MARCO’S BASEBALL BLOG-O-ROONIE 2024:
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: I started writing this issue of the blog-O after the All Star Game and then ran into some health and work issues that were too intrusive to tolerate a leisurely examination of the season. My apologies. I pick it up with one week left in the season. As a form of punishment and self flagellation I still include my overly dismissive early mis-evaluation of the Brewers (you’re much better than I thought , Brewskies!) I also started writing about the Cruz penitentes Oneil, Elly and Brian who I love, even though they play on teams that are allergic to even modest Wild Card aspirations. I pick up my narrative right after Ohtani has his big game going for 50-50 homers and steals.
2024 IS ONE OF THOSE YEARS…
...where it feels like somebody just stepped on the gas pedal. Like 1968, event- acceleration has outrun our capacity to digest historical markers before we are bombarded with another meteor swarm of “first time this... first time that”.
It makes you just want to renew your commitment to baseball… a truly satisfying and utterly necessary diversion for our time. So pardon me while I divert…
I thought this would be the year the Reds and the Pirates would rise up from the bottom of the N.L. Central and let the Cards, Brewers and Cubs feel the pain. Wrong again! The Brewers are dominating the Central even while they sell off their star pitchers. (Corbin, Corbin where art thou? ) This division has got to be awfully weak if the Brewers are winning. Their big two are Adames, and Contreras.)
The most interesting diversion in the N.L. Central is the Penitentes.
Oneil Cruz of the Pirates and Elly de la Cruz of the Reds. Brian de la Cruz is also in the Bigs...now with the Pirates.) Oneil is a 6’7” shortstop. He throws rapidly. He fields sloppily. He hits the hardest line drive homers. Only 24, he might be another Aaron Judge if he gets it together. 175 strike outs so far. Yikes.
Elly is leading baseball with 65 steals thus far. (5 other Reds are on pace for 20+). He smites the ball mightily as well and also has a gun from shortstop. The Reds need a few more like him though. Elly has 210 whiffs so far...an appalling total.
The question before us: DID SHOHEI OHTANI JUST HAVE THE BEST OFFENSIVE GAME IN HISTORY?
THE ANSWER!...No, you fools! No!
Let’s establish some ground rules here. 6 for 6 with 3 dingers and 2 doubles and two steals. Ohtani had an exceptionally theatrical Big Game...no doubt. But the great games of all time should be not just statistical, but timely. Reggie Jackson hit 3 home runs in the 6th game of the 1977 World Series to sink the Dodgers. Babe Ruth had two separate games where he hit 3 homers in a Series game. Note that...these are offensive accomplishments in a WORLD SERIES. (Pablo Sandoval and Albert Pujols also had 3-tater World Series games. Let’s not get excited by a lame duck walk-over of a very weak bottom-feeder team from the NL East (the ever perplexing Miami Marlins) at the hands of a loaded Dodger team just cruising into the playoffs. This game was a 20-4 contest, totally out of hand by the middle innings.
I think commentators are letting their adoration slosh over the rim, so to speak, as they quaff the mead of excess. I love Ohtani...he’s a real jewel and the most magnetic baseball figure we’ve seen since Big Papi Ortiz. He has batting power...especially to the opposite field...unmatched by anyone not named Aaron Judge.
But Ohtani is being praised not just for a brilliant statistical game in and of itself but for the landmark he set as a seasonal accomplishment. He certainly announced his Big Season record of 50 plus homers and 50 plus steals effectively with that game, I’ll say that.
But...if you are going by record setting seasonal accomplishments, other seasonal records must be judged as “Best Games of all time” contenders.
Ruth’s 60 home run season and his 54 dinger 1920 season to start the whole sea-change of power baseball. How about Ruth’s record 457 total bases season in 1921? Albert Belle of Cleveland hit 52 doubles and 50 homers in 1995...compare that to Ohtani’s home run/steals new standard of 53/53 so far. You are basically comparing steals to doubles and that dog won’t hunt. Steals are great, but doubles are more valuable than steals.
So let’s just examine big games as they stand alone. The above mentioned 3 home run games in World Series play. How about the 18 players who have hit 4 homers in a game? Here’s a Big Game…
Shawn Greene... Dodgers...2002...4 big flies, a double and a single for an all time record of 19 total bases in one nine inning game.
(Ohtani had 17 in his BG. If he hadn’t been thrown out at third on his second double Shohei would have had 18 total bases in one game...pretty good if he’d made a better slide.)
More rain on the parade. Now remember, I love Ohtani. But I must point out that the victory over Miami was such a walkover that it took 221 Miami pitches to finally, mercifully, let them lose.
The last pitcher Ohtani faced was Vidal Brujan, a middle infielder pressed into emergency save-the-bullpen service. Vidal got 2 outs and gave up 6 earned runs on 39 pitches. His ERA is now 43.20. God knows what he was throwing but it was definitely lollipop time. That ultimate gopher ball he threw to Ohtani was the cookie of all cookies. You can see Vidal wince as he watched his pitched ball offer up its virginity to Ohtani’s sweet spot.(They said it was a 68 mph “fastball” ...elevated. It was elevated all right. It came down eventually. 440 feet later. Kaajooiee!) The whole game was an advertisement for a 7 inning “mercy rule”.
And… the stolen base of 2024 is not the stolen base of days of yore. With the new rules, anybody who has a modicum of speed can victimize a slow delivery pitcher. And Ohtani is a fast runner.
Other greatest games of note:
1932...Johnny Burnett of Cleveland gets 9 hits in an extra inning game with the Athletics. He got 11 at bats in the game and that record may be around awhile now that we have the ghost runner rule for extra inning games.
1975...Rennie Stennett of the Pirates goes 7 for 7 over Cubs.
1971...Rick Wise of Phillies throws a no-hitter and bats in 3 of the Phils 4 runs with two homers.
1999...Fernando Tatis of the Cardinals hits two grand slams in one inning (*note...there may be controversy over the greatest game of all time, but not of the greatest inning of all time. It’s Tatis Numero Uno.)
1999...Nomar Garciaparra hits a two run homer and twin grannies for 10 ribbies.
1936...Yankee Tony Lazzeri hits two grannies, another home run and a two run triple for an AL record 11 rbi game.
1924...Sunny Jim Bottomley of the Cardinals goes for 6 for 6 with a record 12 rbis in one game.
1993...Mark Whiten of the Cards tied Sunny Jim with 12 ribbies on 4 home runs, including one grand slam over the Reds.
And my favorite:
1966...Braves pitcher Tony Cloninger hits two grand slams and gets another rbi while winning a complete game over the Giants at Candlestick 17-3. He set a record for pitchers of 9 rbis in a game. That’s also still the Braves’ team record for one game.
TOTAL BASE “400” CLUB:
Shohei Ohtani has 393 total bases this year. A player has collected more than 400 total bases in a season only 29 times. The last players to do it were Luis Gonzalez, Todd Helton, Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds. ALL IN 2001! Lou Gehrig is the all-time leader, topping 400 an amazing 5 times. Chuck Klein did it 3 times for the Phillies (remember the short porch in right field of the old Baker Bowl?)
The All-Time high? Who else?
Babe Ruth...457 total bases in 1921.
It seems like a sure thing for Ohtani to join the club if he gets just 7 more bases in the last week of 2024.
Note: Ohtani might have company! Aaron Judge is sitting close at 383 total bases this year!
