James Howard Thome: 1st Ballot Hall of Famer

I was looking at Sunday box scores earlier today and landed on Minnesota's come-from-behind win over the Whitesox. There he was, 39-year old Jim Thome, picking up two more hits. We're now in the Padding My HOF Resume portion of the big lefty's career.



Thome shouldn't have any problem getting in on his first try, five years from whenever he retires, and if he's had a decline I missed it. His 2010 slash line - .257/.380/.539 as a part-time player heading into Sunday's game - is excellent, and he's still hitting the ball out of the park and drawing walks (10 HR and 31 BB in 184 PA). Thome isn't one of the first names that fans think of when discussing first-ballot HOFers, but it should be.

Career statistics (through games of July 17, 2010)

BA/OBP/SLUG/OPS: .277/.404/.556/.960
OPS+: 146
HR: 574
BB: 1,650

Hang on, it gets better

OBP seasons of .410 or better: 9 (career high-.450 in 1996)
OPS+ seasons of 150 or better: 9 (career high-197 in 2002)
Seasons with 100 or more walks: 9 (career high-127 in 1999)

About that 2002 season

Any time you get close to a 200 OPS+ in a single season, something went Bizzaro Irabuian for you that year. Thome has had several outstanding seasons, but he went nuts in '02. His slash line of .304/.445/.677, OPS of 1.122 and the aforementioned OPS+, along with 52 home runs should've won him the AL MVP. But, wait: Miguel Tejada had 204 hits! And I'm assuming leadership! And was a great clubhouse guy! And gave Oakland Tribune beat writers bite size Three Musketeers bars before every game! And also had a WAR of 5.2, while Thome, who finished seventh in the balloting, had a WAR of 8.1. In fact, only Alex Rodriguez, who finished second, and Jason Giambi (fifth), had an argument to have finished ahead of Thome.

Let's see who else finished ahead of Thome in 2002:

* Alfonso Soriano and his .332 OBP, 23 walks and 4.7 WAR? That smells like Pavano, but Soriano finished THIRD.
* Garret Anderson and his .332 OBP and .871 OPS? That contains a pungent fragrance reminiscent of 1996 post-season Kenny Rogers, but Anderson finished fifth.
* Torii Hunter and his 3.0 WAR? That gives off an odor of Mondesi, but Hunter finished sixth and received 16% more of the vote than Thome.

This started as a tribute to the career of Jim Thome and quickly spiraled into MVP Voters Are Dunderheads and Yankees Whining, Part 37.

Curveballs for Jobu

Curveballs for Jobu is Off Base Percentage's daily trip around the ballparks.

Today's honorary bat boy: Sixto Lezcano




Braves 4, Tigers 3. The win is a silly stat, but it's still tough to see a starter without one on June 26. Unless it's Kevin Brown or Jeff Weaver. Or Carl Pavano, Kenny Rogers or Hideki Irabu. Or Greg Cadaret.

Kenshin Kawakami had gone 14 starts without a win and looked like he was headed for an 0-10 start before Chipper Jones' three-run home run in the seventh finally made a winner out of the Japanese right-hander. Adam Everett: DNP.

Padres 2, Marlins 1. Josh Johnson deserved better after an eight-inning, nine-strikeout effort, but an Adrian Gonzalez double and a Jon Garland sacrifice fly were enough to quiet the crowd of 340 at Marlins Stadium. Garland was effective on the mound too, tossing 6 2/3 of one-run ball. Show someone your arm pit if you thought at the end of June San Diego would be fourteen games over .500 and leading the West by 3 1/2 games.

Mariners 5, Brewers 4. Brian Sweeney, who pitched 80 forgettable innings for Seattle and San Diego from 2003-2006, then had three more miserable years for the Nippon Ham Fighters in Japan, returned to the majors today and was outstanding. After starter Doug Fister pulled a BrianSweeneyInJapan (4 IP, 4 ER), Sweeney threw four shutout innings and allowed just a single for his first win since he beat Glendon Rusch and the Cubs in that epic, May 12, 2006 game.

"I remember that game in 2006. The 'Glendon Rusch Game' we called it."

- Anonymous

Bluejays 5, Phillies 1. Juan Castro: 0-for-3.

Curveballs for Jobu

Curveballs for Jobu is Off Base Percentage's daily trip around the ballparks.

Today's honorary bat boy: Al Pedrique

Diamondbacks 10, Yankees 4. This game ended at around 1:00 a.m. eastern time, right now it's 11:17 a.m., and I just finished vomiting chicken wings. A.J. Burnett, who lately has been making a habit of pitching like Murray Burnett (9.40 ERA for Big Creek Middle School in 2008), "pulled another Murray" against Arizona. He retired the first two batters before the Flying Parras had six consecutive hits, three of which were home runs, and that's pretty much all you need to know about this one. Oh, you need to know one other thing: the Yankees popped up 147 times in a nine-inning game, a new major league record.

Nationals 2, Royals 1. You want to know how easy it is to keep your job if you're a major league baseball player or manager? Monday, a Jim Riggleman-managed team beat a team Bruce Chen was pitching for. Wilson Betemit update: struck out pinch hitting in the seventh, average down to .438, ladies heart's broken: 31.

Reds 6, Athletics 4 (10 inn.). Cincy clubbed three home runs - Ramon Hernandez, Joey Votto and Scott Rolen - in the top of the 10th off two A's relievers who wish to remain nameless. Unofficially, 17 people in Oakland were "visibly upset" (Off Base Times).

Curveballs for Jobu

Curveballs for Jobu is Off Base Percentage's daily trip around the ballparks.

Today's honorary bat boy: Bill Doran



Whitesox 6, Nationals 3. Lost in the Strasburg mania this weekend was the realization that Washington is managed by Jim Riggleman and therefore stinks. That's six consecutive Rigglemans and eight Rigglemans out of nine for the Nats. Chicago got seven innings of three-run ball from Freddy Garcia, and with John Danks and Jake Peavy and Mark Buehrle looking better with each start, the Palehose are legitimate contenders in the Central. Unless of course Ozzie Guillen keeps playing Smart Ball, then Chicago is screwed.



Twins 4, Phillies 1. Blog enemy Carl Pavano pitched 45 2/3 innings in his two seasons with the Yankees. Sunday for Minnesota he pitched nine, nearly 20% of his total innings in two full seasons in New York. If I ever see Carl Pavano in person, I will lob a sock full of mustard at him and laugh from a secure location.

Mariners 1, Reds 0. Ryan Rowland-Smith pitched six shutout innings for his first win of the season, but the real story continues to be Arthur Rhodes. Forget small sample sizes, Rhodes is 40 and in 30 2/3 innings has allowed one earned run and 25 base runners (0.29 ERA, 0.81 WHIP). He also pitched in three different post-seasons on teams that were eliminated by the Yankees. That made me feel better after the Pavano stuff.

Rangers 5, Astros 4. Are families in the state of Texas divided over the Texas-Houston baseball rivalry? Has interleague play lost the luster it never really had in the first place? Will the Astros win 55 games? If Texas wins the AL West and no one cares, did it really happen? For more of Questions No One Is Asking, tune in to Jobu June 26 for our next Astros-Rangers recap.

Misery in Toronto

Signs that you probably just lost a baseball game in 14 innings:

1. Your No. 3 hitter went 0-for-6 with five strikeouts
2. Your No. 4, 5 and 6 hitters combined to go 2-for-18
3. The last time you scored a run was 1987
4. Chad Gaudin is walking slowly off the mound
5. Someone, possibly the author of this post, just destroyed some patio furniture