Baseball Toaster: Mike's Baseball Rants : You Rang?

You Rang?

2006-10-14 22:55

by Mike Carminati

This has been an odd postseason. I never thought Detroit could dominate like they have. I never expected the Cardinals to score nine runs in a game. I didn't expect the Tigers to score eight runs in a game in which Neifi Perez and Alexis Gomez started. And I never expected the home run feats by Alexis Gomez, So Taguchi, and Jeff Suppan.

Suppan homered tonight to help put the Cards up two games to one in the NLCS. Suppan's last (and only other) home run came on September 10, 2005, and it came off of—you guessed it—Steve Trachsel. In 260 previous regular-season and playoff at-bats, Suppan had hit just that one home run.

Gomez may be even odder. He had a home run and four RBI in game two of the ALCS after amassing just 6 RBI and one home run this season and 11 RBI and 1 homer in the 28-year-old's four-year career (158 ABs).

Suppan and Gomez join a short list of players who matched their career home run total with his production in one playoff series. The last was Melvin Mora in 1999, though I remember George Vukovich's unexpected homer in the 1981 division series against the Expos. You'll notice that a bunch of these guys were pitchers:

Player	Yr	Round	Tm	G	AB	HR	RBI	Career G	Career AB	Career HR	Career RBI	Age	POS
Melvin Mora	1999	NLCS	NYN	6	14	1	2	66	31	0	1	27	LF
Tom Lawless	1987	WS	SLN	3	10	1	3	215	384	1	17	30	2B
Rick Sutcliffe	1984	NLCS	CHN	2	6	1	1	206	180	1	28	28	P
George Vukovich	1981	NEDIV	PHI	5	9	1	2	98	84	1	12	25	OF
Don Gullett	1975	NLCS	CIN	1	4	1	3	229	338	0	33	24	P
Gene Clines	1971	NLCS	PIT	1	3	1	1	128	310	1	27	24	OF
Wayne Garrett	1969	NLCS	NYN	3	13	1	3	124	400	1	39	21	3B
Mickey Lolich	1968	WS	DET	3	12	1	2	233	381	0	15	27	P
Jose Santiago	1967	WS	BOS	3	2	1	1	130	116	1	4	26	P
Frank Demaree	1932	WS	CHN	2	7	1	4	23	56	0	6	22	OF
Jesse Haines	1926	WS	SLN	3	5	1	2	252	583	1	32	32	P
Jack Bentley	1924	WS	NY1	5	7	1	2	137	232	1	24	29	P
Rosy Ryan	1924	WS	NY1	2	2	1	2	171	207	0	11	26	P
Willard Brown	1889	WS	NY1	1	5	1	2	109	368	1	60	23	C
Bill George	1888	WS	NY1	2	9	1	4	22	92	1	11	23	OF
Tommy McCarthy	1888	WS	SL4	10	41	1	9	250	965	1	88	24	OF
Larry Twitchell	1887	WS	DTN	6	20	1	3	69	280	0	51	23	OF

Gomez came up short, but if he had matched his career total of 11 RBI in the ALCS, he would have joined this exclusive group:

Player	Yr	Round	Tm	G	AB	HR	RBI	Career G	Career AB	Career HR	Career RBI	Age	POS
Jorge Sosa	2005	NLDS	ATL	1	2	0	1	108	31	0	0	28	P
Timo Perez	2000	NLDS	NYN	4	17	0	3	24	49	1	3	25	RF
Melvin Mora	1999	NLCS	NYN	6	14	1	2	66	31	0	1	27	LF
Chad Ogea	1997	WS	CLE	2	4	0	2	55	2	0	0	26	P
Dmitri Young	1996	NLCS	SLN	4	7	0	2	16	29	0	2	22	1B
Mike Jackson	1995	NLDS	CIN	3	1	0	3	550	27	0	1	30	P
Mike Stanton	1992	NLCS	ATL	5	1	0	1	166	8	0	1	25	P
Mike Moore	1989	WS	OAK	2	3	0	2	262	1	0	0	29	P
Mike Boddicker	1983	WS	BAL	1	3	0	1	37	0	0	0	25	P
Frank Pastore	1979	NLCS	CIN	1	0	0	1	30	25	0	1	21	P
Tim Stoddard	1979	WS	BAL	4	1	0	1	38	0	0	0	26	P
Brian Doyle	1978	ALCS	NYA	3	7	0	1	39	52	0	0	23	2B
Brian Doyle	1978	WS	NYA	6	16	0	2	39	52	0	0	23	2B
Gary Gentry	1969	WS	NYN	1	3	0	2	35	74	0	1	22	P
Spec Shea	1947	WS	NYA	3	5	0	1	27	56	0	1	26	P
Freddie Lindstrom	1924	WS	NY1	7	30	0	4	52	79	0	4	18	2B
Harry Lyons	1887	WS	SL4	2	7	0	2	3	12	0	1	21	2B-OF

As for men that have matched or exceed their home run totals for the regular season in a playoff series, there were 57 previous men to do so (Suppan, Gomez, and Taguchi joined them this year). Here are the last ten:

Player	Yr	Round	Tm	G	AB	HR	RBI	RS G	RS AB	RS HR	RS RBI	Age	POS
Scott Podsednik	2005	ALDS	CHA	3	11	1	4	129	507	0	25	29	LF
Scott Podsednik	2005	WS	CHA	4	21	1	2	129	507	0	25	29	LF
Raul Chavez	2004	NLDS	HOU	2	5	1	1	64	162	0	23	31	C
Tom Wilson	2004	NLDS	LAN	2	1	1	1	13	12	0	0	33	C
Shawon Dunston	2002	WS	SFN	4	9	1	3	72	147	1	9	39	RF
Melvin Mora	1999	NLCS	NYN	6	14	1	2	66	31	0	1	27	LF
Lance Johnson	1993	ALCS	CHA	6	23	1	6	147	540	0	47	29	OF
Ed Sprague	1992	WS	TOR	3	2	1	2	22	47	1	7	24	C
Jose Lind	1992	NLCS	PIT	7	27	1	5	135	468	0	39	28	2B
Jose Lind	1990	NLCS	PIT	6	21	1	2	152	514	1	48	26	2B

As for RBI, there were 36. Here are the last ten:

Player	Yr	Round	Tm	G	AB	HR	RBI	RS G	RS AB	RS HR	RS RBI	Age	POS
Jorge Sosa	2005	NLDS	ATL	1	2	0	1	45	31	0	0	28	P
Jeff Suppan	2004	NLCS	SLN	2	2	0	1	30	57	0	0	29	P
Tom Wilson	2004	NLDS	LAN	2	1	1	1	13	12	0	0	33	C
Timo Perez	2000	NLDS	NYN	4	17	0	3	24	49	1	3	25	LF-RF
Melvin Mora	1999	NLCS	NYN	6	14	1	2	66	31	0	1	27	LF
Chad Ogea	1997	WS	CLE	2	4	0	2	2	2	0	0	26	P
Dmitri Young	1996	NLCS	SLN	4	7	0	2	16	29	0	2	22	1B
Tom Glavine	1996	NLCS	ATL	2	6	0	3	39	76	0	3	30	P
Mike Jackson	1995	NLDS	CIN	3	1	0	3	40	4	0	0	30	P
Mike Stanton	1992	NLCS	ATL	5	1	0	1	65	2	0	0	25	P

Now, Taguchi might be the oddest of the three. He has two at-bats this postseason and in both he homered. He hit a home run, his second, to put the Cardinals ahead to stay in game 2. His two homers this postseason after collecting just two all year (in 134 games and 316 at-bats).

Taguchi is on a short list of men who hit multiple homers in the postseason while matching or exceeding his regular-season home run total. Oddly, Willie Randolph (1981) is the only player on the list to homer at least three times:

Player	Yr	Tm	G	AB	HR	RBI	RS G	RS AB	RS HR	RS RBI	Age	POS
Scott Podsednik	2005	CHA	7	32	2	6	129	507	0	25	29	LF
Mickey Hatcher	1988	LAN	5	19	2	5	88	191	1	25	33	OF
Kurt Bevacqua	1984	SDN	5	17	2	4	59	80	1	9	37	1B
Willie Randolph	1981	NYA	9	30	3	5	93	357	2	24	26	2B
Rick Cerone	1981	NYA	11	39	2	8	71	234	2	21	27	C
Chuck Essegian	1959	LAN	4	3	2	2	41	85	1	10	27	OF
Frank Demaree	1935	CHN	6	24	2	2	107	385	2	66	25	OF
Bucky Harris	1924	WS1	7	33	2	7	143	544	1	58	27	2B
Larry Gardner	1916	BOS	5	17	2	6	148	493	2	62	30	3B
Harry Hooper	1915	BOS	5	20	2	3	149	566	2	51	27	OF

Taguchi joined another exclusive list when he hit a homer in his only at-bat in the division series, men who homered in every at-bat in a playoff series:

Player	Yr	Round	TM	G	AB	HR
Geoff Blum	2005	WS	CHA	1	1	1
Tom Wilson	2004	NLDS	LAN	2	1	1
Jim Leyritz	1999	WS	NYA	2	1	1
Greg Myers	1998	NLCS	SDN	2	1	1
Kirk Gibson	1988	WS	LAN	1	1	1
Jim Mason	1976	WS	NYA	3	1	1
George Shuba	1953	WS	BRO	2	1	1

If he can keep it up for the entire postseason, he will join an even shorter list. Right now he is the only man on the list with more than one home run:

Player	Yr	TM	G	AB	HR
Geoff Blum	2005	CHA	1	1	1
Tom Wilson	2004	LAN	2	1	1
Jim Leyritz	1999	NYA	2	1	1
Greg Myers	1998	SDN	2	1	1
Jim Mason	1976	NYA	3	1	1
George Shuba	1953	BRO	2	1	1

Comments

2006-10-14 23:43:40

1. das411

So Taguchi will now get a start in the NLCS and hit 4 home runs or something equally awesome, is that what you're saying?