Tag / Blue Jays

by admin

Team Stats: Hit By Pitch

With 3 months until baseball in Chicago returns, I thought it would be interesting to look at the all time rankings in both offensive and defensive categories for all iterations of the current 30 teams for the 833 games I’ve identified that I have attended. We continue today back on the defensive side of the ball with batters hit by a pitch.

Again, based on the raw numbers, the White Sox and Cubs are far and away the leaders in this category, as they are the teams I’ve seen the most. When you adjust the numbers per game, the Devil Rays lead, followed, surprisingly, by the Tigers, who hit a little more than 1 batter every other game.  The Phillies and the Braves are at the bottom, hitting less than 1 batter every 15 games, while the Mets have yet to hit a batter in a game I’ve seen.

Hit By Pitch
Team Name Hit By Pitch
Chicago White Sox 149
Chicago Cubs 125
Minnesota Twins 21
Detroit Tigers 21
Kansas City Royals 17
Cincinnati Reds 16
Cleveland Indians 16
Texas Rangers 14
Houston Astros 14
Pittsburgh Pirates Continue reading →
by admin

Team Stats: Stolen Bases

With 3 months until baseball in Chicago returns, I thought it would be interesting to look at the all time rankings in both offensive and defensive categories for all iterations of the current 30 teams for the 833 games I’ve identified that I have attended. After a brief hiatus for the holidays, we continue today back on the offensive side of the ball with stolen bases.

Based on the raw numbers, the White Sox and Cubs are far and away the leaders in this category, as they are far and away the teams I’ve seen the most. When you adjust the numbers per game, the California and Anaheim versions of the Angels and the Devil Rays jump to the top of the heap.  The White Sox fall to the bottom of the middle third and the Cubs are squarely towards the low end, with less than 1 SB every other game.  The Braves are the worst team that I have seen somewhat often, at less than .3 SB per game, while the Miami incarnation of the Marlins have yet to steal a base in a game I have attended.

Stolen Bases
Team Name Stolen Bases
Chicago White Sox 303
Chicago Cubs 176
Kansas City Royals 36
Milwaukee Brewers 34
Cincinnati Reds 32
Houston Astros 30
Texas Rangers 28
Minnesota Twins 27
Cleveland Indians 26
Detroit Tigers Continue reading →
by admin

#48 – Joey Cora

Name: Joey Cora

Rank: 48

Position: 2B

Years With White Sox: 1991-1994

Joey Cora was acquired by the White Sox from the Padres, along with Warren Newson, for Adam Peterson and Steve Rosenberg on March 31, 1991.  Cora appeared in 100 games for the White Sox, splitting time at second base with Scott Fletcher.  He hit .241 with only 18 RBIs.

With the acquisition of Steve Sax prior to the 1992 season, Cora was pushed to the bench, starting only 21 games at second base.  Again, his production was meager, hitting .246 with no home runs and only 9 RBIs.

Cora became the everyday second baseman in 1993, taking over for Sax.  He set a career high with 153 games played, he hit .268 with a career high 20 stolen bases as the White Sox won their final AL West crown.  Cora struggled in the ALCS, hitting an anemic .136 as the White Sox fell in 6 games to the Blue Jays.

In 1994, Cora continued to improve.  He raised his average again to .276 and had 2 home runs and 30 RBIs when the season came to a premature end due to the player’s strike.

When baseball resumed in 1995, Cora became a free agent and his White Sox playing career came to an end.  He rejoined the organization as third base coach for the 2004 season, when Ozzie Guillen was hired as manager.  Following the 2006 season, he became the bench coach.  Cora was initially named interim manager after Guillen was relieved with 2 games left in the 2011 season, but was fired by text message by GM Kenny Williams before he could assume the role.

Cora’s numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were:

Continue reading →

by admin

Team Stats: Home Runs Surrendered

With 4 months until baseball in Chicago returns, I thought it would be interesting to look at the all time rankings in both offensive and defensive categories for all iterations of the current 30 teams for the 833 games I’ve identified that I have attended. We continue today on the defensive side of the ball with home runs surrendered.

Based on the raw numbers, the White Sox and Cubs are far and away the leaders in this category, as they are the teams I’ve seen the most.  When you adjust the numbers per game, the Expos jump to the top (or bottom, depending on your point of view) of the heap, with an even 2 home runs given up per game.  The Braves, Giants, Phillies, Diamondbacks, Miami Marlins, Nationals, and Devil Rays are the only teams below 1 home run per game.  The remaining teams fall in between.

Home Runs Surrendered
Team Name Home Runs Surrendered
Chicago White Sox 565
Chicago Cubs 399
Minnesota Twins 73
Kansas City Royals 51
Pittsburgh Pirates 49
Milwaukee Brewers 48
Cincinnati Reds 47
Houston Astros 47
Cleveland Indians 46
Detroit Tigers Continue reading →
by admin

#50 – Warren Newson

Name: Warren Newson

Rank: 50

Position: RF/LF

Years With White Sox: 1991-1995

Warren Newson was acquired by the White Sox from the Padres, along with Joey Cora, for Adam Peterson and Steve Rosenberg on March 31, 1991.  After starting the year in Triple A and putting up an OBP over .500, Newson made his major league debut on May 29, pinch hitting for Sammy Sosa in the 8-4 loss to the Angels at the new Comiskey Park.  Despite hitting .295 for the season with a .843 OPS, Newson was limited to only 132 at bats.

Newson returned to the bench for the 1992 season, getting an extended look when Dan Pasqua went down with an injury in June.  Newson hit .286 with a .756 OPS during Pasqua’s absence, but was relegated back to the bench when Pasqua returned, despite his superior stats.  For the year, Newson hit a disappointing .221, but still managed a .387 OBP.

1993 was a difficult season for Newson.  While the White Sox were putting together their first divisional title in a decade, Newson missed months to look after his wife following a life-threatening car accident.  He only appeared in 26 games during the regular season, getting only 40 at bats.  He did manage to hit .300 with an .879 OPS.  Newson went 1-5 with a home run in 2 appearances during the ALCS against the Blue Jays.

Newson returned to the White Sox full time in 1994, but again was relegated to backup and pinch hitting duties.  He appeared in 63 games before the season was cut short due to the strike.  Newson finished the shortened year hitting .255 with a .345 OBP in 102 at bats.

When baseball resumed in 1995, Newson’s average suffered, dropping to .235, but his OBP was a very healthy .404.  Despite this, he only managed 85 at bats in 51 games.  On July 18, he was traded to the Mariners for a player to be named later, who eventually became Jeff Darwin.

Newson’s numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were:

Continue reading →

by admin

Team Stats: Batting Average

With 4 months until baseball in Chicago returns, I thought it would be interesting to look at the all time rankings in both offensive and defensive categories for all iterations of the current 30 teams for the 833 games I’ve identified that I have attended.  We start today on the offensive side of the ball with team batting average.

The California Angels, who I only saw live and in person once, are the only team to post an average over .300.  The Washington Nationals, who, sadly, have had 8 games to make a mark, are the only team to post an average under .200.  In between, there is a slight correlation between the teams’ batting average and their record in these games, though with some surprising anomalies.

Batting Average
Team Name Batting Average
California Angels 0.306
Anaheim Angels 0.292
Arizona Diamondbacks 0.278
Tampa Bay Devil Rays 0.273
Cleveland Indians 0.271
Chicago Cubs 0.266
Colorado Rockies 0.265
Milwaukee Brewers 0.263
Kansas City Royals 0.261
Florida Marlins 0.260
Houston Astros 0.260
Chicago White Sox 0.259
Detroit Tigers Continue reading →
by admin

#53 – Sergio Santos

Name: Sergio Santos

Rank: 53

Position: P

Years With White Sox: 2010-2011

Sergio Santos joined the White Sox organization as a minor league free agent on January 12, 2009.  On March 20, he was traded to the Giants, and then returned to the White Sox on April 1.  At this point, he was converted from an infielder to a pitcher.  After appearing in 4 different minor league levels in 2009, he broke camp with the White Sox in 2010 and made his major league debut on April 8, throwing a scoreless inning of relief in a 5-3 loss to the Indians.  Santos ended up the year with a 2.96 ERA in 56 appearances.

In 2011, Santos became the team’s closer.  He went 4-5 with a 3.55 ERA while notching 30 saves, in just his third season as a pitcher.  That December, Santos was traded to the Blue Jays for Nestor Molina, who has yet to reach the big leagues.

Santos’s numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were:

Continue reading →

by admin

2016 Final Standings

2016wsballThe World Series has come to an end and, with it, the magical 2016 baseball season that put the Cubs on top of the baseball world for the first time in 108 years.  I made it to 39 games this season, the same total as last season, but did not manage to visit any stadiums outside the city of Chicago.  Here are the final standings for those games and the 18 different teams I saw in person, through both the regular season and the playoffs.

2016 Team Records
Team Won Loss Winning Pctg
Los Angeles Angels 1 0 1.000
Boston Red Sox 1 0 1.000
Kansas City Royals 5 1 0.833
Chicago Cubs 6 2 0.750
Cleveland Indians 3 2 0.600
Chicago White Sox 17 15 0.531
Minnesota Twins 2 2 0.500
Toronto Blue Jays 1 1 0.500
Atlanta Braves 1 1 0.500
Baltimore Orioles 1 1 0.500
Detroit Tigers 1 2 0.333
Seattle Mariners 0 2 0.000
San Francisco Giants 0 2 0.000
Oakland Athletics 0 2 0.000
Los Angeles Dodgers 0 2 0.000
Tampa Bay Rays 0 1 0.000
Cincinnati Reds 0 1 0.000
Texas Rangers 0 2 0.000
by admin

RIP US Cellular Field

uscellular-fieldYesterday, US Cellular Field officially was rechristened as Guaranteed Rate Field, ending a 14 year run for the wireless telecom company as the naming rights holder for the home of the Chicago White Sox.  In that time, I saw 414 games at the park, including a Marlins home game in 2004 due to Hurricane Ivan and post-season play in 2000, 2005 and 2008.

All-Time Team Records
TeamName Won Loss Winning Pctg
Arizona Diamondbacks 1 0 1.000
Colorado Rockies 2 0 1.000
St. Louis Cardinals 1 0 1.000
Florida Marlins 3 1 0.750
New York Yankees 10 7 0.588
Boston Red Sox 13 10 0.565
Los Angeles Angels 16 13 0.552
Baltimore Orioles 11 9 0.550
Chicago White Sox 223 190 0.540
Kansas City Royals 23 20 0.535
Toronto Blue Jays 9 8 0.529
Cleveland Indians 20 18 0.526
Tampa Bay Devil Rays 1 1 0.500
Tampa Bay Rays 8 8 0.500
Washington Nationals 1 1 0.500
Anaheim Angels 1 1 0.500
Cincinnati Reds 1 1 0.500
San Diego Padres 1 1 0.500
Houston Astros 4 5 0.444
Oakland Athletics 6 8 0.429
Chicago Cubs 11 15 0.423
Detroit Tigers 13 19 0.406
Minnesota Twins 19 28 0.404
Texas Rangers 7 13 0.350
Atlanta Braves 2 5 0.286
Seattle Mariners 5 18 0.217
Pittsburgh Pirates 1 4 0.200
Los Angeles Dodgers 1 5 0.167
Milwaukee Brewers 0 2 0.000
Montreal Expos 0 1 0.000
Miami Marlins 0 2 0.000
by admin

#59 – Dan Pasqua

pasquaName: Dan Pasqua

Rank: 59

Position: OF/1B/DH

Years With White Sox: 1988-1994

Following the 1987 season, Dan Pasqua, along with Steve Rosenberg and Mark Salas, was acquired by the White Sox from the Yankees for Richard Dotson and Scott Nielsen.

His first season with the White Sox ended with a career high 20 home runs despite a disappointing .227 average.  A broken wrist suffered during the first week of the 1989 season limited Pasqua to just 73 games, where he improved his average to .248, but only 11 home runs.

Pasqua lost his regular slot in the lineup in 1990, as manager Jeff Torborg decided to start Sammy Sosa every day.  He appeared in 112 games, but had only 325 at bats despite a .274 average.  1991 saw Pasqua appear in a career high 134 games, with a .259 average and 18 home runs, his highest total since 1988.

Pasqua saw his playing time reduced again in 1992, thanks in part to a hamstring injury that put him on the shelf for nearly a month.  His average dropped to .211 and he managed only 6 home runs.  With George Bell and Bo Jackson splitting time at DH in 1993, Pasqua again was the odd man out.  He appeared in only 78 games and his average fell again to .205.  He appeared in 2 games of the ALCS against the Blue Jays and went hitless in 6 at bats.

Pasqua’s 1994 season was cut short by arthroscopic knee surgery in May, which limited him to just 11 appearances and only 23 at bats.  When the season was called off due to the strike, he became a free agent and decided to retire.

Pasqua’s numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were:

Continue reading →