Monday, June 02, 2008

Baseball is Poop - 54 Game Stat Recap Edition

Can Chipper Jones Hit .400?
No, unless he plays the Mets everyday. Hitting .400 in this day and age is nearly impossible. Look at it this way, if you go 2 for 5 in every game and go 1 for 3 on the last day of the season, technically, that's below .400.
Over the weekend he already started to falter and he's 1 oh-fer game from being below .400.
Even so this is the longest into the season I can remember anyone taking a .400 average since Lenny Dykstra in 1990. Dykstra had one stretch where he went 4 for 25 and dropped his average 30 points. His last day above .400 was June 11. He finished the year at .325.
Even Tony Gwynn in 1994, when he batted .394 in the strike shortened season was never above .400 after May 15. But after April 26 his average was never lower than .376.
And the closest to .400 anyone ever got since Ted Williams (other than Gwynn in that short season) was George Brett in 1980. But that year Brett got off to a slow start, and even though he caught fire in July and August, his peak average was .407.

Look Out Denny McClain
With 10 wins in 12 starts Diamondbacks pitcher Brandon Webb has an outside shot at being the first pitcher to win 30 games since Denny McClain in 1968. First of all he would need to get 36 starts, which would require Arizona always skipping their 5th starter to keep him on schedule. And even so, if his losses and no decisions equal 5 for the rest of the season he'd have no chance. I think even winning 25 would be tough (15 wins in 23 or 24 starts) but if he can win 28, that would be the most since McClain.

Finish What You Start
The Toronto Blue Jays lead the majors in ERA, and NOT coincidentally, they lead the majors in complete games too. Six may not sound like much but it's twice as many as any other team, except the Indians. 8 teams have none. In fairness, Roy Halladay has 5 of those, including four in a row, but the rest of the guys pitch deep as well.
Jesse Litsch, Roy Halladay and Shaun Marcum are a combined 18-9 with a 2.90 ERA.

He's Not a Man, He's a Machine, An RBI Machine
Josh Hamilton has 63 RBI in 58 games, putting him on pace for 176 for a full season. The postwar record is 165 by Manny Ramirez in 1999. Hamilton has 5 games of 4 RBI or more, helped by 2 grand slams in 6 bases loaded at bats. He leads the AL in homers (by 1), RBI (by 15) and only trails in batting average by two points which means he could be gunning for the first triple crown since 1967.

Other Feats, Facts and Figures
Francisco Rodriguez is on pace for 59 saves. Bobby Thigpen holds the record with 57.
Lance Berkman is on pace for 159 runs, which would be the most since Jeff Bagwell scored 152 times in 2000. It would put him 5th since 1900.
Right now 8 players have an OPS over 1.000. Albert Pujols and Chase Utley are to be expected, and Lance Berkman and Chipper Jones can be understood, but Ryan Ludwick and Nate McLouth? Dan Uggla and Pat Burrell are the other 2.
Speaking of OPS, Adam Dunn and Josh Hamilton are almost identical in OPS. Dunn has the same homers in 66 fewer ABs. Plus he has 26 more walks.

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