In 'honor' of the dubious accomplishment of the home nine in today's game, I pose the following trivia question:

 

Before this year there were three(*) games since 1919 in which a team managed to get zero hits while striking out 10 or more times and committing three or more errors.  Name the teams involved and the pitchers that threw the no-hitter.

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The Indians have two starting pitchers who have been across-the-board excellent for this first (nearly) one-quarter of the season, Justin Masterson and Josh Tomlin.  Both men have an ERA under 3.00 and are on track to throw over 200 IP for the season.  Tomlin has an exceptional strikeout-to-walk ratio and OK-ish strikeout rate, whereas Masterson has good numbers for both.  We'd feel a little more comfortable welcoming our new Tomlin overlord if he would K a few more guys, but beyond that it's hard to quibble with anything they're doing.  It got me thinking about how often a pitcher could put up a whole season like these two have gotten started on, and what sort of results that usually leads to.

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Hey.  You.  Are you afraid of the trivia?  Does it frighten you?  Does it make you weak in the spinal column, moist in the palm, and generally twitchy?  Does it intimidate you?  Then go no further.

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Part of what makes baseball great, part of what makes it so captivating, is the historical sweep of the game.  Despite tweaks to rules and changes to equipment, the game played by our forefathers while the Civil War faded into the background was essentially the same as that played today, though it was played out in the context of a very different world.

The ‘Major Leagues’ are generally recognized to have commenced with the inaugural season of the National Association back in 1871.  The NA was a league of nine teams, based mostly in the big industrial cities of the east (New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington) and Midwest (Cleveland and Chicago).  However, there were some small cities that would never strike us as Major League today, including Troy, NY, and Fort Wayne and Rockford in Indiana.  Teams generally played 25-33 league contests that year, the first of the four years the NA was a going concern.

In 1871, the end of the Civil War was only five years in the past.  The automobile and electricity were not yet introduced into peoples’ daily lives.  A train trip from Boston to the backwater of Fort Wayne (population 17,718 in 1870) was surely not a quick journey.  While the slaves had been freed, women were still a long way from getting the vote.  There were only 37 states in the freshly preserved union, Nebraska having been admitted just four years earlier.  This was a world very different from the one we live in today.

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There have been more than 17,500 players to appear in the major leagues, but only 260 of them have managed to total 2,000 or more hits in their careers.  It's safe to say that anyone who can amass 2,000 hits is a rare talent.  Even the 'worst' of such players is pretty good  - only nine guys from this group had a career Wins Above Replacement less than 20, and seven of those nine made the All-Star team.  This just goes to show that if you have a bunch of guys who are capable of getting to 2,000 hits in their career on your team, you'd expect the team to be pretty good, unless they were all at the very beginning or very ending of their careers.

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There have been eight men to hit 600+ doubles for a single franchise (reminder - the records for a franchise go with the team when it moves, so the Senators/Twins are a single franchise, as are the Expos/Nationals; the Athletics records include their stays in Philadelphia, Kansas City, and Oakland).  You could form a full defensive lineup with those eight guys, and every one of them would be playing a position that he appeared at in at least 400 games in his career. 

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In celebration of the glory of a winning record and enjoyable baseball, in celebration of sending some whiny, self-aggrandizing Red Sox fans home winless, in celebration of our first three game sweep of the Red Sox since 2001 (starting pitchers - Dave Burba, CC Sabathia, and Bartolo Colon), today's trivia is all about winning.

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Happy Opening Day, everyone!  Opening Day is glorious in its possibilities.  First place is within grasp.  The season could unfold in almost any way you can imagine, and so many other ways that you can't.  Within that matrix, there are surely some scenarios that lead to a thoroughly satisfying baseball season.  And, as of right now, they are all still within reach.  The key is getting off to a good start.  It's like running your local 5-k.  If you want to win, you just follow an easy two part strategy:

a) Get out in front

b) Don't let anybody pass you

Unfortunately, this strategy, simple in its presentation, generally proves much more difficult and painful in its execution.

Nonetheless, the key is to get off to a good start.  If you get off to a good start, everything else is a little bit easier.  In a baseball game, the key is a good starting pitcher.  That leads us to the first of the two trivia questions for opening day...

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It's the last Friday before the regular season starts (Yay!), so let's get in a positive frame of mind.  Who are the greatest Indians born in each nation (or, in a couple of cases, territory)?  In this case "greatest" will be determined by Baseball-reference's career WARP while playing for the Indians.

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Webster's defines excellence as having the quality of being very good for its kind.  In baseball terms, having 20+ stolen bases in a year is excellent, as is 90+ runs, or 90+ RBI, or 50+ extra base hits, or an OPS of .850 or higher. 

A field of excellence implies a wider area or division, encompassing a greater scope.  You could consider all of the criteria listed above a kind of field of excellence.

To satisfy all of those criteria in a single baseball season would have to be considered an achievement in the field of excellence.  You would need to be a baseball player of skills both broad and profound.

There have been 254 such 'achievement in the field of excellence' seasons in Major League Baseball history.

To do such a thing several years in a row would take you beyond the measure of mere achievement.  To meet this mark for four consecutive seasons would truly be an outstanding achievement in the field of excellence.

And thus we arrive at the concept of the Edward J. Delahanty Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence.

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Here are a couple of trivia questions to distract you on this Friday.

Question #1

Only 4 players have hit 40+ HR in a season during which they played for at least two major league teams.  Name the players and the years that they achieved the feat.

There will be a follow-up bonus question once you get the four.

Question #2

a) Considering only those players who have more stolen bases than home runs in their career, who are the top three home run hitters?

b) The top 12 players on this list were all primarily outfielders or second basemen.  Who is #13, the first guy on the list to play a plurality of games a position other than OF or 2B?

 

**********

Correct answers so far...

Q1

1 Mark McGwire, 1997, 58 HR

2 Greg Vaughan, 1996, 41 HR

3 David Justice, 2000, 41 HR

4 Adam Dunn, 2008, 40 HR

 

Q2, part a

1 Bobby Bonds, 332 HR

2 Steve Finley, 304 HR

3 Rickey Henderson, 297 HR

Q2, part b

Robin Yount, 251 HR

Question number 1 - Pick a team and a year.  Add up the career home runs for every player on the roster, no matter when they occurred, that year, before that year, or after.  Include every single player who appeared for the team at any point in the year.  Find the total home runs - which team had the most home runs represented by its roster?

Question number 2 - Do the same thing with wins by a pitcher.  Which team/year has the roster with the most career wins?

Just to be clear, you include every player who appeared in a game for that team in that year, and you include their career total for that stat.

The HR leading team had three guys with 500+.

Two baseball trivia questions for Friday afternoon...

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Our hopes for a more effective offense this coming season depend in part on the spoils of the CC Sabathia trade showing significant improvement.  Thus far, Matt LaPorta and Michael Brantley have combined to put up a line of .245/.309/.364 over 966 at-bats, for an OPS of .674.  They've amassed 237 hits, with 41 2b, 22 HR, 88 BB and 176 strikeouts.

 

What famous Tribesman of the past matched this .674 OPS in 1183 AB with 54 2B, 37 HR, and a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 241-93?

Down here in Columbus, the Clippers' early season has seen some startling developments, like the appearance of ...

El Chupacabra

 http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/sports/stories/2010/04/12/clippers-quiet-bats-5-3.html?sid=101

In a move that shocked xenobiologists everywhere, reliable witnesses have confirmed the existence of El Chupacabra, a 3rd round pick of the Cleveland Indians in the 2004 draft.  Also known as "Scott Lewis", he was long thought to be little more than an urban legend.  However, he is indeed real and demonstrated startling abilities such as being able to throw a ball in such a manner as to avoid being struck by a bat. Early speculation regarding whether or not such a being could prove resistant to Shapiro's Disease (symptoms: weakness, poor muscle control, presumably blurred vision) is unfounded. Although the only other known specimen to demonstrate such resistance was, similar to Lewis, a middling starting pitcher prospect (Laffey, Aaron), this alone is not sufficient basis to posit resistance to a plague that has proved so troublesome to so many, particularly given El Chupacabra's long and varied history of injury and mishap. Many sufferers had been entirely healthy and productive until deposited in the region where Shapiro's disease is endemic, the center field bullpen at 2401 Ontario Street, Cleveland.  The delicate constitution of El Chupacabra would not seem to be a good fit for such a harsh environment.

Sadly, all evidence suggests that Lewis's rumored compatriot, Adam 'Loch Ness' Miller, is entirely mythical.

The 2009 season is mercifully over for our boys.  We are sick of it.  The only reason to think about the 2009 season anymore is to try to figure out what it tells us about the future.  In particular, I was interested in what we learned about the future of our middle infield in 2009.  What do we have to look forward to from Asdrubal Cabrera and Luis Valbuena?  The following essay reads the entrails of 2009 with respect to the fortunes of our youthful double-play combo.

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Making your pitching debut for a new club is like showing up for the first day of school.  You are eager to make a good first impression, so you feel a bit of pressure.  The intensity of that pressure varies with the volume of the scrutiny you will be under and the newness of the experience.  If you’ve been going to that school for years and you have a well-established reputation (Cliff Lee), there is only a little pressure.  There is quite a bit more if you’re new to the school, even though you’re used to the idea of going to school in general (Carl Pavano).  Worst of all is when it’s your first day of school anywhere, anytime (Carlos Carrasco).  But no matter what, you have been given the opportunity to establish, refine, reinforce, or enhance your standing with the population at large based upon this first appearance -  you want to do your best.

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Somebody will have to challenge Marte as the least-used player off the bench if Victor is headed to the DL.  Shoppach obviously becomes our starting catcher, but who is the new backup?  Toregas is the only other catcher on the 40-man roster, but he's struggling at Buffalo, it looks like he'd be overmatched in Cleveland.  Any chance that we see Chris Gimenez instead?  Westbrook could be moved to the 60-day DL to make room on the 40-man roster.

Gimenez has played mostly at catcher this year, though in the past he's been a utility kind of guy, so his catcher defense probably isn't all that good.  Anybody have a good grasp on what his defensive profile is?

He is fantastic at controlling the strike zone, so good that it actually makes his hitting numbers look a little weak.  It's hard to amass extra-base hits when almost 25% of your plate appearances result in a walk.

April: 15/57 with 18 bb, 13 k - 263/440/421

May: 23/70 with 21 bb, 14 k - 329/484/571

June: 13/29 with 11 bb, 4k - 448/600/517

Did you know...

... that the pnuematic-powered android that replaced the human known as "Eric Wedge" is imprevious to blunt force, acid, fire, and self-doubt due to the advanced design and metallic exo-skeleton created by the team of scientists who devised the Pneumatic Man and swapped it in for "Wedge" in June of 1993 when the inferior human precursor was undergoing elbow surgery?

... that those same scientists were unable to fashion punchcards that would enable Wedge 2.0 to feel human emotion?  It took the beard and tender heart of Casey Blake to teach the android how to feel "love" and "mild irritability", though he was unsuccessful with the emotions of "fear" and "shame".

... that the name "Borowski" appears as an image of a clenched fist with the third digit upraised when programmed into the punchcards that Wedge 2.0 processes to manage a baseball game?

IT IS TRUE.

... that since his life was saved by Richard Gere on the set of Karate Kid IV, Jason Michaels has become a devout Buddhist, vowing never again to strike a baseball in anger?

... that the spawn of Joe Borowski dine on naught but bile and drink naught but the bitter tears of the righteous?

HAS YOUR KNOWLEDGE BEEN ENHANCED?

... that the anagram of Peralta, "Trap Ale", refers to the magniificent ale brewed by the Trappist monks of Belgium?  These monks drew their inspiration from St. Peralta, an ancestor of Jhonny who drove the ocelots out of Belgium and the Low Countries?

... that one anagram of "Jhonny" is "Johnny"?

THESE ARE UNDENIABLE FACTS!!!

(tip o' the hat to John Hodgman)

 

Dan Szymborski has posted the 2008 ZIPS projections for the Indians over at the Transaction Oracle at Baseball Think Factory.  It's an interesting read, and a great way to get some outside perspective on what we should expect next year.  I was interested to see the projection for Gutierrez; I've thought that the group here may be expecting a little too much from him next year.  The mean projection for Franklin isn't all that thrilling, but look at the 'player spotlight' a little lower on the page, with the optimistic and pessimistic projections (15th percentile best and worst outcomes).  There is a lot of variability; hopefully the consensus here is right, and Gutierrez' production is closer to the optimistic end of the spectrum.

Check it out, it's a good way to spend a Friday afternoon before the holidays.  Certainly better than working.

Ken Rosenthal is reporting that the Nationals are considering offers for Chad Cordero, so long as the players acquired would help in their rebuilding program.  They're looking for a package of even younger pitching in return.

Cordero has averaged something like 5-4, 30 saves, 77 IP, 27 BB, 74 K with a 2.66 ERA over the last three years (he's been consistent), at ages 22-24.

The only negative that jumped out at me in his numbers was the 30 HR allowed in those 230 innings.  Washington is a pitchers park, so one HR every seven IP is high.

Would a package of Lofgren, Sipp or Perez, and Guthrie or Davis be enough to acquire Cordero?  Would it be worth it?

It's been 58 years and counting since we last won the World Series.  I'm almost three times as old as my father was when the Indians knocked off the Braves in 1948.  A little impatience can be excused at this point.  So I was thinking about our chances of winning it all in the next couple of years.  More specifically, I was thinking about who there was in our minor league system who could help us achieve that goal.  The result - a prospect list.

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According to the AP, the Indians have signed Sung-Wei Tseng.  He's 21, and pitched for Taiwan in the World Baseball Classic, the only amateur on their team apparently.

Anyone have any info on him?  He pitched against the US team, shutting them down for 5 innings.

Any chance he's got a sure handed brother who plays third base and hits like Manny Ramirez?

According to MLB.com

6/20/06  Cleveland Indians
Designated RHP Jason Johnson for assignment; Purchased the contract of INF Joe Inglett from Triple-A Buffalo.  

It feels good, doesn't it?  Hopefully Shapiro can work out a trade in the next 10 (?) days so we don't have to eat the entire contract.

UPDATE: We're waiting for official word, but apparently ...

Jeremy Guthrie was optioned back down to Buffalo, where presumably he will rejoin the rotation.

RHP Ed Mujica gets his first big-league callup, taking Guthrie's spot in the pen.

... and the big one ...

Jeremy Sowers is expected to be promoted from Buffalo to take Johnson's spot in the rotation on Sunday.

It would be fair to say that both Sowers and Mujica have terrorized Triple-A hitters this season. Sowers lacks imposing K rates but has allowed only 13 ER in 14 starts, averaging 6.5 innings, five hits and two walks per outing -- and he has allowed only one home run all season. Mujica has allowed zero runs -- yes, zero -- over 39 innings, a span of 24 appearances split equally between Akron and Buffalo -- with a healthy 35 K's along the way. [Jay]