Nine to Know: Yankees play two, Orioles play two extra; both teams win

1. Andy Pettitte pitched five scoreless innings returning from the DL to pick up the win in game one in the day/night doubleheader swept by the Yankees over the Blue Jays.
2. Derek Jeter was given the day game off so Ichiro Suzuki to the leadoff slot and had three hits batting leadoff as the Yankee captain was given the opener off.
3. Rafael Soriano picked up a four-out save in game one thanks in large part to a diving basket catch by Ichiro with runners on second and third with two outs in the top of the 8th when the score was 3-2.
4. Toronto’s 45-year-old Omar Vizquel had two hits in the Jays first-game loss to move past Babe Ruth to 41st on the career hit list at 2,874. Mel Ott is next at 2,876.
5. The Yanks won the nightcap, 2-1, with Ichiro once again starring hitting a go-ahead single in the 8th inning driving in the ultimate winning run. Ichiro had four hits in the second game making him 7-for-8 in the two games. He also stole four of New York’s seven bases in the second game. Soriano recorded saves 41 and 42 in the twinbill.
6. Derek Jeter picked up his 200th hit of the season extending his hitting streak to 13 games. Jeter now has eight seasons of at least 200 hits (also 1998-00, 2005-07, ’09), tying Lou Gehrig’s club record. Only Pete Rose (10), Ichiro (10), and Ty Cobb (9) have more 200-hit seasons than Jeter, the oldest player to collect at least 200 hits in a season since the 40-year old Paul Molitor in 1996.
7. After playing 18 innings Tuesday night, the Baltimore Orioles’ Adam Jones hit a two-run homer in the top of the 11th inning as the Orioles won their 15th straight extra-inning game, 3-1 over the Seattle Mariners.
8. Jones became the first Baltimore outfielder to reach 30 homers since Brady Anderson hit 50 in 1996. It was his fourth extra-inning homer of the season.
9. The game ended when Michael Saunders, who had walked, was caught stealing by Tuesday night’s hitting star, Taylor Teagarden. That play exemplifies why the Orioles will battling in October in the postseason and the Mariners will be battling for tee times.

Players with four hits and four steals in a game since 2000:

Rk	Player	Date	Tm	Opp	Rslt	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS
1	Ichiro Suzuki	2012-09-19 (2)	NYY	TOR	W 2-1	4	4	0	4	1	0	0	1	4	0
2	Julio Borbon	2009-08-15	TEX	BOS	W 7-2	5	5	2	4	0	0	0	2	4	0
3	Carl Crawford	2009-05-03	TBR	BOS	W 5-3	5	4	2	4	0	0	0	1	6	0
4	Kenny Lofton	2007-06-29	TEX	BOS	L 1-2	5	4	0	4	0	0	0	0	4	0
5	Carl Crawford	2006-05-24	TBD	TOR	W 10-8	5	5	5	5	0	0	1	2	4	0
6	Scott Podsednik	2006-05-01	CHW	CLE	W 8-6	6	5	3	4	0	0	0	0	4	1
7	Ichiro Suzuki	2004-07-20	SEA	BOS	L 7-9	6	5	1	4	0	0	0	0	4	0
8	Kenny Lofton	2000-09-03	CLE	BAL	W 12-11	8	7	4	4	0	0	1	1	5	0
9	Tom Goodwin	2000-06-07	COL	SEA	W 6-1	5	5	2	4	0	0	0	1	4	0
10	Eric Young	2000-05-14	CHC	MON	L 15-16	6	5	4	4	0	0	0	0	5	0

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used Generated 9/20/2012.

Ichiro's seven-hit game yesterday:

Derek Jeter's 200 hit season:

Adam Jones' 30-homer season:

There have been 56 extra-inning homers this season. Here are batters with multiple games:

Adam Jones 4
Hunter Pence 2
Scott Hairston 2
Chipper Jones 2
Carlos Gonzalez 2
Matt Kemp 2

Here are Adam Jones 2012 extra-inning homers:

Date	Batter ▾	Opp	Pitcher	Score	Inn	RoB	Out	RBI
2012-05-06	Adam Jones	@BOS	Darnell McDonald	tied 6-6	t17	12-	1	3
2012-05-16	Adam Jones	@KCR	Nathan Adcock	tied 3-3	t15	—	1	1
2012-06-09	Adam Jones	PHI	B.J. Rosenberg	tied 4-4	b12	1–	0	2
2012-09-19	Adam Jones	@SEA	Josh Kinney	tied 1-1	t11	1–	1	2

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 9/20/2012.

30-homer hitters

Last night, Alfonso Soriano and Adam Jones became the 15th and 16th players this season to hit 30 homers.

Rk	Player	HR
1	Josh Hamilton	42
2	Miguel Cabrera	41
3	Ryan Braun	40
4	Edwin Encarnacion	40
5	Curtis Granderson	39
6	Adam Dunn	39
7	Josh Willingham	35
8	Giancarlo Stanton	34
9	Adrian Beltre	33
10	Jay Bruce	33
11	Mark Trumbo	31
12	Robinson Cano	30
13	Albert Pujols	30
14	Alfonso Soriano	30
15	Adam Jones	30
16	Adam LaRoche	30

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used Generated 9/20/2012.

 

This was the first time for the right-handed Jones hitting 30 homers.

Jones against righties:

Jones against righties has hit .283, slugged .512 and hit 23 of his 30 homers. he has struck out 80 times.

Jones against lefties:

Against lefties, Jones has .299, slugged .486 and only hit seven homers. He has whiffed 30 times.

Soriano has now hit at least 30 homers in a season six times.

Year	Age	Tm	G	PA	AB	HR ▾
2006	30	WSN	159	728	647	46
2002	26	NYY	156	741	696	39
2003	27	NYY	156	734	682	38
2005	29	TEX	156	682	637	36
2007	31	CHC	135	617	579	33
2012	36	CHC	139	568	521	30

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table Generated 9/20/2012.

 

Soriano is now tied with Gil Hodges for 71st place on the all-time HR list, with 370.

Soriano has similar numbers to Jones homering eight times off lefties and 22 times off righties.

Active players with at least four 30+ homer seasons:

	Yrs
Alex Rodriguez	14	Ind. Seasons
Albert Pujols	12	Ind. Seasons
Jim Thome	12	Ind. Seasons
Mark Teixeira	8	Ind. Seasons
Adam Dunn	8	Ind. Seasons
Miguel Cabrera	8	Ind. Seasons
Jason Giambi	8	Ind. Seasons
Paul Konerko	7	Ind. Seasons
Andruw Jones	7	Ind. Seasons
Ryan Howard	6	Ind. Seasons
David Ortiz	6	Ind. Seasons
Alfonso Soriano	6	Ind. Seasons
Lance Berkman	6	Ind. Seasons
Todd Helton	6	Ind. Seasons
Chipper Jones	6	Ind. Seasons
Dan Uggla	5	Ind. Seasons
Prince Fielder	5	Ind. Seasons
Ryan Braun	5	Ind. Seasons
Carlos Lee	5	Ind. Seasons
Adrian Gonzalez	4	Ind. Seasons
Jason Bay	4	Ind. Seasons
Aramis Ramirez	4	Ind. Seasons

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used Generated 9/20/2012.

All-time leaders in 30+ homer seasons:

Rk		Yrs	From	To
1	Hank Aaron	15	1957	1973	Ind. Seasons
2	Alex Rodriguez	14	1996	2010	Ind. Seasons
3	Barry Bonds	14	1990	2004	Ind. Seasons
4	Mike Schmidt	13	1974	1987	Ind. Seasons
5	Babe Ruth	13	1920	1933	Ind. Seasons
6	Albert Pujols	12	2001	2012	Ind. Seasons
7	Jim Thome	12	1996	2008	Ind. Seasons
8	Manny Ramirez	12	1995	2008	Ind. Seasons
9	Jimmie Foxx	12	1929	1940	Ind. Seasons
10	Carlos Delgado	11	1997	2008	Ind. Seasons
11	Sammy Sosa	11	1993	2004	Ind. Seasons
12	Mark McGwire	11	1987	2000	Ind. Seasons
13	Frank Robinson	11	1956	1973	Ind. Seasons
14	Willie Mays	11	1954	1966	Ind. Seasons
15	Rafael Palmeiro	10	1993	2003	Ind. Seasons
16	Fred McGriff	10	1988	2002	Ind. Seasons
17	Harmon Killebrew	10	1959	1970	Ind. Seasons
18	Eddie Mathews	10	1953	1965	Ind. Seasons
19	Lou Gehrig	10	1927	1937	Ind. Seasons

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used Generated 9/20/2012.

Seasons that produced the most 30+ homer hitters:

Rk	Year	#
1	2000	47
2	1999	45
3	1996	43
4	2001	41
5	2004	37
6	2006	34
7	1998	33
8	1997	31
9	2009	30
10	2003	30
11	2008	28
12	2002	28
13	1987	28
14	2005	27
15	2007	26
16	2011	24
17	1993	22
18	1995	21
19	1977	19
20	1970	19
21	2010	18
22	1969	17
23	2012	16
24	1982	16

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used Generated 9/20/2012.

Adam Jones Pulls in Big Pay Day

Adam Jones is enjoying an MVP-caliber season for the first-place Baltimore Orioles, and the O's are now poised to give the 26-year-old a six-year contract extension in the range of $85 million. 

A perennial breakout pick who frustrated many by not making the most of his 6-foot-3, 225 pound frame at the plate (he averaged 18 homers and a 104 OPS+ during his first four years in Baltimore), Jones has finally tapped into the power that made him a top prospect in the Mariners' farm system. His 14 homers are tied for second in the majors, and his 161 OPS+ ranks in the top 20. Jones is about to pull in a lot of cash because he's pulling the ball more often and with more authority.

Jones' pull percentage has climbed considerably in 2012, from under 45 percent during his four decent seasons with the O's to nearly 57 percent:

Jones' Spray Splits

Year	Pull	Center	Opposite
2008-11	44.6	33.6	21.8
2012	56.6	29	14.4

Pulling the ball more often is usually a good thing for a hitter. Righties have a .559 slugging percentage when pulling the ball this season, compared to .479 to center field and .458 to the opposite side. The extra pulled pitches have definitely been a positive for Jones, as his slugging percentage to the pull side has soared by over 250 points:

Jones' slugging percentage by side of field

Year	Pull	Center	Opposite
2008-11	.660	.454	.528
2012	.912	.571	.571

Jones has the eighth-highest slugging percentage on pulled pitches among righty hitters, sandwiched between Edwin Encarnacion and Ryan Braun. Eleven of Jones' homers have been ripped down the left field line.

While Jones still isn't drawing many walks, he has shown slightly better plate discipline this season (35 percent chase rate, compared to 39 percent from 2008-11) and his list of comparable players on Baseball-Reference through age 25 includes the likes of Dave Winfield, Reggie Smith, Andre Dawson, Dwight Evans and Sammy Sosa. It's too early to say that Jones is Matt Kemp sans stolen bases, but this deal looks fair if he contributes three to four Wins Above Replacement per year. It's a steal if he remains one of the game's great pull hitters.