Interesting Baseball Developments (Updated)

Last month I wrote about other interesting baseball developments and thought it would be a good time to update the numbers.

With 196 hits, Ichiro is on pace for 231....this will mark the 9th consecutive season that he has 200 hits or more, a new baseball record (currently shares the record with Wee Willie Keeler). Pete Rose had the most 200+ hit seasons with 10, and Ichiro is very likely to break that as well in 2 years.

When I wrote this last month Joe Mauer was making a run at .400 and hitting over .380. He has cooled off a bit and is currently batting .367. After batting .391 in August he is "only" hitting .360 for the month of September.

The amazing Albert Pujols is almost on pace for a 50+ HR and near 150 RBI season. This would be the first 150 RBI season in the National League since Sammy Sosa did it in 2001. Pujols will easily get over 50 homeruns (he has 47), but will need a serious RBI push to reach 150 (he is at 124).

Brian Roberts is on pace for an eye-popping 58 doubles (yes, my eyes just literally popped out of their sockets). The all-time single season doubles record is 67, and we haven't seen a player have 60 in a season since 1936! With a bit of a push Roberts can get to 60, and no one is even talking about it outside of Baltimore.

Tim Lincecum's shot at 300 Ks is gone, but he was "almost there". There have been sixty-three 300 K seasons in baseball history and none since 2004. Lincecum was scratched from his last start with back spasms, and there are real concerns for his health for the remainder of the year. By the way, Lincecum is making $650K this year for a Giants team fighting for their playoff lives.

As for the Mets, well, it's certainly nice to get a few guys back from injury. That said, these guys don't seem to be embracing the spoiler role the way a younger team would. It's more like a bunch of guys auditioning for next year.

Thank God for football.

Interesting Baseball Developments

I've been so focused on the Mets woes that I've almost forgotten about the rest of the league.

For instance:

With 175 hits already, Ichiro is on pace for 245....this will mark the 9th consecutive season that he has 200 hits or more, a new baseball record (currently shares the record with Wee Willie Keeler). Pete Rose had the most 200+ hit seasons with 10, and Ichiro is very likely to break that as well in 2 years.

Joe Mauer is making a run at .400. He is currently batting .380 and has raised his average from .353 to .380 in his last 14 games with a stellar .476 batting average in August.

The amazing Albert Pujols is almost on pace for a 50 HR and 150 RBI season. This would be the first 150 RBI season in the National League since Sammy Sosa did it in 2001.

Brian Roberts is on pace for an eye-popping 62 doubles (yes, my eyes just literally popped out of their sockets). The all-time single season doubles record is 67, and we haven't seen a player have 60 in a season since 1936!

The incomparable Tim Lincecum has a good shot at 300 Ks. There have been sixty-three 300 K seasons in baseball history and none since 2004. By the way, Lincecum is making $650K this year.

Of course there are some great pennant races as well, and the Mets can play a spoiler role.

Bottom line is it's past time to remember that we are baseball fans too.