The Marshall Of The Bullpen!

Mike Marshall in 1974 qualified for the ERA title, but Mike finished fourth. He set a record never to be broken with 106 relief appearances that season, carrying the Dodgers into the Fall Classic vs. Oakland. For good measure, he picked off Designated Runner Herb Washington in the lone Dodger victory. Marshall's 83 games finished that season was the second highest ever. Ironically, it was Marshall himself with 84 five years later.

Stat Set 1

Pitcher	Year	GP	GF	GF%	IP	W	L
Konstanty	1950	74	62	0.838	152.0	16	7
Wilhelm	1952	71	32	0.451	159.1	15	3
Face	1959	57	47	0.825	93.1	18	1
McDaniel	1960	63	47	0.746	104.1	12	4
Arroyo	1961	65	54	0.831	119.0	15	5
Radatz	1963	66	58	0.879	131.1	15	6
Perranoski	1963	69	47	0.681	129.0	16	3
Miller	1965	67	55	0.821	112.1	14	7
Regan	1966	65	48	0.738	116.2	14	1
Hiller	1973	65	60	0.923	125.1	10	5
Marshall	1974	106	83	0.783	208.1	15	12
Tekulve	1979	94	67	0.713	134.1	10	8
Hernandez	1984	80	68	0.850	140.1	9	3
Lamp	1985	53	11	0.208	105.2	11	0
Eichhorn	1986	69	38	0.551	157.0	14	6
Eckersley	1990	63	61	0.968	73.1	4	2
Wetteland	1993	70	58	0.829	85.1	9	3
Chapman	2012	68	52	0.765	71.2	5	5
Davis	2014	70	11	0.157	72.0	9	2

Stat Set 2

Pitcher	Year	S	BS	S%	H	ERA	K	K/9	WHIP	WAR
Konstanty	1950	22	4	0.846	0	2.66	56	3.32	1.039	4.7
Wilhelm	1952	11	1	0.917	1	2.43	108	6.11	1.155	2.7
Face	1959	10	9	0.526	1	2.70	69	6.67	1.243	3.2
McDaniel	1960	26	6	0.813	1	1.29	95	8.21	0.863	6.0
Arroyo	1961	29	10	0.744	1	2.19	87	6.58	1.109	3.3
Radatz	1963	25	3	0.893	0	1.97	162	11.00	1.096	5.7
Perranoski	1963	21	8	0.724	0	1.67	75	5.23	1.202	4.5
Miller	1965	24	1	0.960	1	1.89	104	7.80	0.997	4.3
Regan	1966	21	7	0.750	1	1.62	88	6.82	0.934	5.0
Hiller	1973	38	0	1.000	0	1.44	124	8.92	1.021	8.1
Marshall	1974	21	12	0.636	9	2.42	143	6.18	1.186	3.1
Tekulve	1979	31	6	0.838	8	2.79	75	5.00	1.176	3.2
Hernandez	1984	32	1	0.970	0	1.92	112	7.19	0.941	4.8
Lamp	1985	2	5	0.286	8	3.32	68	5.80	1.164	1.3
Eichhorn	1986	10	4	0.714	7	1.72	166	9.52	0.955	7.4
Eckersley	1990	48	2	0.960	0	0.61	73	8.96	0.614	3.3
Wetteland	1993	43	1	0.977	0	1.37	113	11.95	1.008	4.2
Chapman	2012	38	5	0.884	6	1.51	122	15.32	0.809	3.6
Davis	2014	3	0	1.000	33	1.00	109	13.60	0.847	3.7

References

Mike Marshall Statistics and History | Baseball-Reference.com (Baseball-Reference.com)

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/marshmi01.shtml

World Series: Did You Know?

Hector Lopez hit the only triple of the 1961 Fall Classic. To say that seems so unlikely is an understatement. You have to excuse Hector. He wasn't supposed to be there. He wasn't supposed to be the star that year. The New York Yankees were loaded with talent. A guy coming off the bench didn't get to do much that year.

Certainly, he wasn't in the regular season. To fellows...Let's just call them Mickey and Roger. Mantle, for the second straight year, played 153 games. Not all of them were complete games, however. But he hit 54 home runs, second to Roger Maris' 61. Hector Lopez, in 93 games, hit just .222 with 3 home runs and 22 RBIs. By comparison, Johnny Blanchard, the second-string catcher, hit .305, 21 home runs and 54 RBIs in the same amount of games. Yogi Berra was in left at this point. And that was the spot Lopez played sometimes.

And the Yankees were facing the Reds in the 1961 Fall Classic. But the Yankees got a bad break late in the season. A damaged hip forced Mantle out of the home run race. And he'd miss the first two games in the Fall Classic.

Lopez played game one in right, as Roger Maris was in centre. But all Lopez could do was draw a walk. Blanchard pinch hit for him late in the game. Lopez had the same result in game two, but it was a better game for him, as he was pinch-hitting for pitcher Ralph Terry.

The Yankees came away with a split, as the Fall Classic moved to Cincinnati. Mantle was back in the lineup for game three. So Lopez did not play. In the fourth game, Mantle lashed a long single to left in the top of the fourth. The pain in his hip was too much. He had to leave. Lopez came in to pinch run. He was quickly erased via a double play, but a run scored. It was the only run the Yankees would need. Hector later singled home two more runs. The Yankees, 7-0 winners, were now just a game away from winning it all.

And in game five, Lopez was in the starting lineup!

But no one had hit a triple yet!

Lopez did just that in the top of the first. It was a booming one, and it scored a run. When Clete Boyer followed with a double, Lopez scored. It was the kind of bat around inning that New York did all year long. Only this time, Mickey Mantle was missing from it. Lopez run was the Yankees fifth of the inning. We are only in the top of the first, remember. Roger Maris hit a double the next inning to make it 6-0.

But the Reds were hitting the ball well, too. They scored three themselves on a three-run home run by Frank Robinson in the bottom of the third. They got a double and a single that inning after the blast, but no runs scored.

The Yankees put another "5" on the scoreboard in the top of the fourth. And Lopez trumped his triple. He hit a three-run home run of his own. The game was now a rout again, but also a slugfest. Even the Reds weren't done. A two-run home run by Wally Post in the bottom of the fifth made it 11-5. The Reds could have gotten another run as Vada Pinson led off the inning with a single, but was cut down by Maris trying for two.

Lopez got another RBI as the Reds messed up a squeeze by him the next inning. An intentional walk and a sac fly by pitcher Bud Daley restored the lead to eight runs.

Both teams continued to hit the ball hard. While the final score was a rout, the hit total was 15-11 by New York. The Reds didn't help themselves by making three errors and issuing six walks. The Yankees did not walk a man this game. Neither team scored again after the sixth inning, however.

New York won this game, 13-5. With that, they had the crown in five games. And while Mickey Mantle and Rogers Maris will always be remembered for this magical Yankee year (Whitey Ford and Luis Arroyo should be, too), the World Series itself might not have been won without Hector Lopez!


References

Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 4 August 2015.

Sure Could Have Fooled Me

Don Drysdale was ejected a grand total of one time for hitting a batter.

The Los Angeles Dodgers were facing the Cincinnati Reds in a summer game in 1961. The Reds were on their way to a pennant, but the Dodgers were in the thick of things. The Dodgers had Drysdale, Sandy Koufax and Johnny Podres at their disposal that year, and your money had to be on them.

In this home game, it was actually Roger Craig on the hill for the Dodgers to start the game. But Roger, who was a good pitcher, was having an off year. He'd finish it with a 5-6 record, and an ERA over six!

Craig couldn't hold the Reds at bay in this one, and was gone after just 2 1/3 innings. The legendary Sandy Koufax, 18 game winner that season with an amazing 269 Ks in only 265 innings pitcher, came in to stop the bleeding. No such luck. Sandy was nailed for three hits, a walk, and two earned runs in two innings of work.

The game was into the fifth inning at this point. Drysdale came in to relieve Koufax. An intentional walk and a sac fly scored a run charged to Koufax. On the play, Frank Robinson advanced to third on an error by Tommy Davis. Another intentional walk, and a double by pitcher Joey Jay, and the carnage had produced three runs.

The next inning, with Drysdale still on the hill, Drydale threw inside to Don Blasingame. That was enough to sent Blasingame to the ground. Drysdale got a warning, but was undaunted. Blasingame popped out, but Frank Robinson was in for a terrifying ordeal because of what Drysdale did next. He threw not one, but two knockdown pitches to Frank Robinson. Finally, Drysdale hit him. That did it, He was ejected. The Reds went on to an easy 14-3 win, but I'm sure no one was smiling on Cincinnati.

Drysdale also accumulated a low number of ejections in his career. Only four. No pitcher, between 1956 and 1969 hit more batters than Don Drysdale. 154.

Yet his other ejections seem almost trivial. In a game played on June 13th, 1957, the Dodgers (Still in Brooklyn at this point) were facing the Milwaukee Braves. Drysdale did hit a batter, Johnny Logan. Now, Logan didn't take this kindly. He charged the mound. Drysdale and Logan were ejected (Eddie Mathews, who fought Drysdale, was not for some reason).

In a game against the Giants in 1958, with both teams on the west coast, Don got ejected for arguing a third strike. Don was the batter! Working as a pinch hitter in the bottom of the second, he didn't like the call. The ejection seemed to actually help the Dodgers, who may have been thinking of keeping Don in the game to pitch. Instead, in hopped Sandy Koufax to pitch. And Sandy? He was dandy! 7 IP, 2 H 1 R, 7 K for the win! No harm, no foul!

The next season, August 22nd, 1959, saw Don and Duke Snider get real angry about a call against the Dodgers in a game against the Giants, again. They threw some stuff on the field. Snider, ironically enough, had already been used as a pinch hitter, and departed the game for a pinch runner. Now, he was gone from the bench, taking the big righty (Who did not even pitch in the game) with him.


References


Sports Reference LLC.  Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 4 August 2015.

Retrosheet. Web. 4 August 2015.  <www.retrosheet.org>