This was a great article I read about Munetaka Murakami and his home run chase in Japan the night before he got to 55 and tied Sadaharu Oh for his hallowed Japanese-born single-season home run record:
https://www.mlb.com/news/munetaka-murakami-nearing-home-run-record-in-japan
I've just now been learning all about him. He's a 22 year-old third baseman who's been having an insane season in Japan, and his home run chase has been going on at the same time as Judge here.
Earlier this year, Murakami hit 5 straight home runs in 5 straight at bats and broke the record in Japan:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0kkuHzYY9o
And this was a really good video about Murakami and Roki Sasaki, the 20 year old pitching phenom who threw a perfect game earlier this year and threw 8 perfect innings in his next start before he was pulled, and the historic seasons they are both having:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPDaSpGFFvU
Meanwhile, in his last start Ohtani came up against the Astros again for the last time this season, and continued his shutting down of the team with the best record in the American League. On Saturday (September 10), he went 5 innings with 1 run and 7 strikeouts vs. the Astros before he was pulled with a blister problem. In the bottom of the 3rd, he got a strikeout to end the inning on a 101.4 MPH fastball, the fastest pitch of his career:
https://www.mlb.com/video/ohtani-throws-101-4-mph-pitch
Here are the highlights of the whole game:
https://www.mlb.com/video/angels-vs-astros-highlights-x6381
https://www.mlb.com/video/shohei-ohtani-strikes-out-seven-x1715
The same game, Mike Trout was in the middle of his home run streak and crushed a 3 run home run for his 34th of the year to make it 6 straight games with a home run at that point:
https://www.mlb.com/video/mike-trout-homers-34-on-a-fly-ball-to-left-field-max-stassi-scores-luis-r
Exactly a week before, on September 3 Ohtani went 8 innings, 1 run and shut down the Astros, and the Angels won 2-1. In total, Ohtani utterly dominated the Astros this year, starting from Opening Day and never looking back. Here are his five starts against the Astros this season:
4/7: 4.2 innings, 1 run, 9 strikeouts
4/20: 6.0 innings, 0 runs, 1 hit, 12 strikeouts
7/13: 6.0 innings, 1 run, 12 strikeouts
9/3: 8.0 innings, 1 run, 5 strikeouts
9/10: 5.0 innings, 1 run, 7 strikeouts
That start on April 20 was probably the most electrifying, dominant start I've ever seen in a non-complete game. Ohtani took a perfect game into the sixth striking out Astros left and right with the nastiest stuff you could possibly imagine. For good measure he went 2-4 at the plate with 1 BB, 1 R, and 2 RBI, including slamming a double off the wall with the bases loaded, and the Angels won 6-0.
In all, Ohtani allowed only 4 runs in 29.2 innings this year vs. the Astros, which is a 1.21 ERA, with about 6 innings per start and 45 total strikeouts, for 9 strikeouts per start at 13.7 K/9.
Ohtani's next start is tomorrow, Saturday September 17 vs. the Mariners.
That last start, where he threw the fastest pitch of his MLB career, was the same night Pujols hit 696:
The next day, on 9/11 Pujols hit #697, and the Orioles lost to the Red Sox 1-0. But if you go to 1:06 in the highlights video, Mateo had a cool play:
He chases down a guy to complete a nice double play, showcasing his elite speed.
The MLB write-up of the Angels game on 9/11 came with this headline: "Shohei Ohtani hits 34th home run...a day after his 12th pitching win."
Ohtani also hit a double that game. He is now at 188 strikeouts on the mound with 34 home runs at the plate, so he is very close to becoming the first player in history to have 30 home runs as a hitter and 200 strikeouts as a pitcher in the same season.
In other news, Zac Gallen's consecutive scoreless innings streak on the mound ended on Sunday (9/11) at 44 1/3, the 7th longest in the Live Ball Era. He pitched three more scoreless innings at Coors Field before finally giving up a run. Ultimately he went 6 innings, 3 runs, 11 strikeouts and the Diamondbacks beat the Rockies 12-6. Now, the only pitchers with a longer streak in the Live Ball Era are Orel Hershiser, Don Drysdale, Bob Gibson, Zack Greinke, Carl Hubbell, and Sal Maglie.
The last time he allowed a run was in his start against Cleveland on August 2, and his birthday was August 3 when he turned 27, so he hadn't allowed a run yet at age 27 for well over a month.
He is now 12-2 on the year with a 2.50 ERA.
On top of everything else, Oneil Cruz is a 30 sprint speed guy!! He's listed at 30.0 ft/sec, one of only 11 players in the majors on the Sprint Speed Leaderboard at 30 or higher. Since making his 2022 debut on June 20, in just two months the 6'7" shortstop set the Statcast records for exit velocity (122.4 mph) and infield arm speed (97.8 mph). And apparently he's also almost the fastest player in the league.
On Tuesday, the Dodgers clinched the NL West division title by winning 4-0 and going to 98-43. Haha just wonderful.
I suddenly thought of the question the other day of whether twins had ever played for the Twins together. So I looked it up and apparently there have been 10 pairs of twins who both played in the majors in history. None of them played on the Twins at the same time, but there have been some interesting things. Stan Cliburn and Stew Cliburn were twins who both played for the Angels in the 80's, though not at the same time. Years later, Stan was the manager of the AA New Britain Rock Cats from 2001-05, and Stew was his pitching coach. Then from 2006-08, the twins held the same positions in AAA for the Rochester Red Wings. The major league team both of those teams were the affiliate of? The Twins.
Also, there is a pair of twins who are both in the major leagues right now, relief pitchers Taylor and Tyler Rogers. When Tyler made his debut in 2019, he pitched just a few minutes after Taylor had gotten a save for the Twins. Taylor played for the Twins every year of his career from 2016 until he moved teams this year.
In addition to all of that, the twins Marshall and Mike Edwards who played in the 70's and 80's had a younger brother Dave who also played in the majors, for the Twins.
After an off day yesterday, starting today the Orioles have 20 games in 20 days, with no days off until the last day of the season.
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