Early last season, I did a piece highlighting Matt Kemp’s fast start. Coming off a near-MVP season in 2011 when he flirted with the Triple Crown with a .324/.399/.586 slash and league-leading HR (39) and RBI (126) totals, Kemp kept right on rolling, going 2 for 5 on opening day and maintaining that .400 batting average for all but 3 of his first 30 games. Kemp’s April looked like .417/.490/.893 with 12 home runs.

Kemp would go down with an injury in mid-May, and then re-injured himself in his second game back at the end of that month. Returning after the All-Star break, he finished just .280/.331/.461 with 11 home runs over his last 70 games.

For 2013, the power circuits are off for Kemp, with just two home runs on the season and a .251/.305/.335 slash before he injured his hamstring a couple of weeks ago. After the jump, I’ll take a closer look at Kemp’s decline and what might be causing his struggles.

Continue reading →

This is the second installment of a series looking at the best OPS months by position. Today’s post looks at each of the infield positions, with selected observations on the players involved.

As with Part 1 on outfielders, the method is to look at monthly OPS for players with 80+ PA in a month (50+ PA for April) and who played a majority of games in that month at one position.

More on the best months by infielders, after the jump.

Continue reading →

Some players start hot, others warm up with the weather, while still others charge to the finish. And, a very select few play at another level, besting their contemporaries most all the time.

This series looks at the players at each position having the best calendar months in a season.

Take a look and see how your favorites fared.

Continue reading →

On May 4, 2010, the Red Sox beat the Angels 5-1 on the strength of a 2-out, 4-run rally in the 8th inning that broke open what had been a tight pitchers’ duel between Ervin Santana and Jon Lester. Boston won that day despite a -0.418 WPA turned in by designated hitter David Ortiz, his fourth worst WPA score ever (his worst WPA game was also against Ervin Santana, in this 2009 contest). Here’s how David’s day went:

• 1st inning: ended inning striking out with runners at 2nd and 3rd
• 3rd inning: ended inning on double play groundout with runners at 1st and 2nd
• 6th inning: led off inning striking out, on 3 pitches
• 8th inning: grounded into double play with nobody out and bases loaded; no runs scored

At the conclusion of that debacle, Ortiz was riding a 4 for 34 skid, with a season slash of .149/.240/.358. Hardly the start he was looking for after a disappointing 2009 campaign that saw Ortiz hit just .238, his first full season since joining Boston in 2003 that he failed to hit 30 homers or drive in 100 runs. Whispers were that Big Papi was done – it was only a matter of time before the Sox cut him loose. Remember.

As with Mark Twain, rumors of Big Papi’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. In fact, Ortiz’s turnaround since that nadir just over 3 years ago has been nothing short of spectacular. More on the Ortiz miracle after the jump.
Continue reading →

Following are lists of all-time leading pitchers, by franchise, for a variety of common pitching metrics.

Ever wanted to know which pitcher had the most 200 strikeout seasons playing for Cleveland? You’ll find that out and lots more after the jump.

Continue reading →

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.

Continue reading →

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.

Continue reading →

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.

Continue reading →

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.

Continue reading →

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.