By Chris Pollay
As much as I'd like to see Halladay wear a Phillies' uniform, I have to say I'm getting a bit tired of all the trade rumors swirling around. Offers have been made, rejected, countered and retooled. The only thing missing is any actual headway. Still, we will know more by the trade deadline on Friday so I'm done with speculating.
Instead, I'd like to change the pace in today's blog and discuss the most exciting play in baseball: the Grand Slam. In fact, it was that awesome play that turned the tide in the Phillies series with the Cardinals over the weekend.After St. Louis pounded the Phillies in the first game of the series, it looked like Philadelphia could lose its first series since the start of the month when the Atlanta Braves culminated a three-game sweep of the ballclub.
St. Louis won the first game and was well on their way to winning the second after the Phillies dropped a 3 to 0 early lead and found themselves down 4 to 3 heading into the bottom of the sixth.
At that time, I vividly recall my stomach churning as the momentum had completely turned back in favor of the Cards. Before the series began, the Phils had won 14 of 16 as the hottest team in the league, but I was certain that they were going to lose the series and their July hot streak was about to end.
But then it happened!
Jimmy Rollins made the most of a bases loaded opportunity. In seconds, the team changed its fortunes completely, from down a run to up three. One swing of the bat was all it took.
Short of a perfect game or a walk-off home run, Grand Slams are the most exciting play in baseball. They are also relatively rare. Let's look at 2009's numbers for a minute. The 30 MLB teams have had 3,124 Grand Slam Opportunities (a.k.a. batting opportunities with the bases loaded). Batters have only come through with a Grand Slam only 2.75% of that time.
There have been 86 Grand Slams this season. Considering how many games and at-bats there are during a season, Grand Slams just don't happen very often... unless you're a Philly. The team leads the league with the most Grand Slams (8) and they've hit them with only 121 opportunities, or 6.6% of the time, which is much higher than the league average.
Jason Werth, Shane Victorino, Jimmy Rollins, Raul Ibañez and Pedro Feliz all have hit one Grand Salami this season. Ryan Howard has hit three. In fact, he and teammate Ibañez each hit one in the same game back on April 27, making them one of only four Philadelphia duos to accomplish such a feat in the team's 126-year (plus) history. Wow.
Incidentally, the record for the most Grand Slams hit by all teams in the MLB throughout the course of one season is 176. That occurred in 2000. This year, the league is a bit shy of that pace, but the Phillies are certainly doing more than their part.
Other teams with five or more Grand Slams this year include: Chicago White Sox (6); Cleveland Indians (5); Detroit Tigers (6); Florida Marlins (6); Minnesota Twins (5); and the St. Louis Cardinals (5).
However, three teams haven't hit a single one: the Atlanta Braves, the Los Angeles Angels and the San Diego Padres.
Monday, July 27, 2009
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Nice job. I really liked the different statistics and facts in the article. It's funny when you see that all 30 MLB teams have hit 86 grand slams this year, it seems like a lot, but when you look at the amount of opportunities they have had (meaning at-bats with the bases juiced) it isn't that great. Also, to add to the Phillies leading grand slams hit in the National League, they are also leading the National League in Homers. Go figures, they do play in Citizens Bank Park. But aside form that, they can hit homers everywhere, so you can't always blame their success on the ballpark like many people do.
ReplyDeleteAlso, speaking of grand slams. Alfonso Soriano hit on tonight off the Astros to break the 1-1 tie in the bottom of the 13th. Walkoff.
ReplyDeleteLast night was quite the Grand Slam fest, apparently. Soriano hit the walk-off you mentioned. Fernando Tatis hit a pinch hit Grand Slam for the New York Mets, and Josh Willingham of the Washington Nationals hit two in the same game for an 8-RBI outing! He became only the 13th player to hit two Grand Slams in one game, and the first since Boston's Bill Mueller accomplished the feat in July of 2003. So, the number of Grand Slams jumped from 86 to 90 in one night.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the biggest oddity of the night is that the Mets won by four, the Cubs won by four and the Nationals won by eight... the same number as the number of runs scored by the Grand Slams hit in those particular games. Last night was a strange one, indeed.
Yes, very interesting facts and how ironic.
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