Clutch 23-2016: And Down the Stretch They Come

For those reading this at time that’s not today, it’s the final week of the baseball regular season and there are a couple of heated pennant races still going. As of this writing there are three teams battling for two “Wild card” spots in the National league. It will certainly be an exciting 72 hours as two will rise to the top and one for sink to the bottom. The result of who moves on and who doesn’t will likely literally come down to the final out Sunday night. Until then the fans of the respective teams, which is the Mets, Giants and Cardinals in this case, will sit, pray, sweat and hope that things work out for them.

Assuming everything is still at stake on Sunday everyone will look at the result of that game as the make or break for the season. What gets overlooked is that the same can be said for any of the other 161 regular season games. A heartbreaking loss back in April carries as much weight as serious October baseball. A players mental mistake, physical error or not delivering in the Clutch in what seemed to be an average day now comes back to haunt the team. Likewise is a possible blunder of a decision made by the third-base coach, pitching coach or manager. This is why the “Every” rule should be in effect. Every player and coach should play every game like it’s the seventh game of the World Series.

Let’s take a look in to the Cardinals, who are currently at the bottom of the three-way dash. Earlier in the month there was an ESPN sub-headline about how the manager made a bad decision that cost them the game. Nobody thought much of it back then as it was one game among a sea of others. Now, not so sure about that. Fast-forward to yesterday, which was the fourth to last game of the season and a much win for the team. The umpire made a wrong decision in the bottom of the ninth which allowed the Cardinals winning run to cross the plate. Since that “ended” the game, the players and umpires left the field before the opposing manager was able to argue and request a replay. The Cards got away with one there, and it kept their season alive for at least one more day. It’s the ying and the yang, and the two decisions seemed to even themselves out.

Then there was the race of 1985, which coincidentally also involved the Mets and the Cardinals. The Mets had 95 wins with six to play. The Cardinals had 98 wins with six to play as well. The math said that the Mets were still in control of their own destiny to at least guarantee a tie. Sweep the three games versus the Cards and then both teams would be in dead heat heading until the final weekend. Obviously this means that those three games needed be all be played like a game seven.

The first game was a gem for the ages. Both starters, Ron Darling for the Mets and John Tudor for the Cards, threw nine innings of shut-out ball. Tudor actually pitched 10 innings of no-run ball! The Mets won it in the 11^th courtesy of a key hit by Daryl Strawberry and two innings of shut-out relief by the immortal Jesse Orosco. Orosco was just about literally immortal as the Mr. Clutch statisticians believe he pitched deep into his sixties. Ok, that’s a little fun and exaggerated. Jesse did pitch for 24 seasons and was 45 years old when he hung up his spikes.

Game two also went to the Mets in what was also an iconic game. Here is was more of an individual season full stat that stands out in that game. It was Dwight Gooden’s last regular season start in what would go down as one of the best seasons pitched by any pitcher in any year on any planet. Doc ended the season 24-4 with a 1.53 ERA, 268 Ks, 8 shutouts and on and on. Ironically, that game was one of Doc’s “Worst” performances of the year, which was giving up two runs over a complete game nine innings with 10 Ks. It’s worst from the perspective that it “Raised” his ERA!  The Met’s won that game 5-2 and Doc even contributed with an RBI that game. He was the closest thing to Superman in a pinstripes. Oh, and by the way the “Losing” pitcher in that game was Joaquin Andujar, who had 21 wins himself. These two would clash now and again during the season. As a sidebar – RIP Andujar who Mr. Clutch just found out quietly passed away just about exactly a year ago.

Here’s where the rub comes into play. First, let it be known that Mr. Clutch never was fan of Mets manager Davey Johnson. Clutch always thought of him as a “Bad” manager who managed a great team. He made many during the season decisions that likely cost the Mets 10 games or so. With someone else skippering the team there probably would be no discussion here as the Mets would have been five or so games ahead coming around the clubhouse turn. Instead, the team had to sweat in fall.

For those Cardinal historians out there, you already know that the 1985 team was built around speed and the ability to “Manufacture” runs by way of using that speed. The starting lineup for the team had a shade under 300 stolen bases for the season. That’s almost two a game for those keeping track. The catcher had six and then even had a bench player with 12. This was also the rookie season of Vince “Van Go” Coleman who only swiped 110 that year. Another interesting stat is that the entire Mets roster that year stole 116, which is six more than Coleman. The point of over explaining this is that the Cardinals planned on running all over the place in this game and manager Davey Johnson though he had the answer.

Sid Fernandez was schedule to pitch this pivotal and very important game. That’s pretty good news in that El Sid was having an excellent statistical season. His win-loss record didn’t reflect it too much at 9-9, but he had a 2.80 ERA, 1.10 WHIP (Hits and walks divided into innings pitched) and most importantly he averaged almost 10 strikeouts per nine innings pitched. To kid Clutch it seemed obvious that Sid should get his normal start that day. He likely won’t allow many runners on base, strikes out a ton to keep the ball off the field and would probably give up under three runs. This no-brainer became a brain-teaser to the not-so-great Davey Johnson. 

Davey decided to start Rick Aguilera instead and his reasoning was that Aguilera had a quicker delivery to the plate and would “Do better” at keeping the Cardinals jackrabbits in check at first or second base. Rick had a way higher ERA, WHIP and struck out about half the amount of batters than Sidney. This means more Cardinals would be getting hits and putting the ball in play. It also meant more potential runs would score.  Another note on this is that Fernandez was left handed and southpaws traditionally do a better job than righties on keeping runners on since they are facing the base while in positon. Kid Clutch was disgusted about this decision and was convinced that the Mets season was over before the game started.

Sure enough Aguilera gave up four runs in six innings, which included a wild pitch and a balk. Vince Coleman had three hits that day and knocked in two of the four runs. Aguilera gave up 12 hits and walks over the six innings, which is a WHIP of 2.00. It was no surprise as he did exactly what the stats said he was doing to do. To give a little bit of useless credit to Johnson that was the only game in the series that the Cardinals did not steal any bases. Unfortunately they were busy knocking in runs.  

Why did that game not “Really” matter? Because that nit-wit Johnson cordially allowed Doug Sisk to pitch that year. Sisk must have had 20 blown holds during the season. He was a reliever with a five plus ERA (5.30 to be exact). Johnson kept marching him out there April through September because he was trying to have him build up confidence and get passed the acres of bad outings. This teachable moment came at the expense of the Mets losing around 10 games that they should have won. And BOOM goes the dynamite.

Clutch 22-2016: No, No-No Doesn’t Mean Much

You would think that when a pitcher throws a no-hitter it’s a “Great” accomplishment. Though the pitcher might dub it as so, it’s really not. It’s sort of kind of a great accomplishment for the individual and a rare enough occurrence that it makes the news, but a no-hitter is generally a day of luck. The strikeouts help and are pitcher positive, but the rest of the outs are typically guys hitting the ball at people. A perfect-game is similar, but with a little additional flair since no walks or errors included in the outing.

Before thinking this is more statistical malarkey, the thought around the luck of the no-no is more personnel based. Take a look at the list of pitchers who recently threw a no-hitter of perfect game. You will notice that most, not all, of the names are people you never heard of. Well, at least you never heard of them before they tossed the no-hitter. And then you quickly forgot about them shortly after.

Sure some of the greats tossed a no-hitter. Though there is no disputing that, there is also no disputing that more great pitchers did not throw a no-hitter than did. Now, that said, it’s very likely that these great pitchers without a no-hitter under their belt likely tossed a bunch of one-hitters, two-hitters and shut-outs. The one-hitter, though it doesn’t come with the glamor or a no-hitter, is if you think about just as good with possible one ball being hit an inch or two to the left or right.

Of course in the last two seasons (2015-2016) this theory holds little water. Jake Arrieta and Max Scherzer both tossed two during that time period! Wow, that actually is amazing and something that likely hadn’t happen before or will happen again. Scherzer took it one level higher by getting *both* of his no-hitters in the same year! These two guys are clearly star players and the exceptions to the rule.  It’s very likely that these special pitchers whip up more of these achievements during the course of their careers.  Clutch’s bet is that Arrieta chalks up more though.

Other “Current” no-hitters tossed over the past few years were by Mike Fiers, Hiashi Iwakuma, Chris Heston, Henderson Alvarez and Phillip Humber (He threw a perfect game!). My guess is you may not have heard of some or all of these guys. One of them only had a three plus year career in MLB and one will definitely go down in history as the worse guy to ever throw a no-hitter. It’s clear that none of them are or will be household names. Most of them had or are having bad pitching careers and will hang their hat on that one lucky start.

Pedro J. Martinez is arguably the best pitcher of the current era. As a minimum he’s deep in the conversation like the age old question of is Michael Jordan the best NBA player ever?  Pedro J. was a first-ballet hall-of-famer and has phenomenal career stats. Pedro J. had a 7-year season run where he was almost literally unhittable. That includes two seasons with a sub-two ERA and five seasons with a sub-one WHIP. Pedro is referred to as Pedro J. because during part of his stellar career there was another pitcher kicking around by the name of Pedro “A”. Martinez. “A” was a mop-up man for around five seasons or so.

You probably guessed by now why Pedro J. was brought up and his career outlined. It’s because he has zero no-hitters during his historic and likely never to be duplicated career. For as many complete game shut-outs to his credit (17) he always surrendered at least one hit. There are two interesting footnotes to Pedro’s career of no no-no’s. The first is that there is no-hitter in the family. Pedro’s brother Ramon Martinez, who had a decent but forgettable career, tossed a no-hitter in 1995 for the Dodgers. At that point Pedro J., who also started his career in Hollywood, was around gone and in Montreal.

The second footnote is as far as Mr. Clutch is concerned two of the more interesting outings in baseball history. Pedro J. pitched a nine-inning “Perfect game” for the Montreal Expos in 1995 versus the San Diego Padres. The issue though was that the Expos had scored no runs in the game to support the Martinez effort. Pedro J. took the mound in the 10^th inning and gave up a lead-off hit (The Expos won the game in 10). The other was a year previous where Pedro J. had tossed seven perfect innings against the Reds. In the top of the eight he hit Reggie Sanders with a pitch. The reason it’s a footnote is that Sanders charged the mound inciting a brawl after the HBP. It’s probably a pretty good guess that Sanders was the only person in the stadium or watching the game on TV that thought Pedro J. did it on purpose!

Then there is the infamous Armando Galarraga game. Who? Exactly, that’s the point. Galarraga was one out shy of a perfect game when the 27^th batter he faced hit a typical ground-ball that should have been the making of history. Well it was, but the history made turned out to be the worst call in no-hitter history. The batter in question was “Out” at first by a country mile, but called “Safe” by the umpire. Galarraga lost the perfect game due to human error that had nothing to do with him or another player in the game. Before you lose too much sleep over this, Armando had one of the worst careers in starting pitcher MLB history. His career was three years deep at the time of this game, and ended two seasons later with a career ERA around 5.00 and eight more losses than wins over the span.  

What’s your favorite no-hitter story? The fact that Nolan Ryan has seven (7) no-no’s and (12) one-hit almost no-no’s? There are likely folks out there that think Nolan can still throw one today at 70 years old! Or how about Dock Ellis who tossed a no-hitter while under the influence of LSD. It was such an interesting story that a full-length documentary was made about it. Fill in your blank of one of those or Johan Santana, Doc Gooden, Jim Abbott or the Forsch brothers. Or possible the one no-hitter tossed by Kid Clutch back in 1981!

Clutch 21-2016: Collectible Care Instructions

From the French word of the same name, as odd as that sounds, a souvenir is a physical keepsake or token of remembrance.  They are typically associated with a vacation or visit to a place that you’ve never been to. It’s also notable that though a souvenir is to “remember” a place or thing, they are traditionally purchased for someone who was not there or did not experience that thing. Sounds more like a “Wish you were here” or more like a sentiment for feeling bad that your relative or friend was unable to have that same great time you did.

In baseball, and other sports, a souvenir for yourself is more closely referred to as memorabilia or a collectible. The act of collecting it usually happens by chance when you are at the right place at the right time. When you think about it, the whole concept of collecting memorabilia is a little strange. One takes something home and hangs it on a wall, places it on a mantle, puts it in a book or sometimes closes it in a drawer for the sole purpose of looking at it once in a while.

We all know there is more to it than that. The purpose of seeking out and obtaining a collectible is so that one someone else sees it and comments positively about it so you can then recant the exciting tale of when and how you made the acquisition. Perhaps the story starts to fray from realism to a tall tale over time. What once was “I bought it in a store” turns into a yarn about an intergalactic battle.  Either way, one of the novelties of owning a collectible is to talk about it. Baseball collectibles likely have pretty good stories behind them, regardless of how close they are to fact.

Mr. Clutch is not without a short to medium size list of pretty good baseball collectibles. They range from cool to odd to something that probably only a handful of existing humans would care about. Be that as it may they are all special to the owner regardless of value, society’s care or what Fonzie thinks about it.

Steve Henderson was a player for the Mets during the not-so-hey days.  He fit well into the Clutch group of well-liked players because he was one of those “Pure” hitters. Though Steve didn’t have a stellar career he did have a couple of pretty solid seasons in the league. He will best be known for being part of one of the worst trades in Met history (We all know about the others). Henderson came to the Mets along with Zachary and Flynn for…Tom Terrific, Mr. Tom Seaver. I guess there are worse things to be remembered by.

Through brother Clutch, who noted in a previous blog worked the ins and outs of Shea Stadium, kid Clutch was one day presented with an authentic game used Steve Henderson bat.  It was Christmas and an anniversary of birth all wrapped in one! What would or should one do with such a fantastic relic? Hang it in the bedroom next to the ABBA poster? Place it in a safe deposit box? Nah.The recently double-digit mind decided to play baseball with it on the busy 164^th avenue. Hitting balls out to a friend and running the bases seemed like the best idea until the Q-41 bus came barreling down the street. Bus met bat and the bus won. Though Mr. Clutch still proudly displays the bat, it is not without battle scars of chips and cracks from being used in an MLB game mixed with a little bit of pure insanity.

With the same acquisition method came two sets of batting gloves, again game used, from Lee Mazzilli and John Stearns. Two pretty decent players in their own rights, who both got caught up with being on a lousy team. First is Maz, who was the New York success story. Born and raised in Brooklyn, Maz made it to the bigs playing just across town for the Mets, and was a first round draft pick no less. Maz had a decent and pretty long career which included some power, speed and occasionally hitting for average. Mr. Clutch’s personal highlight was when Mazzilli hit a home-run in the 1979 All-Star game where he was the only Met representative. Here’s a couple of factoids on Maz: First, he was on the 1986 WS Champion Mets, though Mr. Clutch has no memory of this. He also had three stints with New York clubs which were the Mets, 1976-81 and 86-89 and the Yankees in 1982. Lastly, and this is an insider fact, other players on the team secretly nicknamed him “Chicken wing” due to his poor throwing arm. It will be impossible for you to verify that, even with the Internet.

Stearns was also a Clutch favorite, probably due to the unique speed for a catcher.  He had 25 steals back in 1978, which was unheard of for a battery player. He got caught 13 times that year, so in all he wasn’t that fast. One should feel bad for Stearns as his entire baseball career, with the exception of literally two ABs with the Phillies in 1974, was with the Mets during the worst of times. The Mets basically finished in last place every season of John’s career.

What’s a kid to do with batting gloves from two then legendary speedy Mets? What else – play the iconic game of “Running bases” with them. For those not lucky enough to grow up near grass back yards, this was a game that required three players. Two would man a base and toss a ball back and forth. The third player had to run from one base to the other while the ball was in motion. Make it and you got a point. Got caught and you got an out. Three outs and then the next kid got in the middle. It involved a lot of sliding which over time took its toll on the gloves. Unfortunately both sets are no longer with us and this is just another example of how now to care for a collectible!