I love talking points. Don’t you enjoy touching base with a baseball comrade and having something yummy to share? The great thing about Billy-Ball is that it will contain items that even the greats like Kenny Rosenthal and Jayson Stark may not cover because they only have so much space. I have nothing but space…
HERE’S BILLY-BALL
One glance at the standings today and you can see the success of four of the teams in the NL West. But, you may not realize that the NL West is the only division playing over .500 ball.
SOME ONE-SIDED GAMES
Last night, the Rays demolished Taylor Houk and the Red Sox, 16-1. That continues a recent streak of one-sided high-scoring games. Here’s a Nine to Know:
As a result of these games, team run differentials are all screwed up:
ROCKY MOUNTAIN LOWS
As you can see, the Rockies are miserable. The good news is that they finally scored last night in their 5-3 loss against the Dodgers. Thanks to an RBI double by Kyle Farmer in the 6th inning at Dodger Stadium, they ended a streak of 32 consecutive scoreless innings.
HOW ARE METS DOING IT?
The Mets are 8-0 when scoring first, and they have only allowed 42 runs this season, the fewest in baseball. That’s just 2.63 Runs Against per game.
FISHING FOR COMPLIMENTS
Mike Trout is one of eight players tied for the MLB lead in homers with six. But Mike is hitting just .196. He only has 11 hits this season. Jazz Chisholm is another guy with six homers and 11 total hits. He’s hitting just .175.
STILL WAITING
Jackson Churio has now had 77 PA this season, and we’re still waiting for him to draw a walk. Jacob Wilson has 61 walkless appearances.
RAFAEL DEVERS IS BACK STRUGGLING
Everybody had fun paying attention to Raffy’s struggles to start the season, but we all knew that Devers would have an ascension to the mean. He has a hitting record that is too strong to have had such an awful start. But now, we have to start paying attention again, because 18 games into the season, the former Red Sox third baseman is only hitting .224, with one homer, and an AL-leading 27 strikeouts. The Rockies’ first baseman, Michael Toglia, leads the majors with 29 Ks.
In games 1-5, Devers was 0-19 with 15 strikeouts. In games 6-10, Devers went 10-19 (.526) with two strikeouts. In games 11-18, Devers is 5-29 (.172) with 10 strikeouts. He is zero for his last 16 PA (13 AB) with seven strikeouts.
IN THE BULLPEN
Padres closer Robert Suarez is a perfect 7-7 when it comes to saves. But that doesn’t show how great he has been. He is holding opposing batters to a .087 BAA. Batters are 2-23 with only two walks.
Arizona’s Shelby Miller hasn’t allowed a hit in five appearances this season. Batters are 0-18 with one walk.
In recent years, Emmanuel Clase has been in a class of his own. This season is very different. Clase has allowed 14 hits in 34 AB, has a BAA of .424, and OPSA of 1.008. He has a 7.71 ERA.
Tanner Scott of the Dodgers (33 PA) and Phil Maton of the Cardinals (30 PA) have each made nine appearances this season and have yet to issue a walk.
BRENDAN DONOVAN
The Cardinals’ Brendan Donovan has baseball’s longest active hitting streak. He’s up to 10 games and is hitting .513 (20-39) during the streak.
BRANDON MARSH
Brandon Marsh has now gone 11 straight games without a hit. He is 0-26 and oh-for-April (0-24).
TAYLOR HOUCK
It was a very bad night for the Red Sox starter Taylor Houck, who remained in the game an unnecessarily long 2.1 innings, his shortest start ever, and allowed 12 runs (11 earned) on 10 hits, two walks, and only one strikeout. The most runs by a Red Sox starter since Galen Cisco on July 27, 1962. A performance that gives me an excuse to mention Galen Cisco.
Craig Calcaterra is my muse in this particular blog business that I am getting into. In his daily today he wrote, “It was the worst start for any Red Sox starting pitcher in 63 years. That's when a guy named Galen Cisco allowed 13 runs against the Washington Senators on July 27, 1962. The Red Sox waived Cisco a couple of months later, and the Miracle Mets picked him up while they were en route to 120 losses. Which I suppose puts Houck on the Chicago White Sox radar as of now. “
Cisco was a running back and linebacker for the Ohio State Buckeyes, who won the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day 1958. He married his fiancée because of that, since the school was offering free transport to the game for players who had wives.
The 1962 Red Sox were not a good team; the Mets were the worst. “We had guys who couldn’t hit the ball and didn’t catch it,” Cisco recalled. Manager Casey Stengel, who was no longer interested in learning his players' names, referred to Cisco as “Ohio State.”
In 1963, the Mets played the Giants in a game that went 23 innings. Cisco pitched the last nine innings for the Mets and was the loser.
Galen just turned 89 and is living in Ohio.
JACKIE ROBINSON DAY
Outstanding column today by Bob Nightengale, who writes that 78 years after Jackie Robinson’s debut, “the African-American player population on opening-day rosters and injured lists this season is 6%. There are three Black managers. There is one Black general manager.
And, after all of the programs and initiatives designed to increase Black and minority representation in front offices, coaching staffs and on the playing field, Major League Baseball recently scrubbed references to diversity on its careers web page, while also erasing details on its Diversity Pipeline Program, adhering to President Donald Trump’s executive orders on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies.”
