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If only statcast had the technology to measure the launch angle and exit velocity of yankee balls that have been hit off of your chin.

Goo Punch
Goo Punch
Hank Chinaski
Hank Chinaski

Good fucking riddance. 

Beau Vine

Beau Vine 54,215

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Posted

Eno Sarris of theathletic, who used to be fangraphs' stat/performance guru:

(Missing blanks are the tweets you can see above)

 

Quote

It’s an open secret inside the game: Pine tar, and other grip substances, can help a pitcher increase their spin rate. I’ve been asked not to write about it by more than a few pitchers, but at this point there are two pressing reasons to have this discussion.

One is that Trevor Bauer recently pointed out that Gerrit Cole’s spin rate is up dramatically with his new team. The Cleveland righty made mention of the link between grip substances and spin in a response to Driveline Baseball’s Kyle Boddy fielding a question about the Astros spin in general.

This led to a response from Lance McCullers, predictably, because it does border on the accusation of cheating across Houston’s entire staff.

This part of the discussion is overstated. Yes, Gerrit Cole’s increase in spin is remarkable, and strange within the context of how spin normally ages, and how sticky it is year to year. You don’t normally see jumps as large as his. But the rest of the Astros’ staff has not shown this kind of jump.

In order to see this possible effect, I looked up the spin rate of all pitchers before they got to Houston, and then once they joined the team for more than 20 innings. Pitchers who were with the Astros before they left weren’t counted, because presumably they could have taken the trick with them to their new team.

Player Non Houston Spin Houston Spin
Justin Verlander 2535 2591
Charlie Morton 2103 2244
Gerrit Cole 2165 2332
Doug Fister 1971 1994
Scott Kazmir 2274 2208
Average 2210 2274

On aggregate, the change in spin is tiny. The changes to Justin Verlander’s spin are not significant. Charlie Morton’s spin increase is interesting, but spin is related to velocity, and when Morton’s velocity was up in his abbreviated season with the Phillies, his spin rate was also up. So really, his spin was up to around 2200 right before the Astros picked him up.

Gerrit Cole? Yes, his spin change is remarkable. His release point is up a bit, his velocity is up a bit, and there’s a chance these things are related to spin, even if Bauer and Driveline have tried repeatedly to prove those links in a lab situation but have not yet done so.

It might be tempting to point out that Houston has the highest spin rate in the league, but that’s also not very damning. When the team got Collin McHugh, they mentioned spin rate as a reason, and on the same list of high-spin pitchers that produced McHugh sat Charlie Morton. It’s very hard to prove that a team is using pine tar to increase spin, particularly when that team has already been selecting for high-spin pitchers in the past.

Maybe the Astros are like any other team, a collection of pitchers mostly doing their own thing. Still, the second reason to care about this is general fairness around the league.

The anecdotal link between pine tar and spin rate is strong, and most pitchers I’ve talked to off the record about this in the past two years have confirmed that there is a real connection. One even blamed the increase in blisters on the increased use of pine tar. But if this link is real, that suggests that some pitchers are gaining an unfair advantage over their competitors.

And now we have a signature moment and some data to look at, before and after. Bauer referenced research at Driveline here:

He also has talked repeatedly of showing proof — and perhaps these numbers from a lab he works at won’t be taken as gospel. What if we had a pitcher, in the middle of this controversy, trying to show us the effect of pine tar on spin rate? What if Bauer himself put some pine tar on his fingers for the first inning of the last game? What if that’s what the big hint is here from Boddy?

Here’s the spin rate on Bauer’s four-seam fastball in all of his first innings over his career. His first inning in his last start is highlighted in red.

 

BAuerspin2-1024x627.png

In that first inning, Bauer averaged a 2600 RPM on his fastball, up from his average of 2280 RPM on his career. That’s more than a standard deviation, and as you can see, a clear outlier from his past spin rates. He’s only twice averaged even 2400 in the first inning before. He never averaged 2500 in an inning before. And here’s one inning of 2600+, before returning, the very next inning, to his customary ~2300 RPM.

Boddy declined to comment, and we’ve reached out to Bauer but have not been able to speak to him yet. But there’s certainly a sequence of interesting events, paired with some preliminary evidence here. Plenty of smoke, if not necessarily centered around the Astros.

While enforcing the pine tar rules may be a pain the butt for pitchers everywhere, in the interest of fairness, this link needs to be affirmed and dealt with. All signs point to a link between grip substances and spin rate, and even if most pitchers know about this, selective enforcement of rules is unfair to pitchers everywhere — whether or not they take advantage of the pine tar, they may find their team on the receiving end of a challenge on the field.

After all, “sure it’s against the rules but everyone does it and nobody really gets mad until it’s a big game or the pitcher is too obvious about it” is too vague and lengthy even for the mythic book of unwritten rules, let alone baseball’s actual rule book.

Pine tar matters. Spin rate is good for pitchers. Pine tar increases grip and looks like it leads to more spin. It’s against the rules. Who knows who uses it more than anyone else, but that doesn’t really matter in the end. Either baseball needs to let everyone do it, or nobody.

 

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Beau Vine

Beau Vine 54,215

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Yeah, they've done an outstanding job of handling Profar.  Maybe he learned something from that?

 

I guess the other thing is that sending keeping Calhoun down until 5/3 is actually the smart thing to do.  The Rangers aren't going anywhere this season and it's obvious.  Calhoun breaking camp with them wouldn't change that.  It would be stupid to trade a chance for 72 vs 74 wins (if they could even get there) for a season of arbitration.

I don't understand why JD is offended by a writer suggesting that he's doing something smart.  

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MC Fresh Breath

MC Fresh Breath 4,074

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Going to be in Cleveland next week for a conference.  I am apparently staying right next to Progressive Field, so am hoping to get a chance to sneak in a game at some point.  

If anyone has been there or has thoughts, let me know your tips.  And if you really know Cleveland and happen to like good craft beer hit me up with some of your favorite brew pubs and I'll try to check those out as well.

 

 

 

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Beau Vine

Beau Vine 54,215

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9 minutes ago, spystud13 said:

And 3 for Mr. Encarnacion also. 

To be fair, I could have taken Matt Moore deep today with that meat he was serving up.

 

 

 

Also, Darvish is getting lit up in the wind at Wrigley.

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Fozzz

Fozzz 152

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4 minutes ago, VolenteHawk said:

Not knowing the service time clock of your high rated prospects in a season where you're going to mostly lose anyway should be a fireable offense for a GM no?

 

I hate to presume, but I don't think Mr. Daniels is being entirely honest with us.

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Beau Vine

Beau Vine 54,215

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theathletic.com:

Quote

As a small cluster of reporters huddled near the entrance to the Indians’ clubhouse Wednesday morning, Trevor Bauer posed a question to the team’s PR director.

You want me to do it in there so I can yell?

There was no yelling, no need to shout “serenity now.” There was no specified finger-pointing, no singling out, no mention of the Houston Astros, other than a few kind words tossed toward their player development system.

Bauer met with the media to deliver a straightforward message about something that has irked him, something he wishes irked more people — or, at least, irked the right people, the people in charge. Regarding sticky substances that pitchers might or might not use when they take the mound, Bauer offered a simple plea to those in the league office.

“Allow it.”

The sequence is pretty basic. Bauer’s argument — one supported by data and research — is that (a technically illegally) enhanced grip produces an increased spin rate, which tends to generate higher swing-and-miss rates.

“If you keep the same spin axis and you increase the rpm (revolutions per minute) on the ball, the ball just moves more,” Bauer said. “Hitters hit the league-average pitch, what they’re used to seeing night in and night out. So if you have something that’s multiple standard deviations away from league-average movement or league-average spin rate, it’s a lot harder to hit, because the hitter can’t track the ball the last 15-20 feet. It moves too fast. So they’re basically swinging blind the last 15-20 feet. It moves you off the barrel. It moves you above the barrel, below the barrel. It’s just harder to hit, which has a massive effect on pitchers’ season numbers and then financial compensation down the road.”

 

Bauer and a cast of pitching scientists have conducted their own experimentations at Driveline Bases, the pitching facility outside of Seattle that he frequents during the offseason.

“I’ve tested sunscreen and rosin,” Bauer said. “I’ve tested pine tar sticks. I’ve tested the liquid pine tar. I made my own non-Newtonian fluids. I sat down with a chemical engineer to understand it. I’ve melted down firm-grip and Coca-Cola and pine tar together. I’ve tested a lot of stuff.”

The studies revealed that, when applying the various substances and throwing the ball about 70 mph, it boosted the spin rate by 300 to 400 rpm.

“The effect is slightly less pronounced at higher velocities, more game-like velocities,” Bauer said, “but still between a 200 to 300 rpm increase.”

Bauer’s average spin rate on his fastball in the first inning of his start against the Rangers on Monday night measured 2,597 rpm. After that, the average spin rate on the pitch checked in at 2,299 rpm. So was Bauer conducting his own test on the mound during a major-league game?

“I have no comment,” he said, before directing the audience to an article written by The Athletic’s Eno Sarris.

 

The use of foreign substances has largely been ignored, aside from Michael Pineda and his sticky neck in 2014. But Bauer noted that technology has developed to the point in which it’s now easier to gauge just how much of an advantage this could offer pitchers who capitalized on the lack of rule enforcement.

“We know how it affects spin rate and we know how spin rate affects outcomes and pitches and movements that have a big difference in a game, in a season and in each individual player’s career,” Bauer said. “It’s my opinion that it’s the same argument that was used when steroids were going on in the game. If you just look the other way and you let some people do it, the people who choose not to do it are at a competitive disadvantage, and that’s what’s going on right now.”

So, that’s Bauer’s plea: Create an even playing field.

“I don’t see that there’s a way to enforce it,” Bauer said, “because you can’t go check a pitcher every single inning, every single pitch or whatever. That’s currently how it is. You can get thrown out of the game and suspended for it if the umpire comes and checks and finds out, but it doesn’t happen. So, pick a substance that’s sticky, that gives you all of the performance benefits, and just put it on the back of the mound. That way, if you want to use it, you can, and everybody knows it’s being used. And then, if you want to use other substances and skirt the rule, whatever, have a certain amount of outlawed substances: Vaseline, or whatever. If you want to use sticky stuff, it’s right there on the mound. Put your fingers on it and throw.

“A lot of hitters are fine with it, because it’s been said they don’t want projectiles thrown 100 mph at their head when the pitcher has no clue where it’s going. Over 69 percent of the league probably uses it anyway, so there’s not really a whole lot of difference. But just make it legal so that way it’s an even playing field, and that way, when I want to use surgical grade stuff on my stitches on the backside of the pinkie finger that’s never going to touch the ball and has no effect on the game at all, I can use it and not be thrown out of the game or whatever. Meanwhile, while I can’t just use that stuff so I can pitch for my team in the postseason, you have guys using sticky stuff every single time they pitch, increasing their spin rate by 200 to 300 rpm and having a massive competitive advantage.”

 

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Beau Vine

Beau Vine 54,215

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Two excellent columns on future Hall of Famers -- 1 who has completely lost it, and 1 who looks like he is losing it.

Pujols:

https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/albert-pujols-and-the-crawl-to-3000-hits/

Kershaw:

https://www.theringer.com/mlb/2018/5/3/17314506/los-angeles-dodgers-clayton-kershaw-fastball-velocity

If you're only going to read one, read the Kershaw one.

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henrygandorf

henrygandorf 29,189

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1 hour ago, Beau Vine said:

Two excellent columns on future Hall of Famers -- 1 who has completely lost it, and 1 who looks like he is losing it.

Pujols:

https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/albert-pujols-and-the-crawl-to-3000-hits/

Kershaw:

https://www.theringer.com/mlb/2018/5/3/17314506/los-angeles-dodgers-clayton-kershaw-fastball-velocity

If you're only going to read one, read the Kershaw one.

before the series in houston which started like 10 days ago, some angels beat reporter was remarking how fitting it would be if pujols got 3000 in houston, since he's had so much success in mmp over the years.  he was at 2992 and it was a 3 game series.  i turned the channel.

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Beau Vine

Beau Vine 54,215

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Stark:

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Yeah, not much happened in baseball this week. Only the greatest save of all time. And a man stealing his first base in nine years. And a guy who thinks a normal day at the office involves hitting three home runs.

So never fear. Our Useless Information Department investigators are on all those cases – and much more, of course!

CRAZY EIGHTS OF THE WEEK

It was the save of the week, the save of the year, the save of the century. It’s a box-score line that comes with its very own breeze, at no extra charge.

It was perpetrated by Brewers whiff machine Josh Hader, Monday against the Reds. And we’ve never seen anything like it:

Eight outs, eight strikeouts. Drive home safely.

“He’s more like a guy in a video game,” Brewers catcher Jett Bandy told Useless Info. “It’s like you created this guy. He’s left-handed. He’s got the long hair. He’s throwing across his body, so it looks like the ball’s coming out of the first-base dugout. And he’s running it up there at 97 (mph) sometimes. And every time you look up, somebody is swinging and missing.”

Yeah, that about covers it, all right. Swing. Miss. Swing. Miss. Swing. Miss. That was Josh Hader’s night: 37 pitches, 17 swings, zero balls put in play. In an actual major league baseball game.

Asked what it looked like to his teammates, Bandy (who actually didn’t catch Hader that night) let out a chuckle as he searched for the right words.

“Dominance,” he said. “Not fair. Supernatural. Just complete domination, really. Just Josh being Hader.”

Josh being Hader. Now that’s a scouting report with a ring to it. And if you’ve watched this 6-foot-3 left-hander unleash his untouchable fastball/slider combo on the defenseless earth, as his shoulder-length locks rustle in the breeze, you know just what Jett Bandy is talking about.

Let’s take a look at Hader’s historic save and his astonishing season. You’ll get the idea!

THE SEASON

— How unhittable has this man been this year? How about this: He has thrown 287 pitches – and given up four hits. Then again, it’s hard to give up a hit when the bat never meets the ball. Of those 287 pitches, only 19 have even been put in play (and one of those was a bunt).

When we relayed those numbers to Bandy, he literally shouted: “Oh…my…God. He’s got to be pitching from like 46 feet, right?”

— All right, try to digest this: 18 innings, 39 strikeouts, 4 hits. That’s Hader’s stat line for the year. Got it? Now take another look so it really hits you. There’s an argument that this is the most dominant 18 innings of pitching anyone has ever had. Ever. Starter. Reliever. Johnny Vander Meer. Ever.

Here’s Hader, compared with the closest stretches I could find:

PITCHER IP H K BALLS IN PLAY
Josh Hader (3/39-4/30/18) 18 4 39 19
Aroldis Chapman (8/13-9/28/14) 17.2 4 35 19
Craig Kimbrel (5/20-7/13/12) 18 4 34 25
Pedro Martínez (9/4-10/99) 17 3 32 20
Eric Gagne (7/9-8/14/03) 18 2 29 33

— Oh. And there’s also this: Guess which pitcher leads the Brewers’ team in strikeouts, here in the first week of May? Right you are. It’s Josh Hader, relief pitcher.

The Elias Sports Bureau tells us he’s the seventh reliever since 2010 to strike out more hitters in a calendar month than anyone on his team. But to actually lead his team in K’s heading into May? Just two other relievers could say that: A.J. Ramos of the 2015 Marlins and Tyler Clippard – who somehow led the 2010 (pre-Strasburg-ian) Nationals in K’s in April and May (with 40 in 34 2/3 innings).

— More fun with Hader’s single-season numbers: His strikeout rate (19.5 per 9 innings) was the highest by any pitcher in any month in the history of baseball…He has faced the opposing No. 3 hitter nine times this year – and not one has put a ball in play (0 for 9, with 9 K’s)….He has reached a two-strike count on 53 hitters. Those 53 have gone 0-for-49, with 39 strikeouts and four walks….And when he’s pitched with a one-run lead, opponents have gone 1-for-18 with 16 strikeouts. The hit was a Freddy Galvis bunt single. Of course.

So imagine life as a man with a bat, standing 60 feet away from that guy. Asked what the hitters say to him when Hader is pitching, Bandy said: “They don’t say anything. They’re just baffled.”

THE SAVE

— Has there ever been an 8-out, 8-K save – or an 8-out, 8-K appearance of any kind – before Josh Hader arrived on the mound Monday? Of course not!

— In fact, this was the longest outing by any pitcher in history in which every out was a strikeout. The previous record was seven – shared by the eclectic trio of Dylan Bundy (July 6, 2016), Tom Niedenfuer (May 18, 1985) and Tim Stoddard (April 30, 1979).

— Now consider how hard it is to strike out eight hitters and only throw 37 pitches. It’s so tough that no one, in the three decades in which we have pitch-count data, has ever done it. The old record in an outing with that few pitches: 7 whiffs, by (who else?) Shawn Camp, on June 5, 2007.

— And then there’s the best tidbit of them all from that night: No Brewers starter has struck out eight in a game in almost three weeks (23 straight games – since Zach Davies K’d 8 on April 7).

Just so you know, Elias reports that in the last 20 years, only one relief pitcher has had the biggest strikeout game for his team in a season. That was Liam Hendricks of the 2013 Twins. He also did that by punching out eight – but had to face 24 hitters to do it!

Meanwhile, no Brewers starter has struck out more than eight in their last 50 games. Last to do that was Jimmy Nelson, last Sept. 1. But their closer struck out eight Reds on Monday – in a game in which he only got eight outs. Unreal.

There is actually an incredible GIF out there from that performance that shows Hader blowing away Alex Blandino with a 95-mph inferno-ball – and then shaking his head in disgust because he missed his spot. Now that’s dominance. Or is it?

THE TWEET

“I don’t know,” Bandy quipped. “He was probably just shaking his head to get his hair out of his eyes.”

Well, whatever he was up to, he spun off the most overpowering relief outing of all time. So we asked Jett Bandy what he would tell his friends and loved ones someday about the night Josh Hader struck out pretty much everybody.

“I’d tell them, ‘Go to YouTube,’” Bandy replied, “‘and type in ‘Josh Hader.’”

MOOKIE OF THE YEAR WATCH

Does it feel like Mookie Betts hits three home runs in a game once a week, just for his own amusement? Hey, pretty close. A few of our favorite Useless Mookie Info tidbits, after his latest trifecta Wednesday:

THE FENWAY FACTOR

3-HR games by Mookie in the last 1,478 regular-season games at Fenway: 2.

3-HR homer games by everyone else in that same span: 2 – by Hanley Ramirez (Aug. 14, 2016) and Mark Teixeira (May 8, 2010).

TWICE IN 15 DAYS

All right, this guy doesn’t really hit three in a game once a week. But he did just pull that off twice in 15 days. Only four other hitters in history could say that:

DAYS HITTERS DATES
5 Doug DeCinces Aug. 3-8, 1982
7 Johnny Mize  July 13-20, 1938
11 Willie Stargell  April 10-21, 1971
13 Sammy Sosa Aug. 9-22, 2001

THE LEADOFF FACTOR

Two 3-HR games in a season out of the leadoff hole:

Mookie Betts (2018).

End of list.

THE LITTLE PAPI FACTOR

Career 3-HR games by Mookie – 4
Career 3-HR games by David Ortiz – 0

THE ONE-MAN TEAM FACTOR

3-HR games this season:

Mookie – 2
Royals – 1
Padres – 1
Marlins – 1

THE SUNSHINE FACTOR

Bonus note! Betts and Edwin Encarnación hit three on the same day Wednesday – both while playing in the afternoon sun. How ‘bout this fun list of times that has happened in day games in the last 75 years (a.k.a, the post-light-bulb era):

May 2, 2018 – Mookie Betts, Edwin Encarnación
Sept. 3, 2006 – Albert Pujols, Ryan Howard
July 20, 2004 – Albert Pujols, Travis Hafner
July 26, 1970 – Johnny Bench, Orlando Cepeda
June 6, 1965 – Johnny Callison, Tom Tresh


THE OHTANI WATCH

Due to twisted ankles beyond our control, it was a slow week on the Shohei Ohtani beat. But there was this!

Last Friday, he launched a 410-foot home run off a Luis Severino heater that was clocked by Statcast at 97.2 miles per hour.

So perhaps you’re wondering how many men have both thrown a pitch at 97 mph or faster and homered off a pitch at 97 mph or faster? Well, thanks for wondering. In the pitch-tracking era (2008-18), just two other guys have done that. Shockingly, neither of them was named Noah Syndergaard:

Jake Arrieta, June 27, 2016 – HR off 99.3 mph pitch from Michael Lorenzen.
Michael Lorenzen, Aug. 19, 2016 – HR off 97.2 mph pitch from Pedro Báez.

And now there are three, thanks to the one, the only Shohei Ohtani.

ROYAL VISITOR OF THE WEEK

In his first game in Kansas City this season (Opening Day), Matt Davidson hit three home runs. In his third game in Kansas City (last Thursday), he hit two home runs. In his fourth game in KC (last Friday), he hit two more home runs. Which is already pretty flippin’ cool.

But what makes it cooler, of course, is that Matt Davidson doesn’t play for the Royals. He plays for the White Sox.

Kauffman Stadium opened 45 years ago. And in those 45 years, a total of 405 different men have made it to home plate wearing a Royals uniform.

George Brett never had three multi-homer games in a season at Kauffman Stadium. Bo Jackson never did. John Mayberry never did. Mike Sweeney never did. Just Steve Balboni (1985) and Billy Butler (2009) ever did that.

So the Royals’ record for multi-homer games in any season in Kansas City is three. Over 81 games. And a guy who plays for the White Sox just tied that record – in four games. Baseball!

STRANGE BUT TRUE FEATS OF THE WEEK

— Things I never saw coming: Kendrys Morales has as many stolen bases this season as José Altuve. By that we mean: One. Really.

Altuve led the league in stolen bases in 2014 and 2015. Morales, on the other hand, just swiped his first base in nine years on Tuesday.

According to Baseball-Reference.com’s awesome Play Index, he’d gone 919 consecutive games without a steal at the time – the longest streak by any Rickey Henderson Not Wannabe since Tony Clark (yes, that Tony Clark) went 1,010 games without an SB from 1999-2009.

— Don’t try this at home: Tuesday night in Houston, the Yankees struck out 14 times (and scored zero runs) against Justin Verlander. And their own starting pitcher (Jordan Montgomery) had to exit after one inning. And they still won.

So when was the last time a team did that? That would be never. Naturally. According to Elias, there hasn’t been a single other game since 1893 in which any winning team had its starter go no more than one inning while its lineup was fanning 14 times or more against the other team’s starter.

— Don’t try this on the road: Here’s a little rarity for you, pointed out by our friends at @BrewerNation. On their last road trip, the Brewers got swept in a four-game series (at Wrigley) – and still had a winning record on the trip! (They went 5-0 in Kansas City and Cincinnati.) Must be the ivy.

— Definitely try this on the road: The Rockies won a 1-0 game in Miami last Friday. What made that kind of notable was that the only run was doubled in by Antonio Senzatela. Who is a relief pitcher. Well, you don’t see that much.

Last reliever to get a win and drive in the only run in a 1-0 game for any team: Joe Niekro for the Astros, on Aug. 23, 1980, according to Stats LLC.

The only other reliever since 1920 to get a win and drive in the only run with an extra-base hit: Johnny Klippstein for the Reds, on a 13th-inning homer off Don McMahon, on Aug. 6, 1962.

— Walk this way: Buck Showalter intentionally walked Mike Trout three times in four trips to the plate Tuesday. Meanwhile, his own hitters walked zero times, intentionally or otherwise – in 33 trips to the plate. It isn’t quite up there with Showalter intentionally walking Barry Bonds with the bases loaded – but speaking of that…

The last player, according to Elias, to get that many intentional walks from a team that never drew any walks itself was – yessir – Barry Bonds, courtesy of Bob Melvin’s Diamondbacks on April 27, 2007.

Last to do it in the American League? That would be George Brett, on July 27, 1985, with Pat Corrales ordering all that intentional walking.

USELESS INFO OF THE WEEK

— According to Baseball-reference.com, there have been 13 men who played in the big leagues and were known as “A.J.” There have also been five B.J.s, six C.J.s, five D.J.s, 8 J.J.s, two P.J.s and three R.J.s. That three-homer game by A.J. Pollock on Monday was the first by any of them. You’re welcome.

— They have been playing baseball at Wrigley Field since 1914. So when something happens there that had (gulp) never happened before, it kind of gets our attention. Well, Tuesday was one of those days, according to Elias.

Charlie Blackmon led off the top of the first inning with a homer for the Rockies. Then Anthony Rizzo led off the bottom of the first with a home run for the Cubs. So if you’re paying attention, you know what’s next. No other game, in a century of baseball at Wrigley, had started with both teams’ leadoff hitters bopping a home run.

— That same day, the Rockies’ first two hitters (Blackmon and David Dahl) homered to kick off the game. Not to suggest it had been a while since that happened at Wrigley. But the only other time the visiting team’s first two hitters went deep at The Confines, it was during the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration – when Roy Johnson and Rabbit Warstler did the honors for the Boston Bees on Aug. 6, 1937.

— Every time the Yankees rip off a nine-game winning streak (or more), we think about this: Since their last nine-game losing streak (36 years ago), the Yankees have had 15 winning streaks of nine or more.

—  Dee Gordon got five hits for the Mariners on Tuesday. Which was one more than the team the Mariners were playing – the A’s (who got four). Last time a player got five hits and the other team got fewer hits than that, according to Elias: Yunel Escobar outhit the Royals, 5-3, on July 26, 2016.

—  Here’s a box-score line that ought to be impossible, courtesy of Doug (Kernels) Kern. Sergio Romo, last Friday against the Red Sox: 2 IP, 0 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks, 3 strikeouts… and one blown save.

Imagine our shock when we dialed up the Play Index and discovered it’s the 21st time since the dawn of the modern save rule that a pitcher has blown a save in an outing of no hits, no runs, no walks and at least three whiffs. Last to do it: Tyler Thornburg on Sept. 11, 2016.

—  Finally, it’s Buster Posey’s 10th season as a Giant. He’s one of the most accomplished offensive catchers of his generation. So how about this list of all the four-hit, four-run, three-XBH games by a Giants catcher since Posey arrived in 2009:

Nick Hundley: One (on Wednesday).
Buster Posey: Zero.

Repeat after us: BASEBALL!

 

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