It's Lenn Sakata Day

Lenn Sakata should have been one of those ballplayers that spent a few seasons in the majors, had a few timely hits, played decent defense, and then slipped out of baseball consciousness.

For the most part, that is the type of ballplayer he was. Mention the name Sakata to baseball fans today and you probably won't get much of a reaction. A few might think the name is familiar, and some diehards might remember seeing him play. Like so many background players, if he is remembered today, it is because of his role in some strange part of baseball history. Would anyone remember Bill Wambsganss today without his triple play? Would Brewers fans remember Rick Manning if he hadn't gotten the walk-off hit robbing Paul Molitor of a final chance to extend his hitting streak? So it is with Lenn Sakata...

Lenn Sakata was born in 1954 in Honolulu, Hawaii, and graduated from Kalani High School in that city in 1971. He played college ball as an infielder at Gonzaga University, earning All-Big Sky conference honors in 1973 and 1974 and second team All-American honors in the latter year. In 1974, he set a school record for RBI (68) that would stand until some guy named Jason Bay broke it in 1999. After his excellent 1974 season, Sakata was selected in the fifth round of the 1974 draft by the San Diego Padres but did not sign. Back then, baseball had a secondary draft in January for players who either did not sign or were not eligible to be drafted in June. In the January 1975 draft, the Milwaukee Brewers saw fit to select Sakata with the tenth pick. He began his professional career later that spring.

He began his minor league career about as far from Hawaii as he could get in organized baseball. He was assigned to the Brewers AA affiliate in Thetford Mines, Quebec. Once a hotbed of asbestos mining, Thetford Mines is about 120 miles (190 km) northeast of Montreal. Sakata, playing second base, shared the infield with future Brewer Jim Gantner. Both players hit .257 in the Eastern League, but only Sakata was promoted to AAA Spokane for the 1976 season. Back in his college town, Sakata hit .280 with ten home runs. He followed that up by hitting .304 in 1977 and earning a callup to the majors. When Sakata took the field in the first game of a July 21 doubleheader, Sakata became only the second Japanese-American to play in a major league game (the first was Ryan Kurosaki, a Cardinals pitcher).

Sakata struggled as a Brewer, hitting .162/.209/.214 in 53 games for Milwaukee. He started the 1978 season with Milwaukee, but a poor .192 average in 86 plate appearances earned him a ticket to Spokane. His final shot in Milwaukee came in September 1979 after he once again hit .300 in AAA. Seizing his chance, Sakata went 7 for 14 with two doubles in four games at the end of the year. The Brewers were so impressed they promptly shipped Sakata to Baltimore for righthanded reliever John Flinn. Flinn spent one unimpressive year in Milwaukee, but Sakata spent six seasons with the Orioles. After tearing up the International League for a month, Sakata was called up to Baltimore and hit his usual .190. He played a little shortstop for the first time in his pro career, however, and that earned him a spot on the 1981 Baltimore squad. He finally cracked .200 that year and had his best season in 1982, hitting .259/.323/.370 in nearly 400 plate appearances while playing second and short. In fact, he was the starting shortstop until a guy named Cal Ripken moved over from third in July. Undoubtedly Sakata would have started again at short had Ripken needed a day off. So much for that idea.

Sakata was once again a backup second baseman in 1983, but it was his appearance at a different position that year that remains memorable. Coming into play on August 24, the Orioles were 1/2 game behind Milwaukee for first place and one of four teams within 4 games of the division lead. Baltimore was hosting Toronto, the third place team. Trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the seventh with one out and the bases loaded, manager Joe Altobelli pinch-hit for starting catcher Rick Dempsey. The move didn't work and the Orioles didn't score that inning. After the inning, Lenn Sakata came into the game at second base and thus was around for the Orioles' ninth-inning rally. Sakata walked and later scored the tying run, but not before Benny Ayala pinch-hit for backup catcher Joe Nolan. The Orioles couldn't plate the winning run. Lacking catchers, the Orioles were forced to use Sakata behind the plate, outfielder Gary Roenicke at third, and outfielder John Lowenstein at second base.

The first batter, Cliff Johnson, hit a go-ahead home run and the second batter, Barry Bonnell, singled to center. That was it for pitcher Tim Stoddard, and lefthander Tippy Martinez came in to stem the tide. Eager to steal off non-catcher Sakata, Bonnell was promptly picked off first. Dave Collins then walked and, also eager to test Sakata, was promptly picked off. Willie Upshaw then hit an infield single to second. Following the example of his teammates, he leaned too far and was also picked off first.

In the bottom of the tenth, Cal Ripken tied the game with a leadoff home run. A walk, groundout, intentional walk, and strikeout set it up for Lenn Sakata to step in the box. Randy Moffitt, a pitcher Sakata had never faced in the majors, was on the mound. In this weirdest of games, what happened next only made sense. Sakata hit his second home run of the season to win the game.

Baltimore went on to win the division by six games and won the World Series in five games over Philadelphia. Sakata spent two more years as a backup second baseman in Baltimore, hitting .191 and 227. He had a couple last gasps in 1986 and 1987 with Oakland and New York, but he finished his career four hits short of 300 with a .230 average. Sakata went on to coaching, both in America and Japan, setting a record for most wins in the California League, and currently manages the Japanese Chiba Lotte Marines farm team.

Depending on how his coaching career progresses, Sakata may eventually be known for more than being behind the plate while Tippy Martinez set a pickoff record or being the second Japanese-American to play in the majors. No matter what Sakata does going forward, however, the August 24, 1983, game between Toronto and Baltimore (and Sakata himself) will be remembered for both dramatic moments and a trivia-producing extra inning.

More reading about Sakata and the game:
Lenn Sakata at baseball-reference.com
Lenn Sakata at The Baseball Cube
Box score and play-by-play of August 24, 1983 Toronto-Baltimore game
The Baltimore Sun remembers the game with some great quotes
Seattle Times about Sakata's current situation and view of baseball
Press release for Sakata setting California League wins record
New York Times article about Don Wakamatsu with some Sakata information

First Career Home Runs

Mark Buehrle hit his first career home run today. Later in the same game, he gave up Casey McGehee's first major league home run. I tried looking it up and I believe it's the first time since August 23, 2004 that a pitcher hit his first career home run and gave up another player's first career home run in the same game. That 2004 game featured John Van Benschoten hitting a homer and giving one up to Chris Snyder.

Figuring Earned and Unearned Runs in a Crazy Inning

I'm cross-posting this from Brew Crew Ball because I think it's a useful guide to determining earned and unearned runs in an inning involving errors, fielder's choices, and pitching changes. Since I wrote it for a Brewers blog, you'll have to excuse the pro-Brewers tilt. The earned run totals in the final paragraph are outdated, but the larger point holds true. I also have to thank my dad, who has covered 1800+ games for STATS, LLC, for checking my work.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The fifth inning of last night's game officially took 51 minutes. The Brewers' half included eleven batters and two pitching changes and lasted 25 minutes. The Marlins' half had only one pitching change and ten batters but lasted 26 minutes. Since there were errors, pitching changes, and runs galore in the Brewers' half, it's worth talking about.

One of the most confusing parts of scoring a baseball game is determining whether or not runs are earned. Just as confusing is determining which pitcher in a multiple-pitcher inning is responsible for each run. Since the top half of the fifth inning contained just about every possible weird situation relating to earned/unearned runs, let's work through it and figure out how the runs were assigned.

First, two basic rules: if a batter reaches base because of an error or stays on the bases because of an error and then scores a run, that run is unearned. Also, if runs score after error-free play would have resulted in three outs, those runs are unearned.

Now, the full play-by-play of the inning:

Brewers fifth.
West pitching.
McGehee grounded out, third baseman E.Bonifacio to first baseman Cantu.
R.Braun safe at first on fielding error by shortstop H.Ramirez.
Fielder singled to center, R.Braun to second.
Penn pitching.
M.Cameron walked, R.Braun to third, Fielder to second.
Hardy grounded into fielder's choice, third baseman E.Bonifacio to catcher J.Baker, Fielder to third, M.Cameron to second, Hardy to first, R.Braun out.
B.Hall walked, Fielder scored, M.Cameron to third, Hardy to second.
Kendall walked on a full count, M.Cameron scored, Hardy to third, B.Hall to second.
Looper walked, Hardy scored, B.Hall to third, Kendall to second.
Sanches pitching.
C.Hart safe at first on throwing error by third baseman E.Bonifacio, B.Hall scored, Kendall to third, Looper to second.
McGehee doubled to left, Kendall scored, Looper scored, C.Hart to third.
R.Braun struck out.

Whew, that's a screenful. Sean West entered the inning having given up three runs already in the game, all earned. His role in this inning is the easy one to analyze:

Brewers fifth.
West pitching.
McGehee grounded out, third baseman E.Bonifacio to first baseman Cantu.
R.Braun safe at first on fielding error by shortstop H.Ramirez.
Fielder singled to center, R.Braun to second.
Penn pitching.

McGehee's groundout is self-explanatory. Braun's at bat is trickier: he should have been the second out of the inning, but he reached base. Remember this for later. Fielder's single is also a simple ending for West's night. He departed the game having allowed two runners to reach base.

Now, when Penn entered the game, there should have been two outs. However, Rule 10.16(i) says

When pitchers are changed during an inning, the relief pitcher shall not have the benefit of previous chances for outs not accepted in determining earned runs.

So even if there should have been two outs, Penn does not get the benefit of the error for determining his earned and unearned runs. It's probably easiest to examine his outing play by play.

• M.Cameron walked, R.Braun to third, Fielder to second.
  
  Braun and Fielder remain West's responsibility.
  
• Hardy grounded into fielder's choice, third baseman E.Bonifacio to catcher J.Baker, Fielder to third, M.Cameron to second, Hardy to first, R.Braun out.
  
  This is a confusing play, especially if you see West was charged with two runs in the inning. Since he was responsible for only two batters and Braun was out at the plate, shouldn't he only be responsible for Fielder from this point forward? The answer is no. It's easiest to think of this situation as if Penn came in with no one on base. In that case, Hardy would have come up with Cameron on first. His fielder's choice would then have wiped out Cameron. It's not Penn's fault Braun was on third base to be put out on the fielder's choice. Ergo, Cameron takes Braun's place as West's responsibility.
  
  
• B.Hall walked, Fielder scored, M.Cameron to third, Hardy to second.
  
  The first of West's runners scores. It's tricky here, too, because of the two perspectives on how many outs there should be. From West's perspective, Hardy's fielder's choice should have ended the inning. Thus the run Fielder scores against him is unearned. From Penn's perspective, Hardy's FC was only the second out of the inning, so he's still on the hook for future earned runs.
  
• Kendall walked on a full count, M.Cameron scored, Hardy to third, B.Hall to second.
  
  Since Cameron took over Braun's role as West's responsibility, this is the second of West's two runs to score. Again, the inning should be over from his perspective, so this run against him is unearned.
  
• Looper walked, Hardy scored, B.Hall to third, Kendall to second.
  
  Hardy is the first of Penn's runners to come around and score. Since from his perspective there should only be two outs, this run is earned against him.

Penn was finally pulled after going to a 2-1 count on Corey Hart. If Hart had proceeded to walk, he would have counted against Penn (see Rule 10.16(h)). Mercifully, he didn't walk, keeping things a little simpler.

Brian Sanches entered the game with the bases loaded and all three runners Penn's responsibility. The same rule that applied to Penn applies to Sanches, namely that from his perspective there should only be two out. Let's break his outing down play by play as well.

• Sanches pitching.
  C.Hart safe at first on throwing error by third baseman E.Bonifacio, B.Hall scored, Kendall to third, Looper to second.
  
  This error should have ended the inning from both Penn's point of view and Sanches' point of view. Thus Hall's run counts against Penn, but it is unearned. Hart is Sanches' responsibility.
  
  
• McGehee doubled to left, Kendall scored, Looper scored, C.Hart to third.
  
  Both Kendall and Looper reached because of Penn, so their runs are charged to him. Since the inning should have ended after Hart's at bat, neither run is earned. Both runners are Sanches' now, so close the book on Penn.
  
  
• R.Braun struck out.
  
  The inning finally ends.

The total damage? West is responsible for two runs, both unearned. Penn is responsible for four runs, only one of which is earned. Sanches gave up zero runs. In total, the team gave up six runs, only one of which is earned, right?

Wait! We're not finished yet. From the team's perspective, the inning should have ended with Hardy's fielder's choice, before any runs scored. So even though Penn got charged with an earned run in the inning, that run is marked down as something called a team unearned run. Marking it down as such avoids penalizing the team for putting in a relief pitcher. Remember how Penn entering the game "reset" the number of outs there should have been? If that was carried over to the team, it would effectively force the Marlins' pitching staff to record four would-be outs in the inning before runs became unearned. In short, team unearned runs undo for the team what Rule 10.16(i) does for a relief pitcher.

This can lead to some interesting "discrepancies" in team pitching totals. For example, examine Baseball-Reference's team pitching totals. Note that Cleveland has given up 284 earned runs this year. If you go to Cleveland's team page and sum up the earned runs for every pitcher, you get 284. Duh, right? Not quite. Take a journey over to MLB.com's team pitching totals. There you will note Cleveland as a team has given up 283 earned runs. The difference is one team unearned run on May 12. In that game Tony Sipp gave up an earned run, but it was a team unearned run. Since Baseball-Reference totals earned runs by summing up the earned runs of each pitcher, they end up off by one in this case, affecting the team's ERA. In this case MLB.com's total is correct and the Indians' team ERA is 0.02 lower than what Baseball-Reference shows. Baltimore is in the same situation.

Baseball's rules can be extremely complicated at times. I feel bad for anyone scoring the game last night.

Two or Fewer Total Bases

After going 1 for 4 in tonight's game, Jason Kendall of the Brewers is hitting .143/.245/.167. He's got six hits (five singles and a double), five walks, and one hit by pitch. His lack of power is well-known around baseball, thanks in large part to his 6 HR in 2453 plate appearances since leaving Pittsburgh. So far this season Kendall has played in thirteen games and has had fewer than two total bases in each.

I'm sure he'll manage to hit three singles, a double and a single, or even a home run at some point, but it might take a while. So that thought made me curious about the longest streak of games with two or fewer total bases to start a season, especially among starters.

Given that he's both punchless and a catcher, Kendall isn't likely to pinch-hit much. I'm not that interested in a list that includes pinch-hitters anyway, because I don't think a guy should be penalized for not hitting pinch-hit triples or home runs very often. Therefore I've looked only at games where the player in question had two or more plate appearances. Obviously, a triple or home run could be overlooked, but that's okay.

As usual, this covers players from 1954 to the present.

Most Consecutive Games with Two or Fewer Total Bases to Start a Season
(minimum 2 PA in each game)

• Ruben Amaro, 1960 PHI - 82 games
• Dal Maxvill, 1970 STL - 69 games
• Bill Russell, 1975 LAD - 64 games
• Fred Stanley, 1982 OAK - 63 games
• Rich Morales, 1973 CHW-SDP - 58 games
• Dave Concepcion, 1988 CIN - 55 games
• Luis Gomez, 1980 ATL - 55 games
• Alvaro Espinoza, 1989 NYY - 49 games
• Fred Kendall, 1976 SDP - 47 games
• Wilbur Wood, 1972 CHW - 46 games
  
• Al Weis, 1966 CHW - 46 games
• Lance Blankenship, 1990 OAK - 45 games
• Pat Rockett, 1978 ATL - 45 games

So not only does Kendall have months to go to match Amaro, he's got a ways to go before he reaches his dad's mark. Fans who were around in the 1970's no doubt recognize lefthanded knuckleballer Wilbur Wood. He actually started 49 games in 1972 but was pulled before batting twice in three of them.

It's been nearly two decades since someone went 45 games into the season without 3+ total bases in a game, though, so let's look at a list of players since 2000. Unsurprisingly, the list is littered with pitchers, so I'm going to drop them.

Most Consecutive Games with Two or Fewer Total Bases to Start a Season
(since 2000; minimum 2 PA in each game)

• Ramon Martinez, 2007 LAD - 35 games
• Luis Rivas, 2005 MIN - 34 games
• Ross Gload, 2008 KCR - 31 games
• Jorge Fabregas, 2002 ANA-MIL - 31 games
• Willie Bloomquist, 2008 SEA - 30 games
• Adam Everett, 2002 HOU - 30 games

Jason Kendall reached 28 games to start the 2007 season, one year after going 23 games without three total bases. Two doubles and a single in the second game of last season messed up the trend, but 2009 might still be his year.

Opening Day Oddity

You may have heard about Felipe Lopez and Tony Clark's performance in today's Rockies-Diamondbacks game. The two switch-hitters each had two home runs and they both hit one from each side of the plate. As the AP recap noted,

Lopez and Clark became the first switch-hitting teammates to homer from both sides of the plate in a game since Jorge Posada and Bernie Williams did it for the New York Yankees on April 23, 2000. It had never been done on opening day.

In fact, today and that Yankees game are the only two times that's happened since 1954. More generally, two switch-hitters have each homered twice in the same game only five times in that span:

• Today, obviously - Lopez homered off RHP Aaron Cook in the 1st inning and LHP Glendon Rusch in the 4th inning. Clark homered off Cook in the 3rd and Rusch in the 5th.
  
  
• September 25, 2008 - The Rays' Ben Zobrist hit two home runs off RHP Armando Galarraga, one in the first inning and one in the eighth. Meanwhile, the Tigers' Ramon Santiago homered off LHP Scott Kazmir in the 1st inning and the 3rd inning. Obviously each guy's home runs were from the same side of the plate.
  
  
• July 4, 2003 - Bill Mueller and Jason Varitek both homered twice for the Red Sox against the Yankees. Mueller homered off LHP David Wells in the 6th inning and RHP Dan Miceli in the 9th inning. Varitek homered off Wells in the 3rd and 6th.
  
  
• The aforementioned April 23, 2000 game - Bernie Williams homered off Blue Jays RHP Frank Castillo in the first inning and LHP Clayton Andrews in the fourth inning. Jorge Posada hit round-trippers off the same pitchers but in the second and fourth innings.
  
  
• August 14, 1996 - In the second-last season of his career, Eddie Murray hit a home run off RHP Jeff D'Amico in the third inning of a game against Milwaukee. He followed it up with a home run off RHP Ricky Bones in the 8th inning. His teammate Roberto Alomar drove one out off D'Amico in the 2nd inning and hit a homer off LHP Ron Villone in the 8th.

The long and short of it: for at least forty years there weren't any games featuring 2 HR by two switch-hitters but today saw the fifth one since 1996.

Title (Oops, forgot to put a real one...)

What do former Giants and Royals pitcher Ryan Jensen and knuckleballer Joe Niekro have in common? They're the only pitchers in the last 30 years to bat six times in one game.

It's not common, but every year there are a few pitchers to bat five times in one game. In fact, since 2000 that's happened seventy-seven times. Only one of those pitchers (Adam Wainwright last August) did so in the 8th spot in the lineup. No matter where the pitcher bats, coming up to the plate that often in one game takes both the pitcher's offense going through the order quickly and effective pitching by the pitcher so he can stay in the game. Obviously, batting six times in one game requires even better offense.

Ryan Jensen's 6 PA game occurred on July 2, 2002. The Giants were playing the Rockies at Coors Field and their offense teed off on Colorado starter Denny Neagle. San Francisco scored eight runs in the first inning on seven hits, including a Tsuyoshi Shinjo grand slam and Jensen double. Neagle left after the Giants followed up with two runs in the second inning. San Francisco wound up scoring 18 runs on 23 hits; Jensen batted in the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, and 9th innings, going 1 for 5 with a sacrifice. He pitched a complete game, giving up five runs on eleven hits and throwing 114 pitches. Here's some Coors Field nostalgia: there were ten home runs in the game.

Joe Niekro's 6 PA game took place in Shea Stadium on July 28, 1985. The Astros didn't score more than three runs in any inning, but they rallied enough to defeat the Mets 12-4. Niekro batted in the 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th, 8th, and 9th, going 0 for 5 with a walk. He allowed eight hits and four runs on the mound, striking out three and walking two.

Pitchers used to get six PA in one game a little more often. Though it's happened only forty-four times since 1956, twenty-seven of those happened between 1956 and 1965. It really tailed off after 1970: from 1971-1979, there was only one game each season except in 1974 and 1979 when there were none. Obviously only Niekro and Jensen have done it since then.

Rarer still are games where pitchers have batted seven times. Since 1956, that's happened only three times, and not since 1962. Tom Cheney was the last pitcher to do so, in a game between Washington and Baltimore on September 12, 1962. He won the game 2-1 after striking out 21 batters in sixteen innings for the complete game victory. He was 0 for 6 with a bunt.

In a coincidence reminiscent of Rajai Davis and Jolbert Cabrera's weird batting lines on back-to-back nights last September, the other two 7 PA games happened during the same week. First, the Pirates' Vern Law went 1 for 7 on July 23, 1957 while pitching 14 1/3 innings in a 6-3 victory over Cincinnati. Five days later, Detroit's Billy Hoeft was 1 for 6 with a bunt while taking the loss in a 14 1/3 inning outing against the Yankees.

With pitch counts firmly entrenched in modern baseball, it's very unlikely there will be another pitcher who bats seven times in a single game. As Ryan Jensen showed in 2002, it's not out of the question for a pitcher to bat six times. The next time you see a team score early and often, keep an eye on how often their pitcher bats. You never know when you might see history.

Twenty-One Unique Saves

Ugh. Serious Blogger issues tonight, so if anything funky happens, that's probably why.

As I mentioned in my last post, during the early years of the save rule, it was possible for pitchers to be awarded a save without finishing the game for their team. I was actually incorrect in saying this was only possible during the 1973 and 1974 seasons. It turns out that players could get saves without being their team's finishing pitcher from 1969 to 1974. Here's how.

The original save rule said a reliever could pick up a save if he entered with a lead and maintained the lead until the game was over or (and this is what I skimmed over in my other post) he was replaced by a pinch hitter or pinch runner. If two or more pitchers qualified for a save, it was up to the official scorer to award the save to the pitcher judged most effective. So that's the original loophole allowing some pitchers to pick up these weird kinds of saves.

There was a change to the original save rule before the 1974 season (this isn't what I implied in my last post; see below). For that season, pitchers could be awarded saves if they fell under at least one of two conditions:

(1) He had to enter the game with either the potential tying or winning run either on base or at the plate and preserve the lead; or
(2) He had to pitch at least three or more effective innings and preserve the lead.

Since neither condition required the pitcher actually finish the game, saves still could be awarded to relievers who were replaced before the game was over. Like the original rule, it was up to the official scorer to decide between multiple qualified pitchers.

It turns out that twenty-one saves were awarded between 1969 and 1974 to pitchers that weren't the finishing pitcher in their team's victory. From first to last by date, here are those saves:

1. April 29, 1970 - Angels 3, Yankees 2 - Paul Doyle kicked things off with a scoreless two inning appearance. He gave up a hit while striking out two before Jay Johnstone pinch hit for him in the top of the ninth. Ken Tatum gave up a run in the bottom of the ninth, but the Angels hung on for the win and Doyle's fourth save of the year.
   
2. April 23, 1971 - Royals 5, Indians 2 - Tom Burgmeier picked up the save for entering the game with a 3-2 lead and one out in the eighth inning. He retired the next two batters before being replaced by a pinch-hitter during the Royals' half of the eighth. Kansas City scored two runs that inning and Ted Abernathy pitched a scoreless ninth to finish the game.
3. September 6, 1971 - Pirates 10, Cubs 5 - Bob Moose was awarded a save for pitching three innings in relief of starter Luke Walker. He gave up two runs (one earned) while striking out two and allowing a single and a home run. He was pinch hit for in the bottom of the eighth and Ramon Hernandez recorded the final three outs of the game.
4. May 18, 1972 - Cubs 6, Cardinals 4 - Entering with a 4-2 lead, Cubs righty Tom Phoebus pitched two scoreless innings, allowing one hit and one walk before Art Shamsky pinch hit for him in the top of the ninth. Dan McGinn gave up two runs in a rough ninth inning before the Cardinals finally ran out of outs.
5. September 30, 1972 - Athletics 10, Royals 5 - It's just not a saves list without Rollie Fingers somewhere. The mustachioed reliever entered with a 6-4 lead and one out in the bottom of the sixth inning. He allowed an inherited runner to score, but ended the inning with a 6-5 lead. Leading off the next inning, he singled (making him 6 for 19 on the year) and later came around to score. He set down the Royals in order in the bottom of the seventh. Don Mincher pinch hit for Fingers in the eighth and Dave Hamilton finished up the Athletics victory.
6. May 9, 1973 - Dodgers 8, Pirates 5 - George Culver came in the game with a 6-5 lead after Dodgers starter Claude Osteen gave up 13 hits in 6 1/3 innings. Culver recorded five outs around a single and a walk before Steve Garvey pinch-hit for him. Jim Brewers pitched the final inning for the Dodgers.
7. August 11, 1973 - Braves 9, Pirates 3 - Lefthander Tom House allowed only one hit in the 7th and 8th innings before the Braves exploded for five runs in the top of the ninth. Carl Morton retired the Pirates in order in the bottom of the inning.
   
8. May 6, 1974 - Padres 7, Phillies 6 - The Padres roughed up reigning Cy Young Award winner Steve Carlton, but when the Phillies rallied to make it 5-4 in the 7th, Rich Troedson was summoned from the San Diego bullpen to preserve the lead. He set down two Phillies to end the inning and was pulled for a pinch-hitter. Vicente Romo toiled the final two innings to finish the victory.
   
9. May 7, 1974 - Cubs 3, Braves 2 - Steve Stone threw eight scoreless innings but hit a wall in the ninth inning. Horacio Pina came on in relief with runners on first and second, no one out, and a 3-0 lead. The first batter he faced reached on an error, allowing a run to score and the runner on first to go to third. A sacrifice fly followed. A walk followed to put the go-ahead run at the plate, but Marty Perez struck out. Jim Kremmel came in and got a groundout to short to end the game. Despite the rocky outing, Pina was awarded the save.
   
10. May 10, 1974 - Athletics 4, Twins 2 - The third weird save of the week belongs to Darold Knowles. The lefty came in with runners on first and second and no one out. He struck a batter out, allowed a walk and a sacrifice fly and then induced a grounder to third to finish the inning. Rollie Fingers closed it out with a scoreless ninth, missing out on what would've been a save the next season.
    
11. May 26, 1974 - Yankees 7, Orioles 5 - With a 7-3 lead after five innings, Cecil Upshaw came on in relief for the Yankees. He didn't allow a hit in three innings but issued three walks and hit a batter. Two of those baserunners scored in the ninth inning, but Upshaw had been pulled in favor of Sparky Lyle by then.
    
12. June 9, 1974 - Indians 8, Royals 6 - Indians starter Steve Kline (no relation to the more recent lefthander) allowed four runs over five innings and left a 6-4 lead to reliever Fred Beene. Beene allowed two unearned runs on three hits over three innings to pick up the save. Milt Wilcox pitched the ninth for the Indians.
    
13. June 26, 1974 - Indians 3, Yankees 2 - Taking over with one out in the sixth and a slim 3-1 lead, Tom Hilgendorf allowed an inherited runner to score on a single and kept Yankees bats down for 3 1/3 innings. Tom Buskey entered the game with two out in the ninth and retired Lou Piniella to finish the victory.
    
14. July 6, 1974 - Brewers 3, Twins 0 - With runners on the corners and two out in the sixth, Eduardo Rodriguez entered the game and retired Bobby Darwin to end the inning. He then allowed only one hit over the next two innings. Tom Murphy set the Twins down in order in the ninth.
    
15. July 21, 1974 - Athletics 6, Indians 3 - This is maybe the best one of these saves. At least it's one that people who enjoy faulting official scorers' decisions will enjoy. With the tying run at the plate and two out in the bottom of the seventh, Paul Lindblad came on in relief and got a groundout to second base. Rollie Fingers replaced Lindblad on the mound for the final two innings and allowed one hit. The official scorer deemed Lindblad's work the most effective of the night, however.
    
16. August 4, 1974 - Royals 3, Angels 0 - Taking the mound with a 2-0 lead and runners on the corners, Joe Hoerner stranded both guys and pitched another inning to boot. Hoerner retired all five batters he faced, striking out one. Doug Bird pitched the ninth inning.
    
17. August 18, 1974 - Athletics 13, Tigers 3 - Rollie Fingers shows up again! Trailing 4-3 with one out in the eighth, the Tigers were threatening with runners on the corners. The A's called Rollie Fingers out of the pen and he promptly induced a double play ball. The A's exploded for nine runs in the bottom of the eighth and Dave Hamilton came on to close out the ten-run victory.
    
18. August 19, 1974 - Braves 11, Cardinals 6 - Max Leon entered in the fifth inning with a 6-5 lead and tightroped through three innings, giving up five hits while striking out one and allowing one run. Tom House pitched the final two innings for the victory but was ineligible for the save since he didn't enter with the tying run on base or at bat.
    
19. August 24, 1974 - Cubs 2, Giants 1 - This game between two second division teams was bookended by scoring. Plating two in the top of the first, the Cubs held the Giants scoreless until the bottom of the ninth. Both teams managed to use ten pitchers in the contest. Burt Hooton pitched 2 2/3 innings for the Cubs while only issuing two walks. One of those walks was to Dave Kingman to start the bottom of the ninth. Kingman came around to score the Giants' only run after Hooton was removed from the game. Despite being responsible for the only Giants run, Hooton was awarded the save.
    
20. August 30, 1974 - Athletics 10, Tigers 5 - Though he may have been robbed of a save in the August 18 game listed above, Blue Moon Odom picked up the save twelve days later. He allowed one run in 2 1/3 innings of relief on two hits and two strikeouts. Despite Darold Knowles doing his best to blow the game, the Athletics held on for the win and Odom picked up the first and only save of his career.
    
21. September 29, 1974 - Athletics 3, White Sox 2 - Nearly a month after struggling against the Tigers, Darold Knowles shut down the White Sox for three innings. He allowed an inherited runner to score and then allowed another run to score the next inning, giving him a final line of three hits, two strikeouts, and one earned run (the inherited runner was changed to winning pitcher Dave Hamilton). Luckily for Knowles, the A's scored a run in between those innings and he never blew the lead. He was pulled with one out in the ninth in favor of Rollie Fingers and holds the obscure trivia distinction of being the final pitcher to record a save without finishing the game. He and Fingers are also the only two pitchers in major league history to record more than one save as a pitcher who didn't finish the game for his team.
    

And now, another mea culpa (kids, make sure your information is correct before posting!). At first I thought the save rule was changed before the 1973 season, but the fact that so many of these saves are in 1974 made me wonder if that was in fact the only season covered by the changed save rule. I would've expected to see the bulk of these odd saves split between 1973 and 1974 if both years had the same rule. BaseballLibrary.com suggests the rule was changed before the 1974 season, so that probably is the case. Sorry for the confusion. If you know for sure either way, let me know. Regardless, these twenty-one games are unique in baseball history.

You might notice that of these twenty-one saves, thirteen of them took place in games between American League teams. It's easy to think something strange was going on the AL, but if you look closely, six of those twelve were accounted for by the Athletics alone. Take them out of it and the saves are split pretty evenly between the leagues. Count this as another way Charlie O's Athletics were different from other major league teams.

Weird Batting Line...On Consecutive Nights

This comes via today's "Frosty Mug" on Brew Crew Ball which in turn gives a hat tip to the Pirates blog "Where have you gone, Andy Van Slyke?"

The post that started this chain noted that Rajai Davis was inserted into Oakland's Friday night game as a pinch-runner, subsequently scored, and later in the same inning hit a grand slam. The post looks at his batting line:

That gave him this awesome line for the night:

Davis, PR-DH 1 2 1 4 0 0 0 .247

That's 1/1 with two runs scored, four RBIs, no walks and no strikeouts. That's just not something you see every day.

You don't see that often, that's for sure. In fact, before Friday, only one player since 1956 had scored two runs while hitting a grand slam in his own plate appearance. That player? None other than Brewers outfielder Darrin Jackson on July 28, 1998. After replacing Dave Nilsson on the bases and scoring in the top of the 8th inning, Jackson hit a go-ahead grand slam in the top of the ninth.

So, yes, Davis was only the second player in over fifty seasons to have a batting line like that, but that fact alone doesn't make this notable. What's really amazing is that the very next night a different player managed to put up the exact same line! In the eighth inning of Saturday's Cubs-Reds game, Cincinnati's Jolbert Cabrera pinch-ran for Edwin Encarnacion. He wound up scoring before the inning ended. In the ninth inning, he came up with the bases loaded and hit a grand slam off Carlos Marmol in his only plate appearance of the game.

So, after going 50+ seasons with only one such batting line in a game, MLB saw two players do it on consecutive nights. Baseball's a crazy game sometimes.

Major League Debuts as a Starting Pitcher

Hey, look at that, it's been a week again since I last posted. Oops. During the past week, major league active rosters expanded from a limit of 25 to a limit of 40. There are a few different general types of September call-ups: major league veterans who have spent the season at AAA, fringe major league players who get called up to give the big club more flexibility in games, guys who have no business being on a major league roster except for being great at one of the five tools (usually speed), or young prospects.

In the first three days of September, twenty-two call-ups made their major league debuts. Take a gander at the list:

• Matt Antonelli, 2B, SDP
• Wilkin Castillo, C, CIN
• Phil Coke, LHP, NYY
  
• Luis Cruz, SS, PIT
• Alcides Escobar, SS, MIL
  
• Dexter Fowler, CF, COL
• Mat Gamel, 3B, MIL
• Greg Golson, CF, PHI
  
• Mike Hinckley, LHP, WSN
• Wade LeBlanc, LHP, SDP
  
• Casey McGehee, 3B, CHC
• Jim Miller, RHP, BAL
• Jason Motte, RHP, STL
  
• Brad Nelson, 1B, MIL
• Jonathon Niese, LHP, NYM
• Josh Outman, LHP, OAK
• Jason Pridie, CF, MIN
  
• Rich Rundles, LHP, CLE
• Angel Salome, C, MIL
  
• Justin Thomas, LHP, SEA
  
• Luis Valbuena, 2B, SEA
• Josh Whitesell, 1B, ARI

I think Outman is a good last name for a pitcher. Anyway, as minor league playoffs end and a second, smaller wave of call-ups makes it to the big leagues, this list will grow a little more. I really want to focus on two debutants, though: Wade LeBlanc and Jonathon Niese. Those two recently became part of a large group that's still rather small in the grand scheme of baseball history. I'm talking about pitchers making their major league debut by starting a game.

Since 1956, 4439 different players have pitched in a major league game. Of those, 1270 (28.6%) debuted as a starting pitcher. So far in 2008, thirty-four different pitchers have made their debut as a starter. Usually, unless the pitcher in question is a mega-prospect known around baseball, fans of a team going up against one of these rookie pitchers figure the guy should get roughed up in his first start. After all, the thinking goes, he might have pitched well in AAA or AA, but he's in the majors.

It turns out that guys making their debut do tend to get roughed up more than the average pitcher making a start. This makes sense when you consider the guys who get called up, get shelled, and get sent back to the minors shortly after. This is also probably most of the reason why fans figure almost any debuting pitcher should get lit up on the mound.

I've put together a chart showing the combined ERA of all starters making their debut in a given season against the ERA of all major league starters in that season.


(click image to enlarge in a new window)

Unsurprisingly, most of the time the rookies allow more earned runs. Interestingly, however, there are a few seasons where they actually had a lower ERA than the average starter. The most recent time that happened was in 2005 when guys like Paul Maholm, Kyle Davies, Dustin McGowan, and J.P. Howell had great debuts. Sure there were clunkers, too, like Sean Henn and Ervin Santana's first games, but they were more than balanced by good games that year.

The prior season was the worst since 1956 for debuting starters. Thirty-four starters combined to put up an awful 7.68 ERA and an abysmal .990 OPS against. There were eleven starts with a game score of 30 or below, including one of -7 (belonging to Arnie Munoz). Ten guys couldn't even get through the fourth inning. It wasn't all bad: Chris Saenz, Daniel Cabrera, and Tyler Yates (great combo) each went six scoreless while Scott Kazmir, Chris Young, and Zack Greinke, among others, performed capably. All in all, however, it wasn't a great year for the newbies.

For fun, I decided to look at the numbers since 1998, the final round of expansion. In the past almost eleven seasons, 387 different pitchers have made their debut as a starter. In their debuts, they combined for the following pitching line:
1991.7 IP, 2093 H, 1265 R, 1175 ER, 934 BB, 1368 K, 309 HR, Average Game Score: 46

In the more familiar rate stats, that all turns out to be:
5.31 ERA, 1.52 WHIP, 6.18 K/9, 4.22 BB/9, 1.40 HR/9, .271/.354/.464 opponent batting line

It turns out there are a couple individual pitchers who put up similar numbers during the period between 1998 and 2008. The closest comparisons to all the rookies mashed together are these two:

• Rocky Biddle, 378.2 IP between 2000 and 2004:
  5.47 ERA, 1.53 WHIP, 6.20 K/9, 4.04 BB/9, 1.40 HR/9, .274/.357/.462
• Victor Santos, 602.1 IP between 2001 and 2007:
  5.21 ERA, 1.58 WHIP, 6.35 K/9, 4.17 BB/9, 1.29 HR/9, .284/.362/.467
  

Rocky Biddle is spot on. Besides Biddle and Santos, Jason Hammel and Paul Rigdon are also kind of close, Allen Levrault was a few strikeouts away from the group, and if you toss out Bill Pulsipher's first season, he's in the mix, too. Or, if you're a normal baseball fan: one current fringe guy, two forgotten guys and an ex-top prospect join the three listed above.

If you're curious about the actual year-to-year numbers or just want to see how your favorite starter(s) debuted, check out the Google spreadsheet I made listing all 1270 debuts as a starting pitcher since 1956.

EDIT: Of course, I post this and James Parr of the Braves debuts the next night with six scoreless innings against the Nationals. The Nats countered with rookie Shairon Martis, who went five innings while allowing two runs.

Most Unearned Runs In a Game

If you've ever scrolled to the bottom of my blog you may have noticed a small Site Meter logo. Clicking on it takes you to the site summary for Recondite Baseball, and from there you can see the number of visits here every day. Another cool page there lists the referring URL for people who make it to my site. Most of the time it's Google searches directing people here but occasionally it's a new link from another website. Every once in a while, one of those Google searches or links brings up something interesting.

Last night, someone visited from a forum where a question was posted about the most unearned runs given up by a team in one game. I didn't have the answer on the site, but last September, I posted about the most unearned runs charged to individual pitchers and that entry was linked to in the forum. Of course, once I saw that, I wanted to know what the answer actually was.

I'm sure unearned runs were far more common in the late 19th century and early 20th century, when errors occurred much more frequently. In fact, looking at the career numbers of some pitchers from then confirms this. Nearly one-third of the runs allowed by Christy Mathewson were unearned. One-quarter of the runs Walter Johnson allowed were unearned. Cy Young gave up over 1000 unearned runs in his career.

When so many runs were unearned, it's likely at least some blowout games saw a lot of unearned runs. I would also think unearned runs weren't very notable. Sure, fans might harp on a team's defense (or lack thereof), but giving up, say, five unearned runs in a game probably wouldn't have the same surprise factor as it would today. With that in mind, perhaps it's good that the following list covers 1956-2008, where a lot of errors in a game is pretty glaring.

Most Unearned Runs Allowed In a Game By One Team, 1956-2008

Team	Opponent	Date	Runs
			Total	Earned	Unearned
Houston Astros	New York Mets	7/27/1985	16	0	16
Houston Astros	Chicago Cubs	5/31/1973	16	3	13
Minnesota Twins	Kansas City Royals	9/12/1976	16	3	13
Texas Rangers	California Angels	9/14/1978	16	3	13
New York Yankees	Baltimore Orioles	6/5/1989	16	3	13
Toronto Blue Jays	Balitmore Orioles	9/28/2000	23	10	13
New York Mets	Los Angeles Dodgers	8/26/1962	16	4	12
Chicago Cubs	San Francisco Giants	9/3/1963	16	5	11
Toronto Blue Jays	Texas Rangers	6/30/1992	16	5	11
Boston Red Sox	Cleveland Indians	7/14/1957	17	7	10
Chicago Cubs	Montreal Expos	6/25/1975	12	2	10
San Francisco Giants	St. Louis Cardinals	4/26/1976	15	5	10
California Angels	Chicago White Sox	5/31/1978	17	7	10
Oakland Athletics	Minnesota Twins	4/27/1980	20	10	10
Los Angeles Dodgers	Pittsburgh Pirates	5/3/1985	16	6	10
Oakland Athletics	Cleveland Indians	6/7/1987	12	2	10
Oakland Athletics	Chicago White Sox	10/3/1987	17	7	10
Minnesota Twins	New York Yankees	7/22/1990	10	0	10
Houston Astros	San Diego Padres	4/7/1996	17	7	10
Boston Red Sox	Toronto Blue Jays	5/5/1996	11	1	10
Arizona Diamondbacks	Milwaukee Brewers	10/7/2001	15	5	10
Los Angeles Angels	New York Yankees	8/3/2008	14	4	10

Hm, I guess sixteen runs allowed is the magic number for a lot of them to be unearned. I didn't realize the Angels gave up ten unearned runs only a couple weeks ago. I guess you learn something new every day.

Highest Game Score in a Loss

Yesterday I posted about the lowest game scores for a winning pitcher. For a refresher on what a game score is and how it's figured, click here to see the post.

Today I want to look at the opposite of yesterdday's post: the highest game scores by a losing pitcher. Since game scores reward pitchers who throw a lot of innings in a game, I'm going to split it into nine-inning games and extra-inning games in order to avoid a bunch of ten and eleven inning outings on the list before getting to any regular-length games. Since it's rare for a pitcher these days to go past nine innings, having two different leaderboards should help get some more recent games on the list.

I decided to forgo making a table in favor of a simpler list. I don't have the pitcher's team or opponent, but that information can be found by clicking on the date of each pitcher's start.

Highest Game Score by a Losing Pitcher, 1956-2008
(Games with ten or more innings)

• Harvey Haddix - 107 - 5/26/1959 - 12.2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 8 K
  
  
• Jim Maloney - 106 - 6/14/1965 - 11.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 18 K
  
  
• Juan Marichal - 104 - 8/19/1969 - 13.1 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 13 K
  
  
• Nolan Ryan - 99 - 8/20/1974 - 11.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 5 BB, 19 K
  
  
• Dick Drago - 98 - 5/24/1972 - 12.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 13 K
  
  
• Warren Spahn - 97 - 7/2/1963 - 15.1 IP, 9 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K
  Pedro Ramos - 97 - 8/23/1963 - 13.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 14 K
  Bill Singer - 97 - 8/3/1973 - 11.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 R, 1 BB, 13 K
  
  
• Al Jackson - 96 - 8/14/1962 - 15.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 5 BB, 6 K
  Steve McCatty - 96 - 8/10/1980 - 14.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 8 K
  
  
• Sandy Koufax - 93 - 5/28/1960 - 13.0 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 9 BB, 15 K
  
  
• Bob Rush - 92 - 8/23/1957 - 15.1 IP, 11 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 10 K
  Camilo Pascual - 92 - 6/5/1958 - 13.0 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 10 K
  
  
• Chuck Dobson - 91 - 5/21/1968 - 11.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K
  Sam McDowell - 91 - 6/13/1968 - 11.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 6 BB, 14 K
  Ed Halicki - 91 - 5/26/1975 - 10.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 10 K

Those games show how starters have been reigned in over the years. Only five of those sixteen games took place after 1970 and the last one was in 1980. Given that only five pitchers in the past decade have reached ten innings in a game (and a starter going past nine innings has happened 50 times since 1990), these days it's impossible to think of a starter going 12 or more innings.

There are a couple notable games in the above collection. Harvey Haddix's outing on top of the list was a perfect game for twelve innings. In the bottom of the thirteenth, Felix Mantilla reached on an error, Eddie Mathews bunted him to second, Hank Aaron was intentionally walked, and Joe Adcock hit a double to center field to end the game. Warren Spahn's start on July 2, 1963, was his famous sixteen-inning duel with Juan Marichal (who got a game score of 112). Two strikeouts in 15 1/3 innings is nuts.

Highest Game Score by a Losing Pitcher, 1956-2008
(Games with nine innings or less)

• Ken Johnson - 92 - 4/23/1964 - 9.0 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 9 K
  
  
• Kevin Appier - 91 - 7/27/1993 - 9.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 11 K
  
  
• Bob Sebra - 90 - 7/1/1987 - 9.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 14 K
  
  
• Sam McDowell - 89 - 7/6/1968 - 9.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 14 K
  
  
• Fernando Valenzuela - 88 - 4/28/1985 - 9.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 10 K
  
  
• Rudy May - 87 - 69/1973 - 9.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 9 K
  Floyd Youmans - 87 - 9/27/1986 - 9.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 7 BB, 15 K
  Pedro Martinez - 87 - 5/6/2000 - 9.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 17 K
  
  
• Jim Bouton - 86 - 9/16/1966 - 9.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 7 K
  Andy Hassler - 86 - 9/8/1974 - 9.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 6 K
  Bill Singer - 86 - 5/31/1975 - 9.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 10 K
  Pete Smith - 86 - 4/15/1989 - 8.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 13 K
  
  
• Jim Nash - 85 - 7/23/1967 - 9.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 12 K
  Bill Singer - 85 - 6/12/1969 - 9.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 12 K
  Vida Blue - 85 - 8/24/1971 - 9.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 10 K
  Fred Norman - 85 - 5/7/1974 - 9.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 13 K
  Randy Johnson - 85 - 6/25/1999 - 9.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 14 K
  Jon Lieber - 85 - 5/29/2000 - 8.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 12 K

Jon Lieber and Pete Smith are the only guys on that list who didn't go nine innings in their starts. In Smith's case, it was because the game was over when his team didn't score in the top of the ninth. Lieber was pulled after throwing 116 pitches over his eight innings.

Bill Singer was pretty unlucky. He appeared once on the extra-innings list and twice on the regular game list. Of course, he managed to win 20 games in 1969 and 1973, two of the years he appeared on these lists, so I guess he wasn't hurt too badly.

Since the most recent game in the lists above took place in 2000, I looked up the highest game score by a losing pitcher during the 2008 season. On July 20, Scott Baker of the Twins gave up one run on two hits over eight innings. He walked one and struck out eight for a game score of 81.

Lowest Game Scores in a Win

A pitcher's Game Score is a quick and dirty way of examining his effectiveness during a particular start. Originally created by Bill James, it's found through this formula:

1. Start with 50 points.
2. Add 1 point for each out recorded, (3 points per inning).
3. Add 2 points for each inning completed after the 4th.
4. Add 1 point for each strikeout.
5. Subtract 2 points for each hit allowed.
6. Subtract 4 points for each earned run allowed.
7. Subtract 2 points for each unearned run allowed.
8. Subtract 1 point for each walk.

It's available plenty of places, but I took that from ESPN.com's MLB Best Games page which contains a handy-dandy list of the best game scores of the season. Ricky Nolasco's nine-inning, eleven-strikeout shutout of the Giants last Tuesday gave him the highest game score by an NL pitcher in 2008 - neat.

Anyway, game score is a neat little tool because it rewards starters who go deep into a game while striking out a lot of enemy batters and preventing opposing baserunners and runs. That's pretty common sensical-like. For more basic trivia about game scores, check out the Game Score Wikipedia article.

The reason I bring up game scores ultimately has to do with abysmal pitching. I'm sure most baseball fans can think of an awful outing by a starting pitcher who managed to come away with a win. As luck would have it, Matt Harrison of the Rangers had such a win earlier this month. On August 10, he gave up six runs on ten hits and two walks in five innings and was the winning pitcher in a 15-7 slugfest. While other pitchers have given up more runs in a start and come away with a win (Russ Ortiz, for one), you get the idea.

I want to look at the lowest game scores by a winning starting pitcher since 1956. Matt Harrison's win two weeks ago came with a game score of 21 and Russ Ortiz's bad day I linked to had a game score of 22 thanks to his seven strikeouts. There have been even lower game scores coupled with pitching wins. They were achieved, obviously, by pitchers who didn't strike out many batters while scattering hits and walks around the yard en route to a bunch of runs scored against them. Below is the list of the twenty-seven games since 1956 in which a starting pitcher with a game score of 19 or lower was the winning pitcher. The dates listed link to the box score of the game.

Lowest Game Scores by a Winning Pitcher, 1956-2008

Name	Date	Tm	Opp.	Final Score	Game Score	Pitching Line
Ike Delock	6/14/1956	BOS	CLE	10-9	19	5.1 IP, 9 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 5 BB, 2 K
Rick Waits	8/4/1979	CLE	TEX	12-8	19	5.1 IP, 8 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 3 BB, 2 K
Rick Aguilera	8/8/1985	NYM	MON	14-7	19	5.0 IP, 9 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 2 BB, 0 K
Jimmy Jones	7/30/1987	SDP	CIN	12-8	19	5.0 IP, 11 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 3 BB, 1 K
Mike Mussina	7/1/1994	BAL	CAL	14-7	19	5.0 IP, 10 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
Bobby Witt	4/25/1998	TEX	KCR	11-8	19	5.0 IP, 9 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 2 BB, 0 K
Brian Bohanon	6/15/1999	COL	SFG	15-6	19	5.0 IP, 12 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 4 BB, 4 K
Chris Peters	8/30/1999	PIT	COL	11-8	19	5.0 IP, 12 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 0 BB, 0 K
Ken Holtzman	5/28/1969	CHC	SFG	9-8	18	5.0 IP, 10 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 5 BB, 4 K
Charles Hudson	6/11/1985	PHI	NYM	26-7	18	5.0 IP, 13 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 0 BB, 3 K
Steve Woodard	5/11/2000	MIL	CHC	14-8	18	5.0 IP, 13 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 1 BB, 4 K
Jake Westbrook	7/31/2005	CLE	SEA	9-7	18	5.2 IP, 11 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 3 BB, 2 K
Bob Rush	5/12/1956	CHC	STL	14-10	17	5.1 IP, 11 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 2 BB, 1 K
Don Sutton	5/5/1976	LAD	CHC	14-12	17	5.2 IP, 14 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 2 BB, 4 K
Todd Stottlemyre	4/23/1992	TOR	CLE	13-8	17	6.2 IP, 13 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 2 BB, 3 K
Sid Roberson	6/30/1995	MIL	NYY	12-6	17	5.0 IP, 12 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 4 BB, 2 K
Shawn Estes	7/6/1999	SFG	SDP	10-9	17	5.0 IP, 11 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 3 BB, 3 K
Bill Campbell	8/3/1975	MIN	CHW	12-9	16	5.2 IP, 9 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 6 BB, 3 K
Kirk Rueter	6/12/1999	SFG	SEA	15-11	16	5.1 IP, 10 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 2 BB, 2 K
Casey Daigle	5/10/2004	ARI	NYM	12-8	15	5.0 IP, 12 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 3 BB, 1 K
Jaret Wright	4/18/2005	NYY	TBD	19-8	15	5.1 IP, 11 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 3 BB, 4 K
Jae Seo	5/24/2007	TBD	SEA	13-12	15	5.0 IP, 13 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
Don Sutton	5/31/1979	LAD	SFG	12-10	14	6.2 IP, 13 H, 9 R, 9 ER, 3 BB, 5 K
Jon Garland	4/13/2006	CHW	DET	13-9	14	5.0 IP, 13 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 1 BB, 2 K
Andy Pettitte	9/29/2007	NYY	BAL	11-10	14	5.0 IP, 8 H, 9 R, 8 ER, 3 BB, 0 K
Dan Haren	8/21/2006	OAK	TOR	12-10	13	5.2 IP, 11 H, 9 R, 9 ER, 2 BB, 4 K
Woody Williams	4/7/2001	SDP	COL	14-10	12	5.0 IP, 12 H, 9 R, 8 ER, 0 BB, 3 K

As you can see, the difference between Woody Williams' start and many of the ones above it is negligible - a hit, walk, or strikeout here or there accounts for the difference in game scores and if you've given up nine runs in five innings, who really cares how you did it, right? The same can be said for most of the games listed here. That said, there's something special about having a unique combination of innings, hits, walks, strikeouts, and runs allowed among all winning pitchers in the past 52 years. I'm sure Woody Williams was glad to forget April 7, 2001, but he still got the win and (retroactively) a very dubious distinction for his trouble.

I also found the number of good pitchers on the list interesting. Hall of Famer Don Sutton shows up twice while more recent 200-game winners Mike Mussina and Andy Pettitte also appear. It might not mean as much anymore, but besides those three, nine more pitchers on the list were named to the All-Star team at least once. I guess it just goes to show you that any pitcher can have a bad day...and any pitcher can have his team's bats let him off the hook.