THT Awards

Welcome to the awards.

All stats are for Monday, Aug. 5 through Sunday, Aug. 11. Please see the week one column for category explanations.

This week’s proof that assigning wins and losses to a pitcher is an archaic practice that must stop

Good luck division

The Cubs shelled Kyle Kendrick on Tuesday. Kendrick gave up five runs on six hits, two of which were homers. Kendrick walked away with the win as the Phillies smacked Edwin Jackson around for seven runs in five innings.

Homer Bailey allowed five runs in five and a third to the Athletics. He got the win as Bartolo Colon failed to make it out of the third inning. The Reds bullpen held Oakland scoreless for the remaining four innings to preserve a close lead.

J.A. Happ and Aaron Harang combined to allow 14 runs in six innings on 12 hits and six walks, striking out all of two batters between them. Neither took the loss.

Jake Peavy and Ervin Santana combined to allow 12 runs in eight and two thirds on 19 hits, walking three, striking out two. Peavy was in line for the win until Drake Britton blew the hold in the sixth by allowing two more runs. The sum of the game scores was still a lowly 41.

Ryan Dempster allowed five runs in six frames to the Astros and escaped without the loss thanks to a Josh Fields blown save.

Andre Rienzo was touched up for four runs in five and a third. He allowed seven hits, walked five, struck out five, and gave up two home runs. An Anthony Swarzak blown hold ensured that he wouldn’t take the loss.

Jerome Williams and Justin Masterson combined to allow nine runs in 10 innings on 11 hits and five walks. A J.C. Gutierrez blown hold ensured that neither starter would take the loss.

Bad luck division

Corey Kluber held the Tigers scoreless for seven and a third, yielding six hits and a walk, striking out six. Chris Perez blew the save, costing Kluber the win. Anibal Sanchez, the opposing starter, threw seven and two thirds, allowing two runs on four hits and two walks, striking out 11. The win went to Al Alburquerque, who threw three pitches in the game.

Gio Gonzalez held Atlanta to two runs in seven frames on six hits and a walk, striking out five. He took the loss as the Nats could only manage one run against Julio Teheran and a trio of Braves relievers.

Matt Cain went seven, allowed two runs on four hits. He walked none and struck out six. He took the loss as the Giants were held to one run by Wily Peralta and the Brewers.

Cole Hamels allowed two runs in seven frames. He took a no-decision when the Phillies only managed two runs against Travis Wood and the Cubs.

A Hardball Times Update
Goodbye for now.

Jhoulys Chacin was the victim when Matt Harvey shut out the Rockies. Chacin pitched seven innings, allowing only two runs on seven hits and a walk. He took the loss.

Ivan Nova pitched seven innings, allowing one run on eight hits and two walks, striking out seven along the way. Mariano Rivera blew the save and Nova took a no-decision in a game in which the Yankees eventually beat the Tigers in extra innings.

David Price held the Dodgers to one run in seven innings at Chavez Ravine. His chance for the win went out the window when Fernando Rodney blew the save.

Chris Tillman held the Giants to one run in eight innings on four hits and one walk, striking out nine. The Orioles blew the save.

Ian Kennedy and Mike Leake combined to throw 15 innings, allowing four runs on nine hits and five walks. Neither starter ended up with the win.

Wily Peralta held the Mariners to two runs in eight innings and took the loss. Felix Hernandez and Danny Farquhar held the Brewers scoreless in the game and Peralta’s 70 game score was wasted.

Nate Eovaldi held Atlanta scoreless for the first seven innings of a game the Marlins won 1-0. He didn’t get the win because the Fish waited until the ninth to score their one, lonely run.

Brandon McCarthy pitched seven innings, allowing two runs on six hits and a walk. He took the loss as the Snakes were held to one run by Zack Wheeler and the Mets bullpen.

Vulture Award

Brandon Workman took over after Steven Wright was pounded for three runs in the first inning for the Red Sox. Workman fared better only in that he lasted longe, giving up six runs to the Astros in four and two thirds. Workman was given the win as the Red Sox scored eight runs off Houston starter Jordan Lyles and another seven off Dallas Keuchel and Jose Cisnero.

Jim Johnson blew the save on Friday and still got the win in San Francisco.

Mariano blew the save on Sunday when he allowed home runs to Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez. He was redeemed by Brett Gardner, who made Rivera a winner with his solo home run off Jose Veras.

Wes Littleton Award

With help from Francisco Rodney, Joel Peralta absorbed the loss and was credited with a hold on Wednesday in Phoenix.

When Tommy Hunter strolled to the mound in the 10th inning with a three-run lead to protect, the Giants’ leadoff batter was pinch hitter Hector Sanchez.

Please hold the applause

Kelvin Herrera pitched poorly to poor competition and got away with it. With a three-run lead, he walked Chris Colabello before striking out Chris Herrmann. He then walked Trevor Plouffe and struck out Oswaldo Arcia. Before inducing an inning-ending groundout from Clete Thomas, he advanced Colabello and Plouffe a base by throwing a wild pitch. He allowed two batters to reach base from among the bottom half of the Twins order and then moved them up a base. He allowed no runs and walked away with the hold, but fans who watched that display probably left the experience with less confidence in Herrera than they had at the start.

Any sufficiently advanced defense is indistinguishable from pitching

Hisashi Iwakuma took the loss because the only run R.A. Dickey allowed was a solo homer to Justin Smoak but he was lucky to limit the Blue Jays to two runs in his seven and two thirds given that he struck out two of the 28 Toronto batters he faced. Only four balls in play against Iwakuma became hits and he walked four.

Joe Carter Award

Jurickson Profar drove in six Rangers in 26 plate appearances. He had seven total bases and a .240/.269/.280 line.

Yuniesky Betancourt went .150/.150/.350 and plated five for the Brewers. That was the same number of runs Yuni’s former teammate, Billy Butler drove in, but Butler went .429/.484/.679.

Sanchez Award

Jose Iglesias posted a perfect Sanchez line of .333/.333/.333 in 24 PA.

If some of you would frown on giving the top spot to Iglesias because a good defensive shortstop who posts a .666 OPS is an asset, though not as much of one as one would expect if they knew only the average, I present to you Juan Uribe, who went .292/.292/.375 in 24 PA.

Also note that Yunel Escobar posted a .286/.286/.333 in 21 PA.

Chase Headley collected six hits in 22 PA. Only one of those six went for extra bases. That one was a double. He also drew only one walk, leading to a .286/.318/.333 line.

Harmon Killebrew Award

Marlon Byrd posted a .235/.350/.412 line in 20 PA. As you would expect, two of his four hits were extra base hits. What you would not expect is the fact that the thing propping up his OBP was not walks, of which he had one, but hit by pitches. He got plunked twice.

David Murphy had a similar but superior line to Byrd but a less entertaining factoid than getting beaned twice. He went .231/.444/.462 in 18 PA with all three of his hits ending up as doubles. He made his way on base three times via hit and five times by way of a base on balls.

Paul Goldschmidt produced two singles in 23 PA for the Snakes. He also homered once, walked a staggering seven times, and went three for four in his attempts to steal a base. He posted a .188/.435/.375 line, which is something you don’t run into very often, even in one-week samples.

Steve Balboni Award

Alfonso Soriano struck out 12 times in 31 PA, tied for highest in the majors this week. So despite the fact that half of his hits were home runs, he wasn’t able to maintain a batting average or walk rate sufficient enough to produce a presentable line. Instead he hit .143/.266/.357.

Arcia shared the strikeout lead with Soriano, going down on strikes 12 times in 30 PA. He ended up batting .233/.233/.600, an asset in slugging but a gaping chest wound in the Twins lineup’s ability to put runners on base.

Mike Napoli struck out 11 times in 27 PA and hit .130/.286/.174.

Adeiny Hechavarria doesn’t have the secondary skills to survive eight strikeouts in 22 PA. He didn’t survive that strikeout rate this week, going .182/.182/.273.

Josh Willingham’s return from the disabled list did not go well. He struck out seven times in 19 PA and ended up at .118/.211/.353.

Usually I keep it to samples above about 15 or 20 PA or so, but I would feel remiss if I failed to mention that Austin Romine struck out seven times in 12 PA, 10 AB for a .100/.250/.100. That’s an abysmal contact rate.

In my weekly overrun list of those who went down on strikes a lot and ended up with the resultant terrible triple slash lines are Mark Trumbo, Roger Kieschnick, Darin Ruff, Colby Rasmus, Clete Thomas, Curtis Granderson, Giancarlo Stanton, Pedro Alvarez and Alex Avila.

Three true outcomes

As mentioned above, Soriano homered three times in his 31 PA. He also walked three times and struck out (as mentioned) 12 times.

Mike Trout homered twice, walked seven times, and struck out eight times in 27 PA.

Colabello posted a two-six-six TTO line in 25 PA.

Miguel Cabrera’s strikeouts are low for the category, but four-five-five in 33 PA gets you in.

Josh Reddick went five-two-five in 21 PA.

Justin Morneau went four-one-nine in 32 PA, which is a little thin on the walks, but with plenty of the homers and strikeouts.

The anti-TTO

Norichika Aoki posted a zero-zero-three TTO line in 27 PA.

Ed Lucas went zero-zero-three in 25 PA.

Jonathan Lucroy was another member of the zero-zero-three club. He did his in 29 PA.

And Juan Uribe is the last member of the crew, going zero-zero-three in 24 PA.

This week’s MVP

AL: Teammates Austin Jackson and Miguel Cabrera share the honor this week. Cabrera was his usual brilliant self, maybe more so by going .429/.515/.929. Half of his 12 hits were of the extra base variety. Jackson smacked 13 hits in 38 PA. Of those 13, five were singles, four were doubles, and two each of triples and home runs for a .371/.421/.771 line.

NL: I can’t decide the NL winner between Brandon Belt and Matt Holliday so I will let you decide for yourself. They each had 28 PA on the week. Holliday went .478/.586/.739 with nine singles, two homers, and five walks. Belt went .440/.500/.800 with six singles, three doubles, and two homers to go with three walks.


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Whistler's Brother
10 years ago

The Perfect Sanchez returns!

Thank you.

John Barten
10 years ago

Thank you

jenson
10 years ago

pleasant post, my partner and i certainly adore this website, keep on it