The best pitching streak of all time?

In the three months between June 2 and and September 2, 1968, here is all that Hall of Famer Bob Gibson did:

• Started 19 games
• Completed 18 of them (and went at least 9 innings in all of them)
• Threw 12 shutouts
• Went 17-1
• Struck out 161 and walked 32 (in 174 innings)
• Compiled an ERA of 0.72.

Some other interesting things about this streak:

• Gibson entered it with an ERA of 1.52.  After the first game (a win over the Mets in the first game of a doubleheader on June 2, in which he gave up three whole earned runs) it "rocketed" up to 1.66.  By the time he finished the last game (a win over the Reds on September 2) it was down to 0.99.  He finished the season at 1.12.  Imagine shaving a half a run off an ERA that started at a buck and a half.
• He threw at least 9 innings in every game and twice more than that.  His "worst" start in the streak was on August 4 against the Cubs, in which game he went 11 innings to a no-decision, allowing 12 hits and five runs (four earned) including two home runs, half of the four he allowed in the entire streak. After giving up a run in the top of the 11th to the Cubs to put them ahead 5-4, he left the game for a pinch hitter in the bottom of the inning.  The Cardinals scored in that inning, but went on to lose 6-5 in 13 innings.  Bob's opposing starter in that game, interestingly, was fellow Hall of Famer Fergie Jenkins, who only lasted four innings before getting pulled for a pinch hitter himself.  The other extra-inning game was the win over the Reds on September 2 mentioned above, which was merely a 10-inning 1-0 shutout win in which he gave up four hits to a team with members including Pete Rose (0-4), Tony Perez (1-4, 2 strikeouts) and Johnny Bench (0-3).
• The only loss was August 24, to Pittsburgh.  In that game, he went the distance in a 6-4 loss at home, but gave up only six hits and struck out 15 (walking two).  Three of the six runs were unearned. Gibson took a 4-0 lead into the top of the 7th.  The leadoff hitter, Matty Alou, reached on an error by first baseman Orlando Cepeda, and Gibson then gave up a single to Roberto Clemente and a three-run homer to Willie Stargell.  He then proceeded to strike out the next three batters, but gave up a run on a sacrifice fly in the 8th and two unearned runs in the 9th to take the loss.
• The All-Star Game for 1968 was played during this streak, on July 9.  Bob did not appear!  He was selected but did not play.

Fun with baseball-reference.com and JPA

Only five catchers in baseball history have played more than 100 games in a season, hit 20 or more HR and slugged .400 or less.  Here they are:

Roy Campanella (1956) - 124 games, 20 HR, .219/.333/.394 (BA/OBP/SLG)
Jeff Newman (1979) - 143 games, 22 HR, .231/.267/.399
Gary Carter (1987) - 139 games, 20 HR, .235/.290/.392
Brian McCann (2012) - 121 games, 20 HR, .230/.300/.399
J.P. Arencibia (2013) - 138 games, 21 HR, .194/.227/.365

So I think we can definitively say that JPA had the worst offensive season ever for a catcher with 20 or more home runs.

But we can say more.  There are only four players in history who have seasons in which they have played at least 130 games and ended up with BA .200 or below, OBP .230 or below and SLG .370 or below.  Every one except JPA is a shortstop (Bob Lillis 1963, Rob Picciolo 1977, Mario Mendoza 1979).

And there are only three players who have had seasons in which they've hit 20 or more HR but slugged .370 or under. Two of those seasons occurred this year.  Dale Murphy "did it" in 1989, a season in which he hit .228, was on-base .306, hit 20 HR and slugged .361.  JPA's companion this year was Dan "Not on the Playoff Roster" Uggla, who hit 22 HR and slugged only .362, but hit .179 and was on-base .309.  However, there is not much doubt that JPA's season was even worse than Uggla's - that 82-point difference in OBP was caused by the fact that JPA walked 18 times (with 148 strikeouts) while Uggla walked 77 times (with 171 strikeouts).

Most worryingly, perhaps, for those of us who really want to be JPA fans - he's 27, and both Murphy and Uggla were 33 when they scaled these heights.

JPA is the only player in baseball history to have 20 or fewer walks and 145 or more strikeouts in a season.

(All statistics courtesy of baseball-reference.com and its magical Play Index tool.)

Jays - how I'd bat 'em (2013 early edition)

Well, this is a much different exercise than last year, isn't it?  This is the pre-spring-training edition - despite the comments about most positions being locked down, there are still some important things to see in spring training.  Second base is a big one, but so is the Bautista wrist situation, how Melky will look in the post-suspension period, and whether the left side of the infield with Reyes and Lawrie is as interesting as it looks on paper.  Hope those two can cooperate!  It will also be interesting defensively to see if the shift experiments continue.  But let's focus on offence for a bit.
This year, I would be a bit more keen to platoon, at least to a limited extent.  We'll save that for the bottom part of the lineup, though....

The top 4 (vs. R and vs. L):
Reyes, SS
Cabrera, LF
Bautista, RF
Encarnacion, 1B

Can't resist those two switch-hitters at the top of the lineup.  Great OBPs throughout - with 400 SBs at the top of the order, and a 74% base-stealing success rate batting second.  Lots depends on how Cabrera handles this year and whether he keeps the blistering pace of last year - if he does, this is exciting.  If those two perform and only one of Bautista and Encarnacion performs to expectations (and stays uninjured), there are a lot of runs to be had here.  Close watch in spring and the early part of the season at Bautista vs. lefties.  He has to hit better than .200 (.306 OBP), his 2012 numbers, to keep batting third.  This would be a big (seismic) move for Gibbons, but you've gotta move him down in the order unless those numbers come up.  How much of that was the wrist?  We'll see.  Edwin just needs to keep the power numbers up to stay fourth.

The bottom 5 (vs. R):
Lind, DH
Lawrie, 3B
Rasmus, CF
Bonifacio, 2B
Arencibia, C

For all the debate about Lind, his numbers against right-handers are surprisingly good.  His career slugging against them is the best on the current team (.502; Bautista is .480 and Encarnacion .457).  His OBP against them, while not Bautisa-esque, is comparable to the best guys on the current team (career he's .335 - compare to Encarnacion .332, Cabrera .337, and Reyes .338).  I like him as a five-hitter.

This is a big year for Arencibia both as a handler of pitchers and as a batter.  The franchise has clearly put the chips on him and he needs to step up, but he has lots of ways to do it.  Decent power and good handling of that expensive starting staff will do it - but anything more could get him an All-Star spot.  Pending seeing how that turns out, for me he bats ninth against righties.

The 2B spot is a hot one but I like the idea, at least pending what happens this spring, of platooning Bonifacio and Izturis.  Might be some healthy competition for the spot, but one might grab the job, or the defence could suffer - so careful watching will be required.  I take Bonifacio vs. righties based on his 2012 - but Izturis is better for career numbers.

One thing I like about this set-up is that after the two right-handed bats in the third and fourth spot, this gets me a L-R-L-switch-R progression, with the middle three guys being baserunning threats.  It could work out really effectively.

The bottom 5 (vs. L):
Lawrie, 3B
Davis, DH
Arencibia, C
Izturis, 2B
Rasmus, CF

Lind has to hit the bench vs. lefties.  (No surprise here, but the .264 OBP career (.250 last year) against lefties is too bad to keep him playing.)  This creates more trouble than first appears.  Ideally, I would sit Rasmus as well, but there is not an obvious DH against lefties and I think there's a value to keeping Encarnacion and Rasmus in their defensive positions both ways.  If there were a clear DH candidate, I'd put Davis in CF and sit Rasmus in favour of that chimera... but I don't see it.  So I bat Rasmus ninth and hope his baserunning limits the damage (if he can get on).

Nobody here is a weak link except Rasmus (and maybe Izturis for power, but in the eighth spot that's OK).  Lawrie and Arencibia both take good jumps vs. lefties.  The one pitfall from this proposal is that there's some vulnerability in the later innings once the bullpen gets involved because we have righthanded bats from the third spot through the seventh - but Lind's bat is still on the bench this way and hopefully that gives some pause to the opposing manager.

All told, this exercise heightens the excitement for the new season.  I hope I'm not believing the hype, but this looks like a well-crafted team.  Of course, as we should all be reminding ourselves, they still have to play the games!