Really good Birthday Team today. Even the Play-By-Play guy is good.

C: Jason Varitek
1B: Mark Teixeira
2B: Steve Scarsone
3B: Hank Schenz
SS: Andres Blanco
LF: Barney McCosky
CF: Sam Chapman
RF: Trot Nixon

SP: Bret Saberhagen
SP: Jim Hearn
SP: Kelvim Escobar
SP: Wally Whitehurst
SP: Bobby M. Jones
RP: Sid Monge

Play-By-Play: Jon Sciambi

You're welcome.

Is it just me, or are there an unusually high number of shutouts so far this year? Or is it just the Marlins?

Let's see if I was right to be amazed by the A's high level of turnover.

Players common to the 2011 and 2013 A's
Anderson
Balfour
Blevins
Crisp
Sizemore

Players common to the 2011 and 2013 Rangerss
Andrus
Beltre
Borbon
Cruz
Gentry
Harrison
Holland
Kinsler
Martin
Moreland
Murphy
Ogando

Players common to the 2011 and 2013 Mariners
Ackley
Beavis
Gutierrez
Hernandez
Ryan
M.Saunders
Seager
Smoak
Wilhelmsen

Players common to the 2011 and 2013 Angels
Aybar
Bourjos
Callaspo
Conger
Downs
Jepsen
Kendrick
Richards (who?)
Trumbo
Wilson

Players common to the 2011 and 2013 Astros
Altuve
X.Cedeno
Corporan
Harrell
J.D.Martinez
Norris
Wallace
Wright

Scott Sizemore, heir apparent to Nick Johnson, out for the year.

Notes from Wednesday's 2-0 Tampa Bay win against the Rangers:

I dunno, I was trying to avoid hypothermia most of the time. Fans in Chicago or Cleveland will be, like, what else is new, but 38 degrees and I swear, some snow falling amid a steady rain at game time is not much like Texas in April. After a 90-minute delay which I spent in the snug of the Ballpark's Dublin Up Irish Pub, the game was brisk and well-played. Derek Holland and Craig Gentry played particularly well for Texas, Holland giving up lots of long flies (which all stayed in the park) and Gentry hauling them in; I daresay Josh Hamilton would have put a few XBH on the board for the Rays if he were still in CF. (And I was saying such things last year, so it's not sour grapes :)

Two plays doomed the Rangers' attempt at a comeback: an interference call at second base by the now-notorious Marty Foster that had the few remaining Rangers fans sharpening their icepicks, and an attempt by Adrian Beltre to lumber home from third on a medium F9. Ben Zobrist made a major-league throw all the way to the plate and Beltre had no chance; I remember thinking, hey, Nelson Cruz wouldn't make that play. Much of my recent life has involved realizing that various Rangers can't make various plays anymore.

I don't know why Zobrist sometimes plays right field; WAR considerations would dictate that he's always optimal if he plays 2B. But Maddon seems to realize that the Rays don't have the optimal roster to support nailing Zobrist to one position, and that Zobrist gives him the flexibility to optimize other guys. And then, voilá, he's magically in the right place to make a key play.

It got me thinking about the end of Monday night's game in Arlington, when the Rangers took a 2-run lead into the top of the ninth behind Joe Nathan. Save situation, and both Cruz and David Murphy had batted in the 8th, yet they were both in the outfield in the 9th, flanking Gentry: meanwhile two fast CF, Leonys Martin and the since-DFA'd Julio Borbon, were on the bench. Geez, Wash, as long as you've got the fancy equipment lying around, please use it :)

Crowd was announced as 26K, which means that 26,000 people thought about going to this game at some point in March. There were never more than 8,000 or so in the stands, and nobody cared where I sat, so I gravitated from the $11 seat I'd bought for $6 to $24, $35, $70, and ultimately $78 seats behind home plate, the better to see Zobrist throw out Beltre in the eighth.

Please welcome our new overlord

Two RBI trivia questions:

HOVG-type Lave Cross has the record for lowest slugging percentage in a season with 100 or more RBI (.364), for the 1895 Phillies. Who has the record in the integration era (.390)?

Six players have hit 20 or more homers in a season with an RBI total that is less than or equal to twice said number of longballs - Chris Holies (20/40), Kevin Maas (21/41), and Chris Duncan (22/43) among them. Only two guys have hit 30 or more and done this - Barry Bonds having done it twice (73/137, 45/90). Who is the other guy?

(neither of these are shockers)

Dunn?

Not Dunn. My second choice did it, though!

I think I remember Brook Jacoby, of all people, being the answer to the second one.

Let's see ... no, 32 homers and 69 RBI.

HOVG-type Lave Cross has the record for lowest slugging percentage in a season with 100 or more RBI (.364), for the 1895 Phillies. Who has the record in the integration era (.390)?

Tommy Herr?

Six players have hit 20 or more homers in a season with an RBI total that is less than or equal to twice said number of longballs - Chris Holies (20/40), Kevin Maas (21/41), and Chris Duncan (22/43) among them. Only two guys have hit 30 or more and done this - Barry Bonds having done it twice (73/137, 45/90). Who is the other guy?

Rob Deer?

HOVG-type Lave Cross has the record for lowest slugging percentage in a season with 100 or more RBI (.364), for the 1895 Phillies. Who has the record in the integration era (.390)?

Hubie Brooks?

Six players have hit 20 or more homers in a season with an RBI total that is less than or equal to twice said number of longballs - Chris Holies (20/40), Kevin Maas (21/41), and Chris Duncan (22/43) among them. Only two guys have hit 30 or more and done this - Barry Bonds having done it twice (73/137, 45/90). Who is the other guy?

Rick Wilkins?

Deer is correct for the second one: 32/64.
Herr slugged .416 but is, in fact, what prompted me to look this up. Him and the guy I expected people to guess first, who's famous for this sort of thing.

HOVG-type Lave Cross has the record for lowest slugging percentage in a season with 100 or more RBI (.364), for the 1895 Phillies. Who has the record in the integration era (.390)?

This is a hard one to conceptualize. Brian McRae? Keith Hernandez? John Kruk?

Brian Roberts?

edit to add: Nope, his career high is 79. I was thinking about the year he hit 50 doubles and still somehow managed to slug .376.

Joe Carter!

Strange that Jimmy Collins is in HoF but Lave Cross and Tommy Leach aren't

Joe Carter is "the guy I expected people to guess first, who's famous for this sort of thing," but not the answer. Came close twice, though (.391/115, .399/102).

Half the fun of this kind of question, for me, is seeing a litany of names that I wouldn't think of normally - how else would Hubie Brooks momentarily reenter my life?

Rico Brogna?

EDIT: Not even close.

Joe Carter is "the guy I expected people to guess first, who's famous for this sort of thing," but not the answer. Came close twice, though (.391/115, .399/102).

Ah, Ruben Sierra. Those two are inextriclably linked in my mind as 100 RBI guys with otherwise mediocre numbers.

There you go.

Wes Parker?

Ah, I was thinking "Non-slugger who would get a lot of RBI by being on a really great team". Not "Famous slugger who was actually a bad player".

Keith Hernandez had 94 RBI and .413 SLG once...

The leaderboard has both types, Crispix. Lot of 19th century dudes, if I drop the date restriction.
That Lave Cross season was right after a monster year, by the way - where he hit like .378 or something.

Two RBI trivia questions:

HOVG-type Lave Cross has the record for lowest slugging percentage in a season with 100 or more RBI (.364), for the 1895 Phillies. Who has the record in the integration era (.390)?

Six players have hit 20 or more homers in a season with an RBI total that is less than or equal to twice said number of longballs - Chris Holies (20/40), Kevin Maas (21/41), and Chris Duncan (22/43) among them. Only two guys have hit 30 or more and done this - Barry Bonds having done it twice (73/137, 45/90). Who is the other guy?

Interesting.

How about lowest slugging percentage in a season with 20 or more HR? 30 or more? 40 or more? 50 or more? 60 or more?

Oh, by six players - I meant five (again, Barry twice).

How about lowest slugging percentage in a season with 20 or more HR? 30 or more? 40 or more? 50 or more? 60 or more?

20: .361
30: .417
40: .468
50: .575

Guess who...

Kingman, Kingman, Kingman, Anderson?

I'd imagine Tony Armas might be one of those ... and maybe Deer. But no, Armas isn't even close. Deer came close with 25/386 and 21/386. Carlos Pena did do 28/407 and 19/354.

Dunn's the answer for 42/468.

20 -
30 - Kingman
40 - Dunn (three seasons were under .500: Dunn, Dunn, Granderson)
50 -

20 and 50 both played the same position for the same franchise (at different times).

I was surprised that the record holder for 50+ wasn't Roger Maris, since he didn't do anything but hit homers that year: a .269 average, just 16 doubles and 4 triples. But he slugged .620.

Game of the day (yesterday): Orioles 8, Red Sox 5. Boston's Ryan Dempster didn't allow a hit in the first inning - but the Red Sox still trailed when it ended. Nate McLouth led off with a walk, and Manny Machado then reached on a two-base error by Shane Victorino; Nick Markakis brought McLouth home with a sac fly. Jake Arrieta worked a perfect first, but allowed the Sox to tie the game in the second on a walk to Daniel Nava and a Jarrod Saltalamacchia double. The Red Sox took the lead in the third when Jackie Bradley Jr. drew a walk, Jacoby Ellsbury tripled, and Victorino added a sac fly; that made two innings in which total runs exceeded total hits.

Markakis broke up Dempster's no-hitter in the fourth with a leadoff homer. Adam Jones then singled, took second on a wild pitch, and scored on a one-out hit by Matt Wieters to tie the game. Boston got Saltalamacchia's second double of the game in the bottom of the inning, but didn't score, and Dempster and Arrieta were both perfect in the fifth.

The game was delayed by rain at this point, resuming after 41 minutes with both starters done for the day. Koji Uehara picked up where Dempster had left off, setting Baltimore down in order in the sixth. Tommy Hunter retired the first two Red Sox in the bottom of the inning, but Nava and Saltalamacchia then hit back-to-back homers, putting Boston back in front. Junichi Tazawa and Troy Patton both worked spotless sevenths; Andrew Bailey walked McLouth to start the eighth, but didn't allow him past first, and Darren O'Day retired all three Sox in the latter portion of the inning.

And then... there was the ninth. Chris Davis greeted Joel Hanrahan with a home run. Hanrahan retired the next two hitters, but then allowed a single to Ryan Flaherty, who was lifted for pinch runner Alexi Casilla. Casilla promptly stole second, and Nolan Reimold and McLouth walked behind him to load the bases. The first pitch to Machado went wild, bringing Casilla in with the tying run; the second pitch quickly untied the game, as Machado launched it over the Green Monster for a three-run homer. Jim Johnson ended the game with a perfect ninth.

The unusual thing about this game? The top of the ninth was the third half-inning in which runs scored exceeded hits. In fact, total hits for both teams ended up being less than total runs scored, 13-11. That's not a historic event or anything, but it is unusual - it's only happened 9 times in the last 2 seasons, and only three times has the negative margin been 2 or higher. It's also noteworthy that all 5 Boston hits went for extra bases; with Baltimore's three homers added in, that's 8 XBH to only 3 singles on the day. I'm not in a position to tell how unusual that is, but I'd be curious to see it looked up if anyone has the capability.

50: .575

Andruw Jones?

Game of the day (1977): Expos 9, Phillies 8. Montreal's leadoff man was Dave Cash. Dave Cash had been the Phillies' starting second baseman for the previous three years, leading the league in hits once, triples once, and at bats all three times. He then signed with the Expos as a free agent, which in 1977 was rather a new development.

Cash led off the game with a double, moved to third two outs later on an infield hit from Tony Perez (speaking of people who must have looked weird in Expos uniforms), and scored on a Larry Parrish single. Larry Christenson then walked one future Hall of Famer (Gary Carter) to load the bases, but escaped the inning by striking out another (Andre Dawson).

Montreal’s Don Stanhouse worked a perfect first, and the Expos went back to work in the second. Tim Foli led off with a single, and after Stanhouse fouled out, Cash doubled Foli home, giving his new team a 2-0 lead over his old one. Both teams picked up a single and a walk (in some order) in their next half inning, the Phils from Jay Johnstone and Ted Sizemore and the Expos from Carter and Dawson, but neither scored again until the Montreal fourth. Stanhouse and Cash started the inning with singles, and Warren Cromartie matched them after Jim Kaat relieved Christenson. Ellis Valentine followed with a three-run double that appeared to break the game open.

Philly began scratching back in the bottom of the fourth. Mike Schmidt and Greg Luzinski started the inning with consecutive walks; Johnstone flied out, but Bob Boone singled. Schmidt scored on the play, but Luzinski was thrown out trying for third; this was especially unfortunate because Sizemore followed with a double, which scored Boone and presumably would have scored Luzinski as well, at least if his presence on second wouldn’t have altered the pitch sequence and whatnot. Anyway, the Phillies still came out of the inning with their first two runs of the game.

Kaat and Stanhouse traded perfect fifths, and the Expos added another tally against Ron Reed in the sixth. Cromartie led off with a double. Valentine grounded back to the mound, and Cromartie was thrown out trying for third, but Valentine then stole second and took third on Boone’s throwing error. Perez lifted a sac fly to right, scoring Montreal’s sixth run of the game.

Schmidt got the run right back with a leadoff homer in the bottom of the inning. Luzinski followed with a double, and Johnstone walked to send Stanhouse to the clubhouse. Jeff Terpko came on to face Boone and promptly allowed a two-run double to the durable catcher and a single by Sizemore that put the tying run at third with nobody out. Enter Will McEnaney, who got Jerry Martin to ground to third; Boone was thrown out trying to score on the play, and McEnaney retired the next two Phillies as well to keep Montreal in front for the moment.

Tug McGraw worked a perfect seventh; McEnaney did not. Larry Bowa and Schmidt singled, putting runners at the corners. Luzinski struck out. Johstone singled, scoring Bowa with the tying run, with Schmidt being thrown out at third on the play. Boone singled as well, and the play-by-play account lists Johnstone as scoring from first on the single, which isn’t completely impossible if he was running on the play; the PBP account could also be incorrect in some way (Johnstone may have taken second on the throw to third on the prior play, for instance). Whatever happened, the Phillies had come all the way back to take the lead, and they went on to load the bases before McGraw’s spot in the order came up. McGraw was lifted for pinch hitter Davey Johnson, who hit into an inning-ending force.

Gene Garber replaced McGraw in the bottom of the seventh. With one out, Cash reached on an infield hit and Cromartie walked. Valentine struck out, but Perez countered that with a two-out, three-run homer, quickly reestablishing the lead for the Expos. Joe Kerrigan came on for the eighth, allowing an infield hit to Bowa but erasing it on a Schmidt double play. Garber retired Montreal in order in the ninth, and Kerrigan made the game just a bit more exciting in the bottom of the inning, as Luzinski led off with a home run. Johnstone followed with a single, but the Phils couldn’t get the runner past first, and the game ended there.

Two things. First, I wonder if McGraw would have had better luck in the eighth had his team not reached his spot in the order in the extended seventh inning rally. And second, while Dave Cash didn’t end up being an exemplary free agent signing overall, he at least made the Phillies regret letting him go for one day.

Fine, a third thing too. This one grades out as the best game of the first 5 days of the 1977 season.

50+ -> Ralph Kiner?

Sorry - I was offline before posting the answer to:

20 -
30 - Kingman
40 - Dunn (three seasons were under .500: Dunn, Dunn, Granderson)
50 -

20 and 50 both played the same position for the same franchise (at different times).

Cowpop Popup got the 50+ answer - Andruw Jones. The other guy - Dale Murphy.