Joey Votto

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10 more Interesting Facts & Stats in MLB

Posted by fantasyfurnace on June 21, 2013
Posted in: MLB. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , . 4 Comments

We posted one of these Facts & Stats articles about a month ago and received so many positive and complimentary emails that we agreed to slap up another one. We don’t need to have our arms twisted that tightly to cave in to your requests, so back again, by popular demand, are more Facts & Stats in MLB. Enjoy and feel free to comment if  you find them interesting and if there is one or more that you didn’t know and really surprised you…

Did you know that…

1. The New York Mets have won two World Series, both of which aired on Country Western radio stations in New York; WJRZ in 1969 and WHN in 1973?

2. Going into Tuesday night’s game Andre Ethier had 20 RBIs but led the N.L. at this same point last year with 55?

3. Athletics closer Grant Balfour, as of June 20th, hasn’t blown a save in more than a year? He has converted his last 34 consecutive chances.

#50 closer Grant Balfour has been immuned to blown saves for over a year. Photo: associated press

#50 closer Grant Balfour has been immuned to blown saves since 2012. Photo: associated press

4. The three highest batting averages over the past two seasons in the major leagues are Miguel Cabrera .339, Joey Votto .332, and Yadier Molina .327?

5. The Mets finished Monday, June 17th’s game at 1:22 a.m. and then played a day-night double-header vs the Braves making it three games played on the same calendar date? The last time this was done was on August 23, 1996 by the Cincinnati Reds; in two different cities!

6. The fastest ball thrown in the major leagues this season was by Matt Harvey (100.2mph) vs Jason Heyward of the Braves on Tuesday, June 18th?

#33 Mets pitching stud Matt Harvey still holds the record for the fastest ball thrown this season. Photo: RAY STUBBLEBINE/REUTER

#33 Mets pitching stud Matt Harvey still holds the record for the fastest ball thrown this season. Photo: RAY STUBBLEBINE/REUTER

7. A little over two weeks ago, on June 5th, the Chicago White Sox needed 17 hits, 8 pitchers, and 5 1/2 hours over 16 innings to end their 8 game losing streak as they beat the Seattle Mariners?

8. Dodger’s top prospect Yasiel Puig became the 5th player to collect 27 hits in his first 15 games? One of the other players was Joe DiMaggio.

9. Shaun Marcum with his loss to the Braves on June 19th, became the 1st Mets pitcher to start the season 0-9 since Anthony Young in 1993?

10. As of June 19th, 2B Dan Uggla leads the major leagues in strikeouts with 92 in 227 at bats?

#26 2b Dan Uggla of the Braves kicks his bat in disgust after one of his league-leading strikeouts. Photo AP

#26 2B Dan Uggla of the Braves kicks his bat in disgust after one of his league-leading strikeouts. Photo AP

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Our Top Ten Midseason MLB Awards…

Posted by fantasyfurnace on July 12, 2012
Posted in: MLB. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 5 Comments

As we get ready for the second half of the MLB season to begin, we want to present our Top Ten Furnace Awards (TTFA) for random accomplisments. And the winners are:

 1. N.L. MVP- Andrew McClutchen-Pirates; .362-18 HR-60 RBI-58 Runs-14 SB. Joey Votto-Reds came in a close second; .348 14 HR 50 runs 48 RBI 8SB. Neither team wins without them.

#22 Pirate Andrew McClutchen gets our vote for N.L. MVP of the 1st half. Photo: deuceofdavenport.com

2. A.L. MVP- Mike Trout- .341-12 HR-40 RBI-57 Runs-26 SB. Trout is the 1st Angels player with at least 10 HRs and 25 SB at the All Star break.

3. Most improved player N.L.- R.A. Dickey; 12-1- 2.40 ERA- 0.93 WHIP-123 K’s- 26 BB.

4. Most improved player A.L.- Melky Cabrera-119 hits leads the majors!

5. Most intersting Team Stat- N.Y. Mets have a bonafide MVP and Cy Young award candidate in Wright and Dickey.

6. The dumbest comment made by anyone in baseball- Tony LaRussa- “I chose Matt Cain to start the All Star game because of his excellent career.” I can’t believe he came out of retirement to make this ridiculous statement about a pitcher whose career record is 78-76!

Manager Tony LaRussa got a lot of flack for his decision to start Matt Cain over arguably the best pitcher in the majors this season, R.A Dickey. Photo: Associated Press/Getty Images

7. Most improved team in MLB- Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pirates lead the majors in runs scored in June. They start the second half in sole possession of 1st place in the N.L. Central; 11 games over .500 for the first time in 20 years! *Considerable consideration for the N.Y. Mets who were picked to finish 2012 no better than last place in N.L. East, ended the 1st half 6 games over .500 (46-40) ; 1/2 game out of Wild Card race.

8. Most disappointing player in the 1st half- Albert Pujols; .268-14HR-51 RBI-44 Runs-6 SB. Had 2 HR and 5 RBI in final two weeks of 1st half.

9. Most under-achieving team- Philadelphia Phillies. They have lost 10 of their last 11 and start the second half of the season 13 games under .500 (37-50).

10a. Most amazing stat by a player this season- Cubs SP Ryan Dempster has not given up an earned run in 27 innings, dating back to June 5th.

10b.- Most amazing stat by an active player-career – Chipper Jones. He has a career batting average of .304 as a lefty and .304 as a righty. Mr. Consistency!

Atlanta Brave Chipper Jones in his final year in MLB has always shown consistency and makes our list because of his extensive body of work. Photo: Associated Press/David Goldman

4 Random MLB achievements that you probably didn’t know…

Posted by fantasyfurnace on June 26, 2012
Posted in: MLB. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . 18 Comments

The MLB season is amazingly getting set to reach the half-way mark as Tuesday most teams will be playing their 75th game of the season. How fast did THAT go by? And so with the All-Star break around the proverbial corner, we thought it only fitting that we come up with some of the more obscure achievements of players and teams as MLB completes it’s third month of games. See how many of these you really knew…but be honest.

1. BEST BATTING AVERAGE WITH 2 STRIKES: Joey Votto- Most of you do know what an outstanding season Votto is having so far this year, but in case you didn’t he has played in 20 games in June and through June 23rd has 10 multi-hit games. What that has done is raise his batting average 31 points from 3.29 to .360!

#19 Cincinatti Reds 1B Joey Votto will be one of those under consideration for MVP honors. Photo: cbssports.com

But aside from being a mega star slugger, here’s something you might not know; through 233 at bats this season, Votto is hitting .266 when he has two strikes on him. The league average is 90 points lower at .176. How’s that for an amazing stat!

2. BEST OFF-SEASON TRADE: Melky Cabrera-What a steal this was! The S. F. Giants should be charged with a felony for the theft they pulled off acquiring Melky Cabrera from the Kansas City Royals! The soon to be 28 year old has been enjoying an MVP season and is one of the main reasons that the Giants are 8 games over .500 and 3 games out of first place in the N.L. West.

For starters Cabrera has the most hits the majors (102) as of Sunday. His .355 batting average which is 73 points higher than his career average, puts him in second place behind the aforementioned Joey Votto (.360). His 49 runs scored ties him for second in the N.L. and third in MLB. Was there any other trade in the off-season bigger than this one?

3. THE CATCHER WHO IS THE HARDEST TO RUN ON: Let’s see if you can guess which one of the following five it is:

  1. Miguel Olivo– Mariners
  2. Buster Posey-Giants
  3. Yadier Molina-Cardinals
  4. Matt Wieters-Orioles
  5. Joe Mauer-Twins

If you guessed #3, Yadier Molina, then you’re correct! Molina is the winner of four straight Gold Gloves and is also the active career leader in caught-stealing percentage 43.7. Molina also leads the league in pickoffs with 41 while his closest rival, who happens to be his brother Jose who catches for the Tampa Bay Rays, is next with 23.

Cardinals Yaduer Molina is clearly the best defensive catcher in the major leagues. Photo:Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images North America)

4. WORST TEAM IN MLB: Chicago Cubs- They are currently in last place in the N. L. Central Division, 15.5 games behind the 1st place Cincinnati Reds. Since May 15th they have lost 20 of their last 24 games and are 24 games under .500. Their OBP is .302, 28th in the league and their OPS of .686 which ranks them 25th. Their pitching isn’t much better either as they have a team ERA of  4.42 which puts them at 26th in the league. But worst of all they are on target to finish with close to 105 losses; another miserable year for Cub fans…

Even Reds 1B Joey Votto doesn’t think too much of the Cubs’ season… Photo: cubssuck.com