|
They were two pitchers, doing their work 3,000 miles apart.
Mike Mussina in Boston. Bud Smith in San Diego.
Two pitchers, in two different leagues, on two different coasts, at two different points in their careers, but linked by the allure of what they were pursuing:
History. No-hit history. The kind of history that could make a packed house at Fenway Park stand and applaud a man who was, essentially, ending the home team's season.
|  | | Bud Smith and pitching coach Dave Duncan embrace after Smith pitched St. Louis' first no-hitter since '99 and the majors' third this year. |
Bud Smith pitched his no-hitter. Mike Mussina got one strike away from his perfect game. But either way, they leave us many notable, historic tidbits that will make us further appreciate the kind of magic they spun.
Just suppose, for instance, that Mussina thrown that perfect game Sunday. If he had ...
David Cone would have become the first pitcher ever to throw a perfect game and have one thrown against him.
Cone would have become just the second active pitcher to be the winning and losing pitcher in a no-hitter, joining only Randy Johnson (the loser in Jose Jimenez's no-no in 1999).
Mussina's 13 strikeouts would have been the second-most ever in a perfect game, behind only Sandy Koufax's 14 against the Cubs, on Sept. 9, 1965.
This would have been the first perfect game ever thrown at Fenway, the first against the Red Sox and the first involving the Red Sox -- win or lose -- since Cy Young threw the first perfect game in AL history, on May 5, 1904, against the A's.
This would have been only the fourth no-hitter ever in a Yankees-Red Sox game. The others: Dave Righetti against the Red Sox on July 4, 1983, George Mogridge against the Red Sox on April 24, 1917 and Cy Young against the Yankees on June 30, 1908.
And this would have been the first no-hitter in Fenway since Sept. 16, 1965 (Dave Morehead's). There have been no-hitters in 32 other parks since then, including six in Dodger Stadium (plus a Mark Gardner no-hitter broken up in extra innings), six in the Astrodome, five in Yankee Stadium and even one in Coors Field.
Mussina, by the way, was only the fourth pitcher (and first non-Red Sox pitcher) in the last 27 years to take a perfect game into the seventh inning at Fenway. The others, courtesy of the Elias Sports Bureau's Rob Tracy:
Danny Darwin, July 25, 1992 -- 18 straight outs
Oil Can Boyd, July 21, 1988 -- 19 straight outs
Rick Wise, Sept. 9, 1976 -- 18 straight outs
It seems hard to believe that 161 wins into his career, Mussina could still have zero no-hitters, while Bud Smith could have pitched one already, not even three months into his own career. But that's the injustice of this sport.
How young was Bud Smith when he lined the scoreboard with zeroes? Here's how young:
Smith had three career wins in the big leagues before throwing his no-hitter -- which still left him three short of the record for that sort of thing. Wilson Alvarez, Bobo Holloman and Bumpus Jones all had no career wins when they threw their no-hitters.
At age 21 years, 10 months, Smith was the fourth-youngest pitcher to throw a no-hitter, trailing Nick Maddox (20 years, 10 months), Vida Blue (21 years, 2 months) and Alvarez (21 years, 9 months).
The opposing leadoff hitter in this game, Rickey Henderson, had 93 career hits in the big leagues before Smith even made it onto the active roster of planet earth in October, 1979.
Also, keep in mind all of this ...
Smith now has thrown as many no-hitters in his Cardinals career as Bob Gibson did (one).
And while the Padres still have never thrown a no-hitter, they've become only the 13th team to be the victims of two no-hitters in the same season. The complete list of those clubs, courtesy of loyal reader Lee Sinins, of baseballimmortals.net:
1884 Providence Grays -- Al Atkisson, Ed Morris
1885 Providence Grays -- John Clarkson, Charlie Ferguson
1898 Braves -- Jim Hughes, Frank Donahue
1917 White Sox -- Ernie Koob, Bob Groom
1923 Athletics -- Sad Sam Jones, Howard Ehmke
1960 Phillies -- Lew Burdette, Warren Spahn
1965 Cubs -- Jim Maloney, Sandy Koufax (perfect game)
1967 Tigers -- Steve Barber-Stu Miller (combined), Joel Horlen
1971 Reds -- Ken Holtzman, Rick Wise
1973 Tigers -- Steve Busby, Nolan Ryan
1977 Angels -- Dennis Eckersley, Bert Blyleven
1996 Rockies _--Al Leiter, Hideo Nomo
2001 Padres -- A.J. Burnett, Bud Smith
The Padres have had six no-hitters carried into the sixth inning against them this year -- and three into the eighth inning (Smith, Burnett and Curt Schilling on May 23, who made it through 7 2/3 before he met up with Ben Davis). Had any of those other guys gone the distance, the Padres would have been the first team ever to get no-hit three times in one year.
Miscellaneous rumblings
Let's start our discussion on the Red Sox/John Cumberland front with this: Cumberland was telling friends late last week he expected to get fired within a few days. So at least he apparently wasn't shocked by his abrupt axing Sunday night in a clubhouse already reeling from losing to Mike Mussina's near-perfect game.
But he might have been the only one. It was clear by the way Red Sox players reacted to Cumberland's firing that they had no trouble with his "performance." Yet that was still the curious official reason given for Cumberland's axing.
"The way that staff operated, Cumberland was the guy the pitchers went to for the mechanical stuff," says one AL source who knows the inner workings of the Red Sox. "Joe (Kerrigan) is one of the best coaches in baseball from the standpoint of preparing a pitcher to pitch to any hitter and any lineup. He's as good at that as anybody.
"But Cumberland was a guy a lot of those pitchers went to for the other stuff. He's very good at the 'pitching stuff,' a positive guy, a very upbeat guy. So this will really leave a void on that club."
Several baseball men we spoke with this week questioned the timing of this firing, especially since it came at the end of a weekend that hasn't been matched by any staff in at least the last 20 years.
The Elias Sports Bureau checked back to 1980 and couldn't find any other team that got swept in a three-game series in which its starting pitchers went six-plus innings in all three games and gave up a total of one run for the whole series.
The closest any teams have come to that:
2 runs -- Sept. 18-20, 2000. Diamondbacks vs. Dodgers (Diamondbacks starters: Armando Reynoso, Brian Anderson, Randy Johnson).
2 runs -- Aug. 22-24, 1980. Cubs vs. Astros (Cubs starters: Mike Krukow, Rick Reuschel, Dennis Lamp).
3 runs -- Aug. 27-29, 1999. Cardinals vs. Braves (Cardinals starters: Garret Stephenson, Darren Oliver, Rick Ankiel).
3 runs -- May 29-31, 1992. White Sox vs. Blue Jays (White Sox starters: Greg Hibbard, Kirk McCaskill, Charlie Hough).
But let's get down to the real bottom line on the reason this Red Sox season has gone up in flames:
This is a team built around its three stars, but Nomar Garciaparra, Pedro Martinez and Manny Ramirez never played in the same game all season.
As good as the Astros are -- and, especially, as fearsome as their lineup looks from a distance -- this team had scored three runs or fewer in eight of its last 12 games through Monday, and 11 of its last 19.
GM Gerry Hunsicker says his big concern is that his lineup might be too right-handed -- meaning it might be vulnerable to good righthanded pitching.
The Astros' on-base percentage is, in fact, 23 points lower against right-handers (.365 vs LHP, .342 vs. RHP). And the list of right-handed starters who have held this lineup to two runs or fewer in the last month includes Robert Person, Mac Suzuki, Brandon Duckworth, Jon Lieber, Todd Ritchie and Dave Williams.
Another amazing Astros fact, pointed out by the Houston Chronicle's Richard Justice: Even though their starting pitching has often been phenomenal, they've used 14 different starters this season. Here is the number used by the other NL contenders:
Dodgers, 11
Diamondbacks, 10
Phillies, 9
Cubs, 9 (but their sixth through ninth starters have pitched a TOTAL of only six games)
Cardinals, 8
Giants, 7
Braves, 7
One worry the Phillies' brass has about its team -- which now has gone five straight series without winning one -- is that it has so many young players who have never been through a pennant-race September and don't know how good they are.
"And it would be a shame if they wait until after the season to remind themselves," says one member of the organization.
A big concern manager Larry Bowa has is that it's gotten harder and harder for the Phillies to run -- which is the way they've manufactured a huge chunk of their runs this year.
"Since June 1, we haven't caught anybody by surprise," Bowa says. "Teams play us differently now. They pitchout. They use the slide-step. When the season started, nobody did any of that. So it's gotten tougher and tougher to steal bases. And without stolen bases, I don't know where we'd be."
The Phillies' stolen-base success rate in June: 91.4 percent (32 for 35). In July: 83.3 percent (25 for 30). In August: 69.4 percent (25 for 36).
Much as we waxed poetic about the Mariners in another column, a scout who has seen Seattle twice in recent weeks says his big concern about this team would be that "their bullpen's not the same -- Sasaki and Nelson, especially. Nelson's command hasn't been good. Sasaki's velocity is down, and his location on his fastball isn't as good."
Best starting pitcher one AL scout has seen in the last month: Kelvim Escobar.
"His stuff was filthy, start to finish," the scout said. "His last inning, he was still throwing 98 (mph) -- with life. They might have something special there."
The Braves used to go out in August and trade for Denny Neagle. So it sure was fascinating to see the guys they obtained this Aug. 31: Julio Franco and Rudy Seanez.
"Seanez is a guy who could break down any minute," said one NL scout. "And Franco is a blast from the past. Seeing that -- it was good to see the Braves entertaining the same names all the rest of us do. It's like they've joined the rest of the pack."
And as long as Danny Almonte has brought suspect birth dates back into the news, remember that no current player's age has been in dispute longer than Franco's.
When he first reached the big leagues, with the '82 Phillies, all of baseball's publications listed his birth date as Aug. 23, 1958 -- which would make him 43 now. The next year, in Cleveland, it was listed as Aug. 23, 1961 -- which would make him 40 now.
And in case you missed it, we had a Randy Myers sighting last week. He was signed to a minor-league deal by the Mariners, reuniting him with that other reincarnated Nasty Boy, Norm Charlton. That leaves only one inactive ex-Nasty Boy, a certain ESPN employee of some repute.
After the Myers signing, Lou Piniella quipped: "Dibble's next."
Charlton's response: "If Dibble comes back, I'm retiring."
Triviality
The Mariners' 100th win will make Lou Piniella the seventh active manager who has won 100 games in a season at least once. Can you name the other six? (Answer at bottom.)
Useless information dept.
Bud Smith's no-hitter just adds to the legacy of the greatest name-game rivalry of all time -- the Smiths versus the Joneses.
Smith has dueled Bobby Jones twice in the last week, adding their names to an illustrious list of Smiths who have pitched against Joneses over the years. And that no-hitter continued the mysterious dominance of the Smiths in that rivalry.
The two games in which those two have faced each other in the last week were the 10th and 11th Smith-Jones matchups since 1980. And with the help of the Elias Sports Bureau's Randy Robles, we've determined that the Smith-Jones standings look this way:
Smiths: 5-2, four no-decisions
Joneses: 2-6, three no-decisions
Winningest Smith: Bryn (3-0 lifetime vs. Joneses)
Winningest Jones: (tie) Bobby (1-2 lifetime vs. Smiths); and Jimmy (1-4 lifetime vs. Smiths).
The complete list of Smith-Jones duels since 1980:
1984 -- Roy Smith (Indians) vs. Mike Jones (Royals) , July 2 (Royals win, 4-3)
1987 -- Bryn Smith (Expos) vs Jimmy Jones (Padres), June 2 (Expos win, 6-2); July 5 (Padres win, 3-2); and Aug. 27 (Expos win, 3-0)
1988 -- Bryn Smith (Expos) vs. Jimmy Jones (Padres), Aug. 27 (Expos win, 4-0)
1988 -- Pete Smith (Braves) vs Jimmy Jones (Padres), June 4 (Padres win, 6-5); and Aug. 11 (Braves win, 2-1)
1992 -- Zane Smith (Pirates) vs. Jimmy Jones (Astros), July 6 (Astros win, 1-0)
1994 -- Zane Smith (Pirates) vs. Bobby J. Jones (Mets), May 24 (Mets win, 4-2)
2001 -- Bud Smith (Cardinals) vs Bobby J. Jones (Padres), Aug. 29 (Cardinals win, 16-14); and Sept. 3 (Smith throws no-hitter, Cardinals win, 4-0)
And while we're on the subject of that 16-14 game, Elias' Randy Robles reports that not counting games in Colorado, the Padres were just the second National League team to score 14 runs in a game and lose since the Phillies lost that 15-14 game to the Blue Jays in Game 4 of the 1993 World Series.
The other team to do it: the Cubs, who lost a 16-15 game in Montreal on May 14, 2000.
White Sox pitcher Rocky Biddle pulled off quite a feat Sunday. He was the winning pitcher in a game he once trailed 6-0. Elias' Rob Tracy reports Biddle was only the fourth starting pitcher in the last 10 years to wind up winning a game in which they trailed by six runs or more. The others:
June 24, 1998 (Rockies 8, Astros 6) -- Pedro Astacio (trailed 6-0)
June 4, 1997 (Brewers 13, Red Sox 11) -- Cal Eldred (trailed 7-0)
May 16, 1995 (Angels 9, Twins 6) -- Mike Bielecki (trailed 6-0)
Ichiro note of the week: Batting average with runners in scoring position wasn't chronicled when Ted Williams played. But Elias has kept it for the last 25 years, and Ichiro's .484 average with men in scoring position through Monday would rank No. 1 in that quarter-century of advanced stat-cyphering. The top four, courtesy of Elias, with a minimum of 100 at-bats:
Ichiro Suzuki, 2001, .484
George Brett, 1980, .466
Tony Gwynn, 1997, .459
Paul Molitor, 1987, .449
What a year this is for rookies. No rookie starter has finished a season 10 games over .500 since 1985 (when Tom Browning went 20-9), But this year, two rookies were 10 over through Monday -- C.C. Sabathia (15-4) and Roy Oswalt (12-2).
Since the Rookie of the Year voting began in 1948, there has never been a season in which two rookie starters were 10 over .500. There have been only four rookie starters who finished 10 over .500 in the 32 seasons of division play. And the last year we found when two different rookies were 10 over was 1945, when Boo Ferris went 21-10 for the Red Sox and Ken Burkhart went 18-8 for the Cardinals.
The four rookies who have finished 10 over since division play began in 1969:
Tom Browning, 1985 Reds (20-9)
Mark Fidrych, 1976 Tigers (19-9)
Wayne Simpson, 1970 Reds (14-3)
Mike Nagy, 1969, Red Sox (12-2)
But neither Sabathia nor Oswalt is going to win the Rookie of the Year award, because the position-player crop is too good. Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins won't win it either, thanks to Albert Pujols. But Rollins (42 stolen bases) and Ichiro (46) have a chance to become just the fourth pair of rookies since 1900 to steal 50-plus bases apiece. The others, according to the Elias Sports Bureau:
1909* -- Bob Bescher, Reds (54) and Donie Bush, Tigers (53)
1977 -- Omar Moreno, Pirates (53) and Gene Richards, Padres (56)
1992 -- Pat Listach, Brewers (54) and Kenny Lofton, Indians (66)
* There was no official definition of a "rookie" in 1909, but these two fit the modern definition.
At 15-4, Sabathia's winning percentage this season is .789. The only pitchers in history who were 21 or younger, had 15 or more decisions and had a winning percentage that high over a full season:
Dwight Gooden, 1985 (24-4, .857)
Bob Moose, 1969 (14-3, .824)
Wayne Simpson, 1970 (14-3, .824)
Wally Bunker, 1964 (19-5, .792)
You've gotta love the return of Julio Franco. This guy was once traded for the likes of Von Hayes and Pete O'Brien. His one-time teammates included Pete Rose, Willie Montanez, Ed Farmer, Stan Bahnsen, Toby Harrah, Mike Hargrove, Andre Thornton, Gorman Thomas, Otto Velez, Johnnie LeMaster and Bert Blyleven.
And since Franco just drove in his first run in four years, it's cool to recall that his first RBI came on a double off a young Dodgers reliever named Dave Stewart on April 28, 1982 -- in a game in which Jorge Orta, Dusty Baker and Sparky Lyle also made the box score.
We're big Rafael Palmeiro fans around here. So here's a salute to Palmeiro for joining that Babe Ruth guy as the second man in history to hit at least 38 home runs seven seasons in a row. But all feats have to be judged in context, so remember this:
In Ruth's streak, all the other players in baseball combined to have 13 seasons of at least 38 homers. During Palmeiro's streak, everyone else was up to 83 seasons of at least 38 homers, even with four weeks left in this season.
Pirates starter Todd Ritchie started out the season 0-8. He got all the way back to 10-11 before losing his start Friday in Cincinnati. But Pirates media-relations whiz Jim Trdinich reports that Ritchie still has a chance to do something no other pitcher has done since 1900 -- finish with a winning record after such a terrible start.
According to Elias' John Labombarda, 64 pitchers since 1900 have begun a season with an 0-8 record or worse -- and none even finished at .500, let alone had a winning record. Ritchie probably has five starts left, so stay tuned.
Randy Johnson note of the week: The East Valley Tribune's Ed Price reports that since July 19, the Unit has pitched in 74 innings -- and allowed a run in seven of them. Ridiculous.
Booth Newspapers' Danny Knobler reportst that those always-unique Tigers have managed to go more than a month without a home run from their regular No. 3 hitter (Bobby Higginson) and cleanup hitter (Tony Clark). Higginson's last home run was July 19. Clark's last homer was July 27. The Tigers have gone homerless in 56 games this year -- and they're 7-20 on the road when they don't homer.
Stuff happens in baseball that ought to be impossible. In last Wednesday's Pirates-Brewers game, the Brewers had runners on first and third, Geoff Jenkins grounded out to second, and when the dust had settled, the runner on first (Richie Sexson) was still on first, and the runner on third (Jeromy Burnitz) was still on third. How? The Pirates took the out at first, then came up empty in attempts to run down the other two.
Our minor leaguer of the week: Binghamtom Mets outfielder Rob Stratton, who became the second player since 1987 to strike out 200 times in a season. Stratton finished with 201 whiffs in 483 at-bats (but did hit 29 homers). And that puts him in this illustrious company, according to Howe Sportsdata/Sportsticker's Kevin Winter:
Last to do it: Al Shirley in 1994, 208 whiffs in 437 at-bats for Columbia of the South Atlantic League.
Most ever: Wes Kent, 220 strikeouts in 504 at-bats in 1984, for San Jose of the California League.
Other big K seasons:
-- Rondall Rollin in1987, 218 K's in 513 at-bats for Birmingham of the Southern League.
-- Roger Cain in 1971, 216 whiffs in 135 games, for Birmingham of the Southern League.
-- Gerald Lyscio in 1965, 200 punchouts for Cocoa of the Florida State League.
The Sultan's Corner
No player had ever hit more home runs in a career before his first 50-homer season than Barry Bonds (494), according to the Sultan of Swat Stats, SABR's David Vincent. No one, for that matter, had ever come close.
Most HRs before first 50-homer season:
Barry Bonds, 2001 -- 494
Mark McGwire, 1996 _277
Ken Griffey, 1997--238
Sammy Sosa, 1998 --207
Johnny Mize, 1947 -- 206
Fewest HRs before first 50-homer season:
Ralph Kiner, 1947 --23
Cecil Fielder, 1990 -- 31
Babe Ruth, 1920 -- 49
Willie Mays, 1955 -- 65
Brady Anderson, 1996 -- 72
This year marks only the second time in history we've had more than two players hit 50 homers in the same season. The other was 1998. Here, courtesy of the Sultan, are the dates the four 50-homer men in 1998 reached the big 5-0:
Aug. 20 -- Mark McGwire
Aug. 23 -- Sammy Sosa
Sept. 7 -- Ken Griffey Jr.
Sept. 27 -- Greg Vaughn
And this year:
Aug. 11 -- Barry Bonds
Aug. 26 -- Sammy Sosa
Aug. 29 -- Luis Gonzalez
Barry Bonds needed 13 home runs in September to break McGwire's record _ a total 13 players in history have reached. But Sosa needed 17 -- a total only two have reached. Most home runs in September:
Albert Belle, 1995 -- 17
Babe Ruth, 1927 -- 17
Hank Greenberg, 1946 -- 16
Ralph Kiner, 1949 -- 16
Hank Greenberg, 1940 -- 15
Mark McGwire, 1997 -- 15
Mark McGwire, 1998 -- 15
The great Alex Rodriguez already has run off a streak of four straight 40-homer seasons -- at age 26. Not only has no one in history ever done it that young, but only five other players have a streak of four or more while even in their 20s:
Ken Griffey Jr., 1996-2000 (5 straight -- turned 30 before fifth)
Ralph Kiner, 1947-1951 (5 straight, ages 24-28)
Duke Snider, 1953-1957 (5 straight, turned 30 two weeks before end of fourth)
Ernie Banks, 1957-1960 (4 straight, ages 26-29)
Harmon Killebrew, 1961-1964 (4 straight, ages 25-28)
And when Jason Schmidt homered for the Giants on Thursday, he became the 10th pitcher in history to homer for two teams in the same season -- but the first in 31 years. The others:
Clark Griffith, 1891 -- St. Louis (AA), Boston (American Assoc.)
Thomas Seaton, 1915 -- Brooklyn, Newark (Federal League)
Tony Kaufmann, 1927 -- Cubs, Phillies
Jim Tobin, 1945 -- Braves, Tigers
Tommy Byrne, 1951 -- Yankees, Browns
Don Cardwell, 1960 -- Phillies, Cubs
Ray Sadecki, 1966 -- Cardinals, Giants
Earl Wilson, 1966 -- Red Sox, Tigers
Earl Wilson, 1970 -- Tigers, Padres
Trivia answer
Bobby Cox (1993-97-98-99), Tony La Russa (1988-90), Joe Torre (1998), Mike Hargrove (1995), Dusty Baker (1993), Larry Dierker (1998).
Jayson Stark is a Senior Writer at ESPN.com. Rumblings and Grumblings appears each week.
| |
|
