Lots of Base Runners; Not Many Hits
Posted by Raphy on May 1, 2011
In Yesterday's 2-1 loss to the Giants, the Nationals had 14 base runners, despite only managing 2 hits. Here are the teams since 1919 with at least 13 base runners (including those who reached via error) and at most 2 hits:
| Rk | Date | Tm | Opp | Rslt | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | TOBwe | IBB | SO | HBP | SH | SF | ROE | GDP | SB | CS | WPA | RE24 | LOB | # | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1996-08-13 | BAL | MIL | W 4-3 | 38 | 26 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 10 | 15 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0.232 | -0.818 | 1.777 | 10 | 11 |
| 2 | 1994-04-12 | OAK | TOR | W 8-4 | 37 | 24 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 12 | 15 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0.508 | 3.730 | .747 | 5 | 9 |
| 3 | 1978-04-23 | SFG | CIN | L 1-2 | 45 | 31 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 15 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | -0.631 | -3.285 | 1.926 | 14 | 18 |
| 4 | 1956-05-19 | CLE | WSH | W 5-1 | 39 | 25 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 11 | 15 | 0 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.213 | 0.696 | .600 | 10 | 9 |
| 5 | 1951-04-20 (1) | WSH | NYY | W 5-3 | 36 | 23 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 13 | 15 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.178 | 0.946 | .808 | 7 | 9 |
| 6 | 2011-04-30 | WSN | SFG | L 1-2 | 40 | 28 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 14 | 0 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -0.683 | -3.441 | 1.990 | 12 | 15 |
| 7 | 1977-06-18 | CAL | MIL | L 2-4 | 40 | 28 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 14 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | -0.332 | -2.561 | 1.500 | 11 | 14 |
| 8 | 1955-06-14 (2) | WSH | CLE | L 1-3 | 40 | 25 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 14 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | -0.514 | -3.348 | 1.819 | 12 | 18 |
| 9 | 1976-06-12 | NYM | SFG | W 3-1 | 38 | 27 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 13 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.021 | -1.106 | 1.017 | 8 | 10 |
| 10 | 1974-07-14 | BAL | CHW | L 1-3 | 36 | 25 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 13 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | -0.464 | -3.229 | 1.395 | 8 | 10 |
| 11 | 1967-04-30 (1) | DET | BAL | W 2-1 | 40 | 24 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 13 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0.191 | -1.689 | 2.148 | 11 | 14 |
| 12 | 1936-09-16 | BOS | CLE | L 3-13 | 29 | 18 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 11 | 13 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 8 | 11 | |
| 13 | 1926-09-16 (2) | NYY | CLE | L 0-5 | 38 | 26 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 13 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 11 | 11 |
May 1st, 2011 at 11:25 am
Maybe the Nats were trying to commemorate the 44th anniversary of Steve Barber's ignominious no-hitter loss. That's before my time, but talk about giving with one hand and taking with the other. Oh, those bases on balls. . . .
May 1st, 2011 at 5:50 pm
Raphy,
The game that has to leap off the list is the 1978 Giants vs the Reds. How do you only score only 1 run with 15 baserunners, no CS and no GIDP? Perhaps the WPA of -0.631 tells the story of futility in that game. (Only exceeded by yesterday's Washington offensice debacle.)
Where did the other two baserunners come from in the 1978 game since there were no HBP. A catcher interfere with a batter or a wild pitch third strike?
May 1st, 2011 at 8:06 pm
@2, Neil L. -- The other two baserunners reached on errors by Joe Morgan and Fred Norman. The column heading "TOBwe" means times on base with errors; the Play Index offers that version of times on base as well as times on base without errors (i.e., "reached safely").
BTW, just now while peeking at Joe Morgan's '78 fielding stats, I noticed for the first time that his career defensive WAR is seriously negative, -5.6 dWAR. Just about his only positive dWAR seasons were 1971-76. His Houston seasons were consistently negative. I need time to get my mind around this....
May 1st, 2011 at 9:02 pm
@3
John, thank you for the gentle, public coaching on TOBwe.
Is Joe Morgan so highly regarded by posterity because of his offense? No one ever questions his greatness in discussions of all-time second baseman.
Other than being a statistical curiousity, what does the list "mean" in terms of the hidden game of baseball?
Is each game a flare-up of mathematical "noise" having no connection to the other games? What is the common element of the teams who failed so miserably to convert baserunners?
The ultimate verdict on meaning is wins and losses and the teams won 6 and lost 7.
May 1st, 2011 at 9:30 pm
dWAR as published here doesn't measure against 'bad but playable' which is what WAR implies, but against average. The AR part all shows up on oWAR. And Joe Morgan, despite being very good at some things, was a worse than average fielder for a starting second baseman. He wasn't terrible, though, and he was a better offensive player than almost anyone else who's been even that good in the field at 2B, and he remained consistently among the best for a very long time. Among the great second sackers, probably only Rogers Hornsby was better at the plate, and his defense was probably worse than Joe's.
May 1st, 2011 at 9:34 pm
I thought Ellis had given up 11 BB and 2 HBP in his no hitter, but I was wrong. 8 BB and 1 HBP.
May 1st, 2011 at 9:43 pm
Is there any way in Play Index to find out how many times a player pinch ran? I know it's off topic, but you guys seem like experts.
May 1st, 2011 at 9:49 pm
You can use the "Batting Game Finder" to find totals since 1919.
Uncheck all the positions and select "PR".
On the the top menu select "Player with Most Matching Games in Multiple Years"
May 1st, 2011 at 10:43 pm
I saw this topic and thought of Bill Bevens' near no-hitter in game four of the 1947 World Series for the Yankees. With ten walks and one hit batsman, he would have fallen short of this list.
May 2nd, 2011 at 12:32 am
Once again, abusing my privileges with some nightly notes unrelated to the topic:
O’s rookie Zach Britton is now 5-1, 2.63 in 6 starts. He’s just the 4th pitcher since 1919 with 5 winning Quality Starts among his first 6 career games. The previous 3:
-- Jered Weaver, 2006 Angels (6-0).
-- Don Schwall, 1961 Red Sox (5-0).
-- Dave “Boo” Ferriss, 1945 Red Sox (6-0).
Boo Ferriss went 21-10 as a rookie in 1945, and 25-6 plus a WS shutout the next season, before arm trouble killed his career.
At 19-8, Cleveland has matched its best start of the live-ball era. They also went 19-8 in 1999, ’96, ’66, ’55, ’48, and 1920. Final records for those years:
-- 1920 – 98-56, won WS.
-- 1948 – 97-58, won WS.
-- 1955 – 93-61, 2nd, 3 GB.
-- 1966 – 81-81, 5th.
-- 1996 – 99-62, 1st, lost ALDS.
-- 1999 – 97-65, 1st, lost ALDS.
Vlad Guerrero has not walked yet in 108 P.A.s over 26 games. He hasn’t walked in his last 28 regular-season games dating to 2010. His previous longest walk-free streak was 21 games in 2006. Over 34% of his career walks were intentional. Vlad drew at least 13 IBBs from 1998 through 2008, but just 3 in ’09, 5 in ’10 and none this year. No other player with more than 500 career walks had had IBBs account for more than 28% of his walks.
Tampa SS Reid Brignac is 14 for 70 ... all singles. Every other hitter with at least 7 hits has an extra-base hit.
Ichiro Suzuki has the most P.A.s without a HR this year, 133. He has not homered in his last 49 games and 224 trips.
Have a good night!
May 2nd, 2011 at 11:47 am
@3,
Is there anything statistically that can explain Joe Morgan's dWAR going from consistently negative (with Hou) to consitently positive (with Cin).
Or would it be something environmental like the turf speed of Astrodome vs. Riverfront?
Or coaching (positioning him more properly)???
May 2nd, 2011 at 4:52 pm
Tmck, I don't know if that can be answered definitively. I note that Morgan missed a lot of time in some of his Houston years. I don't remember why -- was he hurt? If so, being banged up could limit his defensive mobility just enough that he wasn't getting to as many balls, even when he was well enough to play.
Also, the average he is being compared to is set by his peers. It's possible that the league population of second basemen was simply making more plays in the mid-60s than in the mid-70s, and the average dropped as much as Morgan himself improved. Bill Mazeroski and Hal Lanier were NL 2Bmen in the mid-60s. I don't see any names I recognize as defensive greats in the mid-70s. (I should note that I am not sure how Total Zone sets its average baseline -- whether it shifts year to year, or is a moving average taken over a span of years, or what.) This hypothesis doesn't feel right to me, since by the mid-70s there were a lot of turf fields, and teams had responded by playing lots of nimble little shortstops who couldn't hit much but could handle the defense. I'd assume that was done at 2B as well.
May 3rd, 2011 at 1:45 am
@11, 12. Has anyone ever studied the possibility that playing next to a good SS (Concepcion) might help a 2nd baseman's defensive effectiveness?