Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
toaster 'at" humbug.com
Welcome to "Stupid Humbug Stat Tricks", a new feature in which we'll be taking a look at some of the stranger statistical quirks going on in the game.
Our first topic for discussion is Jorge Julio, the alliterative closer middle reliever arsonist for the Marlins.
His first appearance of the year was innoncent enough ... 1 inning, 1 walk against the Nats on April 2nd.
Then Jorge remembered he is tied to the "WHIP"ping post.
His next 6 appearances:
| W | L | G | GF | SV | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA | HBP | WP | BK | Pit | Str |
| 0 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4.2 | 15 | 13 | 12 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 23.14 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 161 | 79 |
6 straight relief appearances in which he pitched one inning or less, and allowed at least three baserunners. How often has THAT happened? How about ONCE in the past 50 years?
| Start | End | GM | W | L | GF | SV | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA | HBP | WP | BK | Teams | ||
| Jorge | Julio | 4/4/07 | 4/17/07 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4.2 | 15 | 13 | 12 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 23.14 | 1 | 1 | 1 | FLA |
| Brandon | Puffer | 8/11/02 | 9/2/02 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5.2 | 19 | 13 | 13 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 20.65 | 0 | 0 | 0 | HOU |
| Greg | Aquino | 8/21/05 | 9/15/05 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 12 | 9 | 9 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 16.2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ARI |
| Jose | Jimenez | 4/14/03 | 4/24/03 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 15 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 13.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | COL |
| Dustin | Hermanson | 5/21/95 | 6/4/95 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2.2 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 27 | 0 | 2 | 0 | SDP |
| Jerry | Johnson | 4/23/72 | 5/3/72 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3.1 | 15 | 15 | 14 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 37.8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | SFG |
| Larry | Sherry | 8/12/62 | 9/7/62 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 3.2 | 14 | 14 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 19.64 | 1 | 2 | 0 | LAD |
His WHIP over the last six games resembles the ERA of a middling AL starter, 5.36.
The Marlins then determined they had made a very bad trade Julio had strained a calf, and placed him on the DL.
Things were looking so promising for Julio, given the history of the Marlins and washed up closers:
http://tinyurl.com/2bssdq
It is the list of relievers who compiled the most consecutive relief appearances of 1 inning or less, while allowing at least 3 baserunners in each. So they would most likely represent closers who blew a string of saves, or set-up men who had a bad stretch, or middle relievers who couldn't hold down the fort for even an inning.
Julio and Puffer are the only 2 relievers since 1957 to have 6 consecutive appearances like that.
It takes persistence, and lack of talent/luck/other managerial options to give up that many baserunners that consistently without getting your job eliminated.
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