The Baseball Triple Play – Mostly 5-4-3 ?

After seeing The San Diego Padres pull a 5-4-3 triple play against the NY Mets, I wondered if that was a common triple play.

I sent this email to a few friends:

I assume you all saw last night’s triple play. How often does that type (5-4-3) of triple play happen? Often a triple play involves a line drive – sometimes with the runners going… It would be an interesting stat to see.

One response I received:

I would think more double plays would be turned 5-4-3- (I assume he meant triple play).

So I poked around and found some information on Wikipedia. (Major League Triple Plays).

Baseball Triple Plays for the years 2006 – 2010:

May 14, 2006 – Popped up bunt attempt, caught in the air, started the triple play
May 27, 2006 – Ground ball to second baseman, tags the runner going from first to second, started the triple play
June 11, 2006 – Fly ball caught by an outfielders started the triple play
September 2, 2006 – Strikeout and a pick off of a runner off second base, started the triple play
September 18, 2006 – Line out to third baseman started the triple play
April 21, 2007 – Ground ball to third, 5-4-3 triple play
April 29, 2007 – Line drive to the shortstop starts an unassisted triple play
August 27, 2007 – Ground ball to third, 5-4-3 triple play
May 30, 2008 – Ground ball to third, 5-4-3 triple play
April 12, 2009 – Line out to shortstop started the triple play
May 4, 2009 – Line out to shortstop started the triple play
May 20, 2009 – Lined drive to second baseman with the runners going, started the triple play
August 23, 2009 – Unassisted triple play started with line drive to second baseman
September 6, 2009 – Ground ball to third, 5-4-3 triple play
April 22, 2010 – Ground ball to third, 5-4-3 triple play
May 19, 2010 – Line drive to centerfield started the triple play
June 10, 2010 – Ground ball to third, 5-4-3 triple play

That’s seventeen triple plays since 2006 .  Six of those triple plays were 5-4-3 triple plays…

That’s  35% of the triple plays since 2006 have been 5-4-3 triple plays.

If Jose Reyes was on The Yankees…

If Jose Reyes was on The Yankees, he would be the Yankee Centerfielder.

The current Yankee infield is Mark Teixeira (1B), Robinson Cano (2B), Derek Jeter (SS), and Alex Rodriguez (3B).  He is not displacing Jeter from SS.  And there is no way he would displace Cano, Rodriguez,  or Teixeira.

I suppose some Mets fans would argue he’s better than Jeter but he’s never consistently shown it.  Interesting.

Poll – take 2 seconds – Should CitiCorp, CitiBank undo the the $400 Million deal with the NY Mets Stadium

CitiCorp / CitiBank was just bailed out with billions of taxpayers dollars. They have a $400 billion deal to pay the NY Mets for naming rights on their new stadium. (BTW, the stadium supposedly is costing $800 million, so in effect, Citi is paying for half the stadium without any equity.) Should CitiCorp and the NY Mets undo the deal?

• fyi… to see what other similar deals have cost corporations, see the chart in this earlier post on stadium naming rights.
• Another relevant post relating to CitiCorp / CitiBank.

CitiGroup (C) to pay $400 million for naming rights to NY Mets Stadium

This is not new news.
CitiGroup has committed $20 million per year for the next 20 years ($400 million total) to have their name on the NY Mets Stadium. (Please see Citi Field.)

Shea Stadium and Citi Field

At the time of the deal, it may have seemed like an expensive buy acceptable idea for the decisionmakers.

With the current environment of CitiCorp (and other banks) in potential failure (See C) and its stock down to $6.40 today (11.20.08 open), perhaps this deal should be “undone”.

If CitiCorp and the NY Mets care at all about their patrons and fans, they will each agree to cancel the deal. In this climate, it is simply the right thing to do.

(photo en.wikipedia.org) Thanks Bob.

NY Mets: Fire Willie; Trade Reyes; Cut out the Cancers

The NY Mets are in a horrendous place as a major league baseball team.
Lots of talent. Poor effort. Bad attitudes.

Unfortunately, Willie Randolph is not a “fit” for this team. He is a good baseball man, it is just the dynamic of the personalities of the players and Willie, does not work. He must go. Done.

Contributing to the problems is their oh-so-physically-talented shortstop Jose Reyes. He does not hustle and has a bad attitude. He is a cancer. He theoretically is their lead-off hitter, leader, and should be setting the tone of the game. He must go. The Mets can get some talent for him.

Carlos Delgado’s contributions to the team have declined dramatically. He has also exhibited a less than positive attitude. He must go. The Mets can get something for him. An American League team can use him.

These are the first steps to the Mets getting back on track. They will still have good talent and pitching. New fresh leadership. And less problems with attitudes.

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Note: Willie Randolph was fired between the time this was written and posted. Best of luck Willie. The Mets were not a good fit for you.

(photo men.style.com)