two-three-seven in 25 PA.

Colby Rasmus went two-three-six in 27 PA.

Robinson Cano is missing the strikeouts, but I would feel remiss if I didn’t include his three-six-one in 30 PA.

The anti-TTO

Ben Revere posted a zero-zero-one in 26 PA.

Norichika Aoki went zero-zero-two in 33 PA.

This week’s MVP

AL: West Division third basemen Adrian Beltre and Kyle Seager led the American League in OPS this week. Beltre went .478/.520/1.087 in 25 PA with two doubles and four home runs to go with five singles and two walks. Seager went .545/.607/.909 with eight singles, two doubles, two home runs, and three walks in 25 PA.

NL: Brian McCann posted a .600/.600/.880 line for Atlanta He produced 15 hits in 25 PA. Only a third of those hits went for extra bases and he didn’t walk, but if you have that much BABIP good fortune, you can thrive with any level of secondary skill.