July Stats from the Bill Chuck Files

In honor of the July 8 game in which the Mets beat the Giants 4-3 in 16 innings, the longest game in July, here are 16 stats for your dining consumption. 

1. Tim Lincecum and Stephen Strasburg led the majors whiffing 44 in July but each were 1-3 on the month.
2. The AL hit 380 homers, the NL hit 312 in July.
3. Lucas Harrell walked 20 batters in 20.1 July IP.
4. The Yankees hit 10 homers in July, the fewest in the AL. It was the Yanks fewest July homers since they hit eight in 1919.
5. Greg Holland led the majors with 11 saves in July.
6. There were 24 complete games in July with 12 in each league, seven by the Rays.
7. In 13 scoreless innings in July, Tyler Clippard allowed two hits and held opponents to a .049 BAA.
8. Blue Jays pitchers allowed 37 homers in July, the Marlins gave up just 11.
9. Hiroki Kuroda made five starts in July. In 33 IP he allowed two runs (0.55 ERA).
10. In July, with runners in scoring position, from the 7th inning on, the Braves hit .373, the Orioles hit .078.
11. Before he was traded, Ian Kennedy threw 194 pitches for Arizona in July, the most in baseball.
12. The Red Sox were hit by 15 pitches in July, the most in the majors.
13. Derek Holland’s 30 swing and misses were the most in baseball in July.
14. The Brewers led the majors with 35 steals in July; the Orioles had only two steals.
15. Jerome Williams allowed 29 runs the most in July, he was followed by Josh Johnson and CC Sabathia with 27.
16. In July, Adrian Beltre hit .516 (16-31) from the 7th inning on.

Peter Gammons: Success after Safeco

The day after Dustin Ackley was shipped out to Tacoma, one American League East general manager called the Mariners’ Jack Zduriencik to see if Seattle would be willing to move the 25-year old once drafted one slot after Stephen Strasburg. “I still believe in the bat,” said the GM. “I don’t know how we’d use him. Maybe first, second, left, center…But I still believe he’s a .300 hitter who could hit 50 doubles.”

As it turned out, that wasn’t the only Ackley call Zduriencik fielded the first couple of days after the demotion. “I also believe in Dustin Ackley,” said Zduriencik. “He can still be a major part of our rebuilding.” Two weeks later, Tacoma manager John Stearns told his GM, “this guy is a .300 hitter who’s going to hit doubles and steal bases. He’s really good.”

After 24 games in Triple-A, Ackley was hitting .366. He was getting on base at a .467 clip. He was slugging .495. "I feel right again,” he said. “I don’t know what happened. I made some changes in my approach before spring training. Maybe that didn’t take. But I’ve been healthy (after the removal of bone spur in each ankle this past winter). It isn’t the move to second base; that was fine. I don’t know what happened, but I feel like myself again.”

Dustin Ackley (Seattle Mariners)

Safeco is still a pitcher's park

Zduriencik thinks that while they moved some of the fences in, Safeco is still a pitchers’ park, a death sentence for hitters. Adrian Beltre was spooked at Safeco. Jesus Montero has disappeared back to Tacoma. Ditto Justin Smoak. “I’m a great believer in getting hold of someone who has struggled in Seattle but we believe can hit,” says another GM. Which is what the Red Sox did when they took the shot on Mike Carp.

“I got to Fenway, started relaxing, didn’t try to pull the ball and my old stroke came back,” says Carp. “Safeco is death on driving the ball to left-center, which is where I need to stay. Fenway is the opposite.” Ask Fred Lynn, Mo Vaughn, David Ortiz, Wade Boggs…

The fact remains that while the Mariners are second to last in the American League in runs scored at home, in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 they were last. Dead last.

Now, in a city like Seattle, with some of the most intelligent analysis in the baseball journalism universe, one cannot pawn off the Mariners’ ill-fated history. Erik Bedard for Adam Jones and Chris Tillman? Jeff Clement? No need to go further. But they began to worry that Ackley was part of the bad legacy.

Ackley wasn’t just a good hitter at North Carolina, he was a great hitter, hence being the second pick in the 2009 draft after Stephen Strasburg and the signing bonus of more than $8M. He played 90 games for the Mariners in 2011, hit .273 with a .348/.421/.908 slash.

But it didn’t hold. In 2012, bothered by his ankles, he fell to .226/.294/.328/.622. Then he started 2013 a mess, .205/.266/.250. 

On to Tacoma. There they decided to let him play both left and center fields. “He took to both,” says Zduriencik. “He’s played both really well. His throwing has really come back."

In the meantime, Nick Franklin has played second base very well. Shortstop Brad Miller is starting to emerge in Tacoma. Catcher Mike Zunino is in the grooming process in the big leagues. And the off-season acquisitions of Raul Ibanez and Kendrys Morales have paid off, because they both can hit in Seattle.

“The most important thing is that the Seattle Mariners are returning to being a pitching team,” says Zduriencik. King Felix Hernandez is under contractual lock and key. Hisashi Iwakuma is really good, and his GM says, “believe me, he’s not going anywhere.” While Zduriencik admits he regrets trading Doug Fister, he projects Taijuan (Sky) Walker, Danny Hultzen and Erasmo Ramirez in the Seattle rotation by this time next season.

If that pitching is as good as they believe and Ackley, Franklin, Zunino and others join Kyle Seager in developing in Safeco, the Mariners can get good again, in a hurry. Parity? NFL equality? Fine, if you live in Seattle, you deserve a reason to believe.

Miguel Cabrera was Too Much with Two-Out

There were many categories in which Triple Crown leader Miguel Cabrera topped the batting world in 2012, but you may not realize that one of those lists was two-outs hits.

Miggy had 79 two-outs in 2012. That is more than Adrian Beltre's 73 two-out hits, David Wright's 72, Ryan Braun's 68, and Torii Hunter's 67. They were the five best in baseball last year.

Before you ask, Mike Trout had 50 two-out hits, the same as Edwin Encarnacion and Paul Goldschmidt.

Check out Cabrera in 2012 with two-out

That's a lot of red when pitchers want to get out of an inning don't you think?

With two-out in 2012, Cabrera hit .346 with 17 homers and 47 RBI. He had a .411 OBP and he slugged .618 giving him an OPS of 1.029.

Overall, Miguel Cabrera had a brilliant 2012 season, it was even great with two-outs.