Stats - Stat of the Day

From the excellent Stats Twitter feed:

This season, #Houston's Mike Hampton is 3-0 with a 0.90 ERA vs. the #Pirates and 1-4 with a 6.43 ERA vs. the rest of the majors.

More Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

All four of the Philadelphia Phillies' wins this season have been come-from-behind. The Phillies bullpen deserve a good deal of the credit as opponents are only hitting a measly .130 against them... The expected line-up for the Astros for tonight's game against Pittsburgh has hit a combined .439 against tonight's Pirates starter Ross Ohlendorf. The bad news for Houston fans is that Mike Hampton is starting for the Astros... Tim Wakefield's complete game today ties him for 11th among active players. He's tied with Bartolo Colon and Jamie Moyer. As an indication of how times have changed - Wakefield's current 31 complete games doesn't even put him in the top 1,000 all-time... The only two players in major league history to have 10 seasons of 30 HR's and 30 doubles are Manny Ramirez and Carlos Delgado. That's amazing. Babe Ruth only had 5 such seasons...

Baseball Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous baseball thoughts and observations.

How about those first place Marlins, Royals, Rays and Orioles? You have to love early season standings.... Dontrelle Willis gave up 3 earned runs in 5 innings yesterday on just one hit. Of course he left inherited runners who were driven in on a ground out and a single. Most telling was the fact that Willis walked 7 batters and struck out zero. I don't think Willis will fare well in the AL with a walk to strikeout ratio like that... Happy birthday to Framingham's Lou Merloni... Alex Rodriguez needs just 3 RBI to pass Mickey Mantle for 46th place on the all-time list. I'm sure Yankee fans have mixed feelings about that... If A-Rod's 3 RBI come on 3 solo HR - then he will also pass Ted Williams and Willie McCovey for 15th place on the all-time HR list. Of course any way the next 3 HR come from A-Rod he will still pass Williams and McCovey. I just like to think of A-Rod as a solo HR type of guy... Carlos Delgado is still the all-time leader in Toronto team history for HR (336), RBI (1058) and total bases (2786). Those numbers would only put him 5th, 6th and 7th respectively on the Red Sox all-time team lists... Kyle Snyder's time with the Red Sox is probably over. There are just too many teams out there who are desperate for a 5th starter for him to clear waivers... Nick Carfardo of the Boston Globe likened the situation of Mike Hampton to lottery winners who are beset with bad lucky after striking it rich. It seems like an apt comparison... It's worth noting that David Murphy (who the Red Sox traded to the Rangers in the Gagne deal) qualifies as a rookie and with his HR last night - he's probably the early leader for AL ROY. Murphy currently has an OPS of 1.180....

Baseball Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous baseball thoughts and observations.

Last year the Tigers were 3-0 in games after being shut out in the game before. With yesterday's 4-1 loss to the Royals - the Tigers are now 0-1 in games after being shut out in 2008... Last season Mark Teahen was moved from 3rd base by the Royals to make room for super prospect Alex Gordon. I wouldn't be surprised if Teahen actually outperforms Gordon though. Teahen has the potential to be the best player to ever come out of St. Mary's College (of course that just means beating out the likes of Tom Candiotti and Von Hayes)... Well that didn't take long. If you had 1 inning in the over under in how long Mike Hampton would last before going on the DL - YOU LOSE. Without an inning pitched Hampton is now on the DL. The boy in the bubble had more resilience than Hampton... Justin Morneau is 0-12 to start the season.... If you take away Kosuke Fukudome's numbers then the Cubs are hitting only .180 as a team. With Fukudome's numbers the Cubs are hitting just .206 which still stinks.... Tris Speaker would have been 120 today. Speaker is largely a forgotten player but he was one of the best centerfielders of all-time. He is also 5th in all-time hits and 6th in all-time batting average (just ahead of Ted Williams). His defense was superb as this poem will ascribe:

Lineup for Yesterday

S is for Speaker,
Swift center-field tender,
When the ball saw him coming,
It yelled, "I surrender."
— Ogden Nash

Baseball Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous baseball thoughts and observations.

Jim Edmonds will probably miss Opening Day with a calf strain. I wish there was some casino offering a prop bet about who will miss more games in 2008 - Jim Edmonds or Mike Cameron. I'd say Edmonds misses more games even with Cameron's 25 game suspension... My reaction after reading this was to wonder if the Rays will change the name of their stadium to the Vomitorium. An all-you-can-eat menu including hot dogs, Italian sausage, popcorn, peanuts, nachos and Pepsi products? Where do I sign up?... Dusty Baker wants his players to swing at bad pitches:

"A lot of this on-base percentage is taking away the aggressiveness of some young kids," he said, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. "Most of the time you've got to put handcuffs on a young guy to keep him from swinging. [The young players are] playing good, real good. I'd like to see them more aggressive."

Am I wrong or is that exactly what he's saying? Dusty Baker - I'm sorry Reds fans... Is it wrong that I found it humorous that ESPN has one article titled "Hampton hoping to make triumphant return to mound" and a news bit titled "Hampton leaves game; injury isn't considered serious". According to Baseball-Reference.com - Mike Hampton has already made over $106 million in his career. I know this is a contract year for Hampton but I'm doubting he's really money motivated and I won't fall into the trap of thinking this will be a big year for Hampton's comeback... I also found it interesting that Jon Heyman had an article about even the best teams having holes to fill where he rattles off a bunch of the top teams and their needs. Heyman doesn't mention the Red Sox - so either he doesn't consider the reigning World Champs a top team or the Red Sox disprove his contention...

Baseball Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous baseball thoughts and observations.

Brad Wilkerson signs with Seattle. I think this is a good signing for the Mariners. Wilkerson can play all the outfield positions plus 1st base. However, I can't help remembering that Wilkerson was taken with the 33rd pick in the first round of the 1998 draft and that Aaron Rowand was taken just two picks later. What a big difference in dollars between their two free agent contracts this winter.... Philadelphia fans must be really excited that the Mets look like they will be getting Johan Santana while the Phillies were busy signing Pedro Feliz. My honest to God first thought on hearing this underwhelming news was to think that "there goes any chance of Eric Chavez being traded this offseason. The Phillies were the only team out there who needed a 3rd baseman and who could take on Chavez's contract... I've seen some people point out that another negative for the Twins is the fact that top prospect in the Santana trade - Carlos Gomez is represented by Scott Boras. It should be pointed out that Jacoby Ellsbury is also represented by Boras... The Braves do have pretty good depth when it comes to starting pitchers but I have to think any article that proclaims Mike Hampton to be 100% healthy would be the kiss of death for the fragile pitcher. If I ran a casino - I'd have the over under date for Hampton going back on the DL set for the All-Star game. I'd also give odds for different injuries such as 25-1 for turf-toe, 4-1 on a lower back injury and 2-1 on a hamstring injury... Keith Law has a nice run down on who he considers the top 100 prospects in baseball. Its amazing how many are with Tampa Bay...