Home Run Derby

With almost a month of Home Run Derby in the books, it’s time to start tracking StoneCutters.  What’s a StoneCutter?

Well if you’re fan of the Simpsons, you might recall an episode where Homer gets to join a secret Masonic society - the StoneCutters - upon which he infuriates and alienates the other members until they all leave and form a new society - The No-Homers Club.  Homer tries to join that club too, and is turned away even though the club let in Homer Glupkus - “It says ‘No Homers, we’re allowed to have one.’ ”

Well, Home Run Derby has its own No-Homers Club - the StoneCutters.  Where we track those Derby players who can’t seem to get your team out of the bottom half or the standings because they can’t hit Home Runs in a Home Run Derby.  And just like the Simpsons - Players are allowed to have one Homer (or less) to be a StoneCutter.

And this year, we have a ranking system Home Run Derby teams called the StoneCutter Index (SCI).  The ranking is based first on how many StoneCutters on a given roster.  If there’s a tie, the number of HR generated by those StoneCutters (less is worse), followed by their overall spot in the Home Run Derby standings.

Not surprisingly, the first-place Empire of Dirt has the best SCI rating.  The last-place Komodos hold the worst.  The Current SCI Table is after the Jump …

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This season, no one can hold First Place for more than a week in Home Run Derby.  Four weeks in, and we’ve had six different teams stake their way to the top of weekly leaderboard, only to see that fortune be fleeting.  This week’s King of the Mountain is a 2007 Home Run Derby contest rookie, Empire of Dirt.  Not sure if the team name is in reference to the Nine Inch Nails song “Hurt” (or the Johnny Cash cover), but great song either way.

In Second Place is last week’s leader, the El Guapos, followed by a Third Place tie between Master-Batters, Human Growth Hitters and Morneau’s BS MVP.  The best week went to Golden Sombreros (24 HR) who vaulted from a 24th place tie to only four HR back of the leader. 

There’s competition at the bottom of the standings too, as the Komodos fell into the cellar again.  I think Komodo might be on the menu again this Thursday.

Stud of the Week - Torii Hunter (3 HR):  Heck of a week for Spiderman.  First, he broke an archaic MLB rule for which he could have been suspended, later took a wicked pitch to the mouth, and still led Home Run Derby players this week with three dingers and a .400 Batting average.  And he even showed everyone his “Invisible Man” Halloween costume six months early.

BP Pitcher of the Week - Josh Towers, Toronto.  Josh served up Batting Practice to the Texas Rangers on Friday night as both Mark Teixeira and Sammy Sosa went yard, making 29 Derby teams happy.  And it was Teixeira’s first of the season.  Towers was demoted to the Bullpen the next day.

Hot Sluggers

• Sammy Sosa (3 HR): Only 5HR away from 600.
• Prince Fielder (3 HR): Went silent after he stopped playing the Cubs
• Vladimir Guerrero (2 HR): Really liked White Sox pitching 
• Barry Bonds (2 HR): When he wasn’t being walked, he also bat .417
• Grady Sizemore (1 HR): Only 1, but it was an inside-the-parker, so special mention

Cold Sluggers

• Alfonso Soriano (0 HR): I hope the Cubs didn’t pay too much for no HR’s, 1 RBI, 1 Steal and a .301 OBA. 
• David Wright (0 HR): If not for Soriano, he’s the bust of Home Run Derby
• Gary Sheffield (0 HR): 1 HR with a sub-Mendoza .193 and .265 Slug %
• Jacque Jones (0 HR): Anyone wondering why the Cubs couldn’t trade him?

Injury Watch

• Jim Thome is on the DL until at least mid-May
• Ken Griffey Jr has a chest illness and is questionable until Friday
• Nick Swisher has missed five games with a hamstring injury
• Troy Glaus is off the DL

Especially after Rookie SS Troy Tulowitski completed only the 13th Unassisted Triple Play in Major Freaking League Baseball history …

Barry Bonds hit HR #742 Saturday night, pulling him to within 13 of the all-time Home Run record. First base was open and the Dodgers pitched to him anyway. Even though the Dodgers won, I betcha they don’t do that again today …

In other Derby news, Jim Thome thought he was a younger man on Friday night and rushed back from sore ribs. Welcome to the 15-Day Disabled List, Jim. Oh … and Seadog JV will be in last place for a while longer (he’s the only Home Run Derby team to have Thome on the roster).

Hey look - Mark Teixeira’s suddenly has some Home Runs.

Standings have been updated … and oh yeah, the Stonecutters are coming on Monday …

Grady Sizemore started the season off hot with four HR in his first six games, and then fell off the Derby map for two full weeks.

But last night, seemingly just for Derby veteran Gluck Fu!, he got back on the Home Run Derby board with Gluck’s favorite Baseball Play - The Inside the Park Home Run.

Standings have been updated.

The Recent post about future Hall-of-Famer Craig Biggio and the all-time Hit by pitch record got me thinking … Biggio’s close to 3,000 hits with 2,951.  He’s also close to the 288 HBP Record with 283. 

Which milestone will he cross first? 

Let’s see … Biggio leads the Astros with a .259 average so far this season (not too shabby for a 20-year veteran) and he’s getting a hit for every 3.9 At-Bats.  He’s not walking much (only 4 Walks in 87 Plate Appearances) and he’s getting just a smidge over 4 At-Bats/Game. 

He needs 49 hits to get to 3,000.  So, he’ll need 189 At-Bats or so which translates to about 47 Games if he doesn’t take any time off. And considering Biggio is 41 years old, he’ll have to sit out some games here and there. 52 Astros Games should get him to the 3,000 hit mark.

Now then, Biggio is also working towards being the #1 target for pitchers in MLB history.  For his career, Biggio has been plunked once every 42.5 times he makes a plate appearance.  This season, Biggio is getting around 4.4 PA/Game in 2007 (low walks and HBP). 

He needs 5 HBP for the record of 288.  Which means he’d need around 213 Plate Appearances at his career 42.5 AB/HBP.  That translates to 49 Games to break the record.  Add in the 5 days off I gave him in the 3,000 hit example and it’s 54 Astros Games.

This milestone race could be close.  52-54 Games would put the Astros right smack in a road trip to Texas and Milwaukee.  It’d be a shame if a lifelong Astro didn’t get hit #3,000 in Houston.

• 6/15-17  : vs Seattle (45-47 games from 4/26)
• 6/18-20  : @ Anaheim (48-50 games from 4/26)
• 6/21-24  : @ Texas (51-53 games from 4/26) … 3,000 Hits?
• 6/25-27  : @ Milwaukee (54-56 games from 4/26) … 288 HBP?
• 6/28-7/1 : vs Colorado (57-60 games from 4/26)
• 7/2 - 7/4 : vs Philadelphia (61-63 games from 4/26)

However - Biggio only had a ratio of 67 AB/HBP last season, and only has one HBP in 87 PA in 2007.  Maybe they hurt more as he gets older or maybe pitchers don’t want to be they guy who plunks him for #288.  So the HBP record might take a bit longer than 54 more games.

Or - you never know - one of the next 4 fateful HBP’s could end his career and derail both the quest for 3,000 hits and 288 HBP.

But of course, what the heck do I know?  Have at it.

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Be sure to follow Biggio’s HBP’s over at Plunk Biggio. All stats as of Thursday, April 26.

Well yesterday downright sucked for Home Runs among Derby players. Only three HR were hit in the Derby yesterday by two players. One by Vlad Guerrero and two by Sammy Sosa. Sosa has now hit Home Runs in 44 different ballparks - and that’s a record.

I find it interesting that the only Derby teams with Sosa in their Group E Roster are the two women in the Derby. And one of them is on the leaderboard.

Standings update

The El Guapos still hold the top spot with 67 HR, but the lead has been cut down to 3 by a newcomer to the leaderboard, Empire of Dirt (64 HR). And look - of of the Sosa girls, Sea Dog MV is only 4 HR back in third place all by her lonesome. Morneau’s BS MVP (Nick the Greek’s 2nd Favorite team) rounds out the top four before the 18 team logjam within 3 HR of each other.

Injury Update

• Torii Hunter got hit by a pitch in the mouth yesterday, but was miraculously spared serious injury and is probable for tonight’s game. Apparently KC didn’t like having their 4 bottles of Dom taken away from them. KC P Zack Greinke really wanted a glass.
• Troy Glaus in still on the DL
• Jermaine Dye missed a game with a sore back but should play this weekend
• Jim Thome missed a game with sore ribs but should play this weekend
• Ken Griffey has colon problems and is questionable for the weekend (Bartolo Colon?)
• Chris Duncan hit his head in a hotel room but should play this weekend vs the Cubs

The weekend is gonna be great weather, so don’t expect much in posts.

Standings will be updated.

Houston Astros 2B Craig Biggio is fast approaching an incredible Baseball Milestone. No, not 3,000 hits (Biggio has 2,951 hits). No, I’m talking about a Baseball Record that’s stood for more than 103 years …

287 Hit By Pitches.

The HBP record is currently held by Hall-of-Famer Hughie Jennings, who was plunked 287 times in his Major League career. He was an accomplished shortstop as well as being a human backstop.

Biggio is currently four bruises away (283 career HBP) from tying the all-time record. You can follow Biggio’s near-record breaking inability to get out of the damn way over at the fine blog, Plunk Biggio.

So in honor of Biggio’s upcoming achievement here’s a couple of HBP’s I could find.

Ray Chapman (1920) The only Major League player to ever die during a game. Chapman was hit in the head by a pitch thrown by Carl Mays. His death caused Baseball to require umpires to replace the baseball when it gets dirty and (eventually) to require all players wear batting helmets.

Sammy Sosa (2003) Sosa had offensive problems for a month after getting walloped by this pitch in April 03. About a month later he was caught using the corked bat.

Craig Monroe (2005) This has to be seen to be believed. Don’t cringe out loud.

Some Bird (2001) And of course, Randy Johnson annihilating the unluckiest bird in the world.

Until then, someone tell Biggio to duck once in a while.

Everyone has an opinion. 

Is he on Steroids?  Is he using a corked bat?  Did he suddenly start wearing an Elbow Pad?  No to all three, especially the last one.  He’s been wearing elbow protection since his days in Texas. 

It’s some changes to his swing - thanks in part to new Yankee hitting coach Kevin Long, who had a plan for A-Rod all offseason (article from 11/24/06)…

Spring training is still months away, but Kevin Long already has begun work in his new job as the Yankees’ hitting coach. He has had lunch with Alex Rodriguez to plan an offseason routine and will visit A-Rod at his winter home in Miami to help prepare him for camp.

“I’m pretty technical, as far as breaking down a swing, and Alex understands how the swing works,” Long said. “He really enjoys the technical part of it.

Well, The Baseball Analysts did their usual fabulous video comparison - and found that, indeed, A-Rod’s swing is just better this season.  The work done by the guys over at  Baseball Analysts is absolutely incredible …

From a recent NY Times article (go read the whole thing) …

(Don) Mattingly said he left all instruction to Long, who studied tapes of every Yankees hitter last winter. Long believed Rodriguez could be more consistent with a lower leg kick and a faster rotation of his hips.

The result would be a more compact swing. Rodriguez made this easier on himself by losing 12 pounds. A leaner hitter is more flexible. “That’s a huge factor,” Long said. 

He met with Long in Arizona, where Long lives, and set up another meeting for five days in December at Rodriguez’s home in Miami.

It was there that Rodriguez started to deconstruct his swing. The lessons imparted, together with a better frame of mind and a sleeker physique, have helped Rodriguez to his potentially historic start.

My personal opinion as to why Rodriguez is performing so well so far this season is because he’s wearing his pants shorter.  You can see his socks.  Which is how baseball players are supposed to look.