Friday, June 24, 2005

interleague weekend preview

(First off, thanks to the guys at Sports Radio 610 in Houston for having me on the drive time show yesterday, and huge thanks to The Man Himself for the mention in an article on mlbplayers.com.)

Craig Biggio sits one plunk short of Don Baylor's modern record as the Astros begin a 3 game weekend series against the Rangers tonight. The Rangers lead American league teams in hitting Biggio with pitches, with a total of 4, but they haven't hit him since June 22, 2003.

Friday, June 24:
The series opens with right-hander Ricardo Rodriguez on the mound for the Rangers. Biggio is 1-3 with no HBPs off Rodriguez, and Rodriguez has hit 12 batters with the 2603 pitches he's thrown in 29 career games. Craig Biggio has never been hit by a pitch on June 24th, but the baseballs tend not to know these things when they fly out of the pitcher's hands.

Saturday, June 25:
Saturday's scheduled starter for the opposition is Chris Young. Young has hit only 4 batters in his 21 career starts, and he has never plunked Biggio. But, being a second year pitcher, he is in the year of his career when pitchers have hit Biggio the most.
Biggio has been hit once on June 25. Miguel Batista hit him in 2001.

Sunday, June 26:
The series wraps up Sunday with 3 time Biggio plunker Chan Ho Park, but Park hasn't plunked Biggio September 12, 1997 when he did it twice. Park has a career total of 110 plunks in 1529 innings.
Biggio was last plunked on June 26th 9 years ago by Tim Worrell in 1996. He was also hit the year before, on June 26th 1995 by Mark Petkovsek. Sunday will also be the 17th anniversary of Biggio's first game in the majors.

14 Comments:

At 6/24/2005 12:31:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Great site! I'm going to the Sat and Sun games and crossing my fingers so that I can seet he magic 267!

 
At 6/24/2005 06:15:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Sunday will also be the 17th anniversary of Biggio's first game in the majors."

Wow. Do you have any links to articles suggesting he should be a hall of famer?

I think he should but I suppose there may be a debate. Too bad there isn't a stat on heart, baseball smarts and commitment to team.

 
At 6/24/2005 07:32:00 PM, Blogger VB said...

I bet someone intentionally plunks Craig to get their bit of history.

Top site btw.

 
At 6/24/2005 10:08:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wonderful site, pbr! My 8 yr old son & I welcome any and all info about our favorite player.
You're obviously a true baseball fan. But, is it correct to assume you're a Biggio fan, not just for the plunks, but also because of his all-around play?
You may have already addressed this stat, but what are Biggio's hbp numbers by former Astros pitchers? I believe Mark Portugal & DK have both hit Biggio a few times. I'm not sure if M. Hampton or R. Johnson have as well.
Also, any idea what the pitch count avg/median is for this future HOF when hit by a pitch? It seems he has been beaned more times with 2 strikes against him.

 
At 6/24/2005 11:29:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Also mentioned here: http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-plunkingbiggio&prov=ap&type=lgns

 
At 6/24/2005 11:36:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I was at the game tonight, 3 rows behind the first base dugout, perfectly positioned to view the historic number 267. I even brought my camera, and took a shot of every Biggio pitch. Sorry to report that there was nothing to report. Other than an Astros win, of course. And some nice post-game fireworks.

 
At 6/25/2005 10:11:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Props on the site. I am a big Texas Rangers fan, but if I had to choose one player off the Astros that I enjoy watching the most...it would have to be Biggio!

 
At 6/25/2005 11:22:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey I own a sportsblog as well. If you would like to exchange bloglinks let me know and i'll put you up!

mine is: www.straightcashhomey.net

if you put up my link today I'll put yours up too! thanks.

 
At 6/25/2005 11:49:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow, I absolutely love this site. Baseball purists rock!

 
At 6/25/2005 12:02:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

this is awesome.
poor craig!

 
At 6/25/2005 04:43:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

i remember when eric davis if the reds got beaned in the nutsack. he looked pissed. that was the same year my dumbass traded away a clemens rookie card for his rookie card. i'm a fat dumbass. overweight too.

 
At 6/25/2005 04:47:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

shut up fatty, this is a special website about craig biggio. however, i do appreciate yow reminding us about eric davis's sack. thanks!

 
At 6/25/2005 06:54:00 PM, Blogger Paul Mitchell said...

Great site. I blogrolled you and will return daily.

 
At 6/26/2005 08:00:00 PM, Blogger pbr said...

let see, that's a lot of questions...

Jeff Kent's mustache, I haven't seen any articles arguing whether Biggio should be a hall of famer but I'm sure you can find a discussion about it on any of the Astro's message board sites.

PG, check out this post for info on Biggio's former teammates and battery mates who have hit him. As for your other question, I haven't been able to get pitch-by-pitch data for games between 1993-1999, so I can't get at his plunk totals by count.

HH, you only win a prize if you can provide proof the Biggio was never tackled or hit by a pitch before your story occured. If I were you I'd look up all the newpaper articles from all the years he was in high school and publish a blog about your findings. Then again, people should generally ignore any sentance I start with "If I were you".

 

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