The Chase is Wild

 

Minnesota got 7 strong innings from a resurgent Carlos Silva (last two starts – 13 IP, 6 H, 1 ER) and home runs from Michael Cuddyer and Torii Hunter to help down the A’s by a 9-4 final. Nevertheless, Frank Thomas hit a home run for the sixth straight game, two shy of the record set by Dale Long in 1956 and tied by Don Mattingly (1987) and Ken Griffey Jr. (1993).  Kevin Mench homered in 7 consecutive games earlier this season for Texas.  The win helped the Twins keep their lead over Chicago in the Wild Card chase at 1.5 games and dropped the idle Tigers’ lead in the Central to just that same game-and-a-half margin.  The Tigers’ lead was 7.5 games on August 1. 

 

The White Sox, meanwhile, kept up with the Twins and added to the pressure on Detroit. They downed the Angels 3-2 behind 8 strong innings from Jose Contreras and Bobby Jenks’ 40^th save.  Chicago is just 3 games behind the sinking Tigers.  The Angels once again couldn’t score for John Lackey, who dropped to 11-10 despite giving up just 4 hits in 8 innings of work.  Lackey entered the game 55^th in the majors in run support at 5.03 runs per game.

 

AL Wild Card

Minnesota        – 84-59   –

Chicago            – 83-61 1.5

 

The Wild Card leading Padres had the day off – their last one of the season – as did the Giants, Phillies and Reds, leaving the spotlight on the Marlins and Anibal Sanchez.  Sanchez saw his hitless innings streak end at 10 2/3 when Cliff Floyd homered in the second inning, but didn’t give up much else.  He allowed 3 runs on just 4 hits in 7 innings as the Marlins pounded out 20 hits in a 16-5 drubbing of the Mets.  Dan Uggla went 5-for-5 and tied Joe Gordon’s rookie record for home runs by a second baseman with his 24^th of the year.  He was nevertheless overshadowed by Cody Ross, who hit 3 home runs and drove in 7, both tying club records.  The win broke a three way tie with San Francisco and Philadelphia for second place behind the Padres.  Florida is now 73-71 and just 2 games the Padres despite having the lowest payroll in baseball at just under $15 million, $20 million less than the next lowest team, Tampa Bay.  In the loss, Carlos Beltran became just the third player in Mets history – Mike Piazza and Todd Hundley are the others – to have hit 40 home runs in a season.  Dave Williams (9 runs on 11 hits in 3 IP) took the loss.

 

In one other game with Wild Card implications, Chris Carpenter strengthened his bid for a second consecutive Cy Young award by tossing his third shutout of the year, beating the Astros 7-0.  Carpenter allowed just 6 singles in lowering his NL leading ERA to 2.84 and raising his record to 14-6.  Adam Everett committed two errors in the loss for Houston, the first time he’s done that since May 1 of last season.  He has just 7 on the year.  Houston now trails San Diego by 4.5 games.

 

NL Wild Card

San Diego        – 74-68   –

Florida             – 73-71 2.0

Philadelphia      – 72-71 2.5

San Francisco   – 72-71 2.5

Cincinnati         – 71-72 3.5

Houston           – 70-73 4.5

 

Quick Hits

 

Ichiro Suzuki on Sunday collected the 2,600^th hit of his professional career.

 

Derek Jeter had two hits on Monday to extend his hitting streak to 21 games, the sixth longest streak in the majors.  He is batting .403 since the streak began on August 20 during the infamous Boston Massacre. 

 

Alex Rodriguez is batting .429 (15-for-35) in his last 9 games with 6 HR and 13 RBI.  His home run on Monday gave him 461 in his career, just 1 behind Jose Canseco for 29^th all-time.

 

With 2 HR on Monday, Derrek Lee is batting .370 (17-for-46) with 4 HR and 14 RBI since his second return from the DL. 

 

Tony Gwynn Jr., recalled on Monday, improved his batting average as a pinch-hitter to .455 (5-for-11) and is batting .500 (8-for-16) overall.

 

Salomon Torres has a 1.55 ERA (6 ER, 34.2 IP) over his last 33 appearances.  The stretch began on June 28 with 1/3 of an inning against the White Sox in which he did not throw a pitch, instead picking off Scott Podsednik for the only out he recorded. 

 

Among the September call ups for Florida was 36-year-old journeyman infielder Jason Wood who is now 2-for-2 in his first major league action since 1999.  Wood made his debut for Oakland in 1998 and played three games for the A’s before he was traded to Detroit in a deal for Bip Roberts.  He recorded 23 at bats that season for the Tigers and 44 more in ’99 before spending most of the next 7 years trying to get back to the show.  Welcome back, Mr. Wood.

 

Free Swinger Update Pt I – DN&N’s favorite free swinger, Jeff Francoeur, has been showing increased patience at the plate of late, drawing three free passes this month and nine since the beginning of August, doubling his total of walks from the first four months in just the last 6 weeks.  With a walk once every 33.67 plate appearances (18 BB in 606 PA), Francoeur is still on pace to post the second highest ratio of plate appearances per base on balls with at least 700 plate appearances since 1900, but it would appear that Woody Jensen’s mark of one walk every 45.69 (16 BB in 731 PA) is safe for another season.  Francoeur’s mark is now just ahead of Alfonso Soriano’s 2002 rate of 32.22 plate appearances per walk.

 

Free Swinger Update Pt II – Among all major leaguers with enough plate appearances to qualify for the league leaders, Francoeur has now slid down to third in the big leagues behind both Angel Berroa (12 BB in 451 PA) and Yuniesky Betancourt (15 in 513).  With just three weeks left to go in the regular season, Berroa is unlikely to reach the 700 PA mark, though Betancourt has a good shot at it.  Through the first five months of the season, he has averaged 317 PA per month and has recorded 102 thus far in September.  Here are the top 5 free swingers in each league among qualified hitters.

 

AL – Most PA/BB                                                               NL – Most PA/BB

1. Angel Berroa – 37.58 (451/12)                        1. Jeff Francoeur – 33.67 (606/18)

2. Yuniesky Betancourt – 34.2 (513/15)            2. Ronny Cedeno – 31.44 (503/16)

3. Placido Polanco – 31.00 (465/15)   3. Shea Hillenbrand – 27.83 (501/18)

4. Jose Lopez – 29.00 (580/20)                            4. Clint Barmes – 26.74 (508/19)

5. Ivan Rodriguez – 28.06 (505/18)                     5. Aaron Rowand – 24.72 (445/18)

 

Free Swinger Update Pt III – Lowering the bar to include all hitters with at least 150 PA discovers some more of the leagues most prolific free swingers, including Tigers backup catcher Vance Wilson, who this week managed to draw his second walk of the year to drop his ratio to one walk every 79 plate appearances (2 in 158).  Almost as impatient, yet with far more PA, is Marlins catcher Miguel Olivo. Olivo is drawing walks at a rate of one every 50.25 PA with over 400 PA for the season.  Here are the top 5 free swingers in each league based on a minimum of 150 plate appearances.

 

AL – Most PA/BB min 150 PA                        NL – Most PA/BB min 150 PA

1. Vance Wilson – 79.00 (158/2)                         1. Miguel Olivo – 50.25 (402/8)

2. Robb Quinlan – 72.33 (217/3)                         2. Luis Gonzalez (Col) – 39.50 (158/4)

3. Mike Redmond – 54.33 (163/3)                       3. Johnny Estrada – 37.36 (411/11)

4. Tomas Perez – 45.80 (229/5)                           4. Jeff Francoeur – 33.67 (606/18)

5. Shane Costa – 41.40 (207/5)                           5. Ronny Cedeno – 31.44 (503.16)

 

Free Swinger Update Pt IV – Adjusting for intentional walks, however, gives us a slightly different set of free swingers.  This group is led by Eliezer Alfonzo of the Giants, who this past week managed to draw just his second un-intentional free pass of the season, snapping a streak of 149 consecutive at bats without a walk.  He now has just 2 in 263 plate appearances.  Here is the list of free swingers adjusted for intentional walks.

 

AL – Most PA/Adjusted BB min 150 PA       NL Most PA/Adjusted BB min 150 PA

1. Robb Quinlan – 108.50 (217/3-1IBB)             1. Eliezer Alfonzo – 131.5 (263/9-7IBB)

2. Vance Wilson – 79.00 (158/2-0)                     2. Johnny Estrada – 82.20 (411/11-6)

3. Mike Redmond – 54.33 (163/3-0)   3. Miguel Olivo – 80.40 (402/8-3)

4. Shane Costa – 51.75 (207/5-1)                        4. Jeff Francoeur – 50.50 (606/18-6)

5. Neifi Perez – 48.83 (293/8-2)                            5. Toby Hall – 47.83 (287/10-4)

 

Information on intentional walks during Jensen’s days (1931-1939) is not available, but during the 2002 season, Soriano drew just 1 intentional walk (out of 23 total), giving him an adjusted rate of 33.68.  Lou Brock, fourth among all major leaguers with at least 700 PA (30.17 PA/BB), had six intentional free passes out of 24 total walks in 1967 to give him an adjusted rate of 40.22, second to Jensen’s unadjusted rate. 

 

Free Swinger Update Pt V – Among all hitters who have not drawn a walk at all, Laynce Nix is still on top with 70 PA without a free pass, though he did not come to the plate in the past week.  Anderson Hernandez has upped his PA total to 52 without a walk, the second most in the majors, by going 0-for-7 during the week (lowering his season batting average to just .115 – 6-for-52 – and his career average to a miniscule .100 in 70 AB).  In his short ML career, he has drawn just 1 BB in 71 PA.

 

Free Swinger Update Pt VI – The flip side of this coin are the batters who go the fewest PA without drawing a walk.  You might expect Bobby Abreu, Travis Hafner or Jason Giambi to be leading this category, but you’d have to think again.  Among all qualified hitters (Barry Bonds does not have enough appearances to qualify, falling just short), the major leaguer with the fewest plate appearances between walks is the Astros’ Morgan Ensberg with one walk every 4.95 plate appearances.

 

ML – Fewest PA/BB

1. Morgan Ensberg – 4.95 (450/91)

2. Jason Giambi – 5.21 (537/103)

3. Bobby Abreu – 5.28 (612/116)

4. Travis Hafner – 5.64 (564/100)

5. Manny Ramirez – 5.64 (553/98)

 

Lowering the bar to 150 plate appearances does little to change this list except to add Bonds, who then takes the lead with one walk every 4.07 plate appearances.

 

Free Swinger Update Pt VII – Though certainly not the rule, DN&N can’t help but have noticed the preponderance of catchers and shortstops on the list of free swingers throughout the year.  With that in mind, we’ve taken a closer look at both of those positions. 

 

Catchers	TM	PA	BB	IBB	ABB	PA/BB	pa/abb	Short Stops	TM	PA	BB	IBB	ABB	PA/BB	pa/abb
P. Phillips	KC	22	0	0	0	----	----	T. Perez	TB	229	5	0	5	45.80	45.80
J. Phillips	Tor	30	0	0	0	----	----	Berroa	KC	451	12	1	11	37.58	41.00
Wilson	Det	158	2	0	2	79.00	79.00	Betancourt	Sea	513	15	0	15	34.20	34.20
Redmond	Min	163	3	0	3	54.33	54.33	Uribe	ChW	441	13	1	12	33.92	36.75
Olivo	Fla	402	8	3	5	50.25	80.40	Cedeno	Chi	506	16	3	13	31.63	38.92
Alomar	ChW	97	2	0	2	48.50	48.50	Cintron	ChW	274	10	0	10	27.40	27.40
Rivera	Sea	93	2	0	2	46.50	46.50	Barmes	Col	508	19	5	14	26.74	36.29
Estrada	Ari	411	11	6	5	37.36	82.20	Castro	Cin	237	9	0	9	26.33	26.33
Pena	Atl	32	1	0	1	32.00	32.00	Gonzalez	Bos	399	21	1	20	19.00	19.95
Fasano	NYY	188	6	0	6	31.33	31.33	Wilson	Pit	515	28	0	28	18.39	18.39
Ruiz	Phi	61	2	1	1	30.50	61.00	McDonald	Tor	253	14	0	14	18.07	18.07
Alfonzo	SF	263	9	7	2	29.22	131.50	Drew	Ari	178	10	3	7	17.80	25.43
Hall	LAD	287	10	4	6	28.70	47.83	Clayton	Cin	476	27	3	24	17.63	19.83
Rodriguez	Det	505	18	2	16	28.06	31.56	Eckstein	StL	528	31	0	31	17.03	17.03
Lieberthal	Phi	209	8	0	8	26.13	26.13	Everett	Hou	503	30	5	25	16.77	20.12
Pierzynski	ChW	495	19	6	13	26.05	38.08	Izturis	ChC	195	12	3	9	16.25	21.67
Johjima	Sea	463	18	1	17	25.72	27.24	Counsell	Ari	372	23	0	23	16.17	16.17
Barajas	Tex	350	14	0	14	25.00	25.00	Young	Tex	667	42	0	42	15.88	15.88
J. Molina	LAA	220	9	0	9	24.44	24.44	Tejada	Bal	620	40	8	32	15.50	19.38
B. Molina	Tor	406	17	1	16	23.88	25.38	Bartlett	Min	294	19	1	18	15.47	16.33
LoDuca	NYM	493	21	0	21	23.48	23.48	Adams	Tor	242	16	0	16	15.13	15.13
Coste	Phi	162	7	1	6	23.14	27.00
Torrealba	Col	241	11	1	10	21.91	24.10
Greene	SF	149	7	3	4	21.29	37.25
Rivera	Mil	103	5	2	3	20.60	34.33
Matheny	SF	177	9	2	7	19.67	25.29
Y. Molina	StL	411	21	1	20	19.57	20.55
Laird	Tex	215	11	0	11	19.55	19.55
Blanco	ChC	182	10	0	10	18.20	18.20
Stinnett	NYM	91	5	1	4	18.20	22.75
Iannetta	Col	33	2	1	1	16.50	33.00
Buck	KC	377	24	2	22	15.71	17.14
Bennett	StL	156	10	2	8	15.60	19.50
Melhuse	Oak	122	8	1	7	15.25	17.43
Doumit	Pit	121	8	0	8	15.13	15.13

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.