Thursday game notes

It ain’t easy keeping up with the Joneses….

@Braves 6, Padres 0: It’s still hard to believe he’s retiring, but Jason Marquis won’t miss him. With 2 HRs tonight, Chipper is now 8 for 17 with 5 HRs against Marquis.

  • Kris Medlen notched his first CG and shutout, with 78 strikes in 104 pitches (5 hits, no walks). For those (like me) who had forgotten, in 2010 Medlen went 5-0, 3.86 as a starter, joining the rotation in May, but he got hurt in August and didn’t get back until this year. The 5′ 10″ righty was a 10th-round pick as a reliever and blew through the low minors in that role, then began his transition to starting in 2008. His season ERA is now 2.03 in 80 IP, with just 2 HRs allowed; in 4 starts, he’s allowed 3 runs in 26.2 IP.
  • The only pitchers more Chippered than Marquis are retirees Shane Reynolds (7 HRs in 42 ABs), Steve Trachsel (7 in 69) and Randy Johnson (6 in 43).
  • 40th multi-HR game for Jones, but first since 2009-06-07. He’s the 38th player (since 1918) with a multi-HR game at age 40+; Hank Sauer tops that list with 8 such games. Chipper’s .910 OPS would be the 8th-highest at age 40+ (min. 300 PAs).
  • What’s the record for HRs on your Bobblehead Night, anyway?

@Pirates 10, Dodgers 6: Coming in, just two Bucs had ever homered off NL HR leader Joe Blanton. Those two, Garrett Jones and Pedro Alvarez, combined to blister 3 Blanton tosses over the barricades, good for 7 runs. That was just enough for A.J. Burnett, who staggered and stumbled like his Yankee daze — hitting 2 of his last 3 men and yielding 6 runs in 6.2 IP — but added his name to other five in the 15-win club.

  • G.Jones, who twice broke a tie with a 3-run HR, is hitting .297 with 17 HRs in 279 ABs against righties.
  • Alvarez has 22 HRs … and 20 errors.
  • Funniest thing in this clip is Hanley’s choirboy “What did I do?” gestures at the end. Gee, Han, I think the culture frowns on flashing celebratory hand signals while rounding the bases on a routine mid-game HR.

White Sox 7, @Blue Jays 2: In his first ChiSox win, Francisco Liriano (2 R in 6.1 IP) threw a boatload of strikes (60 of 86) and gave his only walk just before departing with a 3-2 lead. All 7 Chicago runs were scored on a quintet of HRs, though none from their two leaders.

  • Chicago hit 10 HRs in the 4 games in Toronto, and 44 HRs in their last 23 games.

@Brewers 7, Phillies 4 (9th): How many creative ways are there to keep Cliff Lee from winning? Facing winless Marco Estrada (0-5 in 14 GS), Lee nursed a 4-3 lead into the 8th and got the first 2 out before an E5 put the tying run on base. In came recent pickup Josh Lindblom to face Ryan Braun, but after falling behind 3-1, he put him on. But then he missed with 4 more to Aramis Ramirez. Finally, Lindblom found the strike zone — and Corey Hart slammed it. Philly loaded the bags in the 9th, Jim Henderson (recently appointed closer on the perfectly valid grounds of “what the hell”) bounced back from yesterday’s disaster and retired Erik “Clutch” Kratz to end it.

So Lee and Estrada both got no decision; their combined record is 2-12 in 35 starts. The Brewer has recently tamed his gophers — no HRs in his last 3 starts, after 16 in his first 75 IP — but was still touched for 4 runs tonight, same as his last outing. Lee gave up 3 solo shots –two by Ryan Braun, who had been seeking #30 since August 1 — but he also tied his season high with 12 Ks, walking none.

  • At this writing, Braun is 8 for 15 with 3 HRs off Lee. Coincidentally, the last time Chipper hit 2 in a game, Braun also hit 2 in the same game.
  • Braun has 30+ HRs in 5 of his first 6 seasons, joining 7 others; only Pujols made it 6 for 6. With 192 total, Braun has tied Prince Fielder for #10 for the first 6 years. Five more gets him Williams, 6 bags DiMaggio & Dunn, 10 catches F. Robinson and 11 TeixeiraMathews and Howard look safe at 222.
  • Hart has 80 HRs since 2010, tied for 16th with Votto and CarGo.

Athletics 3, @Royals 0Coco Crisp broke up the scoreless duel with a video-aided 2-out, 2-and-0 HR in the 6th, and Yoenis Cespedes added his 15th (soundly spanked) on an 0-and-2 count the next inning, lifting his BA/SLG to .301/.506. Dan Straily earned his first big-league win in his 3rd start, yielding 3 singles over 6.1 shutout stanzas.

  • Straily came cheap in the 24th round three years ago, but he broke through at high-A last year with 8.6 SO/9 and 3.85 SO/BB in 161 IP. This year he took it to another level, and another and another: 11.4 SO/9 and 4.7 SO/BB in 22 starts between AA/AAA before making his MLB debut 2 weeks ago.
  • Oakland has 4 relievers with 40+ innings, each with an ERA between 2.42 and 2.86; the 5th guy has 33 IP and a 2.16 ERA. Recent additions/returnees Evan Scribner and Pedro Figueroa have a combined 1.32 ERA in 34 IP. No wonder Brian Fuentes didn’t fit in.

Rays 7, @Angels 0 (7th): Who’s got David Price in the CYA pool? If he holds this lead, Price will be 8-0 in his last 11 starts and 16-4 on the year, with a 2.40 ERA (at this writing). This would be his 19th QS in 24 outings, topping the AL in both number and percentage.

@Cardinals 1, Diamondbacks 0 (9th): St. Louis has one other 1-0 win and Arizona one such loss this year; both happened on June 13, along with another one of this year’s 28(?) 1-0 games….

  • Spoke too soon — Snakes up 2-1 after back/jacks by Paul Goldschmidt and Chris Young. Young had been 1 for 10 with 6 Ks against Motte.
  • In a perfect world, Jake Elmore would have been scouted while playing for the Joliet Slammers and then signed by the Cubs. But he got his first big-league hits tonight playing SS for Arizona.

Mets 8, @Reds 4 and counting (9th): It was an 8-1 laugher before closer Frank Francisco (as in, “a loss is closer than you think“) came on to get some work in — it having been established recently that a mere 5-run bulge just wasn’t enough. Francisco retired but 2 of 7 men while jacking his season ERA up to 6.25, and again created a cheese-save chance for Jon Rauch (who cashed in).

Before the farce, Matt Harvey set down the first 12 men and worked through 7.2 IP on just 89 pitches (63 strikes), departing after his only walk; he now has 34 Ks and a 3.00 ERA in 30 IP over 5 starts. He also had a big hit in the 4th, spitting on Dusty Baker’s rote strategy: With 2 out and a man on 2nd, Kelly Shoppach (career .204/.656 vs. RHPs) was IBB’d, and Harvey drilled the next pitch into the left-center gap to score both runners. Anyone who’s scouted him at the plate knows he can hit; I don’t claim he’s the equal even of Shoppach’s bad side, but the difference isn’t worth the risk of the extra runner. Walking .200 hitters in the 4th inning is a losing proposition.

  • Speaking of rote strategy … The next time Harvey came up, the Mets led 4-0 with Shoppach on 1st and 1 out. Terry Collins ordered the sacrifice, and Harvey executed. I know there’s a mystical belief in getting that 5th run (“so a grand slam can’t tie you”), but the advantage of moving a slow catcher up to 2nd base with 2 out and a singles hitter coming up is minimal. (Of course, that singles hitter doubled off the wall for one run, and scored on another hit, so what do I know. I still hate the 1-out sac bunt by a decent-hitting pitcher.)
  • Francisco has 19 saves. The highest ERA ever in a season of 15+ saves was 7.21 by Brad Lidge in 2009. (Just a couple more games, Frankie; you know we believe in you.)
  • OK, you’re judged on results in this game, and Francisco has stunk. But when I watch him in postgame interviews, I can’t help liking him in spite of it all. It’s a tough profession, and you get knocked down hard at times. Francisco might never be successful again, but I don’t think the game’s gonna beat him.

 

 

0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

45 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Doug
Doug
12 years ago

Re: ChiSox 5 homer binge at Toronto

This was only the 6th time in the game-searchable era that a team has homered 5 or more times and had no more than one other hit. The really interesting bit, though, is that this is the third time this year this has happened, following Baltimore against Texas on May 10, and Colorado against Cincinnati on May 27. The only other game exactly like tonight (5 HR, 6 H) was by Oakland against Washington on June 16, 1971.

Doug
Doug
12 years ago

Re: 8 multi-HR games after age 40 for Hank Sauer

Remarkable enough as that factoid is, even more remarkable is that Sauer played the equivalent in PAs of only one full season after age 40. But, what a season.

Rk Player HR From To Age G PA AB R H 2B 3B RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS Pos Tm
1 Hank Sauer 39 1957 1959 40-42 228 717 629 74 158 22 1 123 84 103 .251 .341 .475 .817 *7 NYG-SFG
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 8/16/2012.
Hartvig
Hartvig
12 years ago
Reply to  Doug

Looking at his career numbers, Bill James was probably right that if not for a combination of Bill McKechnie managing the Reds and WW2 Hank Sauer may well have been the third man to crack the 500 home run plateau.

Voomo Zanzibar
Voomo Zanzibar
12 years ago
Reply to  Hartvig

Sauer hit 97.5% of his homeruns after the age of 30.

bstar
12 years ago

RE: Kris Medlen The Braves don’t have an off-day until August 30 and have pledged themselves to a six-man rotation until then to figure who the best five are to go out and try and reel in the Nats (their next series with Washington starts the day after). Hudson/Maholm and probably Ben Sheets are in. That whittles it down to Medlen vs. Tommy Hansen vs. Mike Minor with the least effective man out. Medlen certainly has the inside track for the fourth spot right now, and I do hope Hanson outduels Minor for the last spot, even though the immature… Read more »

donburgh
donburgh
12 years ago

Burnett is the Pirates first 15 game winner since Todd Ritchie in 1999. No Pirate has won more than 15 since Drabek won 22 (and Cy Young) in 1990.

Dave V.
Dave V.
12 years ago

That Phillies–Brewers game last night. How the heck does Manuel not put in Papelbon? I guess it shouldn’t be surprising considering how he has been used all season, but come on. I was watching the game live on MLB Network and the announcers were surprised themselves. They then said that manuel was doing it because the Phillies were out of it and he wanted to see what he had in Lindblom. So the closer the Phillies gave a 4-year, $50 million contract to, doesn’t come in the game with 2 outs, the tying run on 2nd (and soon enough, the… Read more »

Dave V.
Dave V.
12 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

Great numbers there, JA. It really is insane in how closers are used these days. Inspired by your info, here are numbers for a few closers in terms of how many of their saves were 1.1 innings or more: Sutter: 188 of 300 = 62.7% of saves 1.1 IP’s or more Goose: 193 of 310 = 62.3% Fingers: 201 of 341 = 58.9% L.Smith: 169 of 478 = 35.4% Henke: 96 of 311 = 30.9% Eckersley: 106 of 390 = 27.2% Mariano: 116 of 608 = 19.1% Gagne: 30 of 187 = 16.0% Benitez: 42 of 289 = 14.5% Papelbon:… Read more »

topper009
topper009
12 years ago

Braun would have gone 6-6 in 30 HR seasons if he wasnt hit in the hand with a pitch in by Tommy Hanson in this game. Of course, the last time Hanson faced the Brewers Braun took him deep twice in his career debut, what a complete punk. Braun’s line before being hit in the hand 2010: 146 PA, .365/.445/.603. He missed a few games and then played on instead of going on the DL with an injured hand/wrist. His line from the beaning until August 1: 305 PA .233/.270/.397. He has never had a stretch that long and that… Read more »

topper009
topper009
12 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

Working on my thesis, not much free time. Also thinking about baseball has become so demoralizing watching the Brewers this year, it seems like they are about .500 in games when they have a lead in the 9th inning.

Phil Gaskill
Phil Gaskill
12 years ago
Reply to  topper009

“Beaning” means getting hit in the *head,” not in the hand.

topper009
topper009
12 years ago
Reply to  Phil Gaskill

“”Beanball” is a colloquialism used in baseball, for a ball thrown at an opposing player with the intention of striking him such as to cause harm, often connoting a throw at the player’s head”

nightfly
12 years ago
Reply to  Phil Gaskill

“Plunkball” just doesn’t have the same ring to it…

Doug
Doug
12 years ago

What’s the record for HRs on your Bobblehead Night, anyway?

Don’t know about bobblehead nights, but Chipper’s HR on his birthday earlier this season ties him with Joe Morgan, Tony Phillips, Wade Boggs and Bob Thurman among 40 year-olds to do this. Only Jim Thome and Darrell Evans, at 41, have been older.

Morgan is the only 40 year-old to hit 2 HR on his birthday.

Ed
Ed
12 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

Obviously we don’t know what will happen with the rest of Beltre’s career but I’d guess that his HOF chances are a lot lower than what John’s analysis suggests for the following reasons: 1) 29% of his career WAR comes from just two seasons. I’m guessing that’s quite rare for a player with his career WAR. 2) One of those seasons (2004) just looks “suspect”. 3) His career hasn’t followed the straight path that HOF voters prefer. 4) Lots of his value is from defense which tends to get undervalued in HOF voting. 5) As we know, 3rd basemen are… Read more »

MikeD
MikeD
12 years ago
Reply to  Ed

I agree. I would rate Beltre’s HOF chances as almost non-existent. I’m not saying it’s fair, but I believe it’s true, and it’s for all the reasons you mentioned. In fact, if I was to create a list of players who have had careers worthy of HOF consideration, but have little chance of making the HOF, he would be on it somewhere. Players like Beltre, Kevin Brown, Rolen, Nettles, Bell, Whitaker, etc.(And, yeah, I haven’t given it much thought, but four of the players that popped out were 3B’men.) It’s not too late for him. He is still playing and… Read more »

Ed
Ed
12 years ago
Reply to  MikeD

All good points Mike D. The more I think about it, in my opinion, the biggest strike against Beltre will be this: much of his career can/will be labeled as “disappointing” and “not living up to expectations”. His age 20 and 21 seasons certainly made him look like a future star. But then he spent the next 3 years as a huge disappointment as he failed to meet or build upon those early expectations. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, he submitted one of the greatest seasons ever by a 3rd baseman. (was it PED enhanced? maybe, though there’s no proof).… Read more »

Ed
Ed
12 years ago
Reply to  Ed

Oops, wasn’t done typing. If I had a vote, I don’t think I’d vote for Beltre. Here’s why. You never really knew what you were going to get from him in any particular season. Isn’t one of the things you want from a HOFer is that you have a reasonable expectation for that their going to do in a particular year (given some level of peak and decline and normal ups and downs). But with Beltre, you just never really knew what you were going to get.

MikeD
MikeD
12 years ago
Reply to  Ed

@21, John, no doubt. Yet we’re talking HOF voting here. You’re points are rational, but that doesn’t mean the voting will be. Plus, as noted, he hasn’t been viewed as a great player and I don’t think the the narrative around him has changed. It will have to for him to have any chance. If he was to hit the ballot today, I think he’d be one and done.

Brent
Brent
12 years ago
Reply to  Ed

@22, I wonder if an uneveness in your career hurts you more for the HOF as a pitcher as opposed to a batter. Looking at Catfish Hunter vs. Vida Blue as HOF candidates, for instance, seems to lend credence to the fact that grouping your good seasons together as a peak (as a pitcher, at least) is better than having them all over the place. Blue has 26.2 of his total 41.3 WAR in 4 seasons spread out over 10 years (1971, 1976, 1978 and 1980) whereas Hunter had 23.4 of his total 32.1 career WAR in the 5 year… Read more »

Hartvig
Hartvig
12 years ago
Reply to  Ed

He also suffers by playing at the same time as Chipper Jones and Scott Rolen (who I agree is a HOF long shot because of his perceived inability to live up to the Mike Schmidt standard and his injury history) and of that threesome he was always considered the third except for a couple of seasons and currently.

In reality, I think Jones is easily in the top 5 off all time, Rolen in the top 10 and Beltre in the top 15 & climbing fast so I would probably vote for all 3 of them.

Ed
Ed
12 years ago
Reply to  Ed

Wow, I have to strongly disagree with your comments John. I’m going to just look at Beltre’s oWAR since people who claim Beltre was a disappointment for Seattle are talking about his offense. 1) I don’t think it’s fair/accurate to average Beltre’s 21-25 seasons as a way to project what we might expect him to do for the next 5 seasons. We should expect some level of improvement from what a player does in his early 20s. 2) Coming off a 7.1 oWAR season at age 25 for the Dodgers, Beltre average 2.4 oWAR for the next 5 seasons for… Read more »

Ed
Ed
12 years ago
Reply to  Ed

@28 John Perhaps one can claim that there’s more to the story but in this case there’s a specific story – that Beltre was a disappointment as a hitter for the Mariners. And the evidence supports that story. Even if we use your 5 year average (which again, I disagree with). Looking at batting runs (the hitting component of WAR), Beltre averaged 10.8 batting runs his final 5 years with the Dodgers. His highest batting runs with the Mariners was only 8 and he averaged 1.6. The reality is that Seattle should have NEVER signed him to a 5 year… Read more »

RJ
RJ
12 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

I’ve just been checking out Beltre’s 2004 season. Fun fact: Barry Bonds won the MVP that year having less hits than any non-pitcher on the ballot.

Ed
Ed
12 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

John – I don’t see WAR as an appropriate tool for making determinations of consistency or inconsistency. Because it’s composed of multiple components (fielding, baserunning, hitting) someone could, for example, have the same WAR from one year to the next but for very different reasons.

mosc
mosc
12 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

I’d love to read a list of the top 6+ year contracts after the fact. The Jeter 10 year one comes to my mind as a success but I’ve heard people say it was a bad decision. The Original A-Rod 252 million would have gone through 2010 and I gotta say it would have been a bargain. He AVERAGED 669 plate appearances over those years missing less than a 15-day DL stint per year and hit an abysmal .299/.394/.577/.971! 5 DWAR and 2 gold gloves too. Those are clearly the exceptions though. You rarely get what you pay for. You… Read more »

mosc
mosc
12 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

Can you really approach it that way though? Average cost? The Yankees through the later 7 years of that deal certainly didn’t have anything resembling an average payroll. Maybe they could get an average 2war third basemen and pay him less than $7m, but is that better for the team? Hell no. To me, the value of each additional point of WAR would go up exponentially. WAY better than average in terms of value is more than the sum of a few average pieces. Why? Because you still have more spots in the lineup to get additional war.

Ed
Ed
12 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

John – I’m sorry but I really don’t understand your point. We’re talking about a narrative, a narrative that extends to beyond just the Seattle fans by the way. Narratives do play a role in HOF discussions and voting for better or for worse. In this case, the narrative – that Beltre was an offensive disappointment for Seattle – happens to have supportive evidence via advanced stats. Not sure what else I can say on this topic.

Paul E
Paul E
12 years ago
Reply to  Ed

Ed and John:
I’m really late to the Beltre discussion here, but I’ll ask both of you if you’ll concur with me that Rolen was the superior of Beltre.
Since Rolen was exiled to Toronto at age 33, his career rate stats are about equivalent to Beltre’s career rates

Rolen age 33-37 Beltre entire career
RC/G-AIR 5.6 – 105 5.3 – 105
OPS+ 110 110
Slash .275/.344/.447 .278/.329/.469

I think you’re splitting hairs with the fielding thing – both are top ten all-time with the glove, but I have to believe
that Rolen was the superior hitter

bstar
12 years ago

To jump in on this, It’s really important to remember that Beltre is only 33 years old. Doesn’t it just seem like the guy should be 35-37? 57 WAR at age 33 is pretty astonishing, as JA has pointed out. I disagree that third basemen are intentionally overlooked for the Hall. I think it’s mere coincidence that Nettles, Buddy Bell, Rolen, etc. are around 50-60 WAR and not 70+. And, this being Beltre’s age-33 season, doesn’t he have a better than average chance of rising up the WAR chart, past the previously mentioned group? Adrian Beltre’s story is far from… Read more »

Dan Franzen
12 years ago

“OK, you’re judged on results in this game, and Francisco has stunk. But when I watch him in postgame interviews, I can’t help liking him in spite of it all. It’s a tough profession, and you get knocked down hard at times. Francisco might never be successful again, but I don’t think the game’s gonna beat him.”

This is the guy who threw a metal chair into the stands and broke a woman’s nose, right? Same guy?

Dan Franzen
12 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

Yeah, I always remember because of his name. Anglo + Latino = memorable. Like Johnny Rodriguez or Emilio Smith.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1006037-10-most-revolting-on-field-acts-in-baseball-history/page/6