Daily Baseball Update: 5/4

Historical Individual Seasons: Sandy Koufax 1965

Stat Line: 26-8, 2.04 ERA, 0.86 WHIP, 382 K's in 335.2 innings.  Age 29.

Continuing with the Koufax theme, Sandy may have had his most dominant season in 1965.  Last blog, I wrote about his 1963 season, where he was 25-5 with a 1.88 ERA.  After going 19-5 with a 1.74 ERA in an injury shortened 1964, he bounced back with the most productive season of his career.  In 43 games (41 starts), he went 26-8 with a 2.04 ERA and 0.86 WHIP.  He set the modern era (post 1900) single season record for strikeouts with a whopping 382, a record that would stand for eight years until Nolan Ryan beat it by one in 1973, striking out 383.  No one else has come within ten since then.  Opponents batted a measly .179 against him, and he walked just 71 batters in 335.2 innings.  Koufax completed 27 of his 41 starts, tossing eight shutouts.  He registered saves in both of his relief appearances on the year.  On September 9th, he tossed the fourth no-hitter of his career, surpassing Bob Feller's record of three.  Again, Nolan Ryan would break that record with his fifth in 1981.  However, Koufax's fourth no-hitter was not just any no-hitter; it was the eighth perfect game in major league history as he retired the Cubs 27 up, 27 down.  Hall of Famers Billy Williams (who would hit 34 homers and bat .315 that year), Ron Santo (33 homers, .285 average), and Ernie Banks (28 homers, .265 average) all went 0-3 in the game.   In the World Series, Koufax was as dominant as ever, going 2-1 with a 0.38 ERA and 0.75 WHIP.  In three starts, he allowed just two runs (one earned) on 13 hits and five walks in 24 innings.  He struck out 29 and tossed complete game shutouts in Game 5 and Game 7 to win the World Series and World Series MVP.  After the season, he earned the MLB Cy Young Award.  Add his World Series stats to his season, and he was 28-9 with a 1.93 ERA, 29 complete games, ten shutouts, and 411 strikeouts in 46 games (44 starts).  He led the majors in wins, ERA, innings, strikeouts, opponents' batting average, WHIP, complete games, and opponents' on base percentage (.227), and allowed the least hits per nine innings (5.79).  

News

The Red Sox were the first team to 20 wins.

Game Scores

Pirates (17-12) beat the Nationals (15-15) 3-1.

Rangers (18-11) beat the Red Sox (20-9) 7-0.

A's (17-13) beat the Yankees (17-11) 2-0.

Phillies (14-16) beat the Marlins (8-22) 4-1.

Giants (17-12) beat the Dodgers (13-15) 2-1.

Rays (13-15) beat the Rockies (17-12) 7-4 (10 innings).

Reds (16-14) beat the Cubs (11-18) 6-5.

Tigers (17-11) beat the Astros (8-22) 4-3.

Top Scorer: Indians beat the Twins 7-6 (10 innings), Mets beat the Braves 7-5 (10 innings), Ranger beat the Red Sox 7-0, Rays beat the Rockies 7-4 (10 innings), and Padres beat the Diamondbacks 7-6.

Standings

AL East: Red Sox (20-9, .690 WPCT).  AL Central: Tigers (17-11, .607).  AL West: Rangers (18-11, .621).

NL East: Braves (17-12, .586).  NL Central: Cardinals (18-11, .621).  NL West: Rockies and Giants (17-12, .586).

AL Wild Cards: Yankees (17-11, .607) and Royals (15-10, .600).  NL Wild Cards: Rockies/Giants (17-12, .586) and Pirates (17-12, .586).

Bottom Team: Astros and Marlins (8-22, .267).  Longest W Streak: Indians, 5 games.  Longest L Streak: Astros and Diamondbacks, 4 games.

League Leaders

Offensive: AVG: Carlos Santana (Indians), .383 (31-81).  Home runs: Justin Upton (Braves), 12.  RBI: Mike Napoli (Red Sox), 31.  Stolen bases: Jacoby Ellsbury (Red Sox), 11.

Pitching: Wins: Clay Buchholz (Red Sox), 6.  K's: Yu Darvish (Rangers). 58.  ERA: Clay Buchholz, 1.01 (44.2 innings, 5 earned runs).  Saves: Jason Grilli (Pirates), 12.

Top Performers

Offensive: Drew Stubbs (Indians): 4-5, 3 doubles, RBI, run, AVG up .031 from .253 to .284, hitting streak to 3 games (9-13, .692 AVG).

Pitching: Jason Vargas (Angels): Win (1-3), 9 shutout innings, 3 hits, 2 walks, 3 K's (20), ERA drop: 1.13 runs from 4.85 to 3.72.

Worst Pitching Performance: Felix Doubront (Red Sox): Loss (3-1), 3.2 innings, 6 earned runs, 12 hits, 1 walk, 2 K's (31), ERA jump: 1.43 runs from 4.24 to 5.67.

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Teams followed in this update: Washington Nationals, Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs, Tampa Bay Rays, Los Angeles Dodgers, Philadelphia Phillies, Colorado Rockies, Detroit Tigers

If your team is not included, please leave a comment.

HR: home runs.  RBI: runs batted in.  AVG: batting average.  SB: stolen bases.  ERA: earned run average. WHIP: walks/hits per innings pitched.  K's: strikeouts. WPCT: winning percentage

Zack Silverman