Plenty has been written and said about the season that Albert Pujols is having, but this nugget might be my favorite: he’s on pace for 60 HR and only 64 K. Incredible. In similar fashion, Roger Maris only struck out 67 times during his 61-homer season in ’61. Others have actually finished with more homers than strikeouts, notably Lou Gehrig (twice in three years: 49 HR, 31 K in 1934 and 49 HR, 46 K in 1936). Joe DiMaggio did it seven times in his career, with the craziest one coming in 1941, when he hit 30 bombs and struck out only 13(!) times.
Speaking of Yankees, Mark Teixeira is on his way to 41 HR and 43 doubles. He would become only the 34th player to have a 40-40 year (he also did it back in 2005), and the first Yankee since Gehrig (did it 3 times) in 1934.
Interestingly, the feat was accomplished 11 times from 1921 through 1940, and then didn’t happen again until Willie Stargell in 1973. Then there was another long drought until Albert Belle’s historic 50-50 season in 1995. Since Belle, 20 players have done the 40-40 thing, most recently Alfonso Soriano, who actually reached the 40-40-40 club (41 steals to go with 46 HR and 41 doubles). Ironically, Soriano’s .911 OPS was the lowest of anyone in this group.
(And for those wondering, Pujols is only on pace for 39 doubles).
As we pointed out in The Show this week (see below), Mark Reynolds is in the middle of one of the most dynamic seasons ever. At this rate, Reynolds will finish with 31 doubles, 44 homers, 113 RBI, 27 steals, 100 runs, 224 strikeouts (easily a MLB record), and 27 errors. THAT is the definition of filling up the scoresheet.
In less spectacular fashion, Bobby Abreu has an outside shot at putting up 100 in runs (on pace for 91), RBI (110), BB (97), K (103), and In & Out Burgers (quantity unknown).
After fanning 10 more batters Friday night, Tim Lincecum is on track for 289 strikeouts this year. So he’ll need to pick it up over his last 15 or so starts to be the first guy to 300 since Randy Johnson in 2002.
Last year, Pedro Feliciano set a Mets record with 86 appearances. He’s on pace for 90 this year, which would tie him for sixth all-time (and the most by a lefty). The record is 104 appearances by Mike Marshall in 1974. Marshall also had three seasons of 90+ games.