Sunday Notes: Cleveland’s 18-hit CG, Ortiz, Murakami, more

Last week’s column mentioned that Reggie Cleveland was the last native of Saskatchewan to win a big league game prior to Andrew Albers doing so two years ago. The 1981 decision wasn’t his most-notable feat. On September 25, 1977, he allowed 18 hits in a complete-game win.

Pitching for the Red Sox, the right-hander allowed 15 singles, a pair of doubles, and a home run as Boston cruised to a 12-5 victory at Tiger Stadium. He struck out one and didn’t issue a free pass.

Earlier this week, I asked Cleveland about the game. The first thing he did was laugh.

“You have to be pretty good to give up 18 hits and still be in the game,” Cleveland told me with a smile. “That’s a major league record.”

It actually isn’t a record, at least not if you include extra-inning games. In 1932, Eddie Rommel of the Philadelphia Athletics allowed 29 hits – and 14 runs! — over 17 frames in a win over the Indians. What Cleveland did is still remarkable, and I asked him how it came to be.

“We were ahead by six or seven runs and had used the bullpen a lot,” answered Cleveland. “I’d give up a couple of hits, then get out of the inning. After the fifth or sixth inning, I told (manager Don Zimmer), ‘Hey, I’m starting to get a little tired out there, you might want to get somebody up.’ Zim said, ‘Can you go one more?’ So I went back out and gave up another couple of hits, then got a double play or a pop up. Each time I’d get back to the dugout, Zim would go, ‘If you could go another inning, that would be really good.’

“I’d only given up three runs going into the ninth inning. I gave up (four) more hits and a couple of runs in the ninth, but we were leading 12-3 at the time. I think I threw 156 or 157 pitches that day.”

Most of his complete games – he had 57 in his career – were far more efficient. Notoriously stingy with walks, Cleveland threw one- and two-hit shutouts pitching for the Cardinals. He recalls throwing just 82 pitches in the latter, a game that was played in an hour and thirty three minutes. The one-hitter went 1:40.

Remarkably – certainly by today’s standards – his 18-hit game was played in a time of two hours and fifty-six minutes, despite the Red Sox and Tigers combining for 17 runs, 33 hits and nine walks.

As for Cleveland’s resilient effort, Bill “Spaceman” Lee had a good answer for why his former teammate was allowed to go the distance.

“He was left in because they weren’t scoring,” said Lee. “The object is scoring runs. Base hits won’t hurt you. Runs scored hurt you. I’ve always thought I could throw a 27-hit shutout. I’d give up a base hit, throw a double-play ball, give up two base hits, then get a third out. Nine times. It’s possible. He didn’t throw a shutout, but an 18-hit complete game is pretty good, isn’t it?”

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A few weeks ago, I asked Bryce Harper about stats within the context of history. Basically, which numbers are most meaningful when he compares players who came before him? More recently, I posed that same question to Chase Headley and David Ortiz.

Headley told me he considers OPS important, as well as Runs Produced. He also stressed that a lot of it is era-related. In his words, “When you look at what Tony Gwynn did, batting average was really important at the time, and now I think it’s less important than OBP.” When I asked if he was referring to perception or actual value, he said it was some of both, that the game is constantly changing. He cited defensive shifts and specialization with relief pitchers as important factors.

The Yankees infielder acknowledged that home runs are important, even though they’re “a sexy stat.” With context in mind, he added they’re “not as prevalent as they were in the 1990s.”

Ortiz, who has 470 home runs on his resume, concurred. He also suggested prodigious long-ball totals might be a thing of the past.

“I don’t think you’re going to see 500 homers much in the future,” opined the Red Sox slugger. “If you look at the game, 15, 20 years ago, and even before that, you had probably 20 guys hitting 30 homers in each league. Now you barely have 10. People focus on the PED thing, but I think it goes well beyond that.”

Like Headley, Ortiz pointed to generational changes in the game.

“It’s a different era,” said Ortiz. “The game is tougher now than what it once was. Today you have the best of the best coming out of every country, and there was also (the color barrier). Pitching is also unbelievable in today’s game. Back then, you pretty much faced the same pitcher all day. Now you might face four different pitchers in a game, and everybody seems to have three lefties. How many at bats – just to give you a name – did Ted Williams have against lefties? Those ridiculous numbers from back in the day, I think they’re long gone.”

Not that most of today’s players could cite the numbers or name the players who put them up. “I don’t think many of the guys playing at this level know the history of the game,” Ortiz told me. Headley agreed, saying “It’s not very often we’ll talk about a player who played before anybody in this clubhouse played. It’s not often someone like Willie Mays is brought up.”

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In November, Detroit dealt Devon Travis to Toronto and received Anthony Gose in return. Upon hearing the news, I Tweeted the following:

“Love this move for Tigers. Gose obviously needs to put it together, but more raw talent than Travis.”

My feelings haven’t changed, despite Travis having emerged as a leading rookie-of-the-year candidate. It’s not that I don’t think highly of the Blue Jays second baseman. Just last week, the Boston Globe’s Alex Speier reminded me I was lauding Travis as an up-and-coming player a year ago. I’m simply bullish on the toolsy Tigers outfielder.

Age and performance relative to level are important considerations. Gose, whose scouting reports have outshone his numbers, was drafted out of high school. Travis was drafted out of Florida State in 2012, one month before Gose made his MLB debut. Gose is only six months older than Travis.

Only time will tell which of the two goes on to have the better career. As for what they’ve done this season, Travis is hitting 284/.355/.541, in 121 plate appearances, with seven home runs and one stolen base. Gose is hitting .329/.363/.474, in 80 plate appearances, with one home run and six stolen bases.

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During the winter meetings, Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle bemoaned the ineptitude of his pitchers’ hitting skills. Citing it as an area of needed improvement, he said their inability to handle the bat put his team at a disadvantage. His opinion was valid. Last year, Pirates pitchers hit .100/.135/.113 with a .117 wOBA.

Five weeks into the current campaign, things aren’t nearly as dire. Through Friday, Hurdle’s hurlers were hitting .140/.155/.158 with a .141 wOBA.

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When I interviewed Dana Eveland in April, the subject of minor league cities and ballparks came up. I didn’t include that part of our conversation in my earlier column, but what he said merits mention.

Eveland, who is currently playing for Triple-A Pawtucket, is well-traveled on the farm circuit. He’s suited up for 13 minor league affiliates, and played road games against countless more. Some of the least-desirable venues were within his original organization.

“After getting drafted, the first place I played was Helena, Montana,” Eveland told me. “Then I was in Beloit, Wisconsin. It’s funny, we always said that with the Brewers, whatever league they were in, they always had the worst possible place you could play. Huntsville, Alabama; High Desert, California. Even Nashville, Tennessee. Nashville is an awesome city, but the stadium was terrible. Every stop was bad. When you got to Miller Park, you felt like were in a castle.”

On a related note, the new ownership group of the Pawtucket Red Sox has announced plans to build a new stadium, five miles away in downtown Providence. Many are dismayed by the impending move. McCoy Stadium, constructed in 1942 and renovated in 1998, is the oldest park in the International League. It is also comfortable for fans, popular with players, and hosted the longest game in professional baseball history. Then again, what are history and tradition to new owners when they can swell their corporate coffers with a shiny new facility?

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I recently asked Dan Duquette how his team is able to keep outperforming projections. He looked at me with a bemused expression and replied, “So, you want the secret sauce?”

The Orioles’ mastermind – his official title is Executive VP, Baseball Operations – proceeded to list a few of the ingredients. He called Buck Showalter “a steadying influence.” He said the team likes “hard-working players who give their best effort when they come to the ballpark.”

Duquette then divulged a seemingly all-too-obvious part of the recipe.

“Earl Weaver’s formula: Pitching, defense and three-run homers.”

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I recently picked up a copy of Mashi: The Unfulfilled Baseball Dreams of Masanori Murakami, the First Japanese Major Leaguer. Written by Robert Fitts, the book chronicles the career of the history-making pitcher, who played for the San Francisco Giants in 1964 and 1965.

As you might expect, Murakami faced cultural and language obstacles. The Giants didn’t always go out of their way to ease his acclimation, either. When he was called up from Triple-A Fresno, Murakami had to change planes in San Francisco on his way to New York, where he would meet the big-league team. No Giants representative met him at either airport, but with the help of a bilingual dictionary, he managed to get to the team hotel in Midtown Manhattan. When he attempted to check in, he learned there was no reservation in his name. As Fitts wrote, Murakami felt his “body could be floating in the Hudson River tomorrow and nobody would even know I was missing.” After 20 minutes, someone approached him and asked “Are you the Japanese pitcher?”

Murakami debuted the following day and threw a scoreless inning in relief. Per Fitts’s book, the headline in the New York Daily News was “Giants Spring Oriental Lefty but Honorable Mets Go 4-1.” The article, written by Dick Young, “sarcastically praised Mets fans for not unfurling a banner reading: Remember Pearl Harbor.”

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In February 2011, Miguel Cabrera was arrested for drunk driving and resisting an officer. The Tigers slugger reportedly drank from a bottle of Scotch during the incident, and asked police to “(expletive) shoot me, kill me.” Earlier in the evening he allegedly had threatened people at a bar.

Since that time, Cabrera has hit 155 home runs, won three batting titles, and twice been named AL MVP. At age 32, he’s the game’s best hitter, and well on his way to the Hall of Fame.

Why bring up something that happened four years ago? It’s s a reminder that Cabrera’s life was once out of control – there was more than one alcohol-related episode – and things could have gone horribly wrong that night. Thankfully, a tragedy was averted. Baseball without the greatness of Miguel Cabrera wouldn’t be the same, and we shouldn’t take that for granted. I’m sure he doesn’t.

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RANDOM FACTS AND STATS

On June 14, 1974, Nolan Ryan threw a reported 235 pitches over 13 innings in a game against the Red Sox. He walked 10 and struck out 19.

In 1974, Ed Kranepool (Mets) went 17 for 35 as a pinch hitter. In 2011, Jonny Gomes (Reds and Nationals) went 0 for 28 as a pinch-hitter.

Since joining the Red Sox, Allen Craig is 19 for 146 (.130) with 53 strikeouts.

Going into last night, Ryan Howard, Chase Utley and Jimmy Rollins – the core of the Phillies infield from 2005-2014 – were a combined 49 for 293 (.167) this year. Howard, doing his best to fend off father time, does have five home runs over his last 12 games.

Last year, there were 353 shutouts thrown, and 65 of them were complete games. In 1914, there were 353 shutouts thrown and 337 of them were complete games.