FROM THE BILL CHUCK FILES?

By Baseball Newstalgist, Bill Chuck

February 11, 2010

Nine to Know

1.     Last season, the AL West teams averaged 86 wins; the AL East and the NL West teams averaged 84 wins; the NL East teams averaged 79 wins; the NL Central teams averaged 78 wins; and the AL Central teams averaged 76.4 wins. The division champs averaged 94.3 wins, the Wild Card teams averaged 93.5 wins, and all the postseason teams averaged 94.125 wins.

2.     2010 is the 25th anniversary season of Tom Seaver and Phil Niekro picking up their 300th wins, Rod Carew collecting his 3,000th hit, Nolan Ryan striking out his 4,000th batter, and Pete Rose breaking Ty Cobb?s record for most hits all-time.

3.     Brian Giles last season hit .191, exactly .100 points beneath his lifetime average.

4.     Jose Reyes? 73 triples are the most of any player in baseball history with fewer than 800 games played (Reyes has played in 791).

5.     From 2000-2009 there were 24 players who averaged over .300, with a minimum of 3,000 plate appearances. No surprise that Albert Pujols (.334) leads them all, but some you may not think of include Sean Casey (.300), Michael Young (.302), Jose Vidro (.303), and Moises Alou (.310).

6.     Of all the pitchers with less than 600 innings pitched, no one has more strikeouts than Brad Lidge who has 714 in 529 innings; he?s followed by Tim Lincecum who has 676 in 598.2 innings and Francisco Rodriguez with 660 in 519.2 innings.

7.     Ryan Garko, who played behind Victor Martinez at Cleveland at first, signed a $550,000 contract with the Mariners to play first, DH and catch. In 2003, while at Stanford, Garko won the Johnny Bench Award as the nation's top college catcher.

8.     Brad Penny should thrive in the NL with pitching coach Dave Duncan in the Cardinals big ballpark. Penny?s WHIP last season with Boston was 1.534 and with the Giants 0.960.

9.     The 2007 Rays, 2006 Cubs, 2002 Cubs, 1998 Diamondbacks, 1997 Cubs, and the 1996 Giants are the six teams that went from 70 or fewer wins the prior season to the postseason since the advent of the Wild Card.

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