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.

#2 is now #10

Photo by Bill Chuck

In the Yankees 2-0 win over the Red Sox last night, Derek Jeter‘s RBI single gave him a major-league leading 195 hits on the season and 3283 hits in his career, tying him with Willie Mays for 10th place on the all-time hit list.

One of the elements of Jeter's game is his famed inside-out swing.

Check this out.

Here is how Jeter compiled his 195 hits and his .323 batting average this season:

On pitches to the outer half of the plate, the Yankee captain is hitting .316 with 93 hits:

On pitches on the inner half of the plate, Jeter is hitting .332 with 102 hits:

Here is the inside-out swing in action in which Jeter has gone 25-for-55 (.455) on pitches on the inside in which he has gone to the opposite field:

Here is baseball’s 3000-hit list:

Rk	Player	H	1B	2B	3B	HR
1	Pete Rose	4256	3215	746	135	160
2	Ty Cobb	4189	3053	724	295	117
3	Hank Aaron	3771	2294	624	98	755
4	Stan Musial	3630	2253	725	177	475
5	Tris Speaker	3514	2383	792	222	117
6	Carl Yastrzemski	3419	2262	646	59	452
7	Paul Molitor	3319	2366	605	114	234
8	Eddie Collins	3315	2643	438	187	47
9	Derek Jeter	3283	2441	522	65	255
10	Willie Mays	3283	1960	523	140	660
11	Eddie Murray	3255	2156	560	35	504
12	Cal Ripken	3184	2106	603	44	431
13	George Brett	3154	2035	665	137	317
14	Paul Waner	3152	2243	605	191	113
15	Robin Yount	3142	2182	583	126	251
16	Tony Gwynn	3141	2378	543	85	135
17	Dave Winfield	3110	2017	540	88	465
18	Craig Biggio	3060	2046	668	55	291
19	Rickey Henderson	3055	2182	510	66	297
20	Rod Carew	3053	2404	445	112	92
21	Lou Brock	3023	2247	486	141	149
22	Rafael Palmeiro	3020	1828	585	38	569
23	Wade Boggs	3010	2253	578	61	118
24	Al Kaline	3007	2035	498	75	399
25	Roberto Clemente	3000	2154	440	166	240
Rk	Player	H	1B	2B	3B	HR

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used Generated 9/14/2012.

Here are Jeter’s victims by team:

I	Split	G	H ▾	BA
	Inter-League	256	345	.326
	Baltimore Orioles	270	341	.307
	Boston Red Sox	261	318	.291
	Toronto Blue Jays	243	307	.314
	Tampa Bay Rays	240	299	.305
	Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim	161	215	.333
	Texas Rangers	143	193	.329
	Oakland Athletics	150	189	.310
	Seattle Mariners	163	187	.283
	Detroit Tigers	139	185	.326
	Cleveland Indians	132	178	.338
	Kansas City Royals	130	177	.328
	Minnesota Twins	122	163	.326
	Chicago White Sox	134	158	.295

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table Generated 9/14/2012.

Bill Chuck's Nine to Know: August

August was pretty ugly for Melky Cabrera, Bartolo Colon, and Red Sox Nation but overall it was a pretty cool month considering how hot it was.

Here are nine questions that demand your attention.

1. Will the Orioles be demanding that today be declared August 32?
2. Was August an indicator for the Pirates?
3. Have the 2013 turn-arounds for Kansas City and San Diego already begun?
4. I know Yovani Gallardo was 5-0 with a 2.02 ERA and 1.07 WHIP in August, but wouldn't you agree that Felix Hernandez, with a 4-0 record and a 1.08 ERA and a 0.58 WHIP was the pitcher of the month? In 41.2 innings, he allowed 19 hits and just five earned runs; the Red Sox allowed 19 hits and 20 runs in eight innings to the A's last night.
5. What does Derek Jeter have in common with catchers Kelly Shoppach, Brayan Pena, and Jose Molina? Jeter had 43 hits in August, the same number of hits that each of the catchers have had this entire season.
6. Is Terry Francona headed for the Indians dugout as their next manager?
7. The Rays pitchers allowed 2.46 runs per game in August, how can they not be the most feared team if they make the postseason?
8. How thrilled is Atlanta's Brian McCann to turn the page to September? His .181 average was good compared to his zero homers and two RBI in 72 AB.
9. July 23 was the last day the Tgers were in first place by themselves in the AL Central, when are we going to start raving about the work about Kenny Williams and Robin Ventura this season?

AL August

Tm	W	L	W-L%	GB	RS	RA
TEX	19	10	.655	--	168	128
BAL	18	9	.667	--	118	106
OAK	18	10	.643	0.5	146	102
TBR	17	11	.607	1.5	121	69
KCR	17	11	.607	1.5	115	105
DET	16	11	.593	2.0	133	108
CHW	16	12	.571	2.5	128	118
SEA	15	12	.556	3.0	95	106
NYY	15	13	.536	3.5	133	119
LAA	13	15	.464	5.5	156	172
MIN	9	19	.321	9.5	117	138
TOR	9	19	.321	9.5	89	132
BOS	9	20	.310	10.0	139	172
CLE	5	24	.172	14.0	96	179

  NL August

Tm	W	L	W-L%	GB	RS	RA
WSN	19	10	.655	--	137	98
SDP	18	10	.643	0.5	119	109
CIN	19	11	.633	0.5	142	122
SFG	18	11	.621	1.0	157	126
PHI	17	12	.586	2.0	112	108
MIL	16	12	.571	2.5	148	122
COL	16	13	.552	3.0	142	143
STL	16	13	.552	3.0	124	127
ATL	15	14	.517	4.0	119	91
LAD	14	14	.500	4.5	125	111
ARI	13	16	.448	6.0	109	123
NYM	12	16	.429	6.5	83	104
MIA	12	17	.414	7.0	120	123
PIT	11	17	.393	7.5	121	135
CHC	8	21	.276	11.0	111	153
HOU	5	22	.185	13.0	75	149