We're Talkin' Baseball...

Amidst all of the negative press baseball has endured in recent years, mostly involving Performance Enhancing Drugs, or PEDs, this season has been pleasantly surprising in several ways. Sometimes there is a distinct statistical level of dominance of either pitching or hitting. 2012 has shown a very even distribution of both, but not without historically significant moments on both sides. The numbers I have researched for this entry are from Baseball Reference, and specific articles coming from whoever I feel wrote the most in-depth stories about each event. Then there are some observations of my own that I believe are well worth noting.

I'll begin with a close look at an incredible (official) rookie season that is too incredible to ignore. Mike Trout, the new starting center fielder for the L.A. Angels, is putting on a season-long show (ironically, he's not the first Angels outfielder with a type of fish for his last name; see Tim Salmon). His numbers are staggering, which are shown in the link provided. Any numbers in bold for his 2012 season means he is leading the league. Just for your information, the projected numbers shown on the link include his numbers from the 2011 season, which should not be reflected on this year. The reason why 2011 is not considered his rookie season is because, according to the Alias Sports Bureau, he didn't play enough games to qualify. After doing my own math, these are the projected numbers for a 162 game season:

• 131 Games Played
• .340 Batting Avg.
• 180 Hits
• 30 Home Runs
• 89 Runs Batted In
• 126 Runs Scored
• 51 Stolen Bases
• 68 Extra Base Hits

This even distribution of power, speed and incredible player instincts (that part is implied by the numbers and video evidence that you can find on a simple YouTube search of his feats) is rarely seen in many seasoned veterans. The three categories he currently leads in (avg., runs scored, stolen bases) are crucial elements in helping direct his team to victory. If you have played or still play in some competitive manner, you know that getting on base and creating opportunities to score is more effective than simply having power. He has shown the ability to not only produce runs, but also to drive them home as well. I will gladly and humbly say that it is refreshing to see a young player flourish in the league, and hope that it continues for a long time. Even if he has success against my Yankees: in 6 games played, he is hitting .407 with 11 H, 1 HR, 5 RBI, 6 RS, 4 SB and 7 XBH. Damn. Oh, and by the way, he is an excellent defensive player too. YouTube a few of his catches, they're no fluke (haha...get it? fluke is a fish too! So clever, I know). Congrats, Mr. Trout. Best of luck to you in the future as well.

Damn, that's a good catch...

Next we will look at a great pitching performance...check that, three. That's how many perfect games have been pitched this season. Phil Humber of the Chicago White Sox (vs. Seattle), Matt Cain of the San Francisco Giants (vs. Houston), and Felix Hernandez of the Seattle Mariners (vs. Tampa Bay) all accomplished this feat this year. For those not entirely familiar with the difficulty of this task, let me break this down:

• The starting pitcher must complete all 9 innings.
• He must not allow a single baserunner all game, meaning no hits, walks, hit-by-pitches or defensive errors (that's right, even the defense behind you needs to be flawless).
• Including the three instances this year, this has only happened 23 times in the history of Major League Baseball. It should be 24, but a blown call at first base by an umpire with two outs in the ninth inning cost Armando Galarraga an official perfect game. Read up.

An interesting side note here: three of the last six perfect games have come against the Tampa Bay Rays. For as good of a team as they are, it's incredible to see them frequent the list of losing efforts in these games. Anyway, think of the factors that are involved in actually pulling this off. You are facing major league hitters. These aren't high school, college or minor league players at the plate, but rather men that have made it to the big show. They are professionals at hitting a round ball with a round bat in a very consistent manner. For a pitcher to sit down 27 of these men in a row is phenomenal. Next, you should know that no man has ever accomplished the feat twice. Five men have pitched three or more no-hitters. Of those five, two have pitched a perfect game. With a combined ten no-hitters, neither Nolan Ryan nor Bob Feller ever experienced perfection. I understand that a great offensive game draws in more of a crowd's attention, but witnessing a pitcher just approaching the later innings without a blemish will redirect your concentration. I offer my congratulations to these men as well, and there's still plenty of time in their careers left...who knows if one could become the first to repeat.

From Right to Left: Matt Cain, Phil Humber, Felix Hernandez. Damn perfect.

Another anomaly from this season would be one player hitting for a cycle...twice. It had only happened three times before, and all of those times were dating back to 1931 and earlier. Aaron Hill of the Arizona Diamondbacks became the fourth player to do it, and the games in question were only eleven days apart. Let me explain the basics of hitting for a cycle:

• A cycle is when you hit at least one of each type of hit in one game: a single, double, triple and home run. 
• The most difficult of these is the triple. Triples are usually the product of where the ball is hit, how easy it is to field and how quickly the hitter can run the bases. I'm not saying hitting a home run is a simple task, but it is statistically proven to occur more often than triples.
• This has only occurred 293 times in history; considerably more frequent than perfect games, but rare nonetheless.

The other men to do this twice in a season had an interesting advantage in order to accomplish this. Back then, the ballpark dimensions were much larger than the ones used nowadays. This means the outfield wall (assuming there was one at all) was back far enough that inside-the-park home runs were much more common. A ball hit hard enough in the right place would make it easier for a player to round the bases for a triple or a home run. So when you see two players in the late 1800s hit for two cycles in a season, both only spanning one week between them, just understand that there was more real estate to hit into back then. I am not trying to discredit their shared record, but Aaron Hill's two cycles were harder to attain in such a short time span. So to continue the theme, Aaron...congratulations to you as well. That is honestly incredible.

Two cycles in eleven days. Damn.

One last event to consider is even more rare than the perfect game. Only sixteen times has it ever happened, and it is one more that has taken place in this already historic season. On May 8th, Josh Hamilton of the Texas Rangers hit not one...not two...not three...but four home runs in one game. It's impressive enough when two teams combine for four home runs in one game, if you ask me. This man, and fifteen others, did it all by themselves. An even more staggering fact about Hamilton's blasts: all four of them were two-run home runs, and all four times, Elvis Andrus was on first base at the time of each blast. The one time Andrus was unable to get on base, Hamilton was only able to hit a double. Only. We have known Hamilton to be a great hitter already. Even further, he is a great power hitter. He proved his might during the Home Run Derby during the 2008 MLB All-Star weekend. This man swatted 28 over the fence in the first round alone. That alone is astonishing, so the four home run possibility was already very much real. The derby was in old Yankee Stadium, so knowing his four homer game was in Camden Yards in Baltimore, it was a bit of a relief that it happened in an A.L. East rival's ballpark. A final congratulations goes to Mr. Hamilton, and it is well-deserved.

2008 All-Star Home Run Derby. 28 HR in one round. Damn.

What else can happen this season? There are still over six weeks of regular season games remaining, so don't rule out any possibilities. These players have proven time and time again that even the most rare achievement is within the scope of becoming reality. I hope I was able to enlighten you on how amazing this season has already been. I know I'm impressed...the way it should be.

D.