Complete Games are Up.. for Now

So it’s not just me. I was starting to wonder if complete games by starting pitchers are up this year. I was at the verge of looking up the stats until I noticed that David Pinto had already done so at Baseball Musings. Ten complete games as of April 16. In short, David wonders if … Continue reading “Complete Games are Up.. for Now”

So it’s not just me. I was starting to wonder if complete games by starting pitchers are up this year. I was at the verge of looking up the stats until I noticed that David Pinto had already done so at Baseball Musings. Ten complete games as of April 16.

In short, David wonders if it’s a direct correlation to the low save percentage of teams’ bullpens. But check out the posting yourself. He’s got a cool historical graph showing CG/Start that’s worth a look.

Progressive Leaders

If you’re reading baseball blogs and baseball web sites in general, you most likely have visited Baseball Reference. It’s one of the best resources out there for baseball stats. There are stats for every player and every team since stats were kept. What some may know about is their Progressive Leaders feature in their Leaders … Continue reading “Progressive Leaders”

If you’re reading baseball blogs and baseball web sites in general, you most likely have visited Baseball Reference. It’s one of the best resources out there for baseball stats. There are stats for every player and every team since stats were kept.

What some may know about is their Progressive Leaders feature in their Leaders section. It’s quite cool.

For any given stat, Progressive Leaders displays for each year, the career leader, the single season leader, the active career leader, and the leader for that particular year.

Let’s take Homeruns, for example:

It shows (as we all know) that Roger Connor held the career HR record with 138 when he retired in 1897. Ned Williamson held the single season mark with 27. A quick look shows that when Ruth began hitting dingers, he quickly vanquished Williamson’s mark in 1919 with 29 and it wasn’t long before he broke the all-time career record. What’s great about the Progressive Leaders feature is we can quickly find out that it was 1921, when he hit 59, that Ruth passed Connor HR mark.

By the same token, we can tell that when Ruth retired, Lou Gehrig became the active career record.
On a side note, it’s interesting to note the progression of players who held the active career HR title. They include:

Foxx
Ott
DiMaggio
Mize
Williams
Musial
Mantle
Mays
Aaron
McCovey
Stargell
Jackson
Schmidt
Dw Evans
Murray
McGwire
Bonds

And that’s just a start… take a look at runs scored and hits and doubles an so on and so on… :-)

Followup: I read somewhere that Roger Connor died not knowing he was the all-time leader in homeruns for 25 years.

But is Vanna going to be a Ballgirl?

There’s a new independent minor league this year. The Golden Baseball League is based out of California and Pat Sajak of Wheel of Fortune fame is one of the investors. According to their web site, their schedule begins by the end of May. Last Saturday, potential fans could secure their seat for upcoming games with … Continue reading “But is Vanna going to be a Ballgirl?”

There’s a new independent minor league this year. The Golden Baseball League is based out of California and Pat Sajak of Wheel of Fortune fame is one of the investors.

According to their web site, their schedule begins by the end of May. Last Saturday, potential fans could secure their seat for upcoming games with the awkwardly named Pick Your Seat Saturday event. Maybe the ad people could have come up with a better name for this, eh?

4/17 Linescore of the Day

Miguel Tejada, Baltimore Orioles 3-4, 2 2B, 1 HR, 3 runs, 4 rbi Tejada seems to be picking up where he left off last year. That’s his 3rd homer of the year and he’s batting .375 right now. The Orioles have got the best hitting secondbaseman and shortstop combo in the league right now.

Miguel Tejada, Baltimore Orioles
3-4, 2 2B, 1 HR, 3 runs, 4 rbi

Tejada seems to be picking up where he left off last year. That’s his 3rd homer of the year and he’s batting .375 right now. The Orioles have got the best hitting secondbaseman and shortstop combo in the league right now.

Illinois-Michigan game

I took my son to the Illinois-Michigan game on Sunday. What a beautiful day it was for a baseball game! Dusty Bensko’s three-run homer in the first gave Illinois the lead but Michigan scored 4 in the second due to a few misplays in the field. An rbi single by Chad “Pat, I’d like to … Continue reading “Illinois-Michigan game”

i.gif I took my son to the Illinois-Michigan game on Sunday. What a beautiful day it was for a baseball game!

Dusty Bensko’s three-run homer in the first gave Illinois the lead but Michigan scored 4 in the second due to a few misplays in the field.

An rbi single by Chad “Pat, I’d like to buy a vowel” Frk tied the game 5-5 in the fifth but Michigan put themselves up for good in the sixth on a sac fly.

An ironic note: Michigan had big names like Mike Schmidt and Jeff Kunkel playing on their team. Anybody remember MLB hot prospect Jeff Kunkel from the 80s?

Illinois is now 20-10-1 and 9-3 in the Big Ten. They are currently tied for first in the Big Ten with Minnesota.

Here are some pics:
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Reaping the Benefits of Roberts

Anyone who took a chance on Brian Roberts in their fantasy draft has got to be smiling now. So far, he is leading the league in BA and SB and second in HR. Not to mention the fact that he is a secondbasemen, a pretty weak position in this year’s MLB talent pool. I love … Continue reading “Reaping the Benefits of Roberts”

Anyone who took a chance on Brian Roberts in their fantasy draft has got to be smiling now. So far, he is leading the league in BA and SB and second in HR. Not to mention the fact that he is a secondbasemen, a pretty weak position in this year’s MLB talent pool.

I love this quote in regards to Roberts.

“I used to applaud him for hitting a homer in batting practice and that was in spring training three weeks ago,” Orioles outfielder Jay Gibbons told The (Baltimore) Sun.”

His previous high in homers is 5 and he’s already reached that.

4/16 Linescore of the Day

Gustavo Chacin, Toronto Blue Jays 8 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 0 HR Who is this guy? More importantly, how do pronounce his name? Rookie Chacin is 3-0 now and sports a 1.42 ERA in this young season.

Gustavo Chacin, Toronto Blue Jays
8 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 0 HR

Who is this guy? More importantly, how do pronounce his name? Rookie Chacin is 3-0 now and sports a 1.42 ERA in this young season.

Walker Out… Perez In

So Todd Walker of the Cubs has been put on the 15-day DL. Word has it that he will be replaced by Neifi Perez at second. This may not be a bad thing at least according to those at Cub Town who make the argument that no matter what you think of Perez, he’s done … Continue reading “Walker Out… Perez In”

So Todd Walker of the Cubs has been put on the 15-day DL. Word has it that he will be replaced by Neifi Perez at second. This may not be a bad thing at least according to those at Cub Town who make the argument that no matter what you think of Perez, he’s done one heckuva job since coming to Wrigley.

Castilla missed cycle by a triple today

Wow! Vinny Castilla is on a roll. Thursday, he missed a cycle by a base hit. Tonight, he missed it by a triple. He went 3-3 with a double, homerun and 4 rbis. The grand total for his last two games: 6 for 6 with 2 doubles, 1 triple, 2 homeruns, and 8 rbis. By … Continue reading “Castilla missed cycle by a triple today”

Wow! Vinny Castilla is on a roll. Thursday, he missed a cycle by a base hit. Tonight, he missed it by a triple. He went 3-3 with a double, homerun and 4 rbis.

The grand total for his last two games:
6 for 6 with 2 doubles, 1 triple, 2 homeruns, and 8 rbis.

By no coincidence, the Nats won both games.

Anyone with Castilla on their fantasy team have to pretty pleased right now.

No Relief for Smoltz

John Smoltz is now 0-3 for the Braves. At least he pitched a decent game, allowing only 2 runs in 7 innings. I have a buddy who thinks it’s career suicide for Smoltz to be put back in the rotation after so much success in the pen. I know it’s early but so far this … Continue reading “No Relief for Smoltz”

John Smoltz is now 0-3 for the Braves. At least he pitched a decent game, allowing only 2 runs in 7 innings.

I have a buddy who thinks it’s career suicide for Smoltz to be put back in the rotation after so much success in the pen. I know it’s early but so far this season’s seem to validate that.

His thinking is that at Smoltz’ age, his arm can only take so much after pitching <100 innings/year. Besides why tinker with what works? Smoltz was dominant as a reliever the past couple years. Time will tell how he does this year as a starter.