David Dahl of the Rockies tied the record with a 17-game hitting streak to start a career, the Brewers scored in all eight innings to beat the Braves 11-3, and the Mets fell to .500. But our top five:
1. Jose Altuve is hitting .365. The Astros swept the Twins in a doubleheader, with Altuve going 5-for-9 to raise his average to .365. Because it's always fun to look at Altuve's heat map:
I guess you can try and pitch Jose Altuve low and away: pic.twitter.com/NfFFn6nNfa
— David Schoenfield (@dschoenfield) August 12, 2016
Fun list No. 1: Best average since 1969, right-handed batter
1. Nomar Garciaparra, 2000 Red Sox: .372
2. Andres Galarraga, 1993 Rockies: .370
3. Jeff Bagwell, 1994 Astros: .368
4. Rico Carty, 1970 Braves: .366
5. Altuve, 2016 Astros: .365
6. Magglio Ordonez, 2007 Tigers: .363
6. Joe Torre, 1971 Cardinals: .363
8. Mike Piazza, 1997 Dodgers: .362
9. Albert Pujols, 2003 Cardinals: .359
10. Alex Rodriguez, 1996 Mariners: .358
In the same divisional era, the highest average for a second baseman has been Rod Carew's .364 mark in 1974. In fact, Carew is the only second baseman to hit .350 (he did it three times as a second baseman). Of course, Daniel Murphy is close as well, hitting .346. The last second baseman with a higher average than Altuve's .365? Charlie Gehringer of the Tigers, way back in 1937, when he hit .371. The American League batted .281 that year compared to .257 in 2016, so compared to the league average, Altuve's average is more impressive.
Now, we know batting average isn't the best way to measure offense. Altuve's OPS has climbed to 1.002. The only second basemen since 1969 with an OPS above 1.000 are Jeff Kent in 2000 and Joe Morgan in 1976 (Murphy is close here as well, at .996). That doesn't adjust for offensive era or home park, so let's use FanGraphs' wRC+ to see the best seasons by a second baseman.
Fun list No. 2: Highest wRC+ since 1930, second baseman
1. Joe Morgan, 1976: 184
2. Morgan, 1975: 176
3. Altuve, 2016: 167 (before Thursday, so it's probably a couple of points higher)
4. Bobby Grich, 1981: 167
5. Morgan, 1974: 162
Murphy is seventh at 159. Anyway, so Morgan was pretty awesome. If we go back to the 1920s, we get a bunch of Rogers Hornsby seasons (the top six, in fact). But you get the idea: Altuve is having a monster, monster year. As you can see from the heat map, he kills pitches up in the strike zone. He's hitting .379 on pitches in the upper third of the zone, fourth-best in the majors behind Wilson Ramos, DJ LeMahieu and Ryan Braun. On fastballs in the upper third, Altuve is hitting .424.
Finally, get this: His advantage over Yunel Escobar, the No. 2 hitter in the American League at .317, is an amazing 48 points.
José Altuve (@astros): 8th game this season with 4+ hits; nobody else in MLB has more than 5 such games. pic.twitter.com/LlJGqtvo0j
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) August 11, 2016
2. Alex Rodriguez plays his final game at Fenway Park. Unless, of course, it wasn't. I still have my doubts that another team will pick him up, although there are rumors the Marlins could be interested. A-Rod went 0-for-4, but the Yankees rallied for three runs in the eighth against a struggling Red Sox bullpen. Rodriguez drove in the final run of the inning with a little dribbler in front of the plate. It could prove to be the 2,085th and final RBI of his career, depending on what happens Friday night at Yankee Stadium.
Speaking of that final game, Rodriguez asked to play third base. Joe Girardi said no. Here's what doesn't make sense: Girardi has hardly played Rodriguez the past few weeks, yet he batted cleanup Thursday. So he goes from not being good enough to play, to hitting cleanup. So if Girardi is simply doing that out of respect to A-Rod, why not let him play third base one last time?
3. Mike Napoli has 29 home runs. He went 4-for-4 with three runs and four RBIs in the Indians' 14-4 win over the Angels. While four-hit games have become routine for Altuve, it was only the seventh for Napoli and only the second time he has gone 4-for-4.
Things I did not expect: Mike Napoli has 29 home runs. pic.twitter.com/NaxHKVgZPy
— David Schoenfield (@dschoenfield) August 12, 2016
4. How about Zach Britton in the AL Cy Young race? The Orioles' closer is now 35-for-35 in save chances and has a 0.56 ERA. In an AL race that currently lacks a clear favorite, could Britton have a chance? I'm not a fan of voting for relievers -- they just don't pitch enough innings in my book, even if they're pitching important innings in close games -- but Britton does lead the majors in win probability added for pitchers, a stat that values the contest of performance. He hasn't even pitched 50 innings, but they do come in tight games and he has been dominant. Voters have gone away from relievers. Eric Gagne was the last reliever to win in 2003. Wade Davis finished sixth last year with a sub-1.00 ERA, and the last to finish in the top three was Francisco Rodriguez, who finished third in 2009, the year he set the single-season saves record with 62.
Royals fans are also wondering if Danny Duffy, who improved to 9-1 with a 2.82 ERA after a 2-1, complete-game win over the White Sox, could make a late run. Maybe. He did pass Jose Quintana (2.85) for the ERA lead, but since he started the year in the bullpen he's 30-plus innings behind the league leaders. Duffy is well behind Quintana in WAR (4.5 to 3.2 entering Thursday), so unless he closes with an absolute flourish, I'm not sure he'll finish with the workload to make him a top candidate.
5. Everything is going the Cubs' way. Their 10-game winning streak is their longest since a 12-gamer in 2001. They won Thursday on Anthony Rizzo's walk-off walk in the 11th against the Cardinals, but a key hit was Chris Coghlan's two-run single to tie the score in the sixth -- as he tried to call time.
Chris Coghlan couldn't get time called, so he had to settle for a game-tying single: https://t.co/IniriVTnsK https://t.co/aXBV9DLDJ9
— Cut4 (@Cut4) August 12, 2016
The big news, however, was that Cubs reliever Mike Montgomery hit Matt Holliday, fracturing his thumb. Let's see if the Cardinals retaliate Friday.
