The Best Met Since ... Alex Ochoa?

David Wright has had a fantastic game today against the Phillies, going 4 for 5 with 2 doubles, a triple, and a home run. He becomes just the 40th known player to have such a game, as seen after the jump:

Perfect Video for Today's Belmont

The Impending Offensive Crisis

Recent trends and past history regarding offensive numbers indicate that runs per game will likely fall below 4.00 within the next five years, perhaps to levels not seen since 1972 or even 1968. Remarkable declines in hits, walks, and runs per game have created a dire situation for offenses in baseball. In addition, strikeouts continue to rise beyond record levels, and have done so for the first time in history without an accompanying rise in home runs. Singles and triples per game are at record lows, as lineups are dangerously relying on the long-ball. Non-home run base hits are at their lowest level since 1972, along with batting average and hits per game. Ratios of strikeouts to hits, walks, and runs are at all-time highs. Finally, the use of small-ball to create runs has been curtailed as well, allowing for fewer ways to score runs. Sacrifice hits per game are at an all-time low, and stolen base attempts per game are at a 42-year low. As a result of these factors, any significant one-year drop in home runs will prove disastrous for offenses.

(Click through to see the data.)

Mike Trout's Cycle

As most everyone knows by now, Mike Trout hit for the cycle last night, in the process becoming the youngest AL player ever to accomplish the feat. However, Trout also holds a dubious (if trivial) distinction: the lowest known WPA for a player achieving a cycle. As a matter of fact, Trout's is the first cycle to produce a negative WPA:

Player	Date	Tm	Opp	Rslt	1B	2B	3B	HR	WPA
Mike Trout	2013-05-21	LAA	SEA	W 12-0	1	1	1	1	-0.012
Rich Gedman	1985-09-18	BOS	TOR	W 13-1	1	1	1	1	0.047
John Mayberry	1977-08-05	KCR	CHW	W 12-2	1	1	1	1	0.068
Candy Maldonado	1987-05-04	SFG	STL	W 10-7	1	1	1	1	0.071
Gil Hodges	1949-06-25	BRO	PIT	W 17-10	1	1	1	2	0.079
Don Mueller	1954-07-11 (1)	NYG	PIT	W 13-7	1	1	1	1	0.083
Bob Elliott	1945-07-15 (2)	PIT	BRO	W 15-3	1	1	1	1	0.087
Eric Valent	2004-07-29	NYM	MON	W 10-1	1	1	1	1	0.089
Cristian Guzman	2008-08-28	WSN	LAD	W 11-2	1	1	1	1	0.091
Greg Colbrunn	2002-09-18	ARI	SDP	W 10-3	1	1	1	2	0.095
Alex Rodriguez	1997-06-05	SEA	DET	W 14-6	1	1	1	1	0.095
Scott Cooper	1994-04-12	BOS	KCR	W 22-11	1	2	1	1	0.096
Jeff DaVanon	2004-08-25	ANA	KCR	W 21-6	1	1	1	1	0.098
Kirby Puckett	1986-08-01	MIN	OAK	W 10-1	1	1	1	1	0.099
Bill White	1960-08-14 (1)	STL	PIT	L 4-9	1	1	1	1	0.102
John Olerud	2001-06-16	SEA	SDP	W 9-2	1	1	1	1	0.107
Stan Musial	1949-07-24	STL	BRO	W 14-1	1	1	1	1	0.113
Mark Grace	1993-05-09	CHC	SDP	L 4-5	1	1	1	1	0.114
Aaron Hill	2012-06-18	ARI	SEA	W 7-1	1	1	1	1	0.116
Todd Helton	1999-06-19	COL	FLA	W 10-2	1	1	1	1	0.121

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used

Generated 5/22/2013.

The reason for this odd occurrence can be found below the fold:

AL Teams Partying Like It's 1999?

Just a quick observation about the standings at the moment:

The teams with the top four records in the AL: Texas, New York, Cleveland, Boston

In 1999: New York, Cleveland, Texas, Boston

Sand-tana?

Johan Santana's recent career-threatening shoulder surgery brings up a very valid question: if indeed his career is over, how will he be remembered? At his best he was the most dominating pitcher in the game, winning two of three Cy Youngs while being robbed of a third. In more recent years, he has been one of the biggest question marks in baseball, averaging just 161 innings between '09, '10, and '12, and missing all of '11 and '13. This paradox brings to mind the abrupt ending to another lefty's career, Sandy Koufax.

Best Pitchers' Duels of the 1980s, Part 1

Here is a list of the best pitchers' duels of the early 1980s, one for each year:

April 10th, 1980: The aces of their respective teams, former Cy Young winner Ron Guidry of the Yankees and Jon Matlack of the Rangers hooked up for a great early-season match-up. Both pitched 9 shutout innings, with Guidry giving up just 2 hits to Matlack's 3. Neither allowed a walk, although neither struck out a lot of batters either (Guidry - 5, Matlack - 4). The game remained scoreless until the bottom of the 12th, when closer Goose Gossage of New York uncorked a wild pitch to score ex-Yankee Mickey Rivers from third base.

September 21, 1981: In a game I've already chronicled, Steve Carlton of the Philadelphia Phillies failed to pick up a victory despite 10 shutout innings against Ray Burris and the Expos. The game ended on a 17th inning walk-off single by Andre Dawson.

October 1, 1982: Both John Denny of the Phillies and Terry Leach of the Mets allowed just 1 hit, but Leach went 10 to pick up a shutout victory. Leach did walk 6, although the only hit was a Luis Aguayo triple in the 5th inning. Hubie Brooks's sac fly off reliever Porfi Altamirano in the 10th would be all the Mets would need in this one.

July 31, 1983: Both Mike Torrez of the Mets and Jose DeLeon of the Pirates pitched the games of their lives in this one, but ultimately it would be decided by the bullpens. DeLeon allowed just 1 hit and 3 walks against 11 strikeouts, pitching 9 innings of shutout ball. He carried a no-hitter into the bottom of the 9th before it was broken up by Hubie Brooks. Torrez, on the other hand, kept bending but did not break, allowing 8 hits, and getting out of jams in the 4th, 5th, 7th, 9th and 10th. He went 11 shutout innings. The turning point of the game may have come in the 7th, when Tony Pena of the Pirates was caught stealing home with two outs. George Foster drove home the winning run from second in the 12th inning off of Manny Sarmiento.