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    Not bird, nor plane, nor even frog, it's just a little 'ole baseball blog!

    • Even The Losers Get Better Sometimes

    Posted by on November 4th, 2011 · Comments (9)

    The Houston Astros lost 106 games this season.

    How bad is that? Here are the teams to lose 106+ games in a single season since 1961:

    Rk Tm Year #Matching  
    1 NYM 1962 120 Ind. Games
    2 DET 2003 119 Ind. Games
    3 NYM 1965 112 Ind. Games
    4 NYM 1963 111 Ind. Games
    5 ARI 2004 111 Ind. Games
    6 SDP 1969 110 Ind. Games
    7 MON 1969 110 Ind. Games
    8 TOR 1979 109 Ind. Games
    9 NYM 1964 109 Ind. Games
    10 DET 1996 109 Ind. Games
    11 OAK 1979 108 Ind. Games
    12 FLA 1998 108 Ind. Games
    13 TOR 1977 107 Ind. Games
    14 PHI 1961 107 Ind. Games
    15 MON 1976 107 Ind. Games
    16 BAL 1988 107 Ind. Games
    17 WSA 1963 106 Ind. Games
    18 TBD 2002 106 Ind. Games
    19 MIL 2002 106 Ind. Games
    20 KCR 2005 106 Ind. Games
    21 HOU 2011 106 Ind. Games
    22 DET 2002 106 Ind. Games
    23 CHW 1970 106 Ind. Games
    24 ATL 1988 106 Ind. Games
    Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
    Generated 11/4/2011.

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    The good news for the ‘Stros here is that there’s no reason why they cannot become a World Series contender in three or four years – because some of the teams on this list have made such an improvement. Of course, if Houston does it, they may have to do it in the American League.

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    Matty Alou

    Posted by on November 3rd, 2011 · Comments (4)

    Matty Alou passed away. Via Big League Stew -

    There’s great sadness in the house of one of baseball’s greatest families as Dominican Today reports that Matty Alou has passed away at age 72 from an undisclosed ailment.

    That’s Mateo Rojas Alou in the middle of the above picture with his younger brother Jesus on our left and older brother Felipe on the right. Though the full contributions of the brother trio might not fully be known to today’s younger baseball fans, the three Alous have made plenty of baseball history over the past 50 years.

    During a Sept. 10, 1963 game against the Mets, the three Alou brothers became the only three brothers in baseball history to bat in the same half-inning. Five days later, they occupied all three spots in the Giants’ outfield for the first and only all-brother outfield in big-league history.

    Matty, Felipe and Jesus Alou. Three baseball brothers.

    While there was not a Zeppo Alou, there was another Alou brother: Bob. (Say the full name, out loud, and the joke will make sense.)

    Did you know that Matty Alou had 231 hits in the season where he was 30-years old? You don’t see many guys 30-or-older, get 230+ hits in a season. Here are the ones to do it:

    Rk Player H Year Age Tm Lg G PA R BB SO BA OBP SLG
    1 Ichiro Suzuki 262 2004 30 SEA AL 161 762 101 49 63 .372 .414 .455
    2 Bill Terry 254 1930 31 NYG NL 154 710 139 57 33 .401 .452 .619
    3 Lefty O’Doul 254 1929 32 PHI NL 154 731 152 76 19 .398 .465 .622
    4 Rod Carew 239 1977 31 MIN AL 155 694 128 69 55 .388 .449 .570
    5 Ichiro Suzuki 238 2007 33 SEA AL 161 736 111 49 77 .351 .396 .431
    6 Earl Averill 232 1936 34 CLE AL 152 682 136 65 35 .378 .438 .627
    7 Matty Alou 231 1969 30 PIT NL 162 746 105 42 35 .331 .369 .411
    8 Pete Rose 230 1973 32 CIN NL 160 752 115 65 42 .338 .401 .437
    9 Joe Torre 230 1971 30 STL NL 161 707 97 63 70 .363 .421 .555
    Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
    Generated 11/3/2011.

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    Closing Time

    Posted by on November 1st, 2011 · Comments (34)

    As mentioned previously, this is it for me.

    Outside of an occasional book review, I don’t see myself posting much here going forward.

    It’s been fun sharing the last seven Yankees seasons with you.  And, thanks for your interest, support and feedback over the years.  It’s all been very much appreciated!

    As promised, if you want to continue Yankees-talk with the friends that you’ve made here, please feel free to use the forum set up for that.  (And, I may just  pop in there from time to time as well.)

    And, of course, you can still follow my work at the B-R.com Blog – as I will continue to make contributions there.

    Hasta amigos!

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