|
Useless Sammy Sosa information
As Slammin' Sammy approaches his 500th career home run, consider this: Assuming he gets there this week, he'll have gone from 400 homers to 500 in 16 months, from 300 to 500 in 3½ years and from 200 to 500 in only five years and one month.
It took Barry Bonds 2½ years to get from 400 to 500, two weeks short of five years to go from 300 to 500 and 7½ years to go from 200 to 500. So it took Sosa about as long to hit the last 300 homers of his run as it took Bonds to hit the last 200 on the road to 500.
| |
|
| |
| CAREER STATISTICS |
| GM |
HR |
RBI |
AVG |
OBP |
SLG |
| 1869 |
498 |
1345 |
.279 |
.348 |
.547 |
|
|
Meanwhile, the last Cub to hit 500, Ernie Banks, needed 4½ years just to go from 400 to 500, eight years to get from 300 to 500 and almost 11 years to go from 200 to 500. So Sosa zoomed from 300 to 500 in about the time it took Banks to go from 400 to 500. Phew.
Sosa hit his 300th home run six weeks before another big Chicago bopper, Frank Thomas. Thomas has hit 75 since. Sosa has hit almost 200.
Sosa hit his 300th two months after Matt Williams. He's at 371 homers now, while Sammy closes in on 500.
Williams, Juan Gonzalez, Fred McGriff, Junior Griffey, Rafael Palmeiro and Andres Galarraga all beat Sosa to 300 homers. And Sosa will beat every one of them to 500.
Sosa hit his first career homer off Roger Clemens. It's his only career home run against Clemens -- but one of 19 he has hit off seven Cy Young award winners. He owns four each off Randy Johnson and Orel Hershiser, three apiece against Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux, two each against Pedro Martinez and Doug Drabek, plus that one against Clemens.
Of the 15 other players who homered the day Sosa hit his first -- June 21, 1989 -- not one is still active.
But the pitchers who gave up Sosa's first (Clemens), 100th (Trevor Hoffman), 200th (Steve Kline), 300th (Robert Person) and 400th homers (Shane Reynolds) are all still active.
Sosa is closing in on his fifth straight season of 50 homers or more. At the time he arrived in the National League, in 1992, all of the National League hitters in the previous 40 years had combined for three 50-homer seasons.
Sosa has eight straight seasons of 35 homers or more, 100 RBI or more. Among the active players who have never had a 35-homer, 100-RBI season: Ryan Klesko, Scott Rolen, Cliff Floyd, Raul Mondesi, Tim Salmon or Jermaine Dye.
And believe it or not, Sammy has eight homers while hitting leadoff, two inside-the-parkers, two while batting eighth, seven in extra innings, 83 in the first inning, one on the 4th of July (off Curt Schilling) and eight to end games with one swing.
Useless intentional walk information
Once there was a time when we were shocked to see a man intentionally walked with no one on base. But Barry Bonds has changed all that. Has he ever. With the help of the Elias Sports Bureau's Kevin Hines, we've broken down all of Bonds' 63 intentional walks this year:
He has been intentionally walked eight times with nobody on base.
He has been intentionally walked eight times with first base occupied.
He has been intentionally walked 12 times to load the bases (four of them when there were runners on either first and second or first and third).
He has been intentionally walked 11 times to put the tying or winning run on base (a violation of the sacred "book" that could result in possible life imprisonment).
He has been intentionally walked six times to bring the tying or winning run to the plate.
He has been intentionally walked 52 more times than Alex Rodriguez (63-11).
He has been intentionally walked as many times this year as Sammy Sosa, Manny Ramirez, Mike Piazza, Luis Gonzalez, Jeff Bagwell, Larry Walker and Jason Giambi combined.
And Bonds has more intentional walks this year than Yogi Berra (49), Roger Maris (42)), Rocky Colavito (58) or Gil Hodges (31) had in their whole careers.
Useless playoff-team information
Could be a tough postseason for Bud Selig's Blue Ribbon Panel. Only one of the AL's top six payroll teams (entering the season) will make the playoffs. (Of course, that's the Yankees.) The Angels, A's and Twins ranked 15th, 27th and 28th. And if the Giants wind up as the NL wild card, it will mean that six of the nine teams with the highest payrolls entering the season won't be in the playoffs.
But ... as many of the bottom four payroll teams will make it (A's and Twins) as the top four (Yankees and Diamondbacks).
We're not sure the world understands just how dominating that three-headed Oakland pitching monster can be. The A's are now up to 13 times this year in which Barry Zito, Tim Hudson and Mark Mulder have pitched back-to-back-to-back. The Santa Rosa Press Democrat's Jeff Fletcher reports that Oakland's record in those games is a ridiculous 34-5. Only once have they lost two of three in those three-man turns, but they've won all three nine times.
And no team all season has won two games in a row when facing the Big Three. (They've lost back-to-back twice, but over two different series.) The last time one team beat the A's in two straight games started by those three was Aug. 14-15, 2001, when the Blue Jays won games started by Hudson and Zito in Toronto.
And, incredibly, the last time any team beat them back-to-back at home was April 11-12, 2001, when Seattle won games started by Mulder and Hudson. That's a whole lot of spins around the rotation ago.
It's been a strange year for those Yankees, all right. In a game in Tampa Bay last week, they blew a lead of four or more runs for the 13th time this year. The New York Post's Joel Sherman reports that that's more leads of four or more runs than they blew in the previous three seasons combined. But even though they lead the major leagues in runs scored, the Yankees have come from four runs back (or more) themselves to catch up only four times all year. They've wound up winning just two games in which they trailed by four or more -- but lost six games in which they led by four or more. Very weird.
Strange but True Dept.: The Yankees lost two of three to the Devil Rays in that series. Devil Rays public-relations genius Rick Vaughn reports that marked the first time a first-place team had lost a series against a team that had already lost its 100th game since 1964, when the truly amazin' Casey Stengel Mets beat Ray Sadecki and Bob Gibson in the final weekend of the season. But Gibson came back to win the last game of the season in relief, sending the Cardinals to the World Series.
Here's a little-known Yankees record: Loyal reader Lee Sinins, of baseball-encyclopedia.com, reports that Bernie Williams and Derek Jeter have tied the major-league record for most consecutive years by teammates scoring 100 runs apiece. The teammates who have done it five times or more:
Earle Combs, Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth: 1926-32 Yankees (7)
Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams: 1996-2002 Yankees (7)
Billy Hamilton, Sam Thompson: 1890-95 Phillies (6)
Willie Keeler, Hughie Jennings: 1894-98 Orioles (5)
Joe Morgan, Pete Rose: 1972-76 Reds (5)
Miscellaneous useless information
One more Barry Bonds note we have a hard time making sense of. How can a man who has reached base more than any player in National League history not be leading his league in runs scored? (He's actually third, seven behind Sammy Sosa, three behind Albert Pujols.)
Consider the times each has reached base and the runs scored:
|
Player
|
Times on base
|
Runs
|
|
Bonds
|
345
|
113
|
|
Sosa
|
261
|
120
|
|
Pujols
|
253
|
116
|
When Bonds has been on base 80 to 90 more times more than these guys and has scored fewer runs, it tells you all you need to know about how unproductive the Giants hitting behind him have been. In the five previous seasons in which a player reached base 345 times or more -- all by Babe Ruth and Ted Williams -- they averaged 149 runs scored.
The only player in baseball this year with a quadruple double (double figures in doubles, triples, homers and steals) is Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins, who also did it last season as a rookie. Only eight other players in the last 50 years (including Willie Mays and Hank Aaron) have had back-to-back quadruple-double seasons. But the only other player to do it in his first two seasons is another Phillies middle infielder, Juan Samuel -- who was also the only player in the last half-century to have quadruple-doubles in the first three full seasons of his career (1984-85-86).
In their last series at Cinergy Field/Riverfront Stadium, the Reds were so inspired, they got swept by the Phillies. Must be an Ohio thing. Last team to get swept in its final regular-season series at its soon-to-be-defunct home stadium: the Indians, who were swept by the White Sox in their final three games at old Cleveland Municipal Stadium.
Even more amazing than the fact that Greg Maddux has won 15 games or more in 15 consecutive seasons is this: Only one other active pitcher is working on a streak of more than three straight years of at least 15 games -- Mr. Randy Johnson (six).
So let's get this straight: Four players now have homered in four consecutive at-bats this season (Mike Cameron, Shawn Green, Andruw Jones and now Troy Glaus). Exactly one player did that in the whole decade of the '80s (Larry Herndon). And the last season in which it even happened twice (the previous record) was 1971. What a sport.
| |
|
| |
| 2002 SEASON STATISTICS |
| W-L |
IP |
H |
BB |
R |
ERA |
| 11-5 |
157.1 |
116 |
49 |
54 |
2.75 |
|
|
OK, guess the Red Sox pitcher with the longest streak of dominant starts this year. Pedro? Nope. Derek Lowe? Sorry. It's Tim Wakefield, who had a streak of seven consecutive starts in which he'd allowed one earned run until the Orioles mugged him for two Monday. Believe it or not, Pedro has never had that long a streak of starts with one earned run or none. Lowe's longest streak like that this year was five. Even Roger Clemens' longest similar streak with the Red Sox was only six. Who'd have thunk it?
Is there a more unbelievable story all season than Chris Hammond? In his last big-league appearance before this season, on May 17, 1998, Hammond gave up six earned runs in 3 1/3 innings. That's twice as many earned runs as he has allowed this year in his last 53 appearances.
As Braves publicity whiz Glen Serra reports, Hammond has given up as many earned runs all season as John Smoltz gave up in two-thirds of an inning back in April. And Hammond is poised to become the third pitcher of all time, and the first left-hander since 1916 (Ferdie Schupp), with an ERA under 1.00 and more than 70 innings pitched in a season.
Since the evolution of the modern closer, the only other left-handed reliever with an ERA under 1.00 and at least 50 innings was Rob Murphy (0.72 in 50 1/3 IP) for the 1986 Reds.
You know it's September when ... Red Sox manager Grady Little replaces all nine position players in his lineup in the ninth inning of a 13-2 win Sunday over the Orioles.
In our The Good, The Bad and The Goofy report, you can find more about the Tigers' walking exploits (or lack thereof). But every once in a while, something shocking happens. Booth Newspapers' Danny Knobler reports that in their Sept. 15 game against the Royals, the Tigers drew two walks in the third inning. It was their first multi-walk inning in 137 innings.
We're not sure what a guy has to do to win a Gold Glove, but it sure seems as if Mike Bordick has done enough to win one. In Rey Ordonez's record 101-game errorless streak for the Mets in 1999-2000, he handled 418 total chances (assists plus putouts). Bordick not only broke Ordonez's record Friday, he has handled more than 500 chances during his streak.
Ordonez, by the way, has 15 errors during Bordick's streak. And, as the Washington Post's Dave Sheinin reports, last year's NL Gold Glove winner, Montreal's Orlando Cabrera, is up to 27 errors since Bordick's last error.
Possible record alert: The always-dangerous Devil Rays plunked their 88th hitter of the year Monday. The all-time record for HBPs is 93, set way back in 2001 by the Red Sox. Consult your local box scores for more developments.
The Devil Rays turned the first triple play in franchise history Sept. 13 in Toronto, in the first game of Tampa Bay pitcher Dewon Brazleton's career. According to SABR triple-play historian Steve Boren, it was the first time since Aug. 31, 1919 a team had pulled off a triple play behind a pitcher making his big-league debut. The St. Louis Browns did it the last time, behind Rolla (Lefty) Mapel. The only other time in history that's happened: April 23, 1895 (Boston Braves, Zeke Wilson).
One more astonishing Devil Rays note: The Rays have become the fourth team in history to start their season 3-0 and then go on to lose 100 games. The others: the 1906 Boston Beaneaters (started 4-0, lost 102), the 1909 Beaneaters (started 4-0, lost 108) and the 1969 expansion Padres (started 3-0, lost 110).
It isn't every year you see two teams play four consecutive extra-inning games in the same series, as the Mariners and Rangers did last week. In fact, it had been nearly 60 years. According to Lee Sinins, author of the indispensable Sabermetric Baseball Encyclopedia, the only other three times in history that's happened are:
White Sox-Tigers, Sept. 9-12, 1908
Indians-Browns, May 1-5, 1910
Red Sox-Browns, May 31-June 2, 1943
SABR member Joshua Raisen observes that five teams -- the Mariners, Devil Rays, Mets, Astros and Rockies -- have never had any player compile a 25-game hitting streak. The Marlins have had two players (Luis Castillo and Kevin Millar) do that just this year. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, they're only the fourth team in history to have teammates with streaks of 25 or more. The others:
2002 Marlins: Castillo (35), Millar (25)
1999 Blue Jays: Shawn Green (28), Shannon Stewart (26)
1938 Browns: George McQuinn (34), Mel Almada (29)
1930 Senators: Sam Rice (28), Heinie Manush (27)
When Greg Colbrunn hit for the cycle while hitting two homers last week in San Diego, we heard it was the first multi-homer cycle since George Brett had one on May 28, 1979. But Brett's cycle came in a 16-inning game. And the previous multi-homer cycle, by Carl Yastrzemski in 1965, came in a 10-inning game. So two of our Useless Information heroes -- the East Valley Tribune's Ed Price and home run historian David Vincent -- determined that Colbrunn had the first nine-inning multi-homer cycle since Ralph Kiner did it on June 25, 1950.
If Randy Johnson's 17-strikeout wipeout of the Brewers last week looked familiar, it's because the Unit has won 14 straight games against Bud's Brewers. According to Elias, that's tied for the second longest winning streak by any pitcher against any team since division play began in 1961. The group Johnson is hanging out with:
17 Dave McNally vs. Texas, April 12, 1969 - Aug. 15, 1973
14 Mike Flanagan vs. Minnesota, Aug. 19, 1977 - Sept. 2, 1983
14 Dave Stewart vs. Seattle, Aug. 13, 1986 - Aug. 1, 1990
If you set a record and nobody notices, is it still a record? You betcha. Reader Pat Allen reports he was watching the Cubs play at Wrigley on Aug. 15, on a day when Fred McGriff made it through an entire game without a putout, an assist or any other kind of chance. But he was about the only one who noticed. Just one other NL first baseman has ever done that: Rip Collins, also for the Cubs, on June 29, 1937. So Allen got in touch with us and Cubs beat man Bruce Miles, of the Arlington Daily Herald. We verified with the Cubs that this really happened. And McGriff will get his record. Way to go, Pat.
Injury of the week: Phillies rookie Nick Punto was out for a week after straining his hamstring -- stretching in the on-deck circle.
In case you missed the longest rundown in the history of baseball (well, maybe), Shawn Green was thrown out stealing third Sunday in San Diego on a play that was scored 2-4-5-6-1-4-2-3. ("I was just hoping to run into somebody," Green told the Los Angeles Times' Steve Springer.)
Finally, it's been a rough year for bobbleheads. Our bobblehead czar, David Hallstrom, reports that after Pokey Reese's 0-for-4 on his bobblehead day last weekend, this year's bobbleheaded honorees are hitting only .272, down from .325 last year.
But the nadir of the bobblehead craze was clearly reached in Florida last week, where the Marlins spent an entire seven-game homestand trying to give away 60,000 Josh Beckett, A.J. Burnett, Brad Penny and Julian Tavarez bobbleheads on the days they pitched -- and still wound up with 7,000 left over. Hard to say if that's a comment on the state of the Marlins or the state of the bobbleheads -- or both.
The Sultan's Corner
Here's another Barry Bonds record that no one noticed -- except the Sultan of Swat Stats, SABR's David Vincent. When Bonds homered off Jesse Orosco last Monday, it was his first home run off Orosco since July 9, 1988. That was 555 home runs ago. But most important, it was also 14½ years ago. And the Sultan reports that's the longest gap ever between home runs hit by one batter off one pitcher. The previous record:
4,828 days (13½ years), from May 23, 1973 to Aug. 13, 1986, by Chris Chambliss off Goose Gossage.
But that's not all from the Bonds market. Bonds has hit 19 home runs off left-handed pitchers this year -- two short of the record for most homers in a season by a left-handed hitter off left-handers. The group at 19 or more:
Ken Griffey Jr. 1996: 21
Ken Griffey Jr. 1998: 21
Stan Musial 1949: 21
Ted Kluszewski 1955: 20
Babe Ruth 1926: 20
Darryl Strawberry 1988: 20
Reggie Jackson 1980: 19
Babe Ruth 1927: 19
Barry Bonds 2002: 19
Giants pitcher Russ Ortiz has hit two home runs this season at Dodger Stadium. Once upon a time, it wasn't uncommon for a pitcher to hit two homers in the same visiting stadium -- but not lately. It hadn't been done anywhere since 1983. And here are the only six other pitchers to do it since division play began in 1969, according to the Sultan:
Walt Terrell, 1983 Mets, at Wrigley Field
Randy Lerch, 1978 Phillies, at Three Rivers Stadium
Larry Christenson, 1976 Phillies, at Shea Stadium
Tom Seaver, 1972 Mets, at Fulton County Stadium
Rick Wise, 1971 Phillies, at Riverfront Stadium (same game)
Jim Rooker, 1969 Royals, at Metropolitan Stadium (Minn.)
Carlos Pena had a walkoff homer for the A's in April, then hit another for the Tigers in September. He's only the fifth player in history to hit game-enders for two teams in the same season, according to the Sultan. The others:
Cliff Johnson 1980 Cubs, Indians
Frank Thomas 1964 Mets, Phillies
Hobie Landrith 1962 Orioles, Mets
Wes Covington 1961 Athletics, Phillies
Jayson Stark is a senior writer for ESPN.com.
| |
|
