Bill Chuck is the creator of Billy-Ball.com (www.Billy-Ball.com) and, with Jim Kaplan, is the author of the book, “Walk-Offs, Last Licks, and Final Outs – Baseball’s Grand (and not so Grand) Finales,” with a Foreword by Jon Miller, published by ACTA Sports, and available worldwide.Bill Chuck is available for radio appearances, and writing for print or the web. Please contact me at Bill@billy-ball.com or by calling 617-566-2784.

1) Omar Moreno and Jackie Robinson each played 1,382 games.

2) Larry Herndon and Jackie Robinson each had 4,877 at bats.

3) Duffy Lewis and Jackie Robinson each collected 1,518 hits.

4) Lee Mazzilli and Jackie Robinson each stole 197 bases.

5) Claude Osteen and Jackie Robinson each struck out 291 times.

6) Eric Davis and Jackie Robinson each walked 740 times.

7 – 8 ) Placido Polanco, Ray Durham and Jackie Robinson each were hit by 72 pitches.

10 – 15) Troy Glaus, Richie Hebner, Terry Steinbach, Lonnie Smith, Lloyd Moseby and Jackie Robinson each hit 273 doubles.

15 – 17) Brian Giles, Kirk Gibson, Julio Franco and Jackie Robinson each hit 54 triples.

18 – 22) Trot Nixon, Darren Daulton, Ramon Hernandez, Alex Gonzalez, Steve Buechele and Jackie Robinson each hit 137 homers.

23 – 25) Lymon Bostock, Bing Miller, Freddie Lindstrom and Jackie Robinson each had career .311 batting averages.

26 – 27) Robin Yount, Jimmy Piersall and Jackie Robinson each had 174 sac hits.

28 – 31) Bob Nieman, Bo Jackson, Kiki Cuyler, Terry Forster and Jackie Robinson each had a .474 slugging average.

32 – 35) Mickey Mantle, Geoff Jenkins, Matt Lawton, Jason Thompson, and Jackie Robinson each grounded into 113 DPs.

35 – 42) On April 15, 1997, Major League Baseball retired Jackie Robinson’s uniform #42. Seven players wearing number 42 at the time were “grandfathered in” and allowed to continue wearing it:

Butch Huskey – Mets

Mike Jackson – Indians

Scott Karl - Brewers

Jose Lima – Astros

Mo Vaughn – Red Sox

Lenny Webster – Orioles

And, the last active player to wear #42 is Mariano Rivera.

Bill Chuck is the creator of Billy-Ball.com (www.Billy-Ball.com) and, with Jim Kaplan, is the author of the book, “Walk-Offs, Last Licks, and Final Outs – Baseball’s Grand (and not so Grand) Finales,” with a Foreword by Jon Miller, published by ACTA Sports, and available worldwide.

Bill Chuck is available for radio appearances, and writing for print or the web. Please contact me at Bill@billy-ball.com or by calling 617-566-2784.

1. Milwaukee’s Mark Attanasio and Houston’s Drayton McLane Jr. are calling for a salary cap in response to the Yankees off-season spending. During the next interleague period, the Brewers host Twins and the Astros host the Royals, you think that has anything to do with their comments? You don’t hear the Marlins and Braves owners complaining, they will host Hank & Hal’s Traveling All-Stars.
2. Richard Justice, columnist for the Houston Chronicle, points out that a salary cap probably would be around 57 percent of revenues. Therefore, McLane would have to raise his payroll to, $114 million compared to $89 million last opening day. Using these numbers 20 teams would need to significantly increase their spending under the cap, improving their on-field performance, but reducing their personal profits.
3. Scott Proctor who just signed with the Marlins, defines “middle-reliever.” In 262 big league appearances Proctor has made only one start and earned just one save.
4. The Orioles made a big free-agent signing, adding 6 feet 9 inch pitcher Mark Hendrickson. Of all the pitchers 80 inches or taller, Hendrickson ranks fifth all-time with 50 wins; Randy Johnson leads with 295 wins coming in at 82 inches.
5. January 3 marked the 36th anniversary of George Steinbrenner’s purchase of the Yankees from CBS for a mere $10 million.
6. Mike Maroth hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2007 and Matt Clement hasn’t pitched since 2006, both have signed with Toronto. Is this how the Blue Jays plan to compete in the AL East?
7. Mariano Rivera will be 40 in November, but he had the best WHIP of his career, 0.665, in 2008.
8. IMHO, Jacoby Ellsbury and Clay Buchholtz are probably at their high-water mark in terms of trade value.
9. We hear all the time about getting to good pitchers early, Greg Maddux gave up 381 runs in the 1st inning, 103 more than he gave up any other inning. Curt Schilling in his career surrendered 196 runs in the 1st, more than any other inning; Johan Santana has given up 96 1st inning runs, his worst inning as well.
10. Nobody has asked me, but if I had a vote for the Hall, I would have voted for Rickey Henderson, Jim Rice, Bert Blyleven and Andre Dawson.
11. Carl Pohlad, who passed away at 93, owned the Minnesota Twins since 1984. During that time his managers have been: Billy Gardner, 1981–1985; Ray Miller, 1985–1986; Tom Kelly, 1986–2001; Ron Gardenhire, 2002–present. During that time the Yankees have had 11 managers.
12. Baseball America is out with their listing of each team’s prospects; for the Padres, my top two prospects are “Slim” and “None.”
13. New BoSox catcher Josh Bard has a .320 lifetime batting average with Runners In Scoring Position, and yet RISP w/2 outs he has hit only.228.
14. In his career, Jason Giambi has hit 187 homers as a member of the A’s and 209 with the Yankees, he plans on evening that up this season.
15. Nice guy Tony Clark, who just re-signed with the D-Backs, has attempted just one steal since May 1999; he has appeared in 846 games since he was caught stealing on May 11, 2001.
16. Five pitchers in 2008 allowed over 300 baserunners led by new Nationals pitcher Daniel Cabrera (307 in 180 innings), followed by new Yankees pitcher A.J. Burnett (306 in 221.1 innings), Jon Garland (304 in 196.2 innings), Matt Cain (304 in 217.2 innings), Livan Hernandez (302 in 180 innings)
17. Randy Johnson starts at 295 for his new team, the SF Giants in 2009. It took Early Wynn 19 appearances to go from win 295 to 300, Gaylord Perry went to the mound 16 times, Tom Glavine needed 14 appearances, Roger Cl*mens took 12 appearances, Tom Seaver needed just 10 appearances.
18. Casey Daigle signed a minor league deal to pitch for the Rangers. They should’ve offered his wife, Jennie Finch, star U.S. Olympics softball pitcher and SI swimsuit model, a contract instead.
19. While Sammy S*sa wistfully hopes for a comeback, he remains the only player who retired in the season following his 600th homer; Ken Griffey Jr. hopes he is not forced to join S*sa’s club.
20. Pitching for Arizona in 2007 and Houston in 2008, Jose Valverde is the first NL closer to lead his league in saves in consecutive seasons since Lee Smith in 1991 and ’92 for the Cardinals.
21. Of the players with at least 200 at bats last season, there were only four who hit under .200, the worst being Andruw Jones who “hit” .158.
22. Of the players with at least 200 at bats last season, there were seven who hit no homers, led by Joey Gathright’s 279 at bats.
23. Corky Simpson, self described “retired sports scribbler and lifetime honorary member of the Baseball Writers Association of America,” did not vote for Rickey Henderson for the Hall of Fame this year keeping alive the streak of no one ever being unanimously chosen for Cooperstown.
24. CC Sabathia faced 1,023 batters last season (the most in the bigs) and 296 reached base via hit, walk or error.
25. J.C. Romero’s 50-game suspension for use of a banned substance may turn out to be a big story. He tested positive on Aug. 26 but, because of his right to appeal, Romero kept pitching compiling a 0.00 ERA in October, adding two victories in the Series, including the clincher.

1. On May 7 and July 10, Cubs pitchers gave up 7 home runs. On September 19, the Brewers pitchers did so as well. In each case the homer-happy team was the Cincinnati Reds. Other than those three games the most Reds homers in a game was four.
2. New York is a rough place. On April 8th at Shea, Chase Utley was hit by three pitches. On July 5th at Yankee Stadium, the same thing happened to Manny Ramirez.
3. On April 17, San Diego pitchers struck out 20 Rockies but lost, 2-1, in 22 innings. On July 26, Cub pitchers struck out 20 Marlins but lost, 3-2, in 12 innings.
4. On July 6 and July 19 the Braves and the Yanks left 21 runners on base, yet each won their games.
5. On May 17, the Twins, behind Livan Hernandez and Brian Bass, lost to the Colorado Rockies, 3-2. Neither Hernandez or Bass recorded a strikeout or a walk.
6. On April 17, the M’s topped the A’s, 8-1. Seattle had nine hits, none for extra bases.
7. On April 2, the Toronto Blue Jays hit into five double plays and were caught stealing twice, yet still topped the Yankees, 5-2.
8. On September 24, the Brewers were only able to muster two singles against the Pirates – they still won, 4-2 with help from the nine walks given up by the Buccos.
9. On April 15, Jose Lopez had one hit and four RBI. A grand slam? Guess again, a single and three sac flies.
10. On August 22, the Cards topped the Braves 18-3; they had 21 singles and five doubles, but no triples or homers.
11. On July 7, Skip Schumaker went 6 for 7 with a sac bunt and on June 7th, Johnny Damon went 6 for 6 with 4 RBI and a stolen base; they were the one-game hit leaders in 2008. Schumaker and Damon were their respective team’s leadoff batter and left fielder.
12. On July 30, Alex Gordon played against the A’s but you can’t tell much by the box score; in five plate appearances, he drew five walks.
13. On August 9th, Clayton Kershaw laid down three successful sac bunts.
14. On June 13, Gavin Floyd threw 6.1 innings against the Rockies giving up four runs on four hits. All four hits were solo homers.
15. On July 13, Jeremy Sowers started against the Rays and faced 22 batters but only allowed contact to seven of them; he walked seven and struck out eight.
16. On August 27, Tim Lincecum threw 132 pitches. On September 13, he topped that by throwing 138 pitches, the most in the majors in one game last year. He won both games, giving up one run in 16.2 innings.
17. On July 30, Kelly Shoppach had 14 total bases against Detroit. Shoppach had three doubles, two homers and one intentional walk. He also struck out once.
18. Omar Vizquel was a .222 hitter this past season, but on May 11 the Phillies issued him three intentional walks.
19. Manny Ramirez does not hit many triples; he has 18 in 16 seasons. This year’s triple came on April 8 against the Tigers and thanks to an error by Placido Polanco, he came all the way around to score.
20. He had a bad day….On May 25, Corey Patterson laid down a sac bunt, the rest of the game he went oh for 8.

Bill Chuck is the creator of Billy-Ball.com (www.Billy-Ball.com) and, with Jim Kaplan, is the author of the book, “Walk-Offs, Last Licks, and Final Outs – Baseball’s Grand (and not so Grand) Finales,” with a Foreword by Jon Miller, published by ACTA Sports, and available worldwide.

Bill Chuck is available for radio appearances, and writing for print or the web. Please contact me at Bill@billy-ball.com or by calling 617-566-2784.

As Mark Teixeira figures out how much in taxeiras he will be paying with his new Yankee contract, here’s a look at some other items we can expect in 2009…

1. If the Phillies repeat as World Champions, they will be the first team to do so since the 1999-2000 New York Yankees.
2. If the Phillies return to the World Series, they will be the first National League team to make a repeat appearance since the 1995-96 Atlanta Braves.
3. 2009 will be the 50th anniversary of the first West Coast champion – the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Chicago White Sox in the World Series.
4. At least two of these teams will end the season disappointed – the Cubs have gone 100 years without a world championship, the Indians have gone 60 years and the Giants 54 seasons.
5. The Houston Astros will be aiming to end over the .500 mark; their all-time record is 3738-3747.
6. Randy Johnson needs five more wins to become a 300 game winner.
7. On Opening Day, if Luis Gonzalez doesn’t re-up with the Marlins and start in right field, Florida will continue their streak of not having the same right-fielder for two consecutive seasons since Gary Sheffield started in 1997-98.
8. The name that will keep coming up as a managerial replacement will be Bobby Valentine; the Chiba Lotte Marines will not offer Valentine a contract extension after his current deal expires at the end of 2009 season.
9. Two teams will be achieving their 10,000th all-time wins in 2009: the Dodgers (currently 9,960 wins) and the Cardinals (9,929 wins).
10. Tony LaRussa will achieve his 2,500th career win – his lifetime record is 2461-2146.
11. 2009 will be the 40th anniversary of the Miracle New York Mets who defeated the Orioles in 1969 World Series.
12. On Opening Day, Mark Teixeira will be the starting first baseman for his third different team in three years; he started for the Rangers in 2007, the Braves in 2008, and the Yankees in 2009.
13. There is no current player who has been a fixture on Opening Day longer than Todd Helton who has been in the Rockies Opening Day lineup at first base every year since 1998.
14. Mariano Rivera is 18 saves shy of 500.
15. The NY Mets have a streak of 7,474 games without throwing a no-hitter; that’s every regular season game they have ever played.
16. 2009 will be the 25th anniversary of Sparky Anderson becoming the first manager to win the Series in both leagues as his Tigers topped the Padres in 1984.
17. Barring the unusual, at 46, Jaime Moyer will repeat as the oldest player to play in the NL this coming season. If the 44-year old Kenny Rogers returns, he will be the oldest in the AL, if he doesn’t, Mike Timlin has that honor and if Timlin doesn’t return, Tim Wakefield will be the oldest American Leaguer starting the season at 42.
18. The Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, the home of the Minnesota Twins, will celebrate its 27th and final season. It will be dismantled and the remains collected in its own baggies.
19. Gary Sheffield will be hitting homer #500 (he has 499); Jason Giambi will hit #400 (he has 396); Jermaine Dye and Paul Konerko will reach #300 (they each have 298). David Ortiz needs 11 to reach 300, Lance Berkman needs 12, and Pudge Rodriguez needs a contract and five homers to reach 300.
20. Aaron Harang will record strikeout #1,000, he has 981.
21. 2009 will be the 10th anniversary of the All-Star Game/Ted Williams Lovefest at Fenway Park.
22. Jason Kendall is 25 hits away from 2,000, Todd Helton 43 hits, Bobby Abreu 59, and Miguel Tejada 85.
23. To reach 1,000 career RBI, Jermaine Dye needs nine, Carlos Beltran 13, Albert Pujols 23, David Ortiz 31, Lance Berkman 39, and Paul Konerko 43.
24. Prince Albert Pujols needs to score 53 runs to reach 1,000 and four walks to reach 700.
25. 2009 will be the fifth anniversary of the Red Sox breaking the Curse of the Bambino.

Bill Chuck is the creator of Billy-Ball.com (www.Billy-Ball.com) and, with Jim Kaplan, is the author of the book, “Walk-Offs, Last Licks, and Final Outs – Baseball’s Grand (and not so Grand) Finales,” with a Foreword by Jon Miller, published by ACTA Sports, and available worldwide.

Bill Chuck is available for radio appearances, and writing for print or the web. Please contact me at Bill@billy-ball.com or by calling 617-566-2784.

Have a happy and healthy holiday.

Bill Chuck is the creator of Billy-Ball.com (www.Billy-Ball.com) and, with Jim Kaplan, is the author of the book, “Walk-Offs, Last Licks, and Final Outs – Baseball’s Grand (and not so Grand) Finales,” with a Foreword by Jon Miller, published by ACTA Sports, and available worldwide.

Bill Chuck is available for radio appearances, and writing for print or the web. Please contact me at Bill@billy-ball.com or by calling 617-566-2784.

• Dustin Pedroia was named on only 27 ballots; who would leave him off the ballot entirely?
• Justin Morneau was named on 28 ballots, yet somehow had a 6th and 7th place vote.
• Kevin Youkilis was also on 28 ballots with two first-place and two 8th place votes
• Joe Mauer was also only on 27 ballots with two first-place and oddly two 8th place votes and one 9th place vote. Who would leave him off the ballot entirely?
• Carlos Quentin was the only one of the top six vote getters not to get a first-place vote.
• Francisco Rodriguez was the leading pitcher to collect votes including one first-place vote. K-Rod got no first-place votes for the Cy Young Award.
• Josh Hamilton put his past behind him and was named on 28 ballots.
• Last year’s MVP Alex Rodriguez got the most 10th place votes with 7.
• Carlos Pena was leading vote getter for the AL Champion Rays.
• Grady Sizemore got the most 9th place votes.
• Rookie of the Year Evan Longoria just missed the Top 10 for MVP.
• Cliff Lee may have been the Cy Young Award winner but only five voters included him on their ballots.
• Miguel Cabrera despite hitting .292 with 37 homers and 127 RBI took a hit for the Tigers bad season and finished 13th.
• Vladimir Guerrero was the leading vote getter for a position player on the AL team with the most wins.
• Jermaine Dye did not make the All-Star team.
• Aubrey Huff was the only Oriole to get votes.
• Milton Bradley was recognized by two voters.
• Jason Bartlett, Mike Mussina, Raul Ibanez, Ian Kinsler, Ichiro Suzuki, and Mark Teixeira each got one vote.
• Mark Teixeira’s .358 with the Angels had much less impact on the voters than Manny’s numbers did with the Dodgers. Perhaps Teixeira should grow dreadlocks.
• Ibanez and Ichiro got votes despite the Mariners losing 101 games.
• Roy Halladay finished second for the Cy Young Award but received no MVP votes, either did Daisuke Matsuzaka who finished fourth or Mariano Rivera who finished fifth, Mike Mussina who finished sixth did get a vote.
• Twenty-three different AL players got votes, 27 different National Leaguers got votes.
• The Angels, the Rangers and the Rays each had three players, while the Indians, Mariners, Red Sox, Twins, White Sox, and Yankees had two apiece. The Orioles and Tigers had one each among the 11 teams whose players received votes.
• Dustin Pedroia does not receive an MVP bonus, but Morneau picked up $75,000 and Mauer, Youkilis and Pena each got $25,000.

Bill Chuck is the creator of Billy-Ball.com (www.Billy-Ball.com) and, with Jim Kaplan, is the author of the book, “Walk-Offs, Last Licks, and Final Outs – Baseball’s Grand (and not so Grand) Finales,” with a Foreword by Jon Miller, published by ACTA Sports, and available worldwide.

Bill Chuck is available for radio appearances, and writing for print or the web. Please contact me at Bill@billy-ball.com or by calling 617-566-2784.

• Who gave Albert Pujols a seventh place vote? I can understand a second or a third, and I was hard pressed to figure out who placed him fourth, but seventh?!?
• The two seventh place votes for Ryan Howard are pretty strange, but the 10th place vote is absurd. That vote must have been cast prior to the All-Star break when Howard was only hitting .234.
• I think it’s pretty cool that Manny Ramirez got 138 points for 53 games in the NL.
• Then again CC Sabathia was the leading pitcher in the MVP-hunt and he did it in 17 games.
• David Wright was the leading Met vote collector clearly beating out Carlos Delgado by 19 points.
• Brad Lidge received the only first place votes (2) not garnered by Pujols and Howard. Interestingly, he received no first-place votes for Cy Young Award and Tim Lincecum, the CYA winner only picked up 9 points for MVP.
• Manny, plus Aramis, and Hanley made three Ramirez’ getting votes. Combined they still finished third.
• Chipper Jones picked up a second place vote meaning someone thought he was the second most valuable player in the league. Meaning, without him the 72-90 Atlanta Braves would have …what, finished in the International League?
• Chase Utley finished 15th having dropped like a rock. He hit .360 with 11 homers in April and didn’t have another month hitting over .294 the rest of the season and didn’t have a month with over 4 homers after May.
• Congrats to Ryan Ludwick. He came out of nowhere to make the All-Star team and get 17 MVP votes.
• When seven writers include Adrian Gonzalez on the ballot (more than Prince Fielder and Derrek Lee combined), you know the ballot is too large.
• Stephen Drew picked up two points, I can’t wait to see if he got more points than his brother, J.D. (who deserves high consideration for MVP – Most Valuable Patient).
• Finally, Nate McLouth, you got one point for the NL MVP which is your consolation prize for still being stuck in Pittsburgh.

Bill Chuck is the creator of Billy-Ball.com (www.Billy-Ball.com) and, with Jim Kaplan, is the author of the book, “Walk-Offs, Last Licks, and Final Outs – Baseball’s Grand (and not so Grand) Finales,” with a Foreword by Jon Miller, published by ACTA Sports, and available worldwide.

Bill Chuck is available for radio appearances, and writing for print or the web. Please contact me at Bill@billy-ball.com or by calling 617-566-2784.

• In the World Series, the Phils have played the Red Sox in 1915, the Yankees in 1950, the Orioles in 1983, the Blue Jays in 1993, and the Rays. BTW: They’ve lost to all the AL East opponents.
• This is only the Phillies’ 11th postseason appearance in their 126-year history. They’ve won one World Series title (1980) and lost more games, 10,098, than any franchise in professional sports.
• The Rays had been in first place for a total of 11 days in their first 10 seasons. They led the American League East for 110 days this season.
• The last Philly championship was in 1983 when the NBA’s 76ers won it all. The last Phillies championship was 1980.
• Tampa Bay holds a 10-5 edge in the five interleague games against each other. They last met at Citizens Bank Park, in June 2006.
• St. Petersburg’s Tropicana Field hosted their first Rays game on March 31, 1998.
• Philadelphia’s Citizens Bank Park opened April 12, 2004.
• Citizens Bank Park was only the 11th-easiest park to hit a home run in this season.
• The teams’ spring training sites, St. Petersburg and Philadelphia’s complex in Clearwater, are just 20 miles apart.

• The Phillies opened the season with baseball’s 13th-highest payroll at $98 million.
• The Rays have the second-lowest payroll ($43.8 million), only the Marlins are lower.

• The Phillies (42,254) had the fourth-highest average attendance in the NL
• The Rays (22,370) were 12th among the 14 AL teams in average attendance.

• The Phillies scored 799 runs and allowed 680 runs.
• The Rays scored 774 runs and allowed 671 runs.

• The Rays were 29-18 in one run games.
• The Phils were 27-23 in one run games.

• Phillies pinch-hitters hit .253 second in the NL to Atlanta.
• The Rays grounded into the fewest double plays in the AL with 111.
• The Phillies had 17 extra-base hits in the four-game Brewers series.

• The Phillies bullpen led the NL with a 3.22 ERA.
• The Rays bullpen was 31-17 with a 3.55 ERA and 52 saves in 68 chances and a .220 batting average against. A year ago, Rays relievers were 21-34 with only 28 saves in 49 chances and a bullpen ERA of 6.16.

• The Phillies batted .240 in the NLCS and their pitchers compiled a 2.31 ERA.
• The Rays became the first club to lose Games 5 and 6 and then win Game 7 in an ALCS.
• The Rays stole 10 bases in 11 attempts in the ALCS.

• Tampa Bay’s .246 Batting Average Against was the second only to Toronto in the AL.

• The Phils led the NL with 214 homers.
• The Rays hit 180 homers.

• Tampa Bay led the AL with 142 stolen bases.
• The Phils stole 136 bases.

• The Phillies were 79-0 during the regular season when leading after the 8th inning.

OVERALL RECORDS
Tampa Bay Rays (97-65)
Philadelphia Phillies (92-70)

HOME RECORDS
Tampa Bay Rays (57-24)
Philadelphia Phillies (48-33)

AWAY RECORDS
Philadelphia Phillies (44-37)
Tampa Bay Rays (40-41)

SCORING
Philadelphia scored 799 runs and allowed 680 runs.
Tampa Bay scored 774 runs and allowed 671 runs.

ONE RUN GAMES
Tampa Bay Rays (29-18)
Philadelphia Phillies (27-23)

EXTRA INNING GAMES
Tampa Bay Rays (10-6)
Philadelphia Phillies (6-7)

LAST 30 GAMES OF THE REGULAR SEASON
Philadelphia Phillies (19-11)
Tampa Bay Rays (16-14)

THE TROP
There are four catwalks above the playing surface at Tropicana Field. They are rings labeled A, B, C and D. Fair balls that hit the lowest two catwalks (C and D), the rings that circle the perimeter of the ballpark, are home runs. Fair balls that hit the highest two catwalks (A and B) are in play. Any fair ball that stays on top of the A and B catwalks is a ground-rule double. A foul ball that hits one of the catwalks is a dead ball.

In 11 seasons at Tropicana Field, 96 fair balls have hit catwalks, including 11 this season. Fifty-six have hit the C ring, 23 have hit the B ring and 17 have hit the D ring. None has hit the A ring.

A ball has hit the catwalk and not come down just four times, including three this season: Boston’s David Ortiz hit the D ring on Sept. 17, Boston’s Jason Bay hit the C ring the same night and Tampa Bay’s Carlos Pena hit the B ring on May 26. Jose Canseco hit the B ring on May 2, 1999.

FROM WORST TO FIRST
Rays are just the third team to advance to the World Series immediately after 10 or more consecutive losing seasons…the 1914 Boston Braves (11 straight losing seasons) defeated the Philadelphia A’s 4 games to 0 in the series and the 2006 Detroit Tigers (12 straight losing seasons) won the wild card and advanced to the Series and lost to the St. Louis Cardinals, 4 games to 1.

Only one team in major league history would have lost more games than the Rays (96) the year before going to the World Series – the 1991 Braves, who were 65-97.

EXPAND YOUR MIND
Rays will become the 11th expansion team in history (18th time) to participate in the Series. Expansion teams have now advanced to the World Series in seven of the last nine seasons, with the exceptions coming in 2004 (Red Sox vs. Cardinals) and 2006
(Tigers vs. Cardinals).

GOING YARD
Only three teams in postseason history — the 2002 Giants (27), 2004 Astros (25) and 2002 Angels (24) — have hit more homers than the Rays so far (22), while 18 of the Phillies’ playoff runs have come via the home run.

RUNNERS IN SCORING POSITION
Phillies – .263
Rays – .246

RUNNERS IN SCORING POSITION, 2 OUTS
Phillies – .237
Rays – .232

HOMERS – SEASON
Phillies – 214
Rays – 180

BATTING AVERAGE SEASON
Rays – .260
Phillies – .255

BATTING AVERAGE IN WINS
Phillies – .294
Rays – .288

BATTING AVERAGE IN LOSSES
Rays – .218
Phillies – .202

BATTING AVERAGE FIRST HALF OF THE SEASON
Rays – .260
Phillies – .257

BATTING AVERAGE SECOND HALF OF THE SEASON
Rays – .261
Phillies – .252

BATTING AVERAGE HOME
Rays – .274
Phillies – .262

BATTING AVERAGE AWAY
Phillies – .249
Rays – .248

ERA – SEASON
Rays – 3.82
Phillies – 3.89

ERA – HOME
Rays – 3.30
Phillies – 3.67

ERA – AWAY
Phillies – 4.13
Rays – 4.34

ERA – FIRST HALF
Rays – 3.79
Phillies – 3.90

ERA – SECOND HALF
Rays – 3.85
Phillies – 3.88

ERA – STARTERS
Rays – 3.95
Phillies – 4.23

ERA – RELIEVERS
Phillies – 3.22
Rays – 3.55

INTERLEAGUE PLAY
• The Rays were 12-6.
• The Phils were 4-11.

FROM THE WORLD SERIES SPIN ROOM
Combined, the Phillies and Rays have won seven National League pennants and one World Series title.

REALITY
The Phillies have won six pennants and one World Championship.

HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE
You might remember that yesterday we discussed that the Rays received the home-field advantage because the American League won the All-Star Game 4-3 in 15 innings at Yankee Stadium. You should also note that the Rays’ Scott Kazmir worked a scoreless 15th to earn the victory, while the losing pitcher was none other than Philadelphia closer Brad Lidge.

DON’T GIVE ME A BREAK
In each of the last two years, a team that had a break of at least six days before the World Series lost to an opponent who won the seventh game of its league championship series. The Detroit Tigers, in 2006, lost in five games to St. Louis. The Rockies had won 21 of 22 games heading into the Series with Boston last year and were completely swept.

WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS
Las Vegas sports books favor the Rays to win the World Series over the Phillies and would owe huge payouts if the American League champions prevail. Oddsmakers say enough bettors took the Rays early in the year at long-shot prices to force books to adjust lines to encourage bets on the Phillies.

Sean Van Patten at Las Vegas Sports Consultants says the Rays are favored at minus-$1.35, meaning a gambler would need to bet $1.35 to be paid $1 if Tampa Bay wins.

Van Patten puts the Phillies at plus-$1.15, meaning a $1 bet would earn $1.15 if Philadelphia wins.

The Rays were a 200-1 shot to win the Series when betting opened this season, ahead of only the Kansas City Royals and Washington Nationals (both 250-1). The Phillies were 18-1.

    
Bill Chuck is the creator of Billy-Ball.com (www.Billy-Ball.com) and, with Jim Kaplan, is the author of the book, “Walk-Offs, Last Licks, and Final Outs – Baseball’s Grand (and not so Grand) Finales,” with a Foreword by Jon Miller, published by ACTA Sports, and available worldwide.

Bill Chuck is available for radio appearances, and writing for print or the web. Please contact me at Bill@billy-ball.com or by calling 617-566-2784.
 

Thursday, October 16, 2008…

1. The Cardinals finished the season 86-76 rebounding from last year’s 78-84, extending their streak of not have two losing seasons in succession since the 1958-59 seasons (not counting the strike shortened 1994 season). The White Sox have the longest streak in the AL and haven’t had consecutive losing seasons since 1988-89. The Yankees were back-to-back under .500 in 1991-92.
2. Bill James in the Bill James Handbook 2009, soon to be published by Acta Sports, projects that next season, Manny will hit .301 with 34 homers and 95 RBI and have an OPS of .955. He also projects that next season Dice-K will go 12-8 with a 3.58 ERA.
3. Jason Varitek finished the season with 93 hits and hit .220. In 2004, he recorded his 93rd hit on August 10th and finished the season with 137 hits and a .296 batting average.
4. In 2008, CC Sabathia started 35 games, completed 10, and went 17-10. In 1987, Walt Terrell started 35 games, completed 10, and went 17-10. But, Sabathia’s ERA was 2.70 and Terrell’s 4.05.
5. David Wright has 489 career RBI, the fourth most all-time of any 3rd sacker in the first five years of their careers. Only Pinky Whitney (533), Miguel Cabrera (523), and Eddie Mathews (492) had more.
6. Daisuke Matsuzaka led the AL with 80.6% Left On Base percentage. Johan Santana led all of baseball with an 82.6%.
7. Matt Stairs at 40 became the oldest man ever to hit a pinch-hit postseason homer. Kirk Gibson, at the age of 31, hit the most famous pinch-hit postseason homer on October 15, 1988 in Game 1 of the World Series against Dennis Eckersley.
8. CC Sabathia led the majors in complete games with 10 in 35 starts. In 1969, Bob Gibson had 35 starts and completed 28 of them going 20-13 with a remarkable 2.18 ERA.
9. Of all the catchers who have caught at least 500 games, only Mickey Cochrane (.320) has a higher career batting average than Joe Mauer’s .317.
10. No team hit more fly balls than the Red Sox (1,816) this past season; the Nationals (1.400) hit the fewest.
11. David Price earned his first major-league win in Game 2 of the ALCS becoming one of only four pitchers, to get a win in a postseason game before a regular-season game. The others are Odalis Perez, for Atlanta in 1998; Francisco Rodriguez, for Anaheim in 2002; and Josh Kinney, for St. Louis in 2006.
12. In his career, Tim Wakefield has made 400 starts (168-144 record in his starts) but he’s completed only 30 games, the fewest of any pitcher who has started that many games. However, Jamie Moyer has made 584 starts and completed only 31.
13. Manny being Maury – Manny Ramirez stole three bases this season, his highest total since he stole in three in 2003.
14. Albert Pujols has scored 947 runs in his eight-year career; only Ted Williams scored more in his first eight years with 1,082.
15. In their careers, Ryan Howard and Vernon Wells have each hit 177 homers; Howard has a .283 lifetime avg. and Wells, a .279. But Howard has 100 more strikeouts in about 2,200 fewer at bats.
16. Amongst AL relievers nobody was more efficient against first batters than the Rays Grant Balfour who held the opposition to a .098 batting avg. (4 for 41). The Rays had five of the top 11 relievers in this category. Brad Lidge tied for 19th in the NL at .188.
17. Dustin Pedroia hit .500 (8 for 16) with the bases loaded this regular season.
18. Off to a good start: The first five years of Matt Holliday’s career he has 848 hits, Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski had 847 in his first five seasons.
19. The average major league team made 99 errors this season, which really makes the Astros mere 67 errors simply amazing.
20. It’s hard to remember but this season started for the Red Sox in Tokyo. We should also remember that the Rays played the Jays three games in Orlando this April and won them all.
21. Ichiro has been with the Mariners for eight seasons and all eight he has led the AL in singles. He now has 1,471 singles in his career in 1,280 games the fewest of all the players who have accumulated that many singles. Next is Bill Terry who did it in 1,721 games.
22. Once in a blue moon: Nobody has better ERA in the LCS than former Oakland A’s Blue Moon Odom who in 22.1 innings gave up one earned run for an ERA of 0.40.
23. We’re celebrating 90 years of the Star Spangled Banner and the World Series this year. It was first played on September 5, 1918, at Game 1 of the Red Sox versus the Cubs in Chicago during the 7th inning stretch and has been played at every World Series game ever since.
24. The Padres are looking to move ace Jake Peavy. This makes me think of what Pirates general manager Branch Rickey said to Ralph Kiner in 1953, “We finished last with you, we can finish last without you.”
25. As everybody says a happy goodbye to Shea Stadium we should remember that the first pitcher to start a game there was Jack Fisher, the same Jack Fisher who surrendered Ted Williams last at bat home run and the same Jack Fisher who surrendered Roger Maris’ 60th home run.

Have a great weekend!

Bill Chuck is the creator of Billy-Ball.com (www.Billy-Ball.com) and, with Jim Kaplan, is the author of the book, “Walk-Offs, Last Licks, and Final Outs – Baseball’s Grand (and not so Grand) Finales,” with a Foreword by Jon Miller, published by ACTA Sports, and available worldwide.

Bill Chuck is available for radio appearances, and writing for print or the web. Please contact me at Bill@billy-ball.com or by calling 617-566-2784.