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The season is two months old. Curt Schilling has walked exactly eight hitters. Eight.
That's 96 innings, eight walks. That's 13 starts, eight walks. That's 365 hitters faced, eight walks. That's 131 strikeouts, eight walks.
If he can keep this up, he is headed for the most amazing season ever of many strikeouts, many wins and no free passes up that first-base line. Here's a look at the mind-boggling territory where this is headed -- and where it's gone already.
| |
|
| |
| 2002 SEASON STATISTICS |
| GM |
W-L |
IP |
BB |
K |
ERA |
| 13 |
11-1 |
96 |
8 |
131 |
2.81 |
|
|
First of all, through Monday, Schilling had faced an incredible 138 consecutive hitters since his last walk. Since that now-fabled last walk -- to the Pirates' Armando Rios, on May 8 -- Schilling has piled up 47 strikeouts, the Diamondbacks have scored 37 runs for him and Barry Bonds has walked 25 times all by himself.
Just for comparison's sake, the Dodgers' Kazuhisa Ishii -- a Cy Young contender himself, at 9-1 -- has walked 22 of the last 138 hitters he's faced.
Then there's this: Schilling has more wins (11) than walks (8). We regard this as one of the coolest feats in pitching history. And it has been done exactly four times since 1900 (by pitchers who qualifed for the ERA title) -- Bret Saberhagen (14 wins, 13 walks in the '94 strike season), Slim Sallee (21 wins, 20 walks in 1919), Christy Mathewson in 1914 (24 wins, 23 walks) and Mathewson again in 1913 (25 wins, 21 walks).
But Schilling is pledging for that More Wins Than Walks fraternity in a year when he is also on a pace to strike out 379 hitters (and walk 23). Mathewson didn't even strike out 200 in both of his More Wins Than Walks seasons combined. Sallee barely had more strikeouts (24) than walks (20) in 1919.
So Saberhagen's 143 whiffs would be the most ever in a More Wins Than Walks season. And Schilling is on a pace to finish only 50 strikeouts shy of tripling that record. Unbelievable.
Of course, Schilling is also on a pace to go 32-3, so we'll concede he won't keep accumulating numbers at this rate in just about any category. Nevertheless, only one pitcher since 1900 ever won 18 games or more, struck out 200 and walked 30 or fewer in the same season. That would be somebody named Cy Young -- who did it twice:
|
Pitcher
|
Year
|
Wins
|
BB
|
SO
|
|
Cy Young
|
1904
|
26
|
29
|
200
|
|
Cy Young
|
1905
|
18
|
30
|
210
|
(Source: Lee Sinins' sabermetric baseball encyclopedia.)
Meanwhile, in another upset, Schilling the hitter is currently outhitting the batters who have had the misfortune of facing him by 102 points (.306 to .204). So he actually has more hits this year (11) than he has issued walks. And only one pitcher since 1955 has pulled off that feat over a full season (of 150 innings or more) -- Don Newcombe.
The Elias Sports Bureau's Rob Tracy reports that Newcombe, amazingly, did it twice:
|
Year
|
Pitcher
|
IP
|
BB
|
Hits
|
|
1959
|
Don Newcombe
|
222
|
27
|
32
|
|
1955
|
Don Newcombe
|
234
|
38
|
42
|
(Newcombe pitched for the Reds in 1959 and the Dodgers in 1955.)
Since Schilling will serve up a solo homer now and then, he also has more home runs allowed (nine) than walks. No 200-strikeout man since 1900 has ever done that over a full season, either. Here are the only four who even got within 10 -- including Schilling himself:
|
Pitcher
|
Year
|
BB
|
HR
|
SO
|
|
Curt Schilling
|
2001
|
39
|
37
|
293
|
|
Juan Marichal
|
1966
|
36
|
32
|
222
|
|
Ferguson Jenkins
|
1971
|
37
|
29
|
263
|
|
Bert Blyleven
|
1986
|
58
|
50
|
215
|
Finally, Schilling's strikeout-walk ratio is currently up to a surreal 15.4 strikeouts for every walk. That would almost double the greatest ratio in history by a pitcher who struck out 300 in a season -- or even 200.
The 300-Strikeout Club honor roll:
|
Pitcher
|
Year
|
SO/BB
|
BB
|
SO
|
|
Pedro Martinez
|
1999
|
8.46
|
37
|
313
|
|
Curt Schilling
|
1997
|
5.50
|
58
|
319
|
|
Sandy Koufax
|
1965
|
5.38
|
71
|
382
|
|
Sandy Koufax
|
1963
|
5.28
|
58
|
306
|
|
Randy Johnson
|
2001
|
5.24
|
71
|
372
|
And the leaders for 200 whiffs or more:
|
Pitcher
|
Year
|
SO/BB
|
BB
|
SO
|
|
Pedro Martinez
|
2000
|
8.88
|
32
|
284
|
|
Pedro Martinez
|
1999
|
8.46
|
37
|
313
|
|
Curt Schilling
|
2001
|
7.51
|
39
|
293
|
|
Ferguson Jenkins
|
1971
|
7.11
|
37
|
263
|
|
Cy Young
|
1905
|
7.00
|
30
|
210
|
(Source: Lee Sinins' sabermetric baseball encyclopedia.)
Useless Robert Person information
Until Sunday, the Phillies were the only team in the National League that hadn't scored 10 runs in a game. Then, thanks to the hitting exploits of their pitcher, they scored 10 just in the first inning, against the Expos.
Also until Sunday, no Phillies position player had gotten an extra-base hit all season with the bases loaded. Then the pitcher, Robert Person, hit a grand slam. Figures.
| |  | |
| Person |
Person was the first pitcher to hit a first-inning grand slam since Dave McNally did it for the Orioles, in those glorious pre-DH days of 1968. In fact, it was only the fourth first-inning slam by a pitcher in history. The others, courtesy of the Sultan of Swat Stats, SABR's David Vincent:
Aug. 26, 1968: Dave McNally, Orioles
July 3,1966: Tony Cloninger, Braves
April 27, 1965: Camilo Pascual, Twins
Equally impressive is that the guy who allowed that grand slam was a relief pitcher (Bruce Chen). And suffice it to say the list of relievers giving up grand slams in the first inning is a short one. The only other three relief pitchers to do it in the last 10 years, according to the Elias Sports Bureau:
Oct. 5, 2001: Chipper Jones off Marlins reliever Benito Baez (after starter Ryan Dempster had exited).
Aug. 21, 2000: Juan Gonzalez off Twins reliever Oscar Munoz (starter: Scott Klingenbeck).
June 8, 1992: Milt Cuyler off Indians reliever Dennis Cook (starter: Scott Scudder).
Another cool element of Person's two-homer game was that manager Larry Bowa let him bat one more time in the bottom of the fifth even though he was through pitching for the day. Person then hit his second homer, did his curtain-call thing and departed. Here, with the help of David Vincent, are the only other games we could find since 1975 in which a pitcher homered, then left without pitching anymore:
Rick Ankiel, Cardinals, April 20, 2000 vs. Padres (5th)
Dennis Cook, Marlins, July 25, 1997 vs. Cardinals (9th)
David Palmer, Phillies, April 17, 1988 vs. Expos (5th)
Jeff Robinson, Pirates, Sept. 9, 1987 vs. Cubs (9th)
Rick Reuschel, Pirates, May 22, 1987 vs Reds (8th)
Ken Brett, Pirates, April 20, 1975 vs. Cardinals (7th)
So now Person has a seven-RBI game on his permanent record. ESPN research genius Jeff Bennett reports that all these players don't: Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro, Fred McGriff and Frank Thomas (among many others).
Let's also keep in mind that Person hit a slam before Derek Jeter (105 career homers), Alex (The Cubbie) Gonzalez (87 homers) and Michael Tucker (83). What a sport!
Finally, since division play began, there have been only 11 multihomer games by National League pitchers. For reasons that must have something to do with cheesesteak vibes, five of them have been by Phillies. Here are all 11:
June 23, 1971: Rick Wise, Phillies
Aug. 28, 1971: Rick Wise, Phillies
Sept. 1, 1971: Ferguson Jenkins, Cubs
Sept. 5, 1976: Larry Christenson, Phillies
Sept. 30, 1978: Randy Lerch, Phillies
Aug. 6, 1983: Walt Terrell, Mets
May 12, 1985: Jim Gott, Giants
May 1, 1990: Derek Lilliquist, Braves
Aug. 8, 2000: Darren Dreifort, Dodgers
June 5, 2001: Mike Hampton, Rockies
June 2, 2002: Robert Person, Phillies
In other useless information ...
One of the most amazing home run facts of the year was uncovered this weekend by the Elias Sports Bureau. When the top three home run hitters in the American League in May were all Yankees (Jason Giambi 10, Bernie Williams 8, Alfonso Soriano 8), it marked the first time in more than half a century one team had produced the top three home run hitters in any month.
Last time it happened: September, 1950, also by the Yankees (the Hall of Fame bound trio of Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra and Johnny Mize, with nine apiece).
But this actually happened twice in 1927. Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth and Tony Lazzeri finished 1-2-3 in that order in June, then did the same thing again (in the same order) in July. And what were the odds of Gehrig outhomering Ruth in back-to-back months in the same season Ruth hit 60 home runs?
We almost had an incredible confluence of non-homering feats last weekend, when we just missed having two different pitchers (Boston's Derek Lowe and Detroit's Jeff Weaver) working on streaks of 100 consecutive innings without giving up a home run -- at the same time.
According to Elias' Robert Tracy, since the modern rocketball era began with the 1993 season, only one pitcher -- Kevin Brown -- had made it through 100 innings or more without a gopherball. (Brown went 118 innings between homers in 1996-97.)
Then Weaver ran his streak to 105 2/3 innings before giving up a home run to Toronto's Eric Hinske on Sunday. The day before, Lowe had gotten his own homerless streak up to 98 innings before letting the bullpen finish up his start against the Yankees.
More four-home-run history for Mike Cameron: When he batted in the No. 9 spot in the Mariners' batting order Saturday, Cameron became the first four-homer man ever to bat ninth in the same season in which he had his four-homer game, according to Elias.
| |  | |
| Sturtze |
Now that Robert Person has won a game, that makes the Devil Rays' Tanyon Sturtze the only Opening Day starter in the big leagues who still hasn't won. Sturtze is up to 12 starts, no wins this year. And while Todd Ritchie matched that for the Pirates last year, Sturtze is the first American League Opening Day starter to go 0 for his first 12 starts in 20 years.
Who was the last before him? Elias reports it was Rick Waits (0 wins, 12 starts) of the '82 Indians.
If Sturtze goes winless in his lucky 13th start next weekend, he would become the first Opening Day starter in either league to stay winless that long since 1979, when Tom Underwood made 13 straight for the Blue Jays. This is one of those streaks that at least tends to guarantee you won't get a chance to duplicate it the next year.
One of our favorite notes of the week is supplied by loyal reader Doug Greenwald: John Smoltz pitched in a game against Frank Robinson's Expos last week. So what's so cool about that?
Despite their 32-year difference in age, they were both once traded for Doyle Alexander. That's what. Robinson was traded by the Orioles to the Dodgers for Alexander in 1971. Smoltz was traded by the Tigers to the Braves for the same guy 16 years later.
We always hear how misleading a month April is. So here's what the standings would have looked like on June 1 if the season had started in May:
|
NL East
|
NL Central
|
NL West
|
|
Atlanta 18-10
|
St. Louis 18-10
|
Colorado 19-10
|
|
Florida 13-15
|
Cincinnati 16-13
|
Arizona 17-10
|
|
Phila. 12-14
|
Houston 13-15
|
S.F. 15-12
|
|
New York 12-15
|
Chicago 13-16
|
L.A. 15-13
|
|
Montreal 11-17
|
Pittsburgh 11-19
|
San Diego 11-18
|
|
|
Milwaukee 10-18
|
|
|
AL East
|
AL Central
|
AL West
|
|
Boston 20-8
|
Minnesota 15-13
|
Anaheim 19-7
|
|
New York 19-9
|
K.C. 13-14
|
Seattle 16-11
|
|
Baltimore 12-14
|
Cleveland 13-15
|
Texas 11-16
|
|
Toronto 10-17
|
Detroit 12-14
|
Oakland 10-17
|
|
Tampa Bay 9-19
|
Chicago 12-16
|
|
It's a strange game, all right.
Scott Rolen in May: 1 HR, 5 RBI
Scott Rolen on June 1: 2 HR, 5 RBI
Kazuhiro Sasaki in April and May: 20 2/3 IP, 10 H, 0 ER, 28 K
Kazuhiro Sasaki on June 1: 0 IP, 4 hitters faced, 2 H, 2 R (1 ER), 0 K
According to Elias, Sasaki was only the second closer since the modern save rule came along in 1969 to have at least 10 saves and a 0.00 ERA when he woke up June 1. The other was Lee Smith, but that was in the '95 strike season that started late. So Smith had pitched just 12 1/3 innings through May.
Now more irony from last week: In case you missed the three-bagger of the week, Mike Piazza finally hit his first triple as a Met on Memorial Day. What's especially fascinating about that -- as loyal reader Jerry Beach, Mets beat man for e-sportsnation.com, reports -- is that Piazza's only extra-base hit for his previous team, the Marlins, was (what else?) a triple.
Piazza played exactly five games as a Marlin and hit one triple. It took him until his 570th game as a Met to hit his first triple. Other extra-base hits as a Marlin: zero. Other extra-base hits as a Met: 263 (146 HR, 117 doubles).
In their series in Chicago last week, the Yankees came from two runs behind in the eighth inning to win last Tuesday, then rallied from three back in the ninth to win Wednesday. As much as it seems as if the Yankees do that stuff all the time, Elias reports it was the first time they'd come from two runs behind or more to win back-to-back road games since Aug. 17-18, 1960, when they did it twice at Fenway.
A reminder of how great a player Lou Brock was in his day: Rickey Henderson finally passed Brock in hits Friday -- 11 years after he passed him in stolen bases.
Remember that insane game last Aug. 5, when the Mariners blew a 12-run lead to the Indians in the last three innings? It practically came back to life Friday -- when stuff happened in two other games that hadn't happened since that game.
First, the Mariners blew a five-run lead to lose in Baltimore -- the first time they'd led by five or more and lost since that unforgettable night in Cleveland.
The same night, the Devil Rays scored eight runs in an inning against Oakland, but still lost -- the first time any team had scored eight in an inning and lost since (yep) the Mariners did it in that Aug. 5 classic.
| |  | |
| Martinez |
When Pedro Martinez is warming up for Game 1 of the ALDS, remember you read this here first: The Red Sox will make the playoffs.
After 50 games, they were 20 games over .500 already (35-15). And Elias reports that in the last 50 years, only one team started a season 35-15 or better and didn't make it into the postseason.
That was the 1962 Dodgers, who finished tied with the Giants, but lost the pennant in a three-game tie-breaker playoff after the season. So under the current system, obviously, they would have been in the postseason.
On the other hand, that doesn't mean the Red Sox are going to beat out the Yankees -- because we know how all Red Sox-Yankees pennant races tend to turn out.
We asked the Elias Sports Bureau's Alex Stern to look at every race in AL history in which the Yankees and Red Sox were within 3 games of each other at any point in September.
He found that had happened 10 times. The only seasons in which the Red Sox came out ahead in those races were 1904 (when there was no postseason) and 1988 (when the Yankees faded to fifth place). And of course, there was 1978, when the two teams tied for first until Bucky Dent got mixed up in this thing. Sorry for bringing that up, but facts are facts.
Through Monday, the Giants were 13-3 (an .813 winning percentage) when Barry Bonds homered. They were 19-21 (a .475 winning percentate) when he didn't.
Speaking of Barry, we also asked Alex Stern to look at all of Bonds' intentional walks this season -- all 21 of them. Here's what we found:
He's been walked intentionally twice with the bases empty, twice with first base occupied, twice in the first inning and twice to load the bases.
He also has been intentionally walked four times to put the tying or winning run on base in the late innings, once to move the winning run into scoring position in the seventh inning of a tie game and once to move the winning run to third in the ninth inning of a tie game.
Is it a good idea? Well, the Giants are 16-5 in games in which Bonds has been intentionally walked. So you decide.
Bonds is also on a pace to draw (gulp) 60 intentional walks. And you betcha, that would be a record. (Willie McCovey holds it, with 45 in 1969). But let's think about how incredible that pace is.
As Lee Sinins, of baseball-encyclopedia.com, observes, almost 40 percent of the 50-homer seasons since 1955 (first year intentional walks were kept) have been racked up by George Foster, Mickey Mantle, Greg Vaughn, Alex Rodriguez, Albert Belle, Brady Anderson, Roger Maris and Sammy Sosa.
If you count both of Mantle's 50-homer seasons but only Sosa's 1999 season, those eight men were issued just 51 intentional walks combined -- in a total of nine 50-homer seasons. And Bonds is heading for 60 all by himself. Phew.
Meanwhile, all of these hitters (every one of whom hit at least 200 lifetime homers) had fewer than 60 intentional walks in their whole careers:
Player, HR, IBB
Rocky Colavito, 374, 58
Greg Vaughn, 350, 54
Ellis Burks, 322, 28
Ryne Sandberg, 282, 59
Eric Davis, 282, 59
Roger Maris, 275, 42
Dean Palmer, 275, 21
George Bell, 265, 53
Alex Rodriguez, 260, 17
Tim Salmon, 256, 41
Dusty Baker, 242, 52
Vinny Castilla, 242, 47
Raul Mondesi, 225, 39
Jeff Kent, 223, 33
Jason Giambi, 202, 52
Reggie Sanders, 201, 34
It may seem unusual to see a pitcher start his career by going 9-1 to kick off his rookie year. But Kazuhisa Ishii is actually the third pitcher to do that just in the last five years. The others, according to Elias: Tim Hudson in 1999 (on the way to 10-1) and Livan Hernandez in 1997 (started 9-0, then lost three in a row).
When the Diamondbacks and Giants play, you'd be wise to bet the under. They played two more 1-0 games last week -- which makes four just in the last two seasons (plus another game that was 0-0 after nine innings, but ended 2-1).
According to Elias' Rob Tracy, they're the first two teams to play four 1-0 games over back-to-back seasons in a decade -- since the Braves and Padres did it between Aug. 15, 1991 and Oct. 3, 1992.
Matchups in those Braves-Padres games: John Smoltz-Greg Harris, Kent Mercker-Greg Harris, Steve Avery-Greg Harris and Charlie Leibrandt-Mike Maddux.
| |  | |
| Marrero |
Eli Marrero is in the middle of one of the most unique seasons of modern times. He has started eight games for the Cardinals as a catcher and six as a center fielder. According to Elias, he's the first player to start at least five games in the same season at those two positions since Craig Biggio in 1990 (101 games as a catcher, 34 starts in center field).
A lot of astounding Phillies notes died over the weekend, when they bludgeoned 11 home runs and scored 33 runs in three days against the Expos. Before that series, as reader Dan Demetriou points out, they'd given up 15 different hits this season that scored at least three runs for the opposition.
That's 4 three-run doubles, 3 three-run triples, 7 three-run homers and 1 grand slam. And how many hits like that had Phillies hitters combined for? Exactly three. Then, of course, they got five hits like that just in this series -- and gave up none.
Dan Demetriou also points out that the Phillies are clearly in the running for the weirdest road feat of all time. They've made five road trips this year -- and won exactly one game on all five (no more, no fewer).
If they can maintain that pace the rest of the year, which would be just about impossible, they would go 14-67 on the road this year -- a .173 winning percentage. The Philadelphia Inquirer's Bob Brookover reports that would make them only the sixth team since 1900 to play sub-.200 baseball on the road. The record for fewest road wins, if you're really interested, is 13, by the 1916 A's, 1935 Braves and 1945 A's.
Since the Phillies finally scored in double figures, that leaves the Tigers as the only team that hasn't scored at least 10 runs in a game this year. Which is especially impressive, as Booth Newspapers' Danny Knobler points out, because they did score eight runs in an inning once (May 29).
More Tigers weirdness, courtesy of Danny Knobler: Two different managers have been fired this season after winning a game in Detroit -- Tony Muser by the Royals, after an April 29 win, and Buck Martinez by the Blue Jays, after his team swept the Tigers in Detroit over the weekend.
But that trend didn't help Phil Garner, who won no games in Detroit as Tigers manager this year (0-3) and got fired anyway.
Another mysterious "first" for Pedro Martinez: He allowed home runs to the first two hitters in a game Monday for the first time in his career. The first homer was hit by Ramon Santiago, who had never homered in his career. The other was by Damion Easley, who had no homers this year.
At least Pedro can call his brother, Ramon, for advice. Ramon gave up back-to-backers to start a game on Sept. 9, 1996 -- to Thomas Howard and Hal Morris.
| |  | |
| Greisinger |
Tigers pitcher Seth Greisinger has figured out lately that there's nothing more dangerous than an inning in which you have two outs and nobody on. The Detroit Free Press' John Lowe reports that in two straight starts, Greisinger has cruised two-thirds of the way through the second inning. Then, after getting the first two hitters out, he gave up five runs -- in two consecutive starts. Amazing game, baseball.
More Yankees madness: Peel away all those homers, and one-third of the way through the season, they had seven players on a pace to strike out at least 120 times this season. Even the 2001 Brewers, on the way to their record 1,399-whiff season, only had four men fan 120 times.
Another gem from Doug Greenwald: Rickey Henderson homered at Yankee Stadium on Sunday -- 18 years and two weeks after his first homer at Yankee Stadium.
A few particulars on that first homer: He hit it off Phil Niekro, who has been retired for 15 years. A second Hall of Famer also played in that game -- Joe Morgan. He's been retired for 18 years. The two center fielders that day: Ken Griffey Sr. and Omar Moreno.
Oh, and the attendance that day at The Stadium: 11,000 and change. The Yankees' smallest home crowd this season is more than twice that large: 26,571 -- for the Devil Rays.
The Royals were last in the American League in home runs heading into the weekend. So naturally, they then became the second team in history to hit back-to-back-to-back home runs in any extra inning. Carlos Beltran, Mike Sweeney and Joe Randa hit three straight bombs in the 11th Friday, off Hideki Irabu.
The only other time it happened, according to Lee Sinins: May 2, 1964, when the Twins hit four homers in a row, also in the 11th inning -- by Tony Oliva, Bob Allison, Jimmie Hall and Harmon Killebrew.
Poor Brian Anderson is now up to 16 straight starts since his last win as a starting pitcher (17 if you count his start in the World Series). Six of those starts were quality starts, but a streak is a streak. And what makes this one especially bizarre is that his team won the World Series in the middle of it.
Since 1970, according to Elias, Anderson is just the fifth pitcher to make at least 16 straight starts without a win for a team that went to the playoffs in the season in which the streak started. But the only other pitcher whose team went to the World Series was Fernando Valenzuela. The rest of this club Anderson never asked to join:
|
Pitcher
|
Games started
|
Team
|
|
Chris Holt
|
16
|
1997-99 Astros
|
|
Andy Hassler
|
20
|
1976 Royals
|
|
Jim Merritt
|
20
|
1970 Reds
|
|
Fernando Valenzuela
|
19
|
1988-89 Dodgers
|
Finally, we regret to report that our bobblead crew finally had a rough week. First, Jason Tyner, whose bobblehead day was supposed to be last Sunday in Tampa Bay, actually got sent to the minor leagues five days before his big day. (Refunds were, in fact, offered to people who claimed they were only showing up to see Mr. Bobblehead play Sunday.)
Then Paul Lo Duca became the first bobbleheader of the year to go 0 for his bobblehead day, according to bobblehead research king David Hallstrom. That lowered the average of this year's bobblehead crew to an almost human .375.
Ah, but at least the Reds drew their largest crowd since Opening Day (38,777) Friday for Johnny Bench Bobblehead Day. Yes, Bench also went hitless.
The Sultan's Corner
The Robert Person notes just keep on coming. A grand slam and a three-run homer in the same game -- for a pitcher, huh? First off, no pitcher had ever done that (although Tony Cloninger did hit two slams in one game).
But just to put into perspective the position players who have never had a slam and a three-run homer in the same game, the Sultan of Swat Stats, SABR's David Vincent, presents the nine other active players who have done it:
Bernie Williams, Sept. 12, 1996
Greg Colbrunn, July 18, 1995
Ivan Rodriguez, April 13, 1999
Manny Ramirez, Sept. 24, 1999
Jose Hernandez, April 12, 2001
Miguel Tejada, June 30, 2001
Mike Cameron, Aug. 19, 2001
Eric Chavez, Aug. 30, 2001
So who hasn't? Oh, only Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Junior Griffey, Juan Gonzalez, Jeff Bagwell, Gary Sheffield, Mike Piazza, Larry Walker, Todd Helton or Jason Giambi. Just to name 10.
Meanwhile, Person became only the seventh active pitcher who has hit a grand slam. The others, courtesy of the Sultan:
9/29/2001 Denny Neagle
5/24/2000 Shawn Estes
9/2/1998 Kent Mercker
9/7/1996 Donovan Osborne
6/27/1995 Denny Neagle
5/29/1995 Chris Hammond
Earlier, we noted that Pedro Martinez had never given up home runs to the first two hitters in a game before. But for that matter, he'd never even given up back-to-back homers to two American League hitters before. All of Pedro's previous back-to-backers had come as an Expo or during interleague play, against the NL:
With the Expos
7-25-94 vs. Atl.: Ryan Klesko, Terry Pendleton
7-9-95 vs. Col.: Dante Bichette, Larry Walker
8-4-95 vs. Atl.: Ryan Kelsko, Charlie O'Brien
9-5-95 vs. S.F.: Barry Bonds, Matt Williams
8-29-96 vs. L.A.: Mike Piazza, Eric Karros
With the Red Sox
6-5-98 vs. N.Y. Mets: Alberto Castillo, John Olerud
6-10-98 vs. Atl: Andres Galarraga, Chipper Jones
Until two weeks ago, Marquis Grissom was 1 for 25 against Randy Johnson, with 15 strikeouts. Then, believe it or not, he figured it out -- and became just the second man ever to hit three home runs against the Unit in the same season. Here, courtesy of the Sultan, is the complete list of players who hit two or more against Johnson in a season:
Chipper Jones, 1999, 3
Chipper Jones, 2000, 3
Glenn Wilson, 1988, 2
Jesse Barfield, 1990, 2
Gary Gaetti, 1990, 2
Bill Pecota, 1990, 2
Albert Belle, 1993, 2
Juan Gonzalez, 1993, 2
Dave Henderson, 1993, 2
Dave Winfield, 1993, 2
Gerald Williams, 1994, 2
Pat Meares, 1995, 2
Jim Edmonds, 1997, 2
Chris Hoiles, 1997, 2
John Valentin, 1997, 2
David Bell, 1998, 2
Juan Gonzalez, 1998, 2
Greg Norton, 1998, 2
Mike Simms, 1998, 2
Sammy Sosa, 1999, 2
Eric Karros, 1999, 2
Javy Lopez, 1999, 2
Kevin Young, 1999, 2
Finally, here's one more note in honor of Robert Person, a pitcher who now has more homers this season (two) than wins (one).
The Sultan presents The More Homers Than Wins Club, dating back to the Babe Ruth era. The minimum requirements for the season in question: at least as many starts as Person (seven).
Vladimir Nunez, 2000 Marlins, 1 HR, 0 wins, 12 starts (plus 5 relief apps.)
Dave Eiland, 1992 Padres, 1 HR, 0 wins, 7 starts
Gene Conley, 1958 Braves, 1 HR, 0 wins, 7 starts
Carl Scheib, 1951 A's, 2 HR, 1 win, 11 starts (plus 35 relief apps.)
Ernie Wingard, 1927 Browns, 3 HR, 2 wins, 17 starts (plus 21 relief apps.)
Babe Ruth, 1919 Red Sox, 29 HR, 9 HR, 15 starts (plus 2 relief apps., 113 G in the OF)
Jayson Stark is a senior writer for ESPN.com.
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