THT Awards

Welcome to the awards.

I give you my apologies for skipping last week’s awards. I was on vacation and managed to cross Milwaukee and Pittsburgh off my list of cities I have been to and PNC Park and Miller Park off my list of parks where I have seen a game. Next week we will start the two-part season recap.

All stats are for Monday, Sept. 23 through Sunday, Sept. 29. 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

Corey Kluber was shelled for six runs in five and a third by the Twins. He got the win as the Cleveland lineup put 12 runs on the board.

A blown hold by the Orioles bullpen took Chris Archer off the hook for the loss despite Archer’s having yielded four runs in four and a third.

Tommy Milone’s 12th win of the season came in a game in which he was torched for five runs in five and a third at Anaheim. The Oakland offense picked up the slack for Milone, scoring seven of its 10 runs off opposing starter Garrett Richards. The A’s bullpen held the Halos scoreless for the final three and two thirds, preserving Milone’s win.

Richards aided in making Derek Holland’s Saturday a little easier to swallow. Holland was smacked around for four runs in four and two thirds but Richards was torched for six runs in his four and a third and Holland escaped with a no-decision.

Jake Peavy scuffled for six innings, yielding five runs on eight hits and four walks. He got the win as his Red Sox teammates scored 15 runs in the game.

Chris Tillman went five innings, allowing five runs. He avoided the loss. Also avoiding the loss was Felix Doubront, who didn’t start the game, but entered in the fourth inning with a five-run lead. He gave up five runs in an inning and two thirds.

Julio Teheran got the win despite allowing four runs in five innings. Atlanta scored 12 runs off Zach Miner and the Phillies bullpen.

A Huston Street blown save kept Guillermo Moscoso from taking the loss. Moscoso had allowed five runs in four and a third to the Padres.

Bad luck division

Cliff Lee pitched eight innings at Atlanta, allowing one run on three hits, walking nobody, striking out 13. It was his eighth loss of the season. The Phillies failed to score a run that day.

Charlie Morton held the Cubs scoreless for seven innings, allowing only three hits, walking one, striking out five. A combination of the offense scoring only one run to that point and Mark Melancon allowing a run resulted in a no-decision for Morton.

A Hardball Times Update
Goodbye for now.

It took all of four batters for Kevin Gausman and Brian Matusz to erase the lead they inherited from Orioles starter Tillman. Tillman had pitched seven frames, holding the Blue Jays to one run on five hits. He struck out nine and walked only one.

Tyler Thornburg threw seven frames for the Brewers, yielding two runs on seven hits and a walk, striking out eight. The Milwaukee offense scored only two runs in Atlanta that day and Thornburg wound up with the no-decision.

On Tuesday, Henderson Alvarez held the Phillies to two runs in seven innings. He took the loss as the Fish managed only one run in the contest.

Gio Gonzalez pitched seven innings, allowing two runs on six hits, walking none, striking out six. Michael Wacha and Trevor Rosenthal shut out the Nats and Gio took his eighth loss of the season.

Tyson Ross and Wade Miley combined for 14 innings, allowing one run on seven hits and four walks, striking out 13 between them. Neither got the win. Miley was in position for the win until David Hernandez blew the hold.

The only two runs Matt Cain allowed were a pair of solo home runs in seven innings of work. He took the loss because the Giants managed only one run off Hyun-Jin Ryu and the Dodgers.

Mat Latos’ seventh loss of the season came at the hands of the Mets, who scored one run in his seven innings on four hits and two walks. Daisuke Matsuzaka and a pair of relievers shut out the Reds.

Robbie Erlin was very good against the Diamondbacks, giving up just two runs on three hits and a walk, striking out seven in his seven innings. He still took a no-decision.

Ivan Nova went seven innings, yielding two runs on eight hits and one walk to the Rays. Alex Cobb, Joel Peralta and Jake McGee shut out the Yankees and Nova walked away with the loss.

Marco Estrada and Jon Niese ended their seasons by combining for 13 innings of work with three runs allowed on eight hits and two walks, striking out 10. Neither got the win.

Erik Bedard threw seven innings, holding the Yankees scoreless, limiting them to three hits, walking none, striking out nine. The bullpen blew the lead and eventually lost the game in extra innings.

Tanner Rourk and Wade Miley combined for 14 innings, allowing three runs on 11 hits and two walks, striking out five. Ryan Mattheus blew the hold for Rourke

Vulture Award

Melancon’s blown save on Monday resulted in a win after Starling Marte homered to take back the lead.

Donovan Hand blew the lead for the Brewers and ended up with the win against the Mets.

Neal Cotts blew the lead for Yu Darvish only to watch the Rangers offense rally and give him the win.

Wes Littleton Award

For Huston Street’s 33rd save of the season, he successfully protected a three-run lead against the likes of Tony Campana, Cliff Pennington and Miguel Montero.

Please hold the applause

Jose Veras retired one Minnesota batter and allowed a walk and a pair of doubles, which turned a three-run lead into a one-run lead before he was lifted for Joaquin Benoit. It was credited to him as his eighth hold of the year.

For his first career hold, Kevin Siegrist started the eighth inning with a three -un lead. He faced two batters. He retired Scott Hairston and allowed a single to Denard Span before giving way to Carlos Martinez. He was never given the opportunity to blow the save.

With help from Franklin Morales, Junichi Tazawa earned the loss and the hold against the Orioles.

Any sufficiently advanced defense is indistinguishable from pitching

Kevin Correia struck out one of the 25 Tigers he faced. He still managed seven innings with only one run allowed.

Brandon McCarthy held the Nationals to two runs and only five hits in seven innings despite striking out one of the 28 batters he faced.

Joe Carter Award

Four batters hit for varying degrees of power, driving in some runs but doing various amounts of little else, leading to total contributions that were to varying degrees less than their RBI totals. Jedd Gyorko led all of baseball with 10 RBI. He hit .241/.313/.586 in 32 plate appearances. Brandon Moss drove in eight runs and went .211/.286/.737 in 21 PA. Will Middlebrooks drove in seven and ended up with a .174/.174/.478 line in 23 PA. And Howie Kendrick plated six while giving the Angels a .240/.269/.560 line in 26 PA.

Billy Butler drove in five Royals in 29 PA. He drew one walk and five of his seven hits were singles, giving him a .250/.276/.393 line.

Sanchez Award

J.J. Hardy collected nine hits in 28 PA, but only one of those went for extra bases and that one was a double. He also failed to reach base safely in any way other than those nine hits, leading to a .321/.321/.357 line.

A.J. Pierzynski went .286/.310/.357 in 29 PA.

Elvis Andrus posted a Perfect Sanchez, going eight for 28 with no walks or extra base hits for a .286/.286/.286 line.

Harmon Killebrew Award

Hunter Pence managed only four hits in 24 PA, but two of the four were home runs and he walked three times for a .190/.320/.476 line.

Joey Votto is severely lacking in the slugging department, but getting on base is good. Votto made his way on base via hit three times in 24 PA and via walk eight times. .188/.458/.188 is odd to look at but effective.

Mike Trout went .222/.385/.389 with six walks and a homer in his 24 PA.

Brett Lawrie threw up a .240/.406/.320 line in 30 PA.

Steve Balboni Award

Mark Trumbo struck out in half of his 26 PA. This led to his .167/.222/.167 line.

Brian Dozier, Anthony Gose, Emilio Bonifacio and Justin Maxwell all lack the secondary skills to make up for poor contact rates. Dozier and Gose struck out 11 times in 31 and 29 PAs respectively. Bonifacio and Maxwell struck out 10 times each in 27 and 25 PA. These four batted .179/.281/.286, .214/.241/.321, .192/.222/.231, and .125/.160/.208.

Josh Willingham went down on strikes nine times in 20 PA. People who really love round numbers will love .100/.100/.100, but those who like effective hitters will cringe and run in terror.

Among others who struck out in excess and didn’t find much success at the plate as a result were Giancarlo Stanton, Chris Parmelee, Darin Ruf, Curtis Granderson, Ryan Zimmerman, Adam Jones, Paul Goldschmidt and Jesus Guzman.

Three true outcomes

Trout hit one home run, walked six times, and struck out nine times in 24 PA.

Pence went two-three-eight in the TTO categories in 24 PA.

Carlos Gomez went three-two-eight in 23 PA.

Chris Davis had a very Chris Davis week, going two-four-six in 22 PA.

Alfonso Soriano went homerless, but seven walks and 11 strikeouts in 24 PA gets you a mention here.

The anti-TTO

Andrus did not homer or walk and he struck out only three times in 28 PA

Gerardo Parra and Asdrubal Cabrera went zero-zero-three in 25 and 24 PA respectively

Jose Altuve produced a rare zero-two-zero in 26 PA.

This week’s MVP

AL: Jason Kipnis went .435/.519/.609 with seven singles, two doubles, a triple and three walks in 27 PA.

NL: Chris Denorfia collected 13 hits in 34 PA. Nine of the 13 were singles, two were doubles, one was a triple and one was a home run. He also walked four times for a .433/.500/.667 line.


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Jim
10 years ago

Are you going to have a summary of the “best” overall in each category?

John Barten
10 years ago

Yep