The 2011 card image on the left identifies Omar Vizquel as a third baseman. Vizquel, though, wrapped up his 24-year career this week as the all-time leader in games played at shortstop, a mark that Derek Jeter may surpass in 2014 or later. Over his career, Vizquel has competed against rival shortstops ranging from Alan Trammell to Elvis Andrus. Among all those opponents, I was curious which one, paired with Vizquel, represented the most combined game experience ever at the position.

After the jump, I’ll look at the question of which historical games featured  starters having the most combined games experience at each position.

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This season has witnessed offensive contributions from the catcher position at levels seldom seen before.

After the jump, I’ll look a bit closer at the different dimensions of this phenomenon.

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In a recent post looking at pitchers recording higher ratios of unearned to total runs, some commenters wondered about the effect that official scorer bias may have on such results. More specifically, would official scorers be more inclined to score errors on debatable plays when the home team is fielding (thereby protecting the home team’s pitchers’ ERAs), and score hits on similar plays when the home team is batting (thereby enhancing the home team’s batters’ batting stats)?

After the jump, I’ll take a look at this question, and see what the numbers tell us.
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The Yankees are known for their unmatched post-season success, including the most World Series titles and appearances. In fact, the Yankees have lost more World Series than any other franchise has won.

This game is Jeopardy but, in this incarnation, could also be called box score sleuthing. There are many pieces to the game, each of which can be solved independently. So I expect this will work best as a group exercise with different individuals working on different pieces.

Following are a list of dates. These dates are the answers to Jeopardy questions. Your job is to determine the questions. Each question is in the form of “When was the last time a Yankee/the Yankees had a World Series game with …. ?”.

Note that the question format includes “a Yankee” rather than a specific name. Thus, none of the answers (er, questions) reference a specific player – so, nothing like “When was the last time in the World Series that Babe Ruth struck out with the bases loaded?”, or that sort of thing.

Thanks to everyone for playing. You found lots of interesting factoids that I never noticed. A box score is truly a treasure trove if you look closely. The questions and answers are posted after the jump. The ones you found are in black, and the remaining ones in blue.

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Fielding in baseball (if not fielders, necessarily) is getting better all the time. Improvements in equipment, field conditions and, especially, defensive positioning, mean today’s players have a leg up on their predecessors. Indeed, today’s computer analysis of batter and pitcher tendencies is of a sophistication unimagined even as recently as a decade ago. And, to top it off, recent years have seen progressively fewer balls in play due to ever increasing numbers of strikeouts. The end result – fewer errors and fewer unearned runs.

Nevertheless, unearned runs haven’t disappeared entirely and some pitchers seem to allow more of them than others. As an example, these are the starting pitchers of 2012 (min. 150 IP) with the three highest ratios of unearned runs allowed to total runs allowed.

Surprised? I mean those are all pretty decent pitchers. Why would it be those guys? After the jump, I’ll explain why perhaps this shouldn’t be so surprising.

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Sorry, couldn’t think of any clever title for this one.

Here is a short list of players to compile a most unusual season. In fact, no other players since 1901 have done so.

What are the season accomplishments that only these players have compiled?

Hint: there is a rookie playing this season who is currently on track to join this group.

Congratulations to Nick Pain! He identified that these are the only players since 1901 to have a qualifying season with an extra-base hit total more than 50% larger than their RBI total (i.e. XBH > 1.5 * RBI). Zack Cozart, the Reds rookie shortstop, is on pace to join this group. He is also on pace for the lowest RBI total for any qualifying season with 15+ HR.

Quick – who’s the best defensive 2nd baseman in baseball? Chase Utley? Robinson Cano? Dustin Pedroia? All fine second basemen, to be sure. But, as you’ve probably surmised by the title of this post, one answer to my question is perhaps an unlikely one.

Or, maybe you’re just thinking “Who the heck is Darwin Barney?”.

After the jump, I’ll look a little closer at Mr. Barney’s surprising season.

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Earlier this month, Rangers’ second baseman Jurickson Profar (an early finalist for the All-Name team) made his major league debut, homering in his first PA, only the third time since 1918 that a player under age 20 has done that.

The player on the list above who didn’t homer in his first PA is pitcher Denny McLain, who nonetheless homered in his first game and (as it turned out) for the only time in his career.

After the jump, I’ll look at bit more at these and other precocious players.

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This season, Paul Konerko, David Ortiz and Adam Dunn have joined the 400 HR club that now boasts 50 members. But, it’s not entirely clear who the next club member may be.

After the jump, I’ll look at the history of the 400 HR club, and what may lie ahead? Continue reading →

A quick rundown of games from today’s NL action involving the leading teams.

Nats 4, Cardinals 3 – Stephen Strasburg went 6 scoreless against the Redbirds, who mounted a comeback immediately Strasburg made his departure. But, the Nats restored their lead for good with back-to-back 2-out RBI singles in the 8th off loser Lance Lynn, making his 3rd relief appearance since his removal from the starting rotation. Strasburg is now at 156.1 IP with two more starts promised before the much anticipated season shutdown, or rather the anticipation of whether that shutdown will actually happen.

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