Top Yankees Postseason Home Runs by Inning: First Inning

The New York Yankees did not qualify for the 2013 Major League Baseball postseason. For just the second time since the institution of the Wild Card and Division Series in 1995, the Bronx Bombers will not participate in the playoff tournament...I'm sure that fans of the other 29 teams will be able to cope with this news.

As for Yankees fans, we can do what we always do...wrap ourselves in pinstriped nostalgia!

As you can guess from the title, over the next two weeks I will unveil my rankings of the top Yankees playoff homers by inning. Since they won't be adding to the total this year I figured now would be as good a time as any to do it.


There have been 1,368 postseason games in major league history, and in those games 2,311 home runs have been hit. The Yankees have socked 387 of them, more than two and a half times as many as the team with the second most, the Cardinals. From Babe Ruth (1921 World Series Game Four) to Eduardo Nunez (2012 ALCS Game Three), 96 Yankees have gone deep in a playoff game. The Yankee with the most is Bernie Williams (22) and the pitchers that have allowed the most to the Yankees are Don Newcombe and Pedro Martinez (both served up eight). 


The methodology I'm using is a combination of Win Probability Added for the home run, the game/series in which it was hit and its overall impact on baseball history. There's a little bit of both numbers and gut going into this, and we'll see what people think of the lists.



6. Babe Ruth - 1923 World Series Game Six

The Giants had beaten the Yankees in the two previous Fall Classics, but 1923 would be different. The Yanks moved out of the Polo Grounds and opened up their new stadium that year, which culminated in yet another October meeting with their rival and former landlord.

The first World Series home run at the new Yankee Stadium was hit by Casey Stengel. His inside-the-parker with two outs in the top of the ninth broke a 4-4 tie and gave the Giants a series-opening win. The Yankees recovered and won three of the next four to move one victory away from their first championship.

Art Nehf retired the game's first two batters before Babe Ruth stepped to the plate and knocked a home run for a quick 1-0 lead.

The Giants came back and tied it in the bottom half and pulled ahead with single tallies in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings. Nehf had set down 19 of 21 after the Ruth homer and it looked like the series was headed to a seventh game with the Giants up 4-1 in the eighth.

With one out, Wally Schang and Everett Scott singled before the wheels really came off. Nehf walked pinch hitter Fred Hofmann on four pitches to load the bases, then walked the opposing pitcher, Bullet Joe Bush, on four pitches to force in a run. Rosy Ryan entered in relief and he too issued a four-pitch walk, this one to Joe Dugan that trimmed the lead to 4-3. Ryan struck out Ruth for the second out but Bob Meusel came through with a go-ahead single. Two runs scored, and a third came in on an error in center field to complete the five-run rally. Sad Sam Jones worked a scoreless eighth and ninth out of the pen and clinched the first of 27 Yankees World Series crowns.


5. Hideki Matsui - 2003 World Series Game Two

Less than 48 hours after winning an incredible, heart-stopping ALCS against the Red Sox, the Yankees looked flat in the World Series opener against the Marlins, going 1-for-12 with RISP in a 3-2 loss.

Needing a win to avoid going to Florida down 0-2, the Yankees got a big hit from Hideki Matsui. With two on and two out in the bottom of the first, the first-year bopper from Japan jumped ahead in the count 3-0 against Mark Redman. Godzilla got the green light and ran through it, drilling a three-run homer to dead center for a 3-0 lead.

Andy Pettitte, who came through with series-tying Game Two victories in the ALDS and ALCS, did it again here. He pitched eight and two-thirds innings of shutout ball, allowing an unearned run with two outs in the ninth before Jose Contreras came in for the 27th out.

The Fish took two out of three in Miami before Josh Beckett outdueled Pettitte in Game Six in New York to win the title for the wild-card Marlins.


4. Bob Watson - 1981 World Series Game One

The Yankees had beaten the Dodgers in eight out of ten World Series meetings, most recently in 1977 and 1978. If the first inning of the first game was any indication, this one would go the way of most of the others.




Jerry Reuss was in a second-and-third, two-out spot in the bottom of the first inning. Yanks first baseman Bob Watson belted a three-run jack that keyed a 5-3 victory. New York won the second game as well, but they dropped three straight one-run decisions in Los Angeles to fall behind 3-2. The Dodgers rolled 9-2 in Game Six to win the title.

Watson would return to the Yankees after his playing days as general manager he helped construct the 1996 championship club.


3. Bobby Richardson - 1960 World Series Game Three

This game became a laugher very quickly, thanks in part to New York second baseman Bobby Richardson.

Pirates lefty Vinegar Bend Mizell allowed four of the first five batters to reach in the bottom of the first and Danny Murtaugh dipped into his bullpen very early, calling on Clem Labine. Elston Howard greeted Labine with an RBI single that made it 2-0 and the bases were still loaded for Richardson. He hit the seventh grand slam in World Series history* and the Yankees led 6-0 only seven batters into the game.

* Elmer Smith of the Indians hit the first World Series grand slam in 1920. The next six were all hit by Yankees: Tony Lazzeri (1936), Gil McDougald (1951), Mickey Mantle (1953), Yogi Berra (1956), Bill Skowron (1956), Richardson (1960). Richardson's was the only one of those that was hit at Yankee Stadium. Tino Martinez's 1998 slam was the only other Yankee World Series slam at home.

Richardson drove in six runs to set a World Series single-game record that has since been equaled by Hideki Matsui in the 2009 clincher and by Albert Pujols in his 2011 three-homer game.

The Yankees won 10-0 and a theme was established in the 1960 Fall Classic. New York won their three games 16-3, 10-0 and 12-0. Pittsburgh won 6-4, 3-2 and 5-2 before coming back to win Game Seven 10-9 to score the thrilling upset.


2. Derek Jeter - 2000 World Series Game Four

New York had long dreamt of a Yankees-Mets World Series meeting, and we finally got one in 2000. The Yanks won the first two games at Yankee Stadium, but the Mets won Game Three at Shea. The fourth game would be huge, with either the Mets getting even at 2-2 or the Yankees taking control 3-1.

Derek Jeter stepped to the plate against Bobby Jones and in dramatic Jeter-esque fashion, does this:




One pitch into the game, the Yankees had grabbed the lead for good. Denny Neagle was in bend-but-don't-break mode for four and two-thirds innings before David Cone retired Mike Piazza on a pop up to end the fifth. The old Jeff Nelson-Mike Stanton-Mariano Rivera trio closed it up for the big win. The Yankees eked out another victory in Game Five to clinch their third straight championship.


1. Yogi Berra - 1956 World Series Game Seven

The Dodgers finally conquered the Yankees in the 1955 World Series, and the crosstown foes met yet again in 1956. The first four games were split before Don Larsen pitched a perfect game to give the Yanks a 3-2 series lead. Back in Brooklyn, the Dodgers won Game Six 1-0 in the bottom of the tenth inning on Jackie Robinson's walk-off single.

It all came down to the seventh game. Yogi Berra came to bat against Don Newcombe in the top of the first inning and set the tone for a Yankee rout:




His two-run shot was all the Yankees needed, but it didn't stop there. Yogi added another two-run homer in the third and Bill Skowron put the game away with a seventh-inning grand slam that made it 9-0 New York.

23-year-old Jersey City native Johnny Kucks didn't know he was starting Game Seven of the World Series until he saw that Casey Stengel had left a baseball in his shoe, but he stepped up with a magnificent game. He pitched a three-hit shutout, ending the series with a strikeout of Robinson in what would be Jackie's final major league plate appearance.




Monday, September 30: First Inning
Tuesday, October 1: Second Inning
Wednesday, October 2: Third Inning
Thursday, October 3: Fourth Inning
Friday, October 4: Fifth Inning
Monday, October 7: Sixth Inning
Tuesday, October 8: Seventh Inning
Wednesday, October 9: Eighth Inning
Thursday, October 10: Ninth Inning
Friday, October 11: Extra Innings

Coco Crisp Waited a Long Time to Hit 20 Homers

In the third inning of today's A's/Angels game, Coco Crisp hit this two-run homer off Jason Vargas for his 20th dinger of the season.

I was quite surprised to see a guy who averaged eight homers over his first 11 seasons jump up to 20 in his 12th. So I dug up the following list of veterans that had their first 20-homer campaign in their 12th season or later. Turns out it isn't as rare as I thought, but Coco is the 23rd player to do it and he joins this interesting group:

Player	1st 20 HR	HR	Year	Prev High
A.J. Pierzynski	15th	27	2012	18
Bengie Molina	12th	20	2009	19
Bob Watson	12th	22	1977	18
Buddy Bell	15th	20	1986	18
Cap Anson	14th	21	1884	2
Charlie Gehringer	15th	20	1938	19
Chris Chambliss	12th	20	1982	18
Clete Boyer	12th	26	1967	18
Coco Crisp	12th	20	2013	16
Darrin Fletcher	12th	20	2000	18
Eddie Yost	15th	21	1959	12
Frank White	13th	22	1985	17
Jay Bell	12th	21	1997	16
Jim Spencer	12th	23	1979	18
Joe Cronin	15th	24	1940	19
John Lowenstein	13th	24	1982	12
Julio Franco	13th	20	1994	15
Ken Griffey	14th	21	1986	13
Lonnie Smith	12th	21	1989	8
Mickey Vernon	14th	20	1954	18
Paul Molitor	16th	22	1993	19
Sherm Lollar	13th	20	1958	16
Tony Phillips	14th	27	1995	19

Here are the same players listed by longest wait for a 20-homer season:

Player	1st 20 HR	HR	Year	Prev High
Paul Molitor	16th	22	1993	19
Charlie Gehringer	15th	20	1938	19
Joe Cronin	15th	24	1940	19
Eddie Yost	15th	21	1959	12
Buddy Bell	15th	20	1986	18
A.J. Pierzynski	15th	27	2012	18
Cap Anson	14th	21	1884	2
Mickey Vernon	14th	20	1954	18
Ken Griffey	14th	21	1986	13
Tony Phillips	14th	27	1995	19
Sherm Lollar	13th	20	1958	16
John Lowenstein	13th	24	1982	12
Frank White	13th	22	1985	17
Julio Franco	13th	20	1994	15
Clete Boyer	12th	26	1967	18
Bob Watson	12th	22	1977	18
Jim Spencer	12th	23	1979	18
Chris Chambliss	12th	20	1982	18
Lonnie Smith	12th	21	1989	8
Jay Bell	12th	21	1997	16
Darrin Fletcher	12th	20	2000	18
Bengie Molina	12th	20	2009	19
Coco Crisp	12th	20	2013	16

Paul Molitor celebrated his first 20-homer season by going 12-for-24 with six extra-base hits and eight RBIs to earn World Series MVP honors in 1993. No one had joined the list since Darrin Fletcher in 2000, but now it's happened in three of the last five years and in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1993-95.

Player	1st 20 HR	HR	Year	Prev High
Coco Crisp	12th	20	2013	16
A.J. Pierzynski	15th	27	2012	18
Bengie Molina	12th	20	2009	19
Darrin Fletcher	12th	20	2000	18
Jay Bell	12th	21	1997	16
Tony Phillips	14th	27	1995	19
Julio Franco	13th	20	1994	15
Paul Molitor	16th	22	1993	19
Lonnie Smith	12th	21	1989	8
Buddy Bell	15th	20	1986	18
Ken Griffey	14th	21	1986	13
Frank White	13th	22	1985	17
Chris Chambliss	12th	20	1982	18
John Lowenstein	13th	24	1982	12
Jim Spencer	12th	23	1979	18
Bob Watson	12th	22	1977	18
Clete Boyer	12th	26	1967	18
Eddie Yost	15th	21	1959	12
Sherm Lollar	13th	20	1958	16
Mickey Vernon	14th	20	1954	18
Joe Cronin	15th	24	1940	19
Charlie Gehringer	15th	20	1938	19
Cap Anson	14th	21	1884	2

Revisiting the Astros and Three Straight 100-Loss Seasons

In March, I wrote about the Astros' "pursuit" of baseball history and a potential third consecutive 100-loss season.

Lo and behold, Houston has been dismal this year, with the worst pitching staff in the majors and a defense that is battling it out with the White Sox for the most-errors trophy*.

* This trophy, awarded yearly to the team that makes the most errors in baseball, is a pewter figurine depicting the home run bouncing off Jose Canseco's head. On the base of the trophy is a hologram of this gif playing endlessly. 

Where was I? Oh yes, rejoice baseball fans! With Houston's 10-0 loss to Cincinnati, the Astros have clinched their third straight 100-loss season! They are the 17th team to hit triple-digits three years in a row, however if you look at the list below it's really more like 12 teams:

Team	From	To	Losses
Houston Astros	2011	2013	313**
Kansas City Royals	2004	2006	310
Toronto Blue Jays	1977	1979	318
*New York Mets	1963	1965	332
*New York Mets	1962	1964	340
*Washington Senators	1962	1964	307
*Washington Senators	1961	1963	307
Pittsburgh Pirates	1952	1954	317
*Philadelphia Phillies	1940	1942	323
*Philadelphia Phillies	1939	1941	320
*Philadelphia Phillies	1938	1940	314
Boston Red Sox	1925	1927	315
Boston Braves	1922	1924	300
Philadelphia A's	1919	1921	310
St. Louis Browns	1910	1912	315
*Boston Braves	1910	1912	308
*Boston Braves	1909	1911	315

I've included asterisks for teams like the 1962-1965 Mets, who had four straight seasons and make the list twice (for years 1-3 and for years 2-4). They are joined by the 1909-12 Doves/Rustlers/Braves, the 1961-64 Senators 2.0, and the 1938-42 Phillies. The Phils hold the distinction of losing 100 games in five consecutive seasons.

Houston is only the second team since the original Blue Jays to go 100-100-100. Even with the slightly longer season, the list is dominated by teams from the days when there was less parity in the game.

Nine Astros saw action in all three seasons and they are: Jose Altuve, Carlos Corporan, Lucas Harrell, Jordan Lyles, J.D. Martinez, Bud Norris, Jimmy Paredes, Brett Wallace and Wesley Wright. Norris and Wright were dealt up in the standings earlier this year (to Baltimore and Tampa Bay, respectively) and were not present for the 100th loss, but they were there in spirit. They're all well behind Hall of Famer Chuck Klein, who was the only player to spend time with the Phillies during all five seasons of their record streak.

Here are the same teams listed by total losses in their three-year span:

Team	From	To	Losses
New York Mets	1962	1964	340
New York Mets	1963	1965	332
Philadelphia Phillies	1940	1942	323
Philadelphia Phillies	1939	1941	320
Toronto Blue Jays	1977	1979	318
Pittsburgh Pirates	1952	1954	317
Boston Braves	1909	1911	315
St. Louis Browns	1910	1912	315
Boston Red Sox	1925	1927	315
Philadelphia Phillies	1938	1940	314
Houston Astros	2011	2013	313**
Kansas City Royals	2004	2006	310
Philadelphia A's	1919	1921	310
Boston Braves	1910	1912	308
Washington Senators	1961	1963	307
Washington Senators	1962	1964	307
Boston Braves	1922	1924	300

The Astros will likely jump half of the remaining teams ahead of them and reach that upper (lower?) echelon of truly wretched clubs by season's end. But there is a light at the end of the tunnel, as the rebuilding effort has gone well. Their six highest minor league affiliates all made the postseason and their farm system is regarded as one of the best in the game. Come 2014 I don't think they'll become the fifth team to drop 100 in four straight seasons.

Here is the list one more time with each team's seasonal loss total:

Team	Year	Losses
Boston Doves/Rustlers/Braves	1909	108
	1910	100
	1911	107
	1912	101
Boston Braves	1922	100
	1923	100
	1924	100
Boston Red Sox	1925	105
	1926	107
	1927	103
Kansas City Royals	2004	104
	2005	106
	2006	100
Houston Astros	2011	106
	2012	107
	2013	**100
New York Mets	1962	120
	1963	111
	1964	109
	1965	112
Philadelphia A's	1919	104
	1920	106
	1921	100
Philadelphia Phillies	1938	105
	1939	106
	1940	103
	1941	111
	1942	109
Pittsburgh Pirates	1952	112
	1953	104
	1954	101
St. Louis Browns	1910	107
	1911	107
	1912	101
Washington Senators	1961	100
	1962	101
	1963	106
	1964	100
Toronto Blue Jays	1977	107
	1978	102
	1979	109