The Longest Streak Pt I – A controversial scorer’s decision in the 8^th inning of the Phillies’ win over the Cardinals in St. Louis on Wednesday allowed Chase Utley to extend his hitting streak to 34 straight games.  With Shane Victorino on third, Randy Flores fielded Utley’s soft roller near the mound and took too long looking the runner back to third which allowed Utley to beat the throw to first.  The throw however appeared to pull first baseman Albert Pujols off the base and though it was initially ruled an infield single, the ruling was soon changed to a fielder’s choice, drawing jeers from the Cardinal crowd.  Upon reviewing the play however, official scorer Mike Smith ruled that Utley beat the throw and reversed his decision, thus extending the streak.  The Phils weren’t done scoring, however, putting 3 more on the board in the 9^th and getting Utley another AB, in which he managed a clean single to center to erase all doubt.  At 34 games, the streak is tied for the 14^th longest in major league history, along with those by George Sisler (1925), George McQuinn (1938), Dom DiMaggio (1949) and Benito Santiago (1987).  Only four players, Luis Castillo (35 – 2002), Jimmy Rollins (38 – 2005-06), Paul Molitor (39 – 1987) and Pete Rose (44 – 1978) have had longer streaks since DiMaggio’s 56 gamer.  Utley is batting .404 (59-for-146) during the streak and is 4-for-9 with a double and a strike out lifetime against Thursday’s starter Jason Marquis.

 

The Longest Streak Pt II – The Dodgers beat the Reds 5-3 on Wednesday behind six strong innings from Brad Penny, who improved to 11-5 on the year while helping Los Angeles extend their win streak to 5 straight games, the longest current streak in the majors.  L.A. used a 4-run third inning to survive home runs from Scott Hatteberg (.425 BA in July) and Ken Griffey Jr. and pull to within 3 games of the Wild Card leading Reds and within 3 ½ of the first place Padres.  Griffey’s home run was the 558^th of his major league career, leaving him 5 HR shy of Reggie Jackson for 10^th on the all-time list. Griffey also tallied with his home run, the 1,595^th RBI of his HOF career, tying him with Mike Schmidt for 23^rd all-time.

 

The Longest Streak Pt III a – It seemed an ominous sign, having lost 9 straight games, but the Giants nevertheless survived Alfonso Soriano’s 8^th leadoff home run of the season to put an end to baseball’s longest current losing streak.  Jason Schmidt struck out 10 Nats and allowed just 4 hits and 1 run in 6 innings while Moises Alou went 4-for-4, driving in four and hitting his 12^th HR to propel the Giants to their first win since taking over first place in the NL West on July 22.  In the win, Shea Hillenbrand hit his first home run as a Giant and Omar Vizquel had two hits to give him 8 in his last 12 AB.  He is batting .439 (17-for-41) since July 21.  The win was not without drama, however, as Steve Kline and Brad Hennessey combined to allow 5 Nationals runs (including Soriano’s 2^nd HR) after Schmidt left, including 3 from Hennessey in the 9^th.  Nick Johnson’s HR off of Hennessey that inning made it an 8-6 game and brought the troubled Armando Benitez out of the bullpen to a chorus of boo’s from the home crowd.  Benitez, who had blown his last three save opportunities coming into the appearance, walked the first batter he faced and was immediately yanked in favor of the newly acquired Mike Stanton who then struck out Alex Escobar to end the threat and stop the losing streak. 

 

The Longest Streak Pt III b – The Cardinals 16-8 loss to the Phillies extended more than just Utley’s streak on Wednesday.   Coupled with the Giants win over Washington, the loss gives St. Louis possession of the longest losing streak in the majors at 5 straight games.  Jeff Weaver allowed 7 runs on 8 hits (including 1 of 2 HR hit by Jimmy Rollins) in just 3 1/3 to take the loss and in four starts with the Cardinals Weaver has an ERA of 8.68 (18.2 IP, 32 H, 18 ER).  Despite trailing by a score of 8-2 after 5 innings, St. Louis battled back to make it an 8-7 game before seeing the Phillies put it away with a 5-run 8^th. Rookie Cole Hamels (3-5, 5.71) will take to the bump for Philly to try and extend the Cards’ losing slide to six straight in the series finale on Thursday.     

 

Quick Hits

 

Only 5 of 16 National League teams have winning records while only 5 of 14 AL teams have losing marks.

 

Mark Teixeira is slugging .662 (47 TB in 71 AB) since the All Star break with 8 HR in 20 games.

 

Soriano’s leadoff jack against Jason Schmidt was the 29^th of his major league career.

 

Craig Biggio, after homering twice on Wednesday, is two hits shy of 2,900 for his career. 

 

Jimmy Rollins is batting .385 (20-for-52) since July 18.

 

Fausto Carmona in his last three outings – 2 IP, 6 H, 9 ER – 40.50 ERA

 

Manny Ramirez’ home run on Wednesday was the 465^th of his career and tied him with Dave Winfield for 26^th all-time.  It also gave him 30 or more HR in 9 straight seasons. 

 

Mark Teahen is batting .328 (60-for-183) with 11 HR since his recall in early June. 

 

Prince Fielder hit his 20^th home run of the season on Wednesday in an 8-2 loss to Colorado.  He leads all major league rookies in homers.  Tony Gwynn, batting leadoff and playing center field in the loss, was 2-for-4 in his first major league start, and is now 6-for-13 (.462) in his brief big league career.

 

Big Papi Time

 

Inspired by the recent heroics of Red Sox DH David Ortiz, DN&N decided to take a look at some relevant late inning situational statistics.  We took a look at the top and bottom situational performers from the 7^th inning on as well as those in situations defined as “late and close.” 

 

Among the bigger surprises we found looking at the numbers from the 7^th inning on were Seattle shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt batting .417 to lead the AL and Oakland’s Eric Chavez batting just .180 to trail only Carl Everett, a man without a team, for the lowest mark in the league.  Nomar Garciaparra has turned up in clutch situations all year, so it was no surprise to find him on this list. Similarly, we were hardly surprised by who we found leading each league in late inning home runs.  One can not help though but cringe when looking at the numbers put up past the 6^th inning by Brad Ausmus.

 

 

(Statistics provided courtesy of ESPN.com and are through 8/1)

 

AL 7^th Inn+ Batting Average             Min 100 PA          NL 7^th Inn+ Batting Average

1. Yuniesky Betancourt - .417 (50-for-120)                       1. Nomar Garciaparra - .427 (38-for-89)

2. Michael Young - .357 (45-for-126)                                 2. Miguel Cabrera - .365 (38-for-104)

3. Mark DeRosa - .346 (36-for-104)                                    3. Chipper Jones - .359 (33-for-92)

 

97. Carl Everett - .173 (18-for-104)                                      111. Brad Ausmus - .139 (14-for-104)

96.Eric Chavez - .180 (16-for-89)                                         110. Josh Willingham - .147 (14-for-95)

95. Jhonny Peralta - .183 (21-for-115)                                109. Rich Aurilia - .167 (15-for-90)

 

AL 7^th Inn+ On-Base %                    Min 100 PA          NL 7^th Inn+ On-Base %

1. Travis Hafner - .458                                                         1. Nomar Garciaparra - .505

2.Yuniesky Betancourt - .440                                             2. Miguel Cabrera - .476

3. Joe Mauer - .390                                                               3. Chipper Jones - .464

 

14. Juan Uribe - .239                                                             111. Brad Ausmus - .191

13. Angel Berroa - .244                                                        110. Josh Willingham - .222

12. Alex Gonzalez - .255                                                       109. Yadier Molina - .225

 

AL 7^th Inn+ Home Runs                                                     NL 7^th Inn+ Home Runs

1. David Ortiz – 13                                                                1t. Albert Pujols – 11

2. Vernon Wells – 11                                                           1t. Carlos Lee – 11

3t. Manny Ramirez – 9                                                         3t. Carlos Beltran – 10

3t. Jermaine Dye – 9                                                             3t. Jeff Francoeur – 10

3t. Raul Ibanez – 9

 

AL 7^th Inn+ RBI                                                                   NL 7^th Inn+ RBI

1. David Ortiz – 34                                                                1. Jeff Francoeur – 34

2. Raul Ibanez – 28                                                               2. Carlos Lee – 30

3t. Vernon Wells – 27                                                          3t. Chad Tracy – 26

3t. Michael Young – 27                                                       3t. Ryan Howard – 26

3t. Jose Lopez – 27

 

AL 7^th Inn+ AB                                                                    NL 7^th Inn+ AB

1. Raul Ibanez – 139                                                             1. Jeff Francoeur – 147

 

 

The first thing we noticed when looking at numbers in situations dubbed as “late and close” was that if it’s late and close, you don’t want the Rangers up at the plate - even more so now that they’ve added Carlos Lee.  It’s also not hard to spot the big hurt that Frank Thomas is putting on Oakland late in close games, while Jeff Francoeur continues to impress in a free swinging kind of way (.290 OBP when late and close).

 

 

AL Batting Averag        Late and Close Min 50 PA      NL Batting Average

1. Gary Matthews Jr. - .460 (23-for-50)                              1. Matt Holliday - .377 (23-for-61)

2. Hank Blalock - .435 (20-for-46)                                       2t. Carlos Lee  - .373 (22-for-59))

3. Michael Young - .426 (23-for-54)                                   2t. Geoff Jenkins - .373 (22-for-59)

 

80. Frank Thomas - .133 (6-for-45)                                     98. Austin Kearns - .140 (8-for-57)

79. Raul Ibanez - .145 (10-for-69)                                        97. Brad Ausmus - .143 (7-for-49)

78. Garrett Anderson - .163 (8-for-49)                               96. Josh Willingham - .149 (7-for-47)

 

AL On-Base %   Late and Close Min 50 PA                 NL On-Base %

1. Gary Matthews Jr. - .542                                                 1. Miguel Cabrera - .492

2. Hank Blalock - .509                                                          2. Adam Dunn - .484

3. Travis Hafner - .491                                                         3. Scott Hatteberg - .472

 

80. Garrett Anderson - .204                                                 98. Brad Ausmus - .173

79. Frank Thomas - .220                                                      97. Clint Barmes - .216

78. Raul Ibanez - .228                                                           96. Brian Schneider - .224   

 

AL Home Runs                    Late and Close                     NL Home Runs

1. David Ortiz – 9                                                                  1t. Albert Pujols – 8

2. Richie Sexson – 6                                                             1t. Jeff Francoeur – 8

3t. Vernon Wells – 5                                                            3t. Carlos Lee – 6

3t. Ty Wiggington – 5                                                         3t. Adam LaRoche – 6

 

AL RBI                                  Late and Close                     NL RBI

1. David Ortiz – 23                                                                1. Jeff Francoeur – 27

2t. Melvin Mora – 17                                                           2. Ken Griffey Jr. – 20

2t. Michael Young – 17                                                       3t. Albert Pujols – 18

2t. Justin Morneau – 17                                                      3t. David Wright – 18

 

AL AB                                   Late and Close                     NL AB

1. Jose Lopez – 73                                                                1. Jeff Francoeur - 73

 

 

On Deck – Hall-of-Famer-to-be Greg Maddux (9-11, 4.69) is set to make his Dodger debut on Thursday in the LA series finale with the Wild Card leading Reds.  Since going 5-0 with a 1.35 ERA in April for the Cubs, Maddux has posted monthly ERA of 5.94, 6.25 and 5.21 while winning just 4 of 15 decisions.  He won his last start for Chicago on Saturday however, throwing 6+ strong innings to collect the 327^th win of his major league career. His next victory will tie him with John Clarkson for 11^th all-time.  Eric Milton (7-6, 5.37) gets the ball for the Reds.  He has posted monthly ERA of 6.50, 3.48, 5.46 and 5.77 while surrendering 19 HR in 17 starts.  The Dodgers, though, have hit the fewest HR in the NL.

 

Also worth the price of admission on Thursday: Pedro Martinez (8-4, 3.59) makes his second start off the DL against Dontrelle Willis (6-8, 4.27) and the Marlins while Kevin Millwood (10-7, 4.62) and the Rangers try to slow the hard charging Angels and put a blemish on Jared Weaver’s (7-0, 1.51) record. 

Questions or comments for Richard? Richard Van Zandt is a staff writer for Baseball Evolution who lives in San Francisco, California. You can reach him at richard@baseballevolution.com.