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Useless Luis Castillo information
Hitting streaks aren't what they used to be. It must tell us something about how unapproachable we think Joe DiMaggio's streak is that these days, guys can get a 12-game hitting streak mentioned on Baseball Tonight.
So when a Luis Castillo comes along, how can we not dissect anything and everything we know about a streak that was up to 33 games as we typed this:
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| Castillo |
First, the basics: Castillo was hitting .401 (59 for 147) in the streak, with two homers, four doubles and 14 RBI. Here's how that compares to other long streaks of recent years:
Vladimir Guerrero hit .386 in his 31-game streak in 1999
Luis Gonzalez hit .400 in his 30-game streak in 1999
Paul Molitor hit .415 in his 39-gamer in 1987
Benito Santiago hit .351 in his 34-game streak in 1987
Pete Rose hit .385 in his 44-game streak in 1978
And who has had the highest average of any player who had a streak of 30 games or more since 1990? Would you believe (according to the Baseball Hall of Fame) Sandy Alomar Jr., who hit .422 in his 30-game streak in 1997?
By the way, DiMaggio hit .408 in his legendary streak -- not even including the hit he got in the All-Star Game.
Castillo has gotten a hit in his first at-bat 11 times during the streak. He got a hit in his last at-bat four times. In Rose's 44-game streak, he got a hit in his final at-bat six times -- including two bunt singles. Santiago got a hit in his final at-bat four times. Molitor also got a hit in his last at-bat four times -- one of them a home run off Tom Niedenfuer with two outs in the ninth inning.
Castillo has 16 multi-hit games in his streak -- two hits seven times, three hits eight times, four hits once. Rose had 16 multi-hit games -- two hits 10 times, three hits six times. Molitor had 19 multi-hit games -- two hits 10 times, three hits eight times, four hits once.
The 33rd game of the streak tied Rogers Hornsby for the longest streak by a second baseman. The 34th would tie Santiago for longest by a Latin American player. Only Rose had a longer streak by a switch hitter. (George Davis also hit in 33 straight in 1893.) And as best we can determine, only two leadoff hitters since 1900 ever had a longer streak than 33 games -- Rose and that other DiMaggio, Dom (a 34-gamer in 1949).
This is Castillo's second streak of 20 games or more. But according to the Hall of Fame, 28 players have had at least three streaks of 20-plus.
Players with the most streaks of 20-plus:
Pete Rose 7
Ty Cobb 5
Tris Speaker 5
Heinie Manush 5
Chuck Klein 5
Leaders among active players: Nomar Garciaparra and (surprise) Juan Gonzalez, with three each.
Castillo is now third in the NL in hitting. Only three players ever won a batting title in the same year they had a 30-game hitting streak -- Ty Cobb in 1911 and 1917, George Sisler in 1922 and George Brett in 1980.
Now that the Marlins have crossed themselves off the list, only 11 teams have never had a 30-game hitting streak -- the Rockies, Astros, Mets, Pirates, Angels, White Sox, A's (in any of their three cities), Mariners, Rangers, Blue Jays and Devil Rays.
Finally, with his two home runs this year, Castillo needs one more to avoid tying the modern record for fewest homers in a season by a guy with a hitting streak of 33 games or more. The only five players who hit fewer than 10:
Hal Chase 2 in 1907
Heinie Manush 5 in 1933
Pete Rose 7 in 1978
George Sisler 8 in 1922
Dom DiMaggio 8 in 1949
Most homers in a season with a streak this long (not that Castillo is any threat at that): 30, by Joe DiMaggio in 1941.
Triviality
Three players currently on active rosters have at least 2,000 career hits, but have never been elected to start an All-Star Game. Can you name them? (Answer at bottom.)
More useless interleague information
There is no more bizarre interleague-play note than this:
Record of Curt Schilling, Pedro Martinez, Mike Mussina, John Burkett, Randy Johnson, Tom Glavine and Kazuhia Ishii against their own leagues: 61-7.
Record of the same pitchers in interleague play: 7-10.
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| Lee |
Carlos Lee has two career multihomer games. Both have come in Chicago -- but neither has come at home and neither has been hit against a team from his own league. In other words, they're both at Wrigley Field, against the Cubs.
In 60 games against their own league, the Braves had one complete-game shutout thrown against them -- by A.J. Burnett on April 14. In their 10th interleague game, they got shut out by the Tigers' Jeff Weaver.
Since that Burnett shutout, the Marlins had played 47 consecutive games against NL teams without throwing another complete-game shutout. Then they threw two in three games against AL teams -- by Burnett on Saturday against the Devil Rays, then on Tuesday by Ryan Dempster against the Indians.
And then there was the interleague development observed by loyal reader Doug Greenwald. Last Friday was the first day since Oct. 13, 1900, that every team in the major leagues played -- and all of them played games just in National League parks. In the previous five seasons of interleague play, at least one AL division had always played at home for every interleague round.
Still more useless information
We're not sure what the odds were of Shawn Estes homering off Roger Clemens. But let's just say there was a better chance of Rey Ordonez winning the home run title. Why? Here's why ...
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| Clemens |
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| Estes |
Estes was 3 for his previous 60 (.050), with no extra-base hits and one RBI.
Opposing pitchers who had to bat against Clemens over the years were 1 for their previous 15 (.067), with no homers, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Throw in the World Series, and you can make that 1 for 18 (.056). The only hit was three years earlier, by Livan Hernandez, on June 12, 1999.
No Mets pitcher had hit a home run, according to Elias, in 1,082 at-bats, 1,246 plate appearances and 1,160 days -- since Bobby Jones launched one off that same Livan Hernandez on April 12, 1999.
Only one pitcher in the previous 20 years had hit a home run off a reigning Cy Young award winner, according to Elias. And that was (who else?) the human note, Livan Hernandez, off Tom Glavine on April 23, 1999.
And Clemens had allowed exactly one home run in his previous 11 starts combined -- and it was an inside-the-parker by Randy Winn in the Tropicana Field Pinball Park.
So how'd that home run ever happen? We'll ask Rob Dibble next time we see him.
When we haven't been spending our time contemplating how hot Luis Castillo has been, we've been asking: How hot has Shawn Green been?
Well, as hot as any home run hitter in history. That's how hot.
When he'd finished homering in his fourth straight at-bat over two games Saturday, Green had hit 17 home runs in 23 games. No one has ever hit more. Here are the only three players in history besides him to do that, according to the Sultan of Swat Stats, SABR's David Vincent:
Barry Bonds (May 17-June 9, 2001)
Roger Maris (two 23-day stretches in May and June, 1961)
Sammy Sosa (two 23-day spans in June, 1998)
And in the middle of all that, Green did something that Bonds, Maris and Sosa never did: He had a four-homer game and, in a separate stretch, home runs in four consecutive at-bats over two games.
Only one previous player in history -- Mike Schmidt -- ever accomplished both of those feats (in other words, not in the same game). But Green is the only player ever to accomplish those feats in the same season -- let alone a span of barely more than three weeks. Now that's hot.
Is Mark Grace a Hall of Famer? He sure isn't a lock. But consider this: Grace just got his 500th double. He's closing in on 2,400 career hits. And his lifetime average is .306. Here are the only four players since 1900 with 500 doubles, 2,000 hits and a .300 average who are not in the Hall of Fame.
Pete Rose (746 doubles, 4,256 hits, .303 avg.)
Paul Molitor (605 doubles, 3,319 hits, .306 avg.)
Wade Boggs (578 doubles, 3,010 hits, .328 avg.)
Al Oliver (529 doubles, 2,743 hits, .303 avg.)
Two of those four (Molitor and Boggs) are virtually guaranteed Hall of Famers, and Rose would be if he and John Dowd had never met. If you throw in Gold Gloves as the final qualifier, you would knock out Oliver but keep in Grace.
Hey, just asking.
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| Bonds |
Then there's our man, Barry Bonds. Just when it appeared he was bound to shatter every Babe Ruth single-season record ever compiled, SABR's Tom Hanrahan found one Bonds isn't on pace to blow away. In 1923, the Babe reached base an absurd 379 times (205 hits, 170 walks, 4 HBP). And through Wednesday, Bonds was on a pace to reach base a mere 360 times (148 hits, 200 walks, 12 HBP) this year. Boy, what a bummer.
It's shaping up as a tremendous year for milestones. This month, we already witnessed the first day in baseball history to feature both a 400th home run (Juan Gonzalez) and a 300th home run (Jim Thome). But the really big show is still in the on-deck circle. Unless something crazy happens, Barry Bonds will hit his 600th homer this year, and Sammy Sosa will hit his 500th. And even Junior Griffey (38 away) has an outside shot at No. 500.
So, you ask, have we ever had a 600th homer and a 500th homer in the same season? The odds aren't good, since there have only been three 600th seasons in history. But David Vincent reports ... we have.
In 1971, Hank Aaron hit No. 600 on April 27. And both Harmon Killebrew (Aug. 10) and Frank Robinson (Sept. 13) hit their 500th. Could it happen again? Don't touch that mouse.
In yet another Barry Bonds-related development, reader Eric Drager wondered whether Bonds' current streak of double-digit homers and steals in 16 straight seasons is a record. So we checked.
There have been 28 players in history who reached 10 homers or more in at least 16 consecutive seasons. Before Bonds, only one of them even had as many as 12 in a row of 10 or more homers and steals -- Andre Dawson.
So Bonds does indeed hold the record. But with only three steals so far this year, he's going to have to pick up the pace to extend it to 17. Incidentally, this is one double-double that runs in the family. Barry's father did it 11 years in a row.
Actual useless information from The Elias Sports Bureau
Last Sunday in Atlanta, Tom Glavine (ERA 1.53) started against Derek Lowe (ERA 1.89). To find the last time two starting pitchers with ERAs below 2.00 faced each other this late in the year, you have to turn back the clock before the invention of Baseball Tonight or ESPN.com.
That matchup, according to Elias' Rob Tracy: June 13, 1988 -- David Cone (1.94 for the Mets) vs. Larry McWilliams (1.74 for the Cardinals).
That game was won by ... neither of them. Cone gave up one run in 10 innings. McWilliams allowed one run in nine. And the Mets won in the 12th, off Ken Dayley.
It isn't every year some kid comes up from the minor leagues like Cubs phenom Mark Prior and strikes out 10 hitters or more in three of the first five starts of his career. Rob Tracy reports that the last pitcher before Prior with three double-figure strikeout games in his first five big-league starts was Fernando Valenzuela, in 1981.
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| Ortiz |
Last Friday night in Dodger Stadium, the Angels' Ramon Ortiz threw a complete-game four-hitter. That was the good news. But all four hits were solo homers. That was the bad news. And he still won, 8-4. That was the better news.
But reader Alan Davis had some questions about that performance. And so did we.
Our question: When was the last time a pitcher won a game in which he gave up four home runs, but no other hits?
Elias' answer: May 8, 1994, when Terry Mulholland did it for the Yankees, against the Red Sox.
Davis' question: Since the Dodgers' first two hits the next night were also home runs, when was the last time a team had six straight hits consisting of nothing but home runs?
Elias' answer: the White Sox, on Sept. 14-15, 1996, at Fenway Park.
That one-of-a-kind Byung-Hyun Kim is up to 10 saves already of more than one inning -- which puts him on a pace for 23 saves like that this year. So when has any closer gone more than an inning in 20 saves or more in one season? A dozen years ago, when Doug Jones saved 20 games with four outs or more for the 1990 Indians.
Barry Zito is even streakier these days -- in his own way -- than Luis Castillo. Through Wednesday, Zito was working on his second eight-game winning streak in the last calendar year. (He also finished last season on an eight-game roll.)
So how rare, we asked, is that?
The answer: It has been done five times over the last four seasons -- by a group you may have heard of: Tim Hudson twice (once in 1999-2000, again in 2000-01), Pedro Martinez once (1999-2000), Zito and Randy Johnson (2001-02).
Before Mo Vaughn's game-winning three-run home run Sunday against David Wells, Vaughn had 44 hits as a Met. Only one of them, according to Elias, had driven in more than one run -- a two-run homer May 9 off the Giants' Ryan Jensen.
Until interleague play screwed up a great note, Red Sox starters (namely, Derek Lowe, Pedro Martinez and Frank Castillo) ranked 1-2-3 in the AL in batting average allowed. Last team to pull off that feat over a full season, according to Elias' Ken Hirdt: the 1935 Yankees (Johnny Allen, Red Ruffing, Lefty Gomez).
(By the way, for you omen fans, that Yankees team did not win -- or even reach -- the World Series.)
And now back to regularly scheduled useless information ...
The Padres called up reliever J.J. Trujillo last week for a real good reason: He was the hottest relief pitcher in the minor leagues. He'd thrown 25 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings. He hadn't been scored on since April 29. And he'd allowed two home runs all season.
So what happened in his big-league debut (June 11)? According to the all-knowing David Vincent, Trujillo became the first pitcher in history to serve up a game-losing walkoff home run to the first batter he faced in his major-league career (Tony Batista).
Welcome to the big leagues, part two. Kirk Saarloos can relate to Trujillo. Before the Astros called up Saarloos this week, the 23-year-old right-hander had given up four earned runs in his previous 79 1/3 innings in Double-A -- including a 48 1/3-inning streak without allowing any earned runs. So naturally, in his big-league debut Tuesday, he gave up more than that in one inning (a five-run fifth by the Brewers).
So Jeffrey Loria thought he was upgrading his lot in baseball by fleeing Montreal to buy the Marlins, huh? Well, last weekend, the Expos and Marlins both hosted "rivalry" series -- against the Blue Jays and Devil Rays, respectively. Guess which dubious baseball town drew the most fans?
Yup. It was Montreal. As our favorite gate-clicking reader, David Hallstrom, observes, Expos-Blue Jays drew 35,456, while Marlins-Rays attracted 29,864.
As our observant cohort, David Schoenfield, pointed out the other day, Jacque Jones has driven in 51 runs this year -- every darned one of them out of the leadoff spot. So Jones is in great position to break the all-time record for RBI by a leadoff man -- which has stood for, oh, about a year and a half.
The five greatest RBI seasons by a leadoff hitter, courtesy of Elias and ESPN research genius Jeff Bennett:
2000: Darin Erstad, Ana., 100
1997: Nomar Garciaparra, Bos., 98
1956: Harvey Kuenn, Det., 85
1948: Dom DiMaggio, Bos., 84
1930: Taylor Douthit, St. L., 84
1973: Bobby Bonds, S.F., 83
Tigers pitcher Jeff Weaver leads the American League in shutouts, with three. That's good. But as Booth Newspapers' Danny Knobler reports, he has more shutouts than wins that aren't shutouts (two). And that ain't easy.
We're assuming Weaver probably can't keep that up all year. But in case he does, he should know that only two pitchers over the last 20 years have done it over a full season. On the other hand, it's been done quite a few times since division play began.
So here they are, the members of the More Shutouts Than Other Wins Club (source -- Lee Sinins' sabermetric baseball encyclopedia):
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Pitcher
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Year
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Wins
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Shutouts
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Pedro Astacio
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1992
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5
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4
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Joe Magrane
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1988
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5
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3
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Bob Knepper
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1981
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9
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5
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F. Valenzuela
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1981
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13
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8
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Randy Jones
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1980
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5
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3
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Steve Rogers
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1976
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7
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4
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Jon Matlack
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1974
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13
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7
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Rudy May
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1973
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7
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4
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Vida Blue
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1972
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6
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4
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Fred Norman
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1972
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9
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6
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Roger Nelson
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1972
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11
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6
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Ray Sadecki
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1969
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5
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3
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More Tigers insanity: After beating Curt Schilling last weekend and scaring Randy Johnson, the Tigers are hitting a combined .320 this year against Schilling, Johnson, Pedro Martinez and Javier Vazquez. Against all the other mortal pitchers, they were hitting .257 through Wednesday.
We hate when this happens. But we're unable to award a trophy to the winner of this year's Last Guy To Get A Hit competition -- because the man who outlasted everyone else on an Opening Day roster, Yankees outfielder Gerald Williams, got released before he got his first hit. But Williams, who was 0 for 17, signed with the Cardinals last weekend and headed for Triple-A (where, naturally, he went 8 for his first 24). So we've stopped the clock on him, and we'll resume it when (if) he returns to the big leagues.
Our old friend, Chuck Pool, one-time p.r. whiz for the Astros and Marlins, has noticed that poor Jimy Williams was sputtering along at 10 games under .500 in his debut as Astros manager (through Wednesday). And that's notable because that never happens to new Astros managers.
The last year a first-time Astros manager finished with a losing record, Roy Oswalt's debut on planet earth was still a year away. That was 1976, when Bill Virdon went 80-82. Here are how the five Houston managers in between Virdon and Williams did in their first seasons:
Bob Lillis: 85-77 in 1983*
Hal Lanier: 96-66 in 1986
Art Howe: 86-76 in 1989
Terry Collins: 66-49 in 1994
Larry Dierker: 84-78 in 1997
(* Lillis actually took over in late 1982 and went 28-23.)
Speaking of managers, we have the most historic managerial development in bobblehead history to report. According to figures compiled by our bobblehead czar, David Hallstrom, Arizona's Bob Brenly just became the first manager ever to win a game on his bobblehead day. The previous two managing bobbleheads -- Larry Dierker and Larry Bowa -- both lost their bobble days.
Oh, well. It's time to cancel that Curt Schilling 30-win watch, because our man Schill has, amazingly, lost two straight starts -- for the first time since last July 3 and 8 (against the playoff-bound Astros and A's). And he lost these two to the Tigers and Orioles, no less.
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| Schilling |
The East Valley Tribune's Ed Price reports that puts Schilling in this bizarre group: Cory Bailey, Chris George, Jeff Suppan, Danny Wright, Victor Zambrano and Schilling. What do they have in common? They're the only pitchers to lose to both the Orioles and Tigers this year.
He also had back-to-back starts of six innings or fewer against those teams -- the first time he'd done that against anybody since Sept. 2-7, 2000.
The versatility of the Cardinals' Eli Marrero continues to be a source of fascination out there. Loyal reader Lee Sinins, of baseball-encyclopedia.com, reports that Marrero is just the third player in the last 20 years to start at least eight games in a season as both a catcher and a center fielder. The others were Craig Biggio (113 games caught, 34 in center) in 1990 and Keith Moreland (44 at each position in 1982).
According to Sinins, this unique daily double has been pulled off by 44 players -- most of them in the 19th century.
Finally, we've got a new project for you music-minded readers -- bands named after baseball players. The latest to cross our desk is Vida Blue, headed by Phish keyboard player Page McConnell. Their CD comes out next Tuesday. We've always had a fondness for legendary band names, so send us your favorite baseball-related band names at askespn@espn.com.
The Sultan's Corner
Aaron Boone did something last Friday that had been done only once since The Sandberg Game -- the fabled NBC game of the week on June 23, 1984 in which Ryne Sandberg hit game-tying homers off Bruce Sutter in the ninth AND 10th innings.
The feat: hitting a ninth-inning home run and an extra-inning home run off the same pitcher. Here are the 10 times it had been done before Boone joined the group with heroic homers off Mike Williams, courtesy of the Sultan of Swat Stats, SABR's David Vincent:
May 28, 1987: Mike Young (Orioles) off DeWayne Buice
June 23, 1984: Ryne Sandberg (Cubs) off Bruce Sutter
June 18, 1961: Del Rice (Angels) off Norm Bass
June 5, 1955: Ken Boyer (Cardinals) off Jim Hughes
Aug. 27, 1949: Jeff Heath (Braves) off Ewell Blackwell
Sept. 2, 1944: Butch Nieman (Red Sox) off Bill Lee
Sept. 29, 1943: Vern Stephens (Browns) off Tex Hughson
May 1, 1934: Ripper Collins (Cardinals) off Si Johnson
July 23, 1932: Earl Averill (Indians) off Ted Lyons
July 7, 1922: High Pockets Kelly (Yankees) off Johnny Morrison
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| Minor |
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| Walker |
Larry Walker and the Giants' previously seldom-seen Damon Minor each hit homers in three straight games against a team from the other league last weekend. Back when that was only possible in the World Series, it had happened only six times, according to the Sultan:
Lou Gehrig (Yankees) 1928
Johnny Mize (Yankees) 1952
Hank Bauer (Yankees) 1958
Reggie Jackson (Yankees) 1977
Lonnie Smith (Braves) 1991
Ryan Klesko (Braves) 1995
But the Sultan reports that since interleague play began, there now have been nine occasions in which a player homered against the other league in at least four straight games:
Jim Thome, 2001, 5 (Cin. and Mil.)
Barry Bonds, 2000, 4
Tony Clark, 2001, 4
Ken Griffey, 1998, 4
Rafael Palmeiro, 1998, 4
Dean Palmer, 1999, 4
Henry Rodriguez, 1998, 4
Sammy Sosa, 1998, 4
Jermaine Dye, 2000, 4
Magglio Ordonez, 2001, 4
Finally, in case you missed it, the name-game event of the month occurred June 10 in a Pirates-Angels game, when one Anderson (Garret) homered off another (Jimmy). And that, according to the Sultan, makes Garret the first Anderson in history to homer off two different other Andersons (Jimmy and Brian). Here come all the Anderson-vs.-Anderson home runs in history:
Fred Anderson to George Anderson 7/1/1914
Fred Anderson to George Anderson 7/6/1915
Bob Anderson to Harry Anderson 8/27/1958
Bob Anderson to Harry Anderson /19/1959
Brian Anderson to Brady Anderson 9/5/1995
Brian Anderson to Garret Anderson 6/9/1996
Jimmy Anderson to Garret Anderson 6/10/2002
Trivia answer
Rafael Palmeiro, Mark Grace and Andres Galarraga. (If you guessed the injured B. J. Surhoff, we'll give you credit.)
Jayson Stark is a senior writer for ESPN.com.
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