Kuzul

On May 23, 2010 against the Minnesota Twins, Trevor Hoffman pitched game No. 1,000 for his career, coming on during the eighth inning in a 4-3 victory. He became the 14th player in major league history to accomplish this.

We then went back to our daily routines.

For a sport so focused on the milestone stats, it’s interesting to see this one completely slip by. We have 500 home runs, 3,000 hits, 300 wins, and others. Yet, any milestone for games played is not really looked at as any accomplishment. It’s a testament to little more than longevity, right?

Well, let’s take a look.

Of the previous 13 to play in 1,000 games, three are in the Hall of Fame: Dennis Eckersley, Hoyt Wilhelm, and Goose Gossage. The other 10 feature names you’d expect and names you likely have forgotten.

Topping the list is, of course, Jesse Orosco with 1,252. Following are Mike Stanton (1,178), John Franco (1,119), Eckersley (1,071), Wilhelm (1,070), Dan Plesac (1,064), Mike Timlin (1,058), Kent Tekulve (1,050), Jose Mesa and Lee Smith (1,022), Roberto Hernandez (1,010), Michael Jackson (1,005), Gossage (1,002), and now Hoffman.

The list is a tangled web of obvious hall of famers, those that have gotten close (Smith), those who did not get close (Plesac and others), and those who won’t have a chance at it (Mesa).

However, the Hall of Fame has already established how valuable this stat is: it isn’t. Just recently, Orosco, Plesac, and Jackson could not crack the 5 percent threshold. Neither could Tekulve despite a sub-3.00 ERA.

Interestingly enough though, many on this list are recent additions, and have just recently retired. Is this looking to be a continuing development? Will there be more pitchers crossing the mark who aren’t necessarily good, just reliable?

Looking beyond the hall of fame, and instead just looking at the number, it’s certainly possible. After all, Orosco pitched in 65 games in his final major league season despite an ERA over 7.50. So perhaps Hoffman’s games pitched isn’t a symbol of anything but luck and health.

Just about all of those pitchers above were still pitching 60 games when they hit 40, so maybe it means nothing. At the same time, maybe it’s an under-appriciated number, one that shows consistency and reliability, something that is needed more than anything in a bullpen, especially with how dynamic they are.

So, what does the mark mean to you? Sheer luck? Solid pitching? Nothing at all?

In my case, I think it shows a model of consistently good, though not necessarily great, pitching. It’s not a number on the same caliber as the others I noted earlier, far from it, but it can be a second-tier stat that is nice to achieve. After all, everyone but Mesa has a career sub-4.00 ERA, and all pitched until at least 39, so there is some health and luck involved as well.

What does it mean to you though? Something to think about. There won’t be 3,000 hits, 500 home runs, or 300 wins for a while, so let’s enjoy this accomplishment by Trevor Hoffman, even if it means little.

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Baseball is a sport unlike others when it comes to age. If you’re 40 and a basketball player, you’re done unless you have extreme ability or are just playing a few minutes a game. If you’re 40 and a football player, you’re either retired, a kicker/punter, or Brett Favre.

Regularly though, ballplayers will play well into their 40s, and play well at that. Julio Franco hung around forever, as did Nolan Ryan.

There are currently ten ballplayers over 40 who have been active this season. How many will continue their trend and play until 42, 45, even a bit further?

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It always hurts to see a batter struggling to hit at the plate. It is always annoying to see a batter swing at pitches they have no business swinging at. It is just as annoying for a hitter’s average to drop 100 points in a season.

These are the hitters who just cannot catch a break this season. They’ve hit in the past, but suddenly cannot find the ball. Some are struggling yet not doing terribly, others are just playing horrendously.

These are the 10 baseball players whose bat has, to be blunt, just went dead.

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As mentioned in Anthony Castrovince’s blog, after Jason Donald was promoted to the Indians major league roster, Trevor Crowe texted him to let him know that he was part of the starting lineup against the Rays on the 18th.

And so the Jason Donald experiment begins.

Many were hoping that he’d get his time in the majors to show himself. After all, we need something good from that Cliff Lee trade; Marson and Carrasco have not done much. Three hours after his flight landed in Tampa Bay, he was ready to go against pitcher David Price.

He led off the third inning with a single to center-right field, and notched the first hit of his major league career. He followed that up with a single to lead off the fifth inning, lined to right field. To make his debut better, he scored on a ground out by Shin-Soo Choo to tie the game at 1-1.

At the end of the fifth, he had as many hits as the rest of the Indians combined. He finished the game with a walk and a ground out, finishing with a .667 average. Donald now has as many hits in the month of May as Luis Valbuena does.

It’s disappointing that we had to lose Asdrubal Cabrera for Jason Donald to get his chance, but he is quickly proving to be a fine addition to the Indians. Yes, I’m aware it’s only been one game, but I can only think of one issue he had.

In the seventh inning, Willy Aybar popped up and both Donald and Jhonny Peralta ran in. The ball fell for an infield single. While the shortstop is technically captain of the team and is inherently the one to call it, Peralta was both right by it and has seniority; he should know what to do in this situation, so for now I’m willing to give a pass to Donald for that play.

We will get a better idea of Donald’s true potential over the next month, but I am happy with what I saw. You can tell that he wants to be there and is willing to make an impression. If he’s good enough we can even move Cabrera to second when he comes back.

Am I being too optimistic with him? Or is the way he played today symbolic of what to expect for the next several weeks? Maybe I’m just happy that someone’s having a multi-hit game for once.

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When someone asks who is one of baseball’s best closers, Mariano Rivera is among the first names on that list, and rightfully so. His career ERA is in the top 15 all time, and his ERA-plus is easily the greatest all time, not to mention his save numbers, and World Series rings as a member of the New York Yankees.

So what’s left for this dominant relief pitcher to accomplish at 40? How about holding a 0.00 ERA as long as he did.

After Minnesota Twins slugger Jason Kubel’s grand slam on Sunday off Rivera tabbed him with the loss, he was the second-to-last reliever  to lose his perfect ERA to start the season, losing only to Baltimore’s Will Ohman.

This is the third time Rivera has kept a perfect ERA until mid-May. In 1998, he lost it on May 14 against the Texas Rangers, his 11th game, and in 2008, he lost it on May 13, his 15th game, against the Tampa Bay Rays. Then today, in his 13th relief appearance, he given up his first earned runs of the season.

That being said, he had never gotten as far as May 16 with a perfect year intact, and this just shows how phenomenal a pitcher that he is. Pitchers occasionally make it this far on a fluke once, but they don’t three times unless they are just that good.

As there is no need to make this a long speech about how good he is, since most folks already know that, so let’s just look at a few facts— both interesting and somewhat random— from Rivera’s performance this season in comparison to his previous ones.

First, in 1998 and 2008, the two teams he lost his perfect ERA to won their division. It looks like it will be 3-for-3 with Minnesota taking the Central.

Second, even after that, his current ERA of 1.59 is the best of his career. This asks the question, how far could he go? Could he play until he’s 45? He’s clearly as dominant as he’s always been, so that’s a possibility.

Third, his WHIP of 0.617 is the best of his career. Not only that, but WHIPs like that just don’t exist in baseball statistics. That’s how good it is. All-time leader Addie Joss’s best was .806, and Ed Walsh, second all-time, and just ahead of Rivera in WHIP, had his best at .820. Rivera, meanwhile, has a previous best of .665.

What I’m trying to explain is simple. Even with his illustrious career, Rivera is still on pace for a personal best season, as well as an all-time great relief season.

There’s really nothing to compare his performances to, given that amazing pitching seasons are still inherently kept in the camp of starting pitchers.

If Andy Pettite or Phil Hughes were to slump away, could this be the year that Rivera wins a Cy Young? He’s certainly deserving of one, and that really is the one crown jewel missing from his career.

Rambling aside, I leave the questions to you: If he keeps this up, should he get the Cy Young Award this season? How about his Hall Of Fame credentials, has he shown enough to get in on the first ballot

Or will the bias against relievers keep him away for a couple years?

Sure, it’s May 2010, but with Mariano Rivera, we know he’s going to be great (we can write 2007 off as an off year by now), so it’s not too early to think of this.

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The Mariners’ hitting is, to be blunt, very bad.

As an Indians fan, I think of my team’s hitting, and think to myself, it could be worse. We could have the Mariners’ hitting.

They are last in runs, home runs, and slugging percentage, and nearly last in batting average, hits, and other categories.

So the question is, how do we fix this?

Clearly, the Mariners are still in the hunt in a tight AL West, so they aren’t out of it, and can afford to make some changes.

Here are five guaranteed ways to lift the Mariners’ spirits and get them back into things.

Note: The following list is satirical, and not a list of serious suggestions. Their minor league team isn’t hitting well either, so they don’t have many options available for modifying.

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