That's what I call quite good.
Fun game alright. Who'd have thought that Downs (4.25) would have a lower ERA at this point than Clement (4.33) though? Huh. Got just as good a pitcher for about $8 million less :)
Ok, not really but it is funny.
Ok, not really but it is funny.
Downs jersey mojo works again! And I met UUarren Sauukiuu
Where'd you meet him, VBF? Ice cream truck?
(You can meet anyone at the ice cream truck.)
(You can meet anyone at the ice cream truck.)
No, I met him in the elevator (The second most common place to meet people. I've met JP, Paul and Rob Godfrey, Rob's dog, Whitt, Fox announcers, and Ted Rogers just by taking the elevator to the 500s). Very genuine gentleman. And the Ice Cream Truck is very true. Go there at lunchtime and you should see JP drinking a milkshake. As reported by the Ice Cream dude, the Jays have not won a game when he orders something different.
I apologize for straying a little off-topic here, but does anyone know of a website that details pitching average? Historically, I'd like to find out what kind of averages certain pitchers allowed.
I apologize for straying a little off-topic here, but does anyone know of a website that details pitching average?
Is this what you're looking for good sir?
oh, an addendum: click on the team, click on the name, and the splits for season, situational and career should be there near the top.
...does anyone know of a website that details pitching average? Historically, I'd like to find out what kind of averages certain pitchers allowed.
Alas, I don't know off-hand of a site that actually lists BAVG against. ESPN has it for the current season and the last few years, but if you were curious about Lefty Gomez...
Well, if I was curious about Lefty Gomez, I'd copy and paste his raw numbers from baseball-reference.com into an Excel spreadsheet, and give thanks that Batters Faced is one of the figures they provide. (I could grumble at them for not formatting the data so that it copies tidily and pre-formatted into the spreadsheet, but the site is so Wonderful and Valuable and Irreplaceable that it would be churlish of me to do so.)
I would then divide hits by (Batters Faced minus Walks minus HitBatters). And I'd have a good approximation. There would still be too many at bats, because Sac Hits and Sac Flies are still included in the at bats. So the resulting Batting Averages would be a few points too high...
And voila! We begin with this...
Year Ag Tm Lg W L G GS CG SHO GF SV IP H R ER HR BB SO HBP WP BFP +--------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+------+----+----+----+---+----+----+---+---+-----+-----+-----+----+ 1930 21 NYY AL 2 5 15 6 2 0 3 1 60.0 66 41 37 12 28 22 1 0 273 1931 22 NYY AL 21 9 40 26 17 1 10 3 243.0 206 88 72 7 85 150 4 1 1013 1932 23 NYY AL 24 7 37 31 21 1 3 1 265.3 266 140 124 23 105 176 2 0 1149 1933 24 NYY AL 16 10 35 30 14 4 3 2 234.7 218 108 83 16 106 163 0 6 1027 1934 25 NYY AL 26 5 38 33 25 6 5 1 281.7 223 86 73 12 96 158 0 3 1142 1935 26 NYY AL 12 15 34 30 15 2 3 1 246.0 223 104 87 18 86 138 2 8 1030 1936 27 NYY AL 13 7 31 30 10 0 1 0 188.7 184 104 92 6 122 105 1 2 858 1937 28 NYY AL 21 11 34 34 25 6 0 0 278.3 233 88 72 10 93 194 1 2 1148 1938 29 NYY AL 18 12 32 32 20 4 0 0 239.0 239 110 89 7 99 129 1 5 1034 1939 30 NYY AL 12 8 26 26 14 2 0 0 198.0 173 80 75 11 84 102 3 3 831 1940 31 NYY AL 3 3 9 5 0 0 3 0 27.3 37 20 20 2 18 14 1 3 134 1941 32 NYY AL 15 5 23 23 8 2 0 0 156.3 151 76 65 10 103 76 1 5 712 1942 33 NYY AL 6 4 13 13 2 0 0 0 80.0 67 42 38 4 65 41 2 1 355 1943 34 WSH AL 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 4.7 4 4 3 0 5 0 0 0 23And now we know:
1930 - 0.270 1931 - 0.223 1932 - 0.255 1933 - 0.237 1934 - 0.213 1935 - 0.237 1936 - 0.250 1937 - 0.221 1938 - 0.256 1939 - 0.233 1940 - 0.316 1941 - 0.248 1942 - 0.214 1943 - 0.174OK, obviously this is way too much trouble if you're interested in, oh, more than one or two guys... :-)
So the resulting Batting Averages would be a few points too high...
Duh. They'd be too low. Although I think Sac Flies in Gomez' time were actually an at bat charged to the hitter anyway. Sac Hits (and sac hits against a pitcher) have always been recorded. But life is way too short to worry about them.
How about the Lahman database? Doesn't it have opp. avg. statistics for pitchers where the number of total batters faced is available? Or, try this stats link from Sportsnet (naturally) and click on AL or NL Profile. It only goes back to 1989, though, and I think we're looking for something more historical.
And there is an easy way to copy that over into a spreadsheet, Magpie. Use the text-to-column feature (I think it's under the Data menu in Excel) when the column of gobbledygook is highlighted. I never have troubles going from B-Ref to spreadsheet (but with the Lahman package, I don't have to).
A hearty thanks to all for providing recommended links. I knew this was the right place to ask. And Magpie, your example was oh-so-close to the pitcher I was looking for. You gave Lefty Gomez, I sought Jerry Koosman! (both lefties) Ah, the irony. Again, thanks.
Anybody watch the Yankees game last night, or at least look at the Box Score?
The Yanks scored *17* runs, but had only two extra base hits: A double by Matsui and a homer by Giambi.
They also had 18 singles and 9 walks.
That's got to be some sort of record: Most runs scored with 2 or fewer extra base hits.
Where's Jayson Stark when you need him?
The Yanks scored *17* runs, but had only two extra base hits: A double by Matsui and a homer by Giambi.
They also had 18 singles and 9 walks.
That's got to be some sort of record: Most runs scored with 2 or fewer extra base hits.
Where's Jayson Stark when you need him?
Where's Jayson Stark when you need him?
Picking up Shannon Stewart's dry cleaning.
Interesting note from Evan Grant, Dallas Morning News beat reporter for the Rangers:
"[The Rangers are] on pace to set the record for the fewest sacrifice bunts in history. The Rangers have nine through 144 games. Toronto currently holds the record with 11 in 2003."
Ah, wiping that great 2003 Blue Jay squad from the record books for such a noble and notable feat!
I'm surprised that record isn't held pre-interleague play. You'd think pitchers hitting, even for just a handful of games, would make it near impossible to bunt less than the old Cito Gaston teams did.
Checking good ol' baseball reference....
1993 - 46 bunts, 7 by Borders, 5 by both Darrin Jackson and Tony Fernandez (one traded for the other), 4 by both Alomar and Griffen
1992 - 26 bunts, 8 by Manny Lee, 6 by Alomar, 3 by Griffen
Huh. For some reason I thought Cito bunted a lot less than that. I do recall (now) that Alomar had some weird love for the bunt, but he did get a fair number of hits that way too iirc.
Just 18 in 1990 (6 by Mookie)
1986 had just 24 (Jimy) after 21 the year before (Bobby).
The Jays have been a low-bunt team over the years, and I'd bet no team has a lower average per season over their history, or even from 77 to now.
Btw, that 2003 team had 5 by Kevin Cash. No one else had more than 2. Not one pitcher had a sac bunt either.
Checking good ol' baseball reference....
1993 - 46 bunts, 7 by Borders, 5 by both Darrin Jackson and Tony Fernandez (one traded for the other), 4 by both Alomar and Griffen
1992 - 26 bunts, 8 by Manny Lee, 6 by Alomar, 3 by Griffen
Huh. For some reason I thought Cito bunted a lot less than that. I do recall (now) that Alomar had some weird love for the bunt, but he did get a fair number of hits that way too iirc.
Just 18 in 1990 (6 by Mookie)
1986 had just 24 (Jimy) after 21 the year before (Bobby).
The Jays have been a low-bunt team over the years, and I'd bet no team has a lower average per season over their history, or even from 77 to now.
Btw, that 2003 team had 5 by Kevin Cash. No one else had more than 2. Not one pitcher had a sac bunt either.
Forgot about the Lahman database, and it includes Lefty Gomez. My estimates, I thought, would be a little low. Let's find out how much:
Year Guesstimate Lahman 1930 - .270 .280 1931 - .223 .220 1932 - .255 .250 1933 - .237 .240 1934 - .213 .210 1935 - .237 .240 1936 - .250 .250 1937 - .221 .220 1938 - .256 .260 1939 - .233 .230 1940 - .316 .320 1941 - .248 .250 1942 - .214 .230 1943 - .174 .250Hmm. Something looks fishy about the Lahman numbers - I'm wondering if they're estimates too, deliberately taken to just two decimal places.
In other news, there are no bounds (well, there are some bounds) to my gratitude at suddenly knowing how to copy and paste from baseball-reference into a spreadsheet.
Math students...
"In other news, there are no bounds (well, there are some bounds) to my gratitude at suddenly knowing how to copy and paste from baseball-reference into a spreadsheet."
I always have to paste into notepad and then transferring that into Excel. There's an easier way?
I always have to paste into notepad and then transferring that into Excel. There's an easier way?
I always have to paste into notepad and then transfer that into Excel.
Yeah, that's what I do with the ESPN numbers. But Rob, in one of the comments above, says there is another way.
And he's a math student and everything....
Isn't it a matter of simply copying the stuff in baseball-reference (highlight the section, use Ctrl-C to load up the copy/paste buffer) and then pasting into Excel? Excel is often smart enough to be able to parse out the incoming stuff into columns.
Of course I was a math student 20 years ago and that's the way we did it on SuperPets and VisiCalc.
Of course I was a math student 20 years ago and that's the way we did it on SuperPets and VisiCalc.
Actually, Excel is pretty bad at that, now that I look at it. It works far better in Gnumeric. (That's one of the reasons I stopped using Excel.) It takes no time at all to convert Jerry Koosman's text-based statistics into a spreadsheet.
Over 19 years in the majors, Koosman held opposing batters to a .246 batting average. It should probably be higher than that, since I was only able to subtract walks from total PA, not sac hits and sac flies, etc.
Over 19 years in the majors, Koosman held opposing batters to a .246 batting average. It should probably be higher than that, since I was only able to subtract walks from total PA, not sac hits and sac flies, etc.
I am not familiar with Gnumeric, but I do know that Excel's Data > Text to Columns feature can parse out strings of text into cells with minimal aggravation.
"But Rob, in one of the comments above, says there is another way."
And if my reading comprehension was any good I would have recognized that before asking.....
That's pretty slick. I wish I knew that information a long time ago.
And if my reading comprehension was any good I would have recognized that before asking.....
That's pretty slick. I wish I knew that information a long time ago.