July, 2009 | The Baseball Zealot

What the hell did Dave Engle do anyway?

Last night when Andruw Jones popped up and struck out in his last two at-bats, Ranger skipper had some nice words to say about him (emphasis mine):

"I saw Kirby Puckett do some great stuff. I saw Dave Engle do some great stuff. Matter fact, I saw Mickey Hatcher get nine hits in a row — nine straight in three straight days,"

LOL, Whut??

Dave Engle?

I’m familiar with Engle, a backup catcher/utility man, who lasted nine years despite not really doing a whole lot. He had a couple 400+ at bat years and actually made the All-Star team in 1984 (here’s an actual scan of Toledo Blade article proving it) but after he left Minnesota in ‘85, he bounced from team to team not even garnering 100 at-bats.

But I wasn’t aware of Engle doing anything newsworthy (other than being the brother-in-law of then fellow Twin Tom Brunansky)… something that we would remember over 20 years later. Nope, doesn’t ring a bell.

He did go on to become a hitting coach in the majors to once again prove that those cannot do, teach. Except that he didn’t do that very well either and got fired.

So if anyone knows the answer to the mystery, speak up. I’m dying to know.

Magglio=Sampson??

Magglio Ordonez is off to a poor start this first half and his July isn’t improving (4 for 20). With only 14 extra base hits so far this year, rumor has it they are calling him “Singlio”

Now there’s talk of platooning him with callup Clete Thomas.

Maybe he shouldn’t have cut his hair after all.

Mariner prospect McOwen has a 45 game hit streak in California League

ph_519014 Seattle prospect Jamie McOwen has a hit streak going that’s starting to get national attention. McOwen, a rightfielder for the High Desert Mavericks in the Class A Advanced California League, has now hit in 45 straight games. For the season, McOwen is hitting a nifty .355, one point behind the Cal League batting leader.

The 45 games is not a record in the minors. Not by a longshot. Similar to the majors, the hit streak record seems to be the hardest to conquer. He has 24 games to go. You have to go back to 1919 when Joe Wilhoit from Wichita had a 69 game hit streak. That remains the record today.

By the way, if the name High Desert Mavericks sounds familiar to you, then you probably heard the news story about the incredible 51-run game between the Mavericks and the Lake Elsinore Storm a couple weeks ago. The Mavericks came out on the losing side on that 33-18 wild one. McOwen’s 2 for 6 performance in that game contributed to his streak.

Update: The streak is over at 45. Bus Leagues Baseball live-blogged what would have been the 46th game and McOwen came up short.

Kearns: former potential star

I had the idea that Austin Kearns was going to be the next superstar when he came up in 2002.

I remember when he was going to be the next Adam Dunn but much better. He was going to be faster, hit for better average, would be able to field and wouldn’t strike out as much. I remember this because I drafted him as a rookie in my APBA league.

Well, I am lucky because I had the luxury of trading him. The folks in DC aren’t so lucky. I guess a few of the fans there are a little tired of him already.

DC Pro Sports have their say.

Washburn one-hits the Orioles… and wins

The Seattle Mariners defeated the Orioles last night behind a classic one-hitter pitched by Jarrod Washburn. The good pitching by Washburn was not necessarily out of character this season. The 9-0 win was.

After a few iffy seasons, Washburn has pitched well in 2009. He sports a 3.08 allowing 7.7 hits per 9 innings and has a WHIP of 1.10. Much improved compared to the last few years. Unfortunately for the Mariners, they haven’t been able to capitalize on his success on the mound. Despite the fancy-dancy stats, Washburn only has a 5-6 record.

Some are rumoring that Washburn will be tradebait considering this is his last year of his contract. The LA Dodgers are considered high on that list.

Improbable Stats: Darren Oliver

I was doing some research on another project and ran across this gem.

Not only does Angel pitcher Darren Oliver have a career winning record (a pretty sizable one at that with a 104-82 record) but he is 17-3 in his last five years.

Year	Wins	Losses
2006	4	1
2007	3	1
2008	7	1
2009	3	0

not what I expected on either count.

Helpful search tip on Baseball Reference

Sean Forman has implemented a new search modification to his Baseball Reference database.

For those searching on a common player name (or part thereof), you can put the word “the” in front of the search term and the database will bring up the most popular searched player.

From B-R’s blog:

I just added a mod to the search box on the site. With the addition of all of the minor league pages, getting to someone like Alex Rodriguez’s page via a search “A Rod” returns like 50 people. Now, if you type in “the A Rod” it looks through our db and returns the most popular major league player who matches the search “A Rod”. Adding “the ” to the front of any player search will send you to the most popular player matching that search.

I did my own test. I searched for “ramon martinez” and got back three results including two minor leaguers. When I searched for “the ramon martinez”, it took me directly to the page of Ramon Martinez who pitched for the LA Dodgers.

This trick works with initials too though your mileage may vary. “the jason v” did return Jason Varitek as I intended it too. For that matter, so did “the j v”.

Anyway, this mod might save a few mouse clicks for those of us who search Baseball Reference’s database on a frequent basis.

Historic Ballparks and what happened to them

I’m fan about old baseball stadiums. Reading about their history, viewing what little photographs we have of them.

Chris Epting has put together a cool slideshow video of old photographs of historic baseball stadiums in their heyday and then comparing them with current photographs of the locations of where once stood. Sort of like VH1’s Where are they Now? but more depressing.

Sappy, sentimental, but poignant too for us amateur baseball historians.

Epting is the author of Roadside Baseball: The Locations of America’s Baseball Landmarks which I haven’t read yet but it is on my “to-get” list.

Orioles spot Red Sox 9 run lead then bats take over

As hard as it may seem to believe, Rich Hill’s ERA jumped a full point in his start against the Red Sox last night. Hill allowed 9 hits 9 runs in 3 plus innings.

Fortunately for Baltimore, the Oriole bats were working overtime. They achieved the biggest comeback in franchise history saving Hill from being the goat. Baltimore won by the score of 11-10.

It was also the biggest comeback by a last-place team over a first-place team.

George Sherrill the young stopper for Baltimore, got his 17th save of the year.

"One-run saves are tough. I haven’t been part of a winning team yet, so I guess when we get to 83 wins, that will be more exciting. Until then, this is probably one of the biggest."

One-run saves are indeed tough. That’s why the good ones get paid the big bucks.

By the way, I’m don’t follow the Red Sox too closely but why is Julio Lugo leading off and Jacoby Ellsbury batting eighth? Lugo seems to be one of those players that just won’t retire. And I’m not sure if I mean that in a good way or a bad way.