TSN names Pittsburgh as top sports city

The Sporting News named Pittsburgh as "The Best Sports City”. TSN has a pretty good case:

The world champion Steelers were kicking off their title defense against the Titans. The world champion Penguins were down in D.C., Stanley Cup in tow, to meet the president. Native son Dave Wannstedt was at practice on the South Side, preparing his unbeaten Pitt football team for the weekend’s win at Buffalo.

…oh yeah, the Pirates, too

Looking at the local scene, Chicago (who was lumped in with Evanston) came in fourth. My locale, Champaign-Urbana, ended up #84 solely on the basis of University of Illinois sports (we don’t have much else after that),

Here is TSN’s full list of 399 cities.

Guest Blogger: Sam Panayotovich tags Pujols and Mauer for MVP

Each day this week, The Baseball Zealot will be featuring special guest bloggers who will be giving their predictions on the 2009 MLB end-of year-awards and postseason matchups. Today, Sam Panayotovich predicts the MVP awards.

Like me, Sam Panayotovich is a University of Illinois alum. While he was a student on campus, he and I kept saying we should get together for a game or something. Well, that never happened and Sam has gone on to bigger and better things now.

I first heard Sam back when he was on Outsider Radio with Brandon Rosage. Considered an expert in NBA draft coverage, Sam made his mark with the Most Valuable Network. You can now see him covering sports for the Huffington Post and hosting a radio show at Columbia College’s WCRX.

2009 Most Valuable Player Predictions

This season, I believe each league has a hands-down favorite for the highly-regarded MVP Award. I’ve pegged a familiar face in the National League top spot and a newcomer at the front of the pack in the American League. Below you will find my projected Top 3 finishers in each league with analysis on why they finished where they did. Without further ado…

**Statistics as of Sep. 15, 2009**

National League

Albert Pujols (.329 AVG, 47 HR, 125 RBI)

It should be no surprise that baseball’s most dangerous hitter will claim his third Most Valuable Player Award. Pujols is one of the most disciplined hitters I’ve ever seen and his ability to balance power, contact, and situational hitting is unparalleled. What’s even more disgusting is that he looked to have the first Triple Crown since Carl Yaz locked up before our second-place finisher went on a tear as the season heated up. King Albert has the Cards well on their way to another NL Central title and St. Louis has a serious shot at clinching home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. Pujols leads the NL in dingers and is currently second in both batting average and runs batted in. And it’s scary to think how much better those numbers might have been if Matt Holliday was protecting him all season long.

Hanley Ramirez (.360 AVG, 23 HR, 99 RBI)

The former Red Sox prospect and current Marlins’ shortstop has pieced together quite a season to remember in southern Florida. Ramirez is such a special talent and he possesses the perfect mix of all five tools. He’s developed into one of the best contact hitters in baseball and when he puts the ball in play, you always have to account for his blazing speed. Realistically, Hanley could bat anywhere from first to fifth in the Marlins’ lineup, but he’s been holding it down in the three hole. He’s played one hell of a defensive shortstop as well to round everything out. One of the major reasons for the Marlins’ push for the NL Wild Card, Hanley leads the National League in batting average and is currently tied for fourth in RBIs.

Prince Fielder (.299 AVG, 39 HR, 126 RBI)

Usually I’m not an advocate of touting players that don’t play for contenders, although you can’t ignore what the Prince is doing to National League pitching. Fielder has tremendous power to all fields and this season, he’s on pace to set career highs in RBIs and batting average as his .299 average is 11 points higher than his next best season. The son of Cecil, young Prince has been much more selective at the dish and his walks are up while his usually alarming strikeout total is down. He was a definite top candidate before the Brewers faded during the dog days of summer and you’ve got to give the Prince credit for one hell of a season.

American League

Joe Mauer (.371 AVG, 27 HR, 84 RBI)

We knew when Mauer was drafted No. 1 overall in 2001 that he was going to be a special player. However, his play this season has trumped all expectations and the 26-year-old catcher has put together the best campaign of his young career. Mauer is on pace to shatter his career highs in batting average, homers and RBIs and his leadership on and off the field is second to none. The way he has handled such a young Twins’ pitching staff and continues to lead the Majors in hitting just baffles me. Sure, Justin Morneau is a monster as well, but the Twins would not be in the AL Central race if it wasn’t for Mauer. He’s their heart. He’s their soul. He’s their captain.

Mark Teixeira (.285 AVG, 35 HR, 111 RBI)

Finally… a player that lived up to the billing (and the price tag) in the Bronx. Teixeira has been all that the Steinbrenners could have expected and then some. After missing the playoffs for the first time in 13 years, New York signed Tex hoping he would be the new “savior” and double as a pair of broad shoulders that the Yankees could rely on as they opened up their new stadium and planned a trip back to the postseason. The switch-hitting first baseman answered the call right from the start and has been on an absolute tear all season long. Teixeira leads the American League in RBIs and is currently second in taters, and pending a late season collapse, he’s the main reason for the Yankees resurgence and positioning atop the AL East.

Miguel Cabrera (.332 AVG, 29 HR, 89 RBI)

Cabrera won’t be a popular choice for MVP this season because of how much his power numbers have dropped off from last season, but he’s become a much better player overall and is the main reason for the Tigers’ current grasp on the AL Central lead. Miggy’s batting average is up 40 points from last season, his walks are up and his strikeouts are way down. He worked all offseason with his hitting coach to become a more selective hitter and all his hard work has paid off. The reigning AL Home Run King leads first place Detroit in batting average, hits, runs, homers, RBIs, on-base percentage and slugging. The power numbers might not be as impressive, but this kid deserves some serious credit for how much he has improved across the board.

A big thanks to Sam P for this write-up. The next couple days, we’ll look at the postseason matchups for both leagues. So far, the articles by our guest bloggers this week have been fantastic. I encourage you to check them out.

Guest Blogger: Smile Politely’s Joel Gillespie takes on the Rolaids Relief Man Awards

I first met Joel Gillespie earlier this year when he interviewed me for a article for Champaign-Urbana’s online magazine Smile Politely. I must admit, it was an overly flattering article so I’m forever in his debt.

Aside from covering the local cultural scene, Joel has been known to touch on baseball topics on Smile Politely. His major league loyalties lie northward with the Minnesota Twins.

The Rolaids Relief Man Award is a little different from the rest of the awards analyzed here, in that it’s based on an accumulation of points rather than votes. According to the award website, "The Rolaids Relief Man Award® [don’t even think about using that phrase for personal profit] is based objectively on statistical performance, rather than subjective opinion." So, there will be no inquiring into the hearts of shoddy, bitter beat reporters in this article. Instead, we’ll take a look at which pitcher leads in the Most Favored Antacid standings and try to decide whether the algorithm will choose the right man or not.

Here’s the scoring system:
+4 for a "tough save" (when a reliever enters a game with the tying run already on base and gets the save)
+3 for a save
+2 for a win
-2 for a blown save
-2 for a loss

And here are the leaders from each league:

American League

Rank	Player	Win	Loss	Saves	Tough Saves	Blown Saves	Points	ERA
1	Mariano Rivera	2	2	39	4	1	119	1.72
2	Brian Fuentes	1	4	41	1	6	106	4.10
3	Joe Nathan	2	2	38	1	5	105	2.20
4	Jonathan Papelbon	1	1	36	3	3	105	1.89
5	David Aardsma	3	5	34	1	4	91	2.12

Rivera is clearly head and shoulders above the rest of the American League closers this season, and you don’t need a convoluted formula to see that. He’s even getting some dark-horse consideration for the Cy Young award, mostly as a lifetime-achievement-award kind of thing. That would be a travesty, but he’s certainly having a season worthy of his fifth Rolaids Relief Man award, which will tie him with Dan Quisenberry for the most all time. Barring a collapse, or a bunch of narrow wins for the Angels, Twins, or Sox, he should capture it with ease.

Aardsma has really come into his own this season, posting his first season ERA under 4.00. His flyball tendencies are even more pronounced than usual, but the spacious confines of Safeco Field keep the consequences to a minimum. With his fifth club in five years, Aardsma has found a home, holding opponents to a .191 batting average and striking out 10.5 batters per nine innings.

National League

Rank	Player	Win	Loss	Saves	Tough Saves	Blown Saves	Points	ERA
1	Heath Bell	5	3	37	3	5	108	2.66
2	Jonathan Broxton	7	1	34	2	5	106	2.53
3	Ryan Franklin	2	3	37	4	4	105	1.96
4	Huston Street	3	1	33	0	1	101	2.96
5	Brian Wilson	5	5	34	6	6	96	2.69

This race is completely up in the air. Who will win the cherished silver fireman’s hat? Bell’s been one of the only bright spots for a putrid Pad squad, finally coming into his own after a career as a setup man. Broxton’s benefited from some good fortune to keep him in the race, picking up three vulture wins after blowing saves. Franklin is probably the most deserving candidate, but he’s limping to the finish line. He’s blown two consecutive saves, and he has a 16.20 ERA in four September appearances.

Street and Wilson have contributed to their teams’ surprising contender status by keeping things stable at the back end of their respective bullpens.

Thank you to Joel for taking time from his busy schedule to write this up. Check out the other end-of-year award analyses we’ve put up so far and check back later this week for more.

Guest Blogger: Shawn Lee analyzes the Cy Young candidates

Shawn Lee is a local guy, living here in Champaign-Urbana. Not only is he the webmaster for our local vintage base ball team, the Vermilion Voles, he’s been known to pick up a willow and swing at the onion too. When he plays for the Voles, he’s known as General Lee, thank you.

Lee doesn’t always live in the 19^th century though. He’s a big fan of current Major League Baseball, too favoring the New York Yankees.

2009 Cy Young Predictions

This year’s chase for the Cy Young Award in both leagues is deserving of interest for two main reasons. First, although there are plenty of deserving candidates, neither league has a clear cut front runner. I wish the task of predicting the winners were made easy for me. Instead, I’ll need to stick out my neck just a bit and make my best guess.

The second reason this season is a bit different is that there are several teams who have multiple legitimate contenders. For this reason in particular, my approach in making my prediction is going to be to pick the best pitcher from each team first. Then from all 30 pitchers, I’ll make my AL and NL predictions. Please note that my intention here is not to determine who should win the award based on my personal analysis. My goal is to predict who the folks with the voting power are going to choose.

American League

Baltimore: Brad Bergesen. Not much to choose from here. It would have easily been George Sherrill if he wasn’t traded to the Dodgers.

Boston: Jon Lester edges Josh Beckett.

NY Yankees: CC Sabathia with Mariano Rivera a close second. Too bad Phil Hughes had some pretty rough outings as a starter to begin the year. His numbers have been breathtaking since becoming a reliever in June.

Tampa Bay: Matt Garza. Rays pitchers have been very disappointing compared to last year.

Toronto: Roy Halladay. Hittable as of late, but still no contest here.

ChiSox: Mark Buerhle edges Gavin Floyd.

Cleveland: Cliff Lee. Nothing else to choose from. Forget Pavano.

Detroit: Justin Verlander.

Kansas City: Zack Greinke. Easy choice.

Minnesota: Scott Baker, only because Joe Nathan is having a down year, his ERA "soaring" to 2.28.

LA Angels: Jered Weaver.

Oakland: Andrew Bailey. Great season. Glad to see him make the All Star team. Meet your AL ROY.

Seattle: Felix Hernandez. He is beginning to fulfill the lofty expectations set for him when he debuted for the Mariners as a 19-year old.

Texas: Scott Feldman.

Now from this pool of pitchers, who is the best in the league? Unfortunately, that’s not the question. The question is who will win the Cy Young award. The voters love looking at win totals, so that automatically puts Sabathia and Verlander at the top of the list especially since they are headed for the postseason. But Verlander’s numbers are better than Sabathia plus his remaining opponents (Chicago, Minnesota) are not quite as tough as Sabathia’s (Angels, Red Sox). The other true contenders are Halladay, Hernandez, and Greinke. The voters also seem to have a fondness for stud pitchers who pitch for lousy teams. Remember in May when the Royals were in first place and Greinke was 6-0 with an ERA of 0.40? He has only won seven games since then. That’s not going to be good enough for the W-loving voters despite the fact that he leads the AL in ERA and WHIP and second in strikeouts. The only chance Greinke has is if he can win at least 15 games. Otherwise, I think Verlander will get the nod.

National League

Atlanta: Javier Vazquez. Having as good a season as anyone else, but lack of run support is keeping his win total down.

Florida: Josh Johnson.

NY Mets: Johan Santana. A poor year by Johan’s standards.

Philadelphia: J.A. Happ throughout the season has been their best pitcher. Midseason pickup Cliff Lee and a rejuvenated Cole Hamels are pitching better than Happ right now.

Washington: John Lannan.

Chicago Cubs: Ted Lilly.

Cincinnati: Francisco Cordero. 33/35 in save opportunities, only 2 home runs given up all year.

Houston: Wandy Rodriguez.

Milwaukee: Yovani Gallardo. A future Cy Young winner once he gets his walks down.

Pittsburgh: Ross Ohlendorf. Not much to choose from on this team.

St. Louis: Chris Carpenter, for now. A really tough pick here, since Wainwright has been equally impressive and helped carry the team while Carpenter was on the shelf early in the season. Wainwright will surely garner many Cy Young votes, especially if he can make it to 20 wins. Carpenter has only allowed 2 stolen bases all year. A lot of credit goes to Yadier Molina for that, but for a right-handed pitcher, that is really impressive. But something I’m sure will not be noticed by the voters.

Arizona: Dan Haren in a landslide.

Colorado: Ubaldo Jimenez. Jason Marquis has cooled off in the second half.

LA Dodgers: Clayton Kershaw. Unquestionably this is the deepest pitching staff in MLB. The fact that team wins leader, Chad Billingsley, has twelve wins is testament to that.

San Diego: Heath Bell. The starters have been that bad.

San Francisco: Tim Lincecum in another good team race. Matt Cain is the staff ace on any other team in the league, but Lincecum’s K/BB ratio and quality starts percentage are just too impressive.

There are plenty of great pitchers in the NL. It is hard to believe most of the contenders won’t even come close to 20 wins. Wainwright has the best chance. He needs to win 3 of his remaining 4-5 starts. If he can do it, he immediately becomes the favorite. If not, it comes down to Carpenter, Haren, and Lincecum. Carpenter’s league leading ERA and stellar W/L ratio makes the Cy Young his to lose. Like Greinke, both Haren and Lincecum currently have 13 wins. They will need at least 15 to have any chance at all.

Thanks, Shawn for your excellent input. Keep checking in for more great analysis throughout the week. Here’s the link to our 2009 End-of-Year Predictions by our guest bloggers.

Guest Blogger: Tedd Mallasch picks Fowler and Andrus for Rookie of the Year

Today’s guest post isn’t really written by a guest. You already know Tedd Mallasch as Teddy Ballgame who is my co-blogger on The Baseball Zealot. Tedd’s been with TBZ pretty much from the start and aside from his usually great analysis, he also does fantastic on-the-spot coverage of spring training and Arizona Fall League action. If you like his stuff, he does have his own blog called Whatteddsedd.com which isn’t always sports-related but has his usual flair nonetheless.

Here are my choices for the 2009 All Rookie Team. My choices for Rookie of the Year are in the NL Dexter Fowler and in the AL Elvis Andrus. Both are everyday players, who have made significant contributions to their teams, as they vie for the postseason. Stats as of September 2, 2009.

C MATT WIETERS

This switch hitting 6’4" 225 pound catcher out of the University of Georgia Tech has lived up to the hype when the Orioles drafted him with the 5th pick in the 2007 player draft. In the minors Matt played only 169 games, about one full season, combining to hit 31 doubles 4 triples, & 32 homers, scoring 114 times, while driving in 121, with 102 walks & 106 strikeouts, getting 198 base hits in 578 at bats for a .343 batting average. Wieters has held his own since arriving in Baltimore, where he’s batting .263, with 10 doubles, 1 homer, and 5 homers in 68 games.

1B GARRETT JONES

Out of Tinley Park, IL, this lefthanded batting slugging firstbaseman took the long road to the majors after being the 444th player chosen in the 1999 player draft by the Atlanta Braves. This 28 year old seems to have found a job at firstbase with the Pittsburgh Pirates. He has launched 17 home runs to go along with 14 doubles, batting .295, with nine steals in ten attempts, all of this, in only 54 games.

2B CHRIS GETZ

In only 90 big league games with the White Sox, the scrapper out of the University of Michigan (where he batted .364 & .386) has showed some skills, stealing 18 bases, with 17 doubles, 4 triples, & 2 home runs, in 315 big league at bats.

SS ELVIS ANDRUS

Elvis has entered the big leagues (sorry, I couldn’t resist). He is just a baby, turning 21 the 26th of August. This kid has got range, a 5.05 range factor. He’s batting .268, with 12 doubles, 7 triples, & 5 homers, with 24 stolen bases in 27 attempts, playing regularly at SS in Texas.

3B GORDON BECKHAM

Last year he hit more home runs, 28, than any other NCAA Div. I baseball player, while playing SS for the Georgia Bulldogs. The White Sox used their firstround draft choice to pick him 8th over all. It’s turned out to be a great selection, as he has looked solid at 3B, while ripping 23 doubles & 9 long balls, in 80 games, batting .272.

OF CHRIS COGHLAN

In 2006 the Florida Marlins used their #1 pick to get this kid out of the University of Mississippi. The lefthanded hitter grew up in Tarpon Springs, FL, right where I vacation, playing for East Lake High. He’s got the highest batting average among rookies, batting .301, with an OBP of .377, while hitting leadoff for the Fish. Chris has six steals in seven tries, 19 2Bs, 4 3Bs, & 9 HRs.

OF DEXTER FOWLER

The 6’5" switch hitting 23 year old can fly as he’s shown by stealing 26 bases, caught 9 times. Fowler’s taken over the regular centerfield job for Colorado. Dexter’s hitting .270, 27 doubles, 9 triples, 4 home runs, after batting .335 last season in AA, once he fills out, look out.

OF ANDREW McCUTCHEN

This 22 year old right handed hitter was ready for the bigs, it just took the Buccos a little while to realize it. Since taking over CF in Pittsburgh, this guy has batted .284, 20 2Bs, 6 3Bs, 10 HRs, 15 SBs, in only 79 games.
LHP J.A. HAPP – I first saw Happ in spring training, his changeup was unreal. I knew he was the real deal, he started the season in the pen, but has really taken off since moving to the rotation for the Phils. This year the lefthander out of Northwestern has a 10-4 record with a 2.77 ERA, has struckout exactly twice as many batters as he’s walked 104 to 52, allowing only 125 hits in just under 150 innings pitched.

RHP TOMMY HANSON

This 6’6" righthander out of Oklahoma came into his own in the Arizona Fall League. I had the privilege of seeing him pitch out west first hand, he was lights out, Hanson struckout 49 in 28 2/3 innings, 5-0 record, with a 0.63 ERA. Since coming up to the Braves, he’s carried on nicely, 9-3 with a 3.15 ERA, 73 K’s in 85 2/3 innings of work.

P ANDREW BAILEY

Last year this New Jersey righthander with the live arm was used as a relief pitcher for the first time in the A’s organization, he took to it, like a duck takes to water. This year’s taken over as Oakland’s closer, allowing only 44 hits in 72 innings, with over a strikeout per inning, a 1.88 ERA, with 21 saves.

– Tedd

Thanks to Tedd for his time in putting this together. Stay tuned all week for more 2009 prediction posts.

Cubs retire #31: Get two for one

The question is: Why wasn’t it done before?

The Chicago Cubs will retire the uniform number 31 to honor pitchers Ferguson Jenkins and Greg Maddux. It was the fifth number retired by the Cubs. The other numbers are (chronologically) #14 Ernie Banks, #26 Billy Williams, #10 Ron Santo, and #23 Ryne Sandberg.

No doubt both pitchers are very worthy of this honor. Interestingly, both served the Cubs in two separate stints. Jenkins was 167-132 with a 3.20 ERA in 401 appearances including six 20-win seasons.

Maddux won 133 games for the Cubs and his first Cy Young came when he was still with the Cubs.

Both have a great place in Cub history and it’s about time for Jenkins, in my opinion.

The Bartlett Vote

There’s already been plenty of discussion all around why Evan Grant left Red Sox secondbaseman Dustin Pedroia off his ballot. He’s been getting plenty of flak for that already.

But another ballot move that’s been deemed questionable (perhaps more so at least in my opinion), is the Tampa Bay chapter of the BBWAA giving Rays shortstop Jason Bartlett a fifth place vote on the MVP ballot.

Bartlett, who hardly played a full season at 128 games and 454 at-bats, didn’t wow anyone at the plate. He batted .286 with a .329 OBP and .361 slugging percentage. He had no power (1 homerun) and little production (48 runs and 37 rbis).

Opinions are mixed on Rays blogs but they range from “too much is being made of the Bartlett vote” to “what was he thinking?”

I don’t live and die with the Rays and I couldn’t tell you what got them to the World Series. And I won’t bore you by comparing teammates Evan Longoria’s or Carlos Pena’s stats.

But that said, Jason Bartlett for MVP?? Really?

Witch hunt begins for Pedroia non-voter

As you heard, Dustin Pedroia of the Red Sox won the 2008 AL MVP vote comfortably.

Fortunately, he won the vote comfortably enough that he didn’t need the vote of Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News who left Dustin Pedroia’s name off the ballot altogether.

Here was his ballot:

Kevin Youkilis
Francisco Rodriguez
Justin Morneau
Josh Hamilton
Carlos Quentin
Alex Rodriguez
Cliff Lee
Joe Mauer
Grady Sizemore
Carlos Pena

Grant is pretty red-faced about the whole thing. In between answering emails and phone calls, he’s posted his explanation/apology on his blog.

Did I perhaps get too “cute” at the bottom of the ballot? Yeah, probably. Was that a mistake? Yeah, probably. Was it a mistake to leave him out of the top five; in retrospect, yeah, it was. My colleagues all thought he belonged in the top five. My opinion on this one was obviously wrong. What I’m happiest about is that if my analysis was so wrong, at least it did not cost Pedroia the MVP award. I can assure you I give the MVP vote an awful lot of time. In this case, perhaps I gave it too much time and overanalyzed, particularly at the bottom of the ballot. In retrospect, it’s hard to argue that Pedroia wasn’t one of the 10 best players in the league.

He over analyzed… putting too much weight on stats like BA in scoring position etc.

Despite all that, while some Red Sox fans are understanding that it was just a stupid mistake, others are calling for Grant’s head. I’ve seen commenters calling Grant an idiot, a moron and yes, the prerequisite requesting that his voting privileges be taken away.

Meh, it’s just the American League.

Update: Grant goes on The Big Show to explain his non-vote.

The interview can be heard here. (thanks College Baseball Blog)

Captain Obvious here but maybe it would have been better if had just not gone on the air. Just my opinion.

All-time worst MVPs list? I don’t think so.

In light of the upcoming MVP awards to be announced this week, Scott McCoy who covers the Texas Rangers for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, has come out with his list of Baseball’s Top 5 worst MVPs.

In typical Texas Ranger fashion, the author seems to focus on hitting (particularly power) for his baseline and doesn’t consider context when making his choices.

Seven of his ten choices (he had five honorable mentions) were middle infielders and in most cases (1944 Marty Marion, 1959 Nellie Fox, 1995 Barry Larkin) were excellent with the glove.

Some while not exhibiting great stats by today’s measures, were playing in hitting-depressed eras (again Fox and Marion). Others yet displayed leadership beyond the statistics (1931 Frankie Frisch, 1925 Roger Peckinpaugh) or played a good part in leading their team to championships (Fox once more, Frisch).

Would I have made those same MVP choices given the chance? I’m not sure. But “Worst MVPs” seems a bit harsh.

I couldn’t let that one go.

Sluggin’ Zambrano

The Cubs’ Carlos Zambrano won the Silver slugger award.

I wrote earlier this year comparing pitchers’ hitting and it wasn’t close. The rbis tightened up but Big Z is the clear leader.

Cnt Player              BA   PA Year Age
+----+-----------------+-----+---+----+---+
    1 Carlos Zambrano    .337  85 2008  27 
    2 Micah Owings       .304  62 2008  25 
    3 Brandon Backe      .277  56 2008  30 
    4 Adam Wainwright    .267  65 2008  26 
    5 Jake Peavy         .265  58 2008  27 
    6 Mark Hendrickson   .257  37 2008  34 
    7 Braden Looper      .254  80 2008  33 
    8 C.C. Sabathia      .235  53 2008  27 
    9 Aaron Cook         .233  78 2008  29 
   10 Manny Parra        .226  58 2008  25

 Cnt Player            RBI Year Age
+----+-----------------+---+----+---+
    1 Carlos Zambrano    14 2008  27 
    2 Brandon Webb       11 2008  29 
    3 Jason Marquis      10 2008  29 
    4 C.C. Sabathia       7 2008  27 
    5 Manny Parra         6 2008  25 
    6 Danny Haren         6 2008  27 
    7 Jorge de la Rosa    6 2008  27 
    8 Bronson Arroyo      6 2008  31 
    9 Micah Owings        6 2008  25 
   10 Adam Wainwright     6 2008  26

Followup: Some trivia… Only two teams had more than one pitcher hit a homerun for them in 2008. The San Diego Padres’ Cha Seung Baek and Chris Young both hit one each. For the Chicago Cubs, Zambrano contributed four dingers while teammate Jason Marquis hit out two. Here’s the complete list for 2008:

Cnt Player            HR  PA Year Age
+----+-----------------+--+---+----+---+
    1 Carlos Zambrano    4  85 2008  27 
    2 Brandon Backe      2  56 2008  30 
    3 C.C. Sabathia      2  53 2008  27 
    4 Jason Marquis      2  66 2008  29 
    5 Matt Cain          2  72 2008  23 
    6 Micah Owings       1  62 2008  25 
    7 Bronson Arroyo     1  74 2008  31 
    8 Cha Seung Baek     1  38 2008  28 
    9 Chris Young        1  36 2008  29 
   10 Adam Wainwright    1  65 2008  26