September 22, 2001

Fun with BASE

I recently mentioned on our league forum a program called "BASE" (Baseball's Analytical Search Engine) that reads DMB box scores and allows great flexibility for reporting that doesn't exist within the DMB software itself.  I'd like to share some of the interesting facts and figures I discovered while playing around with this program.  All of the stats listed below are up-to-date as of the end of Chapter Five.

Fun Fact #1: Top Ten Most Abused Pitchers (Single Game)

1. Chris Brock (MAR), 174 pitches
2. Dan Reichert (KAN), 170
3. A.J. Burnett (MAD), 167
4. Pat Hentgen (LIT), 165
5. Brian Bohanon (ALN), 160
6. Pete Harnisch (LIT), 160
7. Greg Maddux (NMB), 159
8. Jose Mercedes (MAD), 159
9. Mike Mussina (SAL), 158
10. Ryan Dempster (STM), 157

It's interesting to note that five of the ten pitchers above actually won the game in which they were abused.  I guess workload doesn't really matter all that much when you reset usage every two games!

Fun Fact #2: Top Ten Most Abused Pitchers (Season)

1. Chan Ho Park (LAU), 3,736 pitches
2. Randy Johnson (STM), 3,478
3. Greg Maddux (NMB), 3,145
4. Tom Glavine (SCS), 3,124
5. John Lieber (SCA), 3,099
6. Mike Mussina (SAL), 3,097
7. Bartolo Colon (ALL), 3,076
8. Mike Hampton (ATL), 3,061
9. Dave Burba (PER), 3,005
10. Kevin Millwood (MAD), 2,992

The ten pitchers listed above are a combined 129-96 this season (a .573 winning percentage), with a 4.18 ERA.  (No wonder they've been used so much!)

Fun Fact #3: Top "Bill James Game Scores" of the Season

For those of you unfamiliar with the Bill James Game Score, it is a formula created by...guess who?...that measures how well a pitcher threw during one particular game.  The formula is based on innings pitched, strikeouts, hits allowed, earned runs, unearned runs and walks.  After the top four, there are five pitchers tied with game scores of 89 each.  And yes, one of them is Martinez.

Fun Fact #4: Hitting for the Cycle

Two players, Luis Gonzalez (KAN) and Travis Lee (BCJ) have hit for the cycle this year.  Why that is important is beyond me.

Fun Fact #5: Left-on-Base

In a 13-inning game against the Southern Cal Slyme, dated 6/3, the Akron Ryche left TWENTY runners on base.  Despite that, they actually won by a score of 3-2.

Fun Fact #6: Starting and Relief ERA's by Team

What does this chart tell me?  It tells me that if The Shark hadn't traded Robb Nen for Mike Lowell (via Phil Nevin), he would probably be right in the thick of the OL wild card race.  It also tells me that if it weren't for Mariano Rivera, the Massillon Tigerstrikes would have the first pick in the 2002 draft.

Fun Fact #7: Average Number of Relievers Used per Game (a.k.a. "The Tony LaRussa Index")

1. Los Altos, 3.0
2. Cleveland, 2.9
3. 4 teams (BGS, KEN, MAR, GIL) tied, 2.7

Question: is ANYONE surprised to see Jeff Paulson at the top of this list??

Fun Fact #8: BDBL Ballparks Ranked by Batting Average

No surprise here in seeing the #1 team on this list.  The big surprise, to me, is seeing my own Glanderdome on the bottom of the pile.  Especially when you consider the Cowtippers are leading the Ozzie League in batting average this season at .287.  I don't have the numbers, but we must be hitting around .330 on the road!

Of course, what these ballpark numbers don't tell you is how well the same teams played away from each ballpark.  If I had those numbers, I could compare the two and create an index similar to the one that DMB uses, then compare those two indeces for accuracy.  Unfortunately, BASE doesn't track road numbers - only home.

Fun Fact #9: BDBL Ballparks by Number of Home Runs

Again, not much of a surprise to see the Law Dogs's home stadium at the top of the list.  It's amazing that nearly THREE TIMES as many homers have been hit in Kansas as in Villanova this season.  Makes you wonder what the record-breaking Law Dogs offense would look like if you put them in the Main Line Corral for a full season.  (And to think that Marazita says that Coors Field has no effect on pitchers!)

Fun Fact #10: BDBL Ballparks Ranked by Runs Scored

Hmm...do you see a pattern here?  Once again, the Kansas field is on top while the Glanderdome is on the bottom.  I, for one, would be extremely interested to see a BDBL World Series match-up between the Law Dogs and Cowtippers...wouldn't you?

Fun Fact #11: Come-from-Behind Wins

Three teams have come from more than seven runs behind to win this season: the Litchfield Lightning, Stamford Zoots and Kentucky Fox.  The Lightning trailed by a score of 8-0 in the fifth inning, and 8-1 heading into the eighth against the Salem Cowtippers back in Chapter One.  They then scored EIGHT runs in the eighth inning - four of those runs coming on bases-loaded walks - to win by a score of 9-8.

The Fox trailed the Kansas Law Dogs by a score of 12-4 heading into the seventh inning in a Chapter Two game.  After scoring two runs in the seventh, six runs in the eighth and two in the ninth, Kentucky emerged with a 14-12 win.   Four of those runs were charged to Kansas starter Livan Hernandez, one was charged to reliever Jose Santiago, and five were charged to Mike Williams.

And finally, the Zoots trailed the Manchester Irish Rebels in a Chapter One game earlier this year by a score of 9-0 heading into the bottom of the third.  The Zoots scored three runs in the third, then eight runs in the fifth, to make it an 11-9 game.  Stamford scored five more runs in the seventh, and the Rebels fought back in the eighth, scoring four runs.  The final result after all of that scoring: 16-13, Stamford.  The starting pitcher for the Zoots?  Randy Johnson, who allowed eight runs on eight hits and three walks through 2 2/3 innings.

Fun Fact #12: Blow-outs

Games have been won by more than 15 runs a dozen times this season.  And believe it or not, the Law Dogs only account for two of those dozen blow-outs.  In addition to the Dogs, the South Carolina Sea Cats and Akron Ryche have also won by more than 15 runs twice this season.

The biggest victims?  The Atlanta Fire Ants, who have lost by more than 15 runs three times this season.  But the victim list also includes some surprising teams, namely the two-time defending champion Stamford Zoots (who lost to the Bowling Green Spoilers 20-3 in Chapter One), Bear Country Jamboree (who lost to the Madison Fighting Mimes 22-4 in Chapter One) and Southern California Slyme (who lost to the Kansas Law Dogs 24-4 in Chapter Four.)

But the biggest blow-out of the year belongs to the Akron Ryche, who torched their intrastate rivals, the Cleveland Rocks, by a score of 27-4 back in Chapter One.  In that game, Akron amassed 33 hits, including three homers, and drew nine walks.  Cleveland starter Terry Mulholland allowed seven of those runs through just 1 1/3 innings.  Mike Holtz yielded nine runs through 1 1/3, and Mike Morgan topped them all with a 10-run, 3-inning "effort."

Fun Fact #13: Ejections and Injuries

Players who have been ejected from a game more than once this year: Sandy Alomar, Roberto Alomar, Jose Cruz, Cliff Floyd, Jason Giambi (3 times), Brian Giles, Sterling Hitchcock, Bill Mueller, Mike Trombley, Robin Ventura, Ron Villone and Fernando Vina.

Players who have been forced to leave a game due to injury more than three times this year: Edgardo Alfonzo (4), Jim Edmonds (4), Carlos Febles (6), Juan Gonzalez (6), Vladimir Guerrero (4), Javy Lopez (4), Julio Lugo (5), Al Martin (4), Kenny Rogers (4), Shannon Stewart (4) and Quilvio Veras (4.)