It was a lousy 1-run game, but it was enough to put the Dodgers all alone atop the NL West. Now we’ll see how they do when things get hot.
jsc1953 won the June thread with this observation:
*On June 9, the Giants had the best record in baseball (42-21). Since then, they’ve had the worst (4-20).
Regression to the mean is a bitch. *
grmblmrblhmbrlmrrrgg…
Well, that was the perfect ending to a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad month.
If the Giants get Brandon Belt and Angel Pagan off the DL, find a new closer, and visit a hazardous waste decontamination facility to eradicate all traces of June funkiness from their bodies, we might have a race in the NL West…or else I could just become an A’s fan…
Actually, things are looking surprisingly bright for a team that went 4-15 over the last 3 weeks. They’ve still got the 6th best record in the Majors and s one of the broadcasters pointed out this morning, the Giants are still one game up in the loss column
Hey there, bub! Since June 9th, they’re 4-15, not 4-20.
There’s a big difference.
:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:
So has anybody outside of the Mariners fanbase noticed their catcher, Mike Zunino?
2012 1st-round draft pick.
Played a grand total of 96 games in the minors, before being called up in the middle of the 2013 season, becoming the regular starting catcher.
Quickly earned the respect and trust of the pitching staff.
Leading the team with 12 HRs this season (tied with 3B Kyle Seager).
3rd on the team in RBIs with 39, behind Kyle Seager’s 55 and Robinson Cano’s 48.
Wearing Alex Rodriguez’s old number 3 
Zunino has great power. Doesn’t know how to hit, though, and if he doesn’t learn soon will be out of the majors, or a fringe player, in no time.
86 strikeouts, 11 walks.
No player, ever, has had a K/W ratio that bad and remained even a half passable big league hitter. It has never been done and never will be done. It is impossible. Zunino reminds me of JP Arencibia, and in fact is remarkably similar. Right handed power hitters, both catchers, both tall and immensely strong, both highly regarded, both showed up and started hitting lots of homers but with alarming strikeout to walk ratios. JP has played himself right out of the majors at age 28.
Ended June finally in first place, and starting July right back in second. The Indians were all over Beckett pretty much from the second pitch of the game on. Must have been a nice scouting report. Ugly, ugly game.
Team batting average of .171 for the month, worst ever hitting month in the post dead-ball era.
About 11% of their ABs were taken by pitchers, so the average for “real hitters” is probably close to the Mendoza line.
It’d be considerably less than 11%.
Not only do pitchers bat at the bottom of the order, so the number 9 batting position gets almost one PA a game less than the leadoff spot, but the guy who bats last often gets pinch-hit for or double-switched. San Diego has just one complete game all season, and relievers very seldom bat.
I’d guess that maybe 5% of the team’s PAs were by pitchers. Which lowers your “real hitters” estimate correspondingly…
Either way, it’s an impressive stat. Or something.
That is truly amazing. I would not have believed it possible.
Jut to expand on this amazing fact, the Padres had well over 800 at bats as a team so this is no small number. They hit 11 home runs, total, in the month. Their on base percentage was .237. They were rewarded for this fantastic display of skill by scoring just sixty runs in 27 games. They scored more than four runs all of four times (winning all.) They went 9-17, which I think is kind of amazing, given how little support the pitchers got.
The Padres are now averaging just a hair under 3 runs a game, making them - even by today’s low-scoring standards - one of the worst hitting teams in MLB history.
The Indians made a triple play on the Dodgers. Outfield fly for one out, runner from third thrown out at the plate for the second out, Puig thrown out going from first to second for the third out. But the initial call at second was safe, so Cleveland challenged the call and it was overturned, three outs. Except the Dodgers then challenged the out call at home. So two challenges on the same play.
Man, that makes the Nats’ offensive ineptitude the first half of last season look not so bad. I thought it was horrible that their team OBP was under .300.
Seems that pinch hitters are used at most twice a game for pitchers. Forgot the double switch rule factor.
In terms of just how bad the Padres hit, looking at the numbers, they currently score 34% fewer runs than the average team in their league (an average that includes themselves.) It seems to me that’s a good way of describing offensive ineptitude in a way that is neutral to the league’s overall level of scoring.
That might not sound like historical ineptitude but it totally is. I can’t find the last time a team hit that badly. 15% under the league average is BAD, often the worst in the league. The 1997 Blue Jays, who I have previously cited as the worst-hitting team I had ever seen, were 18% under the league average. The 2003 Tigers, who went 43-119 and were just indescribably terrible, were 25% below league average. The Padres are WAY past that.
Looks like the Alex Rodriguez saga will be getting more interesting. Apparently Sports Illustrated is reporting that MLB allowed Rodriguez to use steroids in 2007. Not sure how true this is.
Have the Angels suffered several rainouts? The Angels and Mariners have the same number of wins, but the Mariners remain in 3rd place because the Angels have 3 fewer losses.
Still, I’m just enjoying my M’s being a whopping 9 games over .500.
And I kind of like the symmetry of the 2 California teams being in 1st and 2nd place, the 2 Texas teams being in 4th and 5th, and the lone Washington team being right in the middle.
Until they play my Reds, sadly. Ugh. Being swept by them is a HUGE setback going into the series at home against the Brewers, whom keep refusing to lose. Doh!
That game where Latos pitched, giving up only one hit, a homerun, and losing by that one hit…damn. Shows you how lousy the Reds offense can be. And the subsequent losses against the Padres over the next two games just confirms how irregular this team’s offense really is.
Hey…vote for Devin Mesoraco as your NL catcher, by the way. He’s earned it.
Is Jonathon Lucroy leading catchers because he is a MVP candidate.
I have a question I guess mostly for RickJay, but also anybody who watches a lot of Blue Jays games: How is Jose Reyes getting along? I see his stats are down a little this year, but aside from that. When he was a Met he was always a real joy to root for. Aside from being a very good ballplayer and playing an entertaining style, he was just generally joyful and exuberant during games, and he helped make some pretty lousy Mets teams surprisingly watchable.
So how’s he doing? Still smiling a lot? Does he get along with his teammates and the Toronto press?
Oh, and while we’re at it: R.A. Dickey, same questions? Obviously an immensely likable guy and a fan favorite. I was sorry to see him struggle so much last season. Had a terrible April this year, but a 3.60 ERA in his last 12 starts suggests maybe he can get things in order, yes? Or is he just going to allow too many HRs in the AL East for structural reasons, and this is about as good as he can be?
I understand why the team couldn’t bring these guys back, but there’s only so much joy to be had from watching Curtis Granderson bat .230 for $15M a year. Ok, he’s doing better lately, but still. And, Christ, if we were willing to pay Granderson $15M through his age-36 season, maybe it would have made more sense instead to pay Reyes the $17M through age-35 contract he actually signed with Miami?
lol Mets.
Dickey’s bread and butter is a knuckleball, too fickle a pitch to predict anything. No, I’m not still bitter over Wakefield serving up the Boone homer.
