L, L, L, L, L, W, L, ...

Come heck or high water, I am a Cleveland Indian fan.  

Many days ago, as the Indians were sitting on a record of 71 wins, 59 losses, I wrote the following on one brother's FB wall, tagging my other online brother in the note:

"The Indians would have to go 9 and 23 in the remaining 32 games in order to not get to .500 for the year. Get your bets in."

Immediately after that posting they won 1 and lost 6.  

We are Indians fans.  Losing has become expected, though still a disappointment.  Like the Cleveland Browns fan (of which we are also) who died a few months back and requested that six Browns lower him into his grave, so that they could let him down one more time, .... we have expectations of L.

Honestly, we need help.  Maybe psychological help.  That L stamped on our foreheads isn't healthy.  

~ ~ ~

If you follow baseball, though, you know that the season ended much better than I ever would have anticipated.  In the end, the Indians ended the season as the hottest team in baseball, reeling off ten straight wins.  In the end they were 92-70, beat out both Texas and Tampa for the top wildcard spot, but ended up losing that single game to the Tampa Bay Rays.  

Still, a satisfying season for this veteran Indians fan.

"Triple Crown" and historic seasons

I'm not a Miggy fan.  Haven't been since, I think, the drunk driving incident.  I have never lost someone to a drunk driver's irresponsible and reprehensible actions, but the whole incident was ... simply reprehensible.  The whole, "Don't you know who I am?!" thing... nah.  I like my heroes to have a bit of humility, as well as contrition for their massive mistakes.  Being drunk is one thing, but driving around as such?  No.  And the nonsense he pulled with the police... certainly not.  Not a hero.  And, being the 'old school' baseball fan that I am, character means something to me.  

Hence, I am totally not a Barry Bonds fan, but think very highly of Hank "The Hammer" Aaron.

Other than that, Miggy's a good hitter.  Okay, a great hitter.  But I've been wanting to check out where his season stands historically in comparison to other great seasons since the last time someone won a Triple Crown.  So, this is part of that research.  I had originally thought that Don Mattingly had a better season in the mid 80's, but... when one uses the word 'better', one must have some sort of standard.  Does one simply use the Triple Crown standards?  HRs, RBIs, and batting average are nice things, but... even for an old baseball fan like me, they don't say enough.

In 1967, Carl Yastrzemski won the Triple Crown and the American League MVP award.  He deserved the MVP indisputably, unlike Miguel Cabrera last year.  His numbers were so far superior to everyone around him that it would have been an absurdity for anyone to vote for anyone else.  Interestingly, though, somebody voted for Cesar Tovar of the Minnesota Twins.  I remember Tovar.  He wasn't an MVP.  How he got a #1 vote that year is inexplicable.  His big numbers included leading the league in games played (164), plate appearances (726), and at bats (649).  And if those numbers aren't compelling enough, how about these biggies?

Hits - 173
Runs - 98 (almost 100)
HRs - 6
Triples - 7
Doubles - 32
RBI's - 47
SB - 19
CS - 11
BB's - 46
SO - 51
Batting Average - .267
On Base % - .325

Pardon me, but this guy could be batting first or second on a team managed by Dusty Baker, eh?

Oh, for the record, the intentional walks that he received that year, the year in which he received one vote for 1st place on somebody's MVP ballot, was ZERO.  Apparently he was not a feared hitter.  

Go figure.

Yaz, though, received the other 19 first place votes.  He led the league in all kinds of categories.  Here's a brief list, including some of the sabermetric categories which compelled many to think that Mike Trout was the real MVP of last year's AL season.

• WAR - Yaz had 12.4, which made it an historic season.  Second place?  Brooks Robinson at 7.7.   
• Offensive WAR - Yaz, 9.9; 2nd place Killibrew, 7.3. 
• Batting Average - Yaz, .326.  2nd place was Frank Robinson at .311.  There were only two other players in the American League that year who bat .300 or better.
•  OBP - Yaz .418, 2nd place Al Kaline .411, and only Killibrew and Frank Robinson were also above .400.
• Slugging Pct.  Get this--Yaz .622, 2nd place Robinson at .576.
• That means he buried the field in OPS when he had 1.040 (in comparison, Miggy had 0.999 last year, which was lower than his previous two season!)
• Runs - Yaz 112, 2nd place Killibrew was the only other at or above 100, with 105.
• Hits - Yaz had 189, which was 16 more than 2nd place Tovar (maybe that's why?)
• Total Bases - here's separation.  Yaz had 360, 2nd place Killibrew had 305. Third place dropped off to Robinson's 276.
• Tony Oliva had first place in doubles at 34, with Yaz in third at 31.  Very low counts on doubles that year.
• Yaz and Killibrew tied at 44 HRs, nobody else hit 40 or more, and only two others hit 30 or more.
• Yaz was one of only 2 people with 100+ RBI's.  
• He was not in the top ten of people in the AL in striking out.  He struck out only 69 times.

Clearly, Yaz was the choice in 1967.  His season was historic not only because he won the Triple Crown, but because he led in so many other categories.  Harmon Killibrew had a very good year, but most would consider his to be a distant second best to the year that Yaz had.

One does not see a similar picture when it comes to 2012, and the argument between Miguel Cabrera and Mike Trout.  In fact, if one compares the two in a broad range of categories, one is left wondering how the heck this happened.  The following comparisons are amongst all of MLB, not just the American League.

• WAR - Trout 10.9, Miggy 7.3 (fifth place)
• WAR amongst only position players?  Miggy got 4th
• Offensive WAR - Trout 8.8, Miggy in 2nd with 7.8
• Batting Average - Miggy in 2nd at .330, Trout in 4th at .326
• OBP - Trout's .399 was 6th, Miggy's .393 was 7th
• Slugging Pct - Miggy's .606 was 2nd, Trout's .564 5th
• Runs scored - Trout was 20 runs ahead of everyone at 129, Miggy in 2nd at 109
• Total Bases - Miggy led everyone with 377, whereas Trout, who began playing a month into the season, came in 9th at 315
• Trout led the majors in SBs with 49
• Miggy led both leagues in extra base hits with 84
• Miggy led both leagues in double plays grounded into at 28

Plenty of intriguing numbers involved.  Any accumulation stats, though, must also be passed through the simple fact that Trout did not get brought up to the big leagues until April 28th--a month into the season.  How he even got onto any accumulative top tens is unimaginable.

But, enough of about the present, I dug around a bit and found three seasons that were better in terms of the Triple Crown numbers alone.  These three seasons each have their tainted points.  Two were in the pre-humidor Colorado days, and one was from a known druggie.  All three seasons, though, were a good bit better than the season that Miggy had last year, and all three came since the last time a true Triple Crown winner occurred.  Here they are:

1. Todd Helton, 2001. 49 HRs, 146 RBIs, .336 BA.  He also scored 132 runs that year, had 54 doubles, OBP of .432, slugging percentage of .685, OPS 1.116, 402 total bases, and was ninth in MVP voting.  Did you hear me?  Ninth.  
2. Larry Walker, 1997.  49 HRs, 130 RBIs, .366 BA.  Larry also scored 143 runs, had 208 hits, 46 doubles, 33 SBs(!?), .452 OBP, OPS at an astounding 1.172, slugging percentage of .720, 409 total bases, and was the national league MVP.
3. Manny Ramirez, 1999.  44 HRs, 165 RBIs, .333 BA.  Manny was definitely Manny that year.  Always a big RBI guy, that was his finest season.  Also, 131 R's, 34 2B's, OBP .442, slugging percentage .663, OPS 1.105, and came in 3rd in the AL MVP race.

Frankly, Miggy's season isn't one of the top three seasons of the last forty years.  Not by Triple Crown standards.  Maybe not by larger standards.  As I was digging around trying to find the historic seasons that have happened since 1967, I found some lovely things.  

M

June 25, 2013

Well, honestly, I haven't been following baseball as tightly as I have for several years.  I got a new blackberry at work and ESPN's mobile site isn't nearly as useful and quick as it was prior to this blackberry.  I suppose that means this one is technically 'better', but I really preferred the old site.  I could read up on every game before and/or after, and never get thrown to one of those 'live' sites that keeps you updated on a game.  I could follow the game and simply hit 'refresh'.  

I can't figure out how to get BACK to that type of page, so ... haven't read as much on baseball this year.  Which is really too bad, because a couple folks are having a tremendous season, my Indians aren't horrible (again... like last year when they were 30-15 after 45 games, but sucked to the end), and the playoffs appear to be heading for new faces.

Chris Davis?  Whut.  His numbers right now, on June 25th, look good enough for a best season by most current major leaguers. 

Josh Hamilton?!  Albert?  Well...I guess I did sort of see the whole Albert thing coming, darn it.  I want them both to play up to their historic greatness, but that isn't working out thus far in 2013.

Will Adam Dunn be the first man ever to bat less than .200 but hit 40 HRs and get 100 RBIs?  That'd be wacky.  I may have to look to see whether anyone else has done that.

Hey, Yadier, keep improving with age, alright?

What's with Votto's slump?  I mean, really?  His OBP is down to .440!

Alright, enough for now.  I need to come up with a way to keep up on a more daily basis, since ESPN (which sometimes appears to stand for Egalitarian Sexual Preference Network) has muffed it for me.

Later.