Quick – have you had a bad day at work this year? Pretty silly question, right. Well, if you’re among a select group of pitchers, maybe it’s not such a silly question. I’m talking about guys who deliver an honest day’s work almost every time they pitch and almost never have an “off day”.

As of this writing, there are still 5 pitchers this year who have put in a honest day’s work (HDW) every time they’ve pitched, and one (Ivan Nova) who had his streak snapped with his most recent outing earlier this week. After the jump, I’ll look more at the most reliable performers among major league pitchers.

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Cliff Lee of the Phillies is having one weird season. As of this writing, Lee is sporting a 2-6 W-L record after 19 starts, with rate stats comparable to his career averages.

So, what’s so unusual? I’ll take a look after the jump.

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Thanks to regular poster Richard Chester for contributing this article and analysis. Richard is a long-time Yankees follower with many stories to tell of days at the Stadium.

Derek Jeter has been piling on the hits this year and attention has been focused on his climb up the ladder of the lifetime hits leader board. Not often observed is his relatively low RBI total, even for a leadoff hitter. As of the date of this writing, 8/2/2012, he is projected to accumulate  213 hits and 50 RBIs. This would out him into a not-so-desirable club of players with 200 or more hits and no more than 50 RBIs.

After the jump, I’ll look some more at this unusual “club”.

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Selected musings on Sunday’s action.

Game reviews follow the jump.

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Not much in the way of heroic finishes in the NL on Saturday, but there are always interesting tidbits in the boxes.

The Saturday game summary follows the jump.

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A poor substitute for the original, but will do what I can while John is taking some time off.

Game wraps follow the jump.

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All of these players were active in the 1960s or 1970s. All were journeymen, and all played for at least three franchises.

Besides the above, what is the more specific common thread that unites these players?

Congratulations to yippeeyappee! He identified (in just 28 minutes) that these players played for a 1960s or 1970s expansion franchise in its inaugural season, and are natives of that team’s state/province. Where there were multiple such players, these are the ones who played the most games in that season.

No players on the 1969 Royals or 1977 Blue Jays matched these criteria.

In a recent post, John Autin identified that Jim Thome has the most career games with at least one of each of the TTO components – a walk, a strikeout and a home run. John called this phenomenon the “Thome Trifecta”, but I’m going to try a different moniker – triple-W, for a walk, a whiff and a whallop.

The leader in this category for 2012 is Adam Dunn of the White Sox, with 14 triple-W games so far this season, including 3 in a row against the Royals coming out of the All-Star break. After the jump, I’ll take a closer look at this phenomenon.

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With Ichiro‘s arrival in the Bronx, he joins Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriquez as Yankees with 2500 or more career hits.

How unusal is that? I’ll take a look after the jump.

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Everyone has heard the news now of Seattle trading Ichiro to the Yankees. On one level, just a seller/buyer trade and one that probably wouldn’t have been made but for an injury on the buying team. But, perhaps more significantly, an icon moving from his only team late in his career and not voluntarily, leaving his fans a little perplexed and bewildered but, in this circumstance, also happy for the player who now has a good shot at finally winning a championship.

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