In the seventh: 11 runs, one hit...

Oeditpus Rex · **Posted:** Tue Jul 26, 2005 10:09 pm

Just found this within the vast BaseballLibrary.com and thought I'd share. Some seriously great stuff here, such as the record for the least number of pitches by one pitcher in a nine-inning game. (You probably won't believe it.)

Matthew Grieco · **Posted:** Tue Jul 26, 2005 10:59 pm

I note that the Boston Red Sox set a major-league record this year by not playing in extra innings until their 99th game (yesterday). I found that pretty remarkable.

ADKbrown · **Posted:** Thu Jul 28, 2005 8:09 am

Oeditpus Rex wrote:

Just found this within the vast BaseballLibrary.com and thought I'd share. Some seriously great stuff here, such as the record for the least number of pitches by one pitcher in a nine-inning game. (You probably won't believe it.)

Thanks for the link. It's interesting that the guy failed to strike out a single batter (of course, that would have wasted too many pitches). I wonder what the record is for the most pitches thrown in a single game.

ADKbrown · **Posted:** Thu Jul 28, 2005 8:17 am

A few minutes after my post, I came across this tidbit in the New York Times:

On April 14, 1989, Leiter beat Viola on a blustery night. Last night, Leiter lost to Johan Santana, 7-3, on a steamy night. He threw 162 pitches in the start against Viola. He only seemed to throw that many last night.

162 is probably not the record, but that's a lot of pitches, especially in the modern era.

Oeditpus Rex · **Posted:** Thu Jul 28, 2005 11:25 am

I covered a college game about 25 years ago in which my alma mater's starter threw 162 pitches. Lost, too.

ADKbrown wrote:

It's interesting that the guy failed to strike out a single batter (of course, that would have wasted too many pitches).

"Strikeouts are boring. Besides, they're fascist. Throw some ground balls; they're more democratic."

â€” Crash Davis to Nuke LaLoosh

Wabberjocky · **Posted:** Thu Jul 28, 2005 4:53 pm

As a college student, I went to a game, circa 1980, when the A's Mike Norris threw a 12-inning complete game. I dunno what the pitch count was ... but that was a year in which Oakland manager Billy Martin famously overused the arms of his ace staff â€” Norris, Steve McCatty, Matt Keough, Rick Langford and Brian Kingman â€” and, within a few years, each of those players suffered arm or shoulder injuries that severely limited and prematurely ended their careers.

Oeditpus Rex · **Posted:** Thu Jul 28, 2005 8:03 pm

That made me think of the 1963 game in which Willie Mays homered with one out in the 16th inning off 42-year-old starter Warren Spahn and the Giants beat Milwaukee 1-0. Juan Marichal, who worked 321 innings that year, got in 16 of 'em that night.

Note: Giants radio announcer Dave Flemming just mentioned with a touch of awe in his voice that some pitcher threw a complete game against SF earlier this year. Gee.

Matthew Grieco · **Posted:** Thu Jul 28, 2005 8:22 pm

Speaking of extra-inning pitching, my vote for the greatest game in baseball history goes to Game 7 of the 1991 World Series between Atlanta and Minnesota. Both starting pitchers went into extra innings, scoreless. In the world championship game. And both teams had been in last place the previous year. There have been so many great games in baseball history, but to me that one is clearly the greatest. It does not get any more perfect and epic than that.

Wabberjocky · **Posted:** Thu Jul 28, 2005 8:50 pm

Francisco Cabrera, who probably works the night drive-thru window at a Carl's Jr. somewhere, might take some consolation from that assessment.

Matthew Grieco · **Posted:** Thu Jul 28, 2005 9:09 pm

I think you're thinking of the 1992 NLCS, not the 1991 World Series.

Wabberjocky · **Posted:** Fri Jul 29, 2005 2:11 am

You are correct, sir. The game to which you refer included Kirby Puckett's smack into the gap, right? And Jack Morris' steady heroics?

Matthew Grieco · **Posted:** Fri Jul 29, 2005 5:29 am

It was Gene Larkin who got the game's only RBI, bringing home Dan Gladden for the title in the bottom of the 10th. Although now that I look back at the box score, I see that I must slightly retreat from my earlier statement. Morris' opponent, John Smoltz, only pitched 7 1/3 innings (though they were just as scoreless as Morris' innings). It was Alejandro Pena who gave up Larkin's hit, but the fact remains I don't think I'll ever see another game like that one.

I had been rooting for the Braves, by the way.

Oeditpus Rex · **Posted:** Fri Jul 29, 2005 1:43 pm

Matthew Grieco wrote:

my vote for the greatest game in baseball history goes to Game 7 of the 1991 World Series between Atlanta and Minnesota.

To my great chagrin and regret, I did not see that game, nor more than about three innings total of that Series.
You may commence pelting.

Matthew Grieco · **Posted:** Fri Jul 29, 2005 2:14 pm

You missed a great one, that's all I can say. My team, of course, is the Yankees, but that 91 Braves/Twins Series was more intense than even the best Yankees moments of my lifetime. Sadly, it didn't get the attention it deserved, and its greatness is underestimated, because it was played between what were then two small-market teams.

Imagine for a moment if that same Series had been between, say, the Yankees and the Dodgers. It would be the epic on everyone's lips.

jjmoney62 · **Posted:** Fri Jul 29, 2005 2:19 pm

I remember catching the conclusion of some of the games in the '91 series on the radio on the way home from work. Vin Scully. I want to say Johnny Bench was with him. Pure baseball.

Oeditpus Rex · **Posted:** Fri Jul 29, 2005 2:42 pm

Matthew Grieco wrote:

Imagine for a moment if that same Series had been between, say, the Yankees and the Dodgers.

If it had, I'd have seen every pitch. (Wrote the guy wearing a Dodgers T-shirt at this very moment.)

B Cubbison · **Posted:** Fri Jul 29, 2005 9:18 pm

Oeditpus Rex wrote:

That made me think of the 1963 game in which Willie Mays homered with one out in the 16th inning off 42-year-old starter Warren Spahn and the Giants beat Milwaukee 1-0. Juan Marichal, who worked 321 innings that year, got in 16 of 'em that night.

The pitch count for Marichal was 227 and for Spahn it was 200.

http://www.redszone.com/forums/showthre ... t=marichal

Oeditpus Rex · **Posted:** Fri Jul 29, 2005 10:34 pm

Quote:

JULY 3, 1966â€¦Atlanta Bravesâ€™ pitcher Tony Cloninger becomes the first MLB pitcher to clobber two grandslam HRâ€™s in the same ballgame. The right-handed pitcher also knocks in a run with a single, giving him 9 RBIâ€™s in the 17-3 rout of the Giants in San Francisco.

I remember hearing that game on radio. Teased my dad (a Giants fan) about it for the rest of the season.

But... "grandslam." I need to slap somebody.

ADKbrown · **Posted:** Sun Jul 31, 2005 8:43 am

B Cubbison wrote:

Oeditpus Rex wrote:

That made me think of the 1963 game in which Willie Mays homered with one out in the 16th inning off 42-year-old starter Warren Spahn and the Giants beat Milwaukee 1-0. Juan Marichal, who worked 321 innings that year, got in 16 of 'em that night.

The pitch count for Marichal was 227 and for Spahn it was 200.

http://www.redszone.com/forums/showthre ... t=marichal

Note that Spahn was then 42. Pretty amazing.

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In the seventh: 11 runs, one hit...

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