Selected observations on Monday’s action.

Mariners 8 @ Indians 10 Yan Gomes was the hero with a walk-off 3-run HR in the 10th, overcoming a solo shot by Seattle’s Justin Smoak in the top of the inning. It was Gomes’ second long ball of the day, giving him 4 for the season in just 55 PAs. Gomes is one of just 13 hitters so far this season who does NOT have more strikeouts than extra-base hits (min. 5 XBH). In 2012, just 3 players (Albert Pujols, Jose Reyes, Salvador Perez) managed that feat with a minimum of 20 extra-base hits.

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Congratulations to the following readers on solving the quizzes:

Part 1: wlcmlc, Dr. Doom and Richard Chester teamed up to identify that all of these players had a season with equal totals for walks, runs and RBI, numbering at least 40 (or any number from 38 to 43).

Part 2: Richard Chester and Bix identified that these players had a season with identical totals for doubles and HRs that also equaled their age on June 30 of that season

Part 3: Richard Chester identified that these players had 3 or more seasons of 30 or more walks and more than 3 times as many RBI as walks

The lists of players and their seasons for the three quizzes are after the jump.

My favorite player for this sort of thing is Butch Nieman. He played just 3 seasons for the Braves during World War II, but managed to compile these weird and wacky totals:

• 1943: 39 runs, walks and strikeouts. RBI = 46 = BB (39) + HR (7)
• 1944: 65 runs and RBI. 47 walks and strikeouts. 16 doubles and HR. RBI = 65 = BB (47) + HR (16) + 2
• 1945: 43 runs and walks. RBI = 56 = BB (43) + HR (14) – 1

Incidentally, with those 37 career homers, Nieman’s rate of 1 HR per 32 PAs ranked 10th best in the majors for 1943-45, among those with 30+ HR for the period.

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John’s taking a well-deserved night off, so here’s a brief (and pale) imitation of the original.

Rockies 1 @ Cubs 9. The Rox offensive woes continued as they managed just one run or less for the fourth time in five games, and 2 runs or less in 6 of their last 7. If not for a Josh Rutledge homer in the 9th, Colorado would have been shut out for the 3rd time in 4 games, something no Rockies team has ever done. That charge from the gate with 6 or more runs in 10 of their first 15 contests (something only 23 other clubs have done) seems but a distant memory.

More after the jump.

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Here are a group of dominating pitchers, among the elite in the game’s history. They have distinguished themselves from their live-ball era brethren by dint of achieving a certain seasonal feat.

What is this feat achieved by no other pitcher since 1920?

Hint: some of these pitchers achieved this feat more than once

Congratulations to John Autin! John identified these pitchers as the only hurlers since 1920 with a season of 200+ IP and an ERA+ > 200 x WHIP. Take a look at these spectacular seasons after the jump.

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The players in this quiz include a number of all-time greats, some sabermetric favorites, and a  couple of other guys.

So, what seasonal feat have only these players accomplished since 1901?

Hint: none of these players accomplished this feat more than once.

Congratulations to Phil, RJ and Richard Chester! They teamed up to identify these hitters as the only players since 1901 to have a qualifying season with more walks than hits, 25 or more HRs and 100 or fewer RBI. Despite the somewhat modest RBI totals, that is a pretty potent combination as 9 of the 10 seasons (listed in comment #30) scored 130 OPS+ or better, including two seasons over 200. Evidently, pitchers were justified in pitching around these guys frequently.

This just in – strikeouts are up again in 2013, averaging more than 7.5 per 9 innings. This is the 10th year-over-year increase in the past 14 seasons, and the 5th straight year setting a new all-time high. Not news to most readers here. Question, though, is this – is it good for the game? Does striking out a lot as the price for belting more homers really help a team score more runs? At what point, if any, does the cost outweigh the benefits?

What follows is a visual statistical analysis of strikeouts and home runs, the relationship between the two, and how that relationship contributes to or detracts from run scoring. No heavy lifting, but I hope you may come away with some new insights on this very pervasive influence on today’s game.

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Here’s a unusual list of players, with a healthy dose of HOFers, including some all-time slugging leaders. Plus … some other players.

But there is a common thread that connects only these players, among all those to play their entire careers since 1901.

1. Hank Aaron
2. Babe Ruth
3. Willie Mays
4. Jimmie Foxx
5. Rogers Hornsby
6. Ron Fairly
7. Phil Cavarretta
8. Waite Hoyt
9. Jay Johnstone
10. Elmer Valo

Hint: think Thomas Wolfe.

Congratulations to Nomar’s Ghost and Richard Chester who teamed up to identify the players on the list as those to play in 20 or more seasons, starting and ending in the same city, but with a different franchise.

When you absolutely must prevent a run from scoring, what pitchers are major league managers calling on this year?

To find out, I selected a subset of games, namely 9th inning walk-off wins after one out. Why those ones? A couple of reasons: first, most of these games will have been tied going to the home 9th, meaning the visitors cannot allow a run; and second, these games can easily be found using the Play Index in Baseball-Reference (whereas 9th inning walk-off wins with no outs are indistinguishable in Play Index from home 9th innings that are not played).

Anyway, this early in the season, it is a small enough set of games to look at each one and play manager (with the obvious benefit of hindsight) . After the jump, we’ll find out who the managers did call on.

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Scott Rolen completed a distinguished career last season, joining an exclusive group of only 30 players with 300 home runs and 500 doubles. But, he also joined the even more exclusive group below of retired players since 1901 with a particular career accomplishment.

What is the accomplishment that distinguishes the players in this group?

Hint: the answer uses only basic statistics found on the back of many baseball cards

Congratulations to Josh and GrandyMan who teamed up to identify these 12 players as the infielders with 1500 games since 1901 (including 150 after their age 35 season) who played only one defensive position for their entire careers. There are another 12 players (see comment #8) who have the same feat except for the playing time after their age 35 seasons.

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Pitching trends are constantly evolving. Part of the reason is changes in game strategy, player usage, or even equipment. Part of it is improvement in players’ skills which, in turn, results in changes in expectations of player performance.

This quiz identifies pitchers who, like James Fenimore Cooper’s Mohican, were the last of a breed. In our case, “breed” is a statistical “feat” that the pitcher accomplished during a season of play.

Thanks to those who played and succeeded in solving 6 of the 10 quizzes (bolded). Here is the solution, for pitcher seasons since 1901:

1. Hank Wyse (1950) is the last pitcher (of 38) with twice as many walks as strikeouts (min. 162 IP).
2. Hugh Mulcahy (1937) is the last pitcher (of 7) to both start and relieve in 25 or more games.
3. Omar Daal (1995) is the only pitcher to appear in 20 or more games and not start or finish any of them
4. David Wells (1998) is the last pitcher (of 41) to have more shutouts than losses (min. 162 IP)
5. Byron Houck (1913) is the only pitcher with an ERA+ lower than 100 times his W-L% (min. 162 IP)
6. Elmer Jacobs (1917) is the last pitcher (of 10) with an ERA under 3.00 that is greater than 10 times his W-L% (min. 162 IP)
7. Ted Wingfield (1927) is the only pitcher with a WHIP higher than his strikeout total (min. 20 games)
8. Bill Lee (1945) is the last pitcher (of 23) with a WHIP higher than his SO/9 ratio (min. 162 IP)
9. Carl Lundgren (1907) is the only pitcher with a BB/9 ratio 3 times as high as his ERA (min. 162 IP)
10. Matt Keough (1982) is the last pitcher (of 7) with a HR/9 ratio twice as high as his SO/BB ratio (min. 162 IP)

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