With 18 errors and 21 homers through Saturday, Alex Rodriguez is within striking distance of a rather unique record.  The "30 homer/30 ERROR" club is even more exclusive than the "30 HR/30 SB" club.

Here are the members, with their position, season of infamy, and homers and errors for the year.

POS Name                   YEAR E HR

2B    Rogers Hornsby    1922 30 42

2B    Rogers Hornsby    1925 34 39

3B    Eddie Mathews    1953 30 47

SS    Ernie Banks          1958 32 47

3B    Harmon Killebrew 1959 30 42

3B    Tony Perez           1969 32 37

3B    Tony Perez          1970 35 40
2B    Davey Johnson      1973 30 43
3B    Pedro Guerrero     1983 30 32

3B    Troy Glaus           2000 33 47

About 6 weeks ago, I authored this piece which noted the scarcity of 1-run games for the Blue Jays this season.
The Blue Jays do not like 1-run games

Well, now that they’ve hit the 81-game mark, they’ve really picked up the "non-pace", as it were.

Through the first half of the season, Toronto has played in exactly 8 1-run games (6-2 in those games).

The record for the fewest 1-run games in a full season …. 28 by the Expos in 2001.

(so who needs B.J. Ryan anyway)

 A 1 run run run a runaway

"Kip Wells endured another rough night at the office Friday, as the Pittsburgh Pirates were upended by the Detroit Tigers, 7-6, at PNC Park."

======================

That drops the Pirates to a horrid 8-23 (.258) in 1-run games.  Given the same pace for the rest of the season, they would have 46 1-run losses, eclipsing the Major League mark.

The current record for most 1-run losses in a season:

Team Year Gms W  L Win%

CHW 1968    74 30 44 0.405

HOU 1971    75 32 43 0.427

CIN  1946    69 28 41 0.406

CIN  1916    67 26 41 0.388

HOU 1975    57 16 41 0.281

PHA 1908    65 25 40 0.385

PIT 1917    62 22 40 0.355

LAD 1992    57 17 40 0.298

Their winning percentage in 1-run games would also be one for the books, though not the absolute worst in history:

Worst winning percentage in 1-run games in a  season:

Team Year Gms W L Win%

BSN  1935  38  7 31 0.184

SLB  1937    41 10 31 0.244

KCR  1999  43 11 32 0.256

PHA  1916  43 11 32 0.256

PHI    1936  46 12 34  0.261

Chisox (13-5 winners) miss the extra point again tonight

Combined with their 20-6 pasting of the Cardinals last night, tonight’s 13-5 drubbing gives the Chisox 33 runs scored in the last two games …

The last time prior to this season that a team scored (and opponent also allowed) 33 runs or more over two games? … June 27 and 28 of 2003:

6/27/03: BOSTON 25, FLORIDA 8
6/28/03: FLORIDA 10, BOSTON 9

During the offseason, Toronto made big news by spending $47 million on closer B.J. Ryan. Perhaps this was spurred on by their wretched 16-31 (.340) record in 1-run games during 2005.
So of course, what happens THIS year? The Jays aren’t playing any 1-run games. 

Through their first 43 games, they’ve been involved in all of four 1-run affairs, going 2-2.  This would prorate to roughly 15 such games over the season. 

If that happens, they would obliterate the record for fewest 1-run contests in a season (full 162 games, non-strike years).

Here are the teams which played in the fewest 1-run games in a year:

TEAM YR GM W  L  PCT

MON 2001 28 13 15 .464

CAL 1995 30 16 14 .533

DET 1993 30 14 16 .467

SEA 1998 30 10 20 .333

NYY 1998 31 21 10 .677

SEA 2003  31 16 15 .516

NYY 1995 31 14 17 .452

OAK 1995 31 13 18 .419

DET 1995 32 15 17 .469

Apparently, Barry and Russ have a history

"It was pretty clear how this looked. And it started looking even clearer once the Elias Sports Bureau had finished digging up the last three times these guys had faced each other:

• May 22, 2001: Bonds homers off Springer.

• Sept. 21, 2004: Springer faces Bonds for the first time since the home run — and hits him.

• Tuesday: Springer meets Bonds for the first time since that 2004 HBP — and makes it two in a row. "

==============================

Bonds had previously stated that Springer was a bad pitcher …

Apparently Bonds is right .... Springer IS a bad pitcher.

Here are the worst career ERAs of those pitchers
with 400+ games and 600+ innings, with less than
30 starts (so, predominantly relievers)

CAREER

INNINGS PITCHED >= 600
GAMES >= 400
GAMES STARTED <= 30

ERA                             ERA      IP        G       GS    
1    Esteban Yan                5.12    658        445       23   
2    Russ Springer              5.08    621.2      446       27   
3    Bob Wells                  5.03    635.2      414       21   
4    Buddy Groom                4.64    734.2      786       15   
5    Dan Miceli                 4.51    668.2      598        9   
6    Curt Leskanic              4.36    712.2      603       11   
7    Lee Guetterman             4.33    658.1      425       23   
8    Mike DeJean                4.31    621.2      563        1   
9    Eddie Guardado             4.29    799.1      738       25   
10   Darren Holmes              4.25    680        557        6

Even more amazing that Springer has lasted this long, not being a lefty!

… then perhaps they SHOULDN’T be leading off?

OBP of players batting first in the order, minimum 100 PAs for the year, in descending OBP rank:

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• Posted on May 17, 2006 at 10:01 am
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