Astros fans may remember this, but in 2000 the franchise record for consecutive games with a hit belonged to the unlikely candidate Tony Eusebio. He was a catcher and didn't play everyday, so his streak of 24 games with a hit spanned 51 days and 45 Astros' games. Even had the nickname "The Astros Clipper."

The sheer number of postseason games the franchise has played in now, is actually incredible to think about when viewed from what it felt like around the time the new ballpark opened.

After getting swept by the Braves in 2001, the Astros postseason record was 8-22. Right now, I think it is 54-58.

SquirrellyDan said:

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MuckRaker96 said:

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Before moving to MMP, the Astros had some of the ****tiest team records in MLB history

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They had several good years in the 90's, won 102 games in 98, went to the NLCS in 86....a more accurate statement would be they had one of the ****tiest playoff records. (2-9 from 97-99)

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I'm talking about their single-season records, like home runs, RBiI etc.

For the longest time the team record for HR was 37 and the RBI record was 110.

I will leave Whitey Ford to someone else, but hats off to Joe Morgan. I cannot remember him as a player but he was a weekly voice on ESPN for a long time. I have no idea how many games I heard him call but it is in the hundreds.

• Broke into the league at 19 years old in game 155 at Colt Stadium in front of 2,231 fans. A day game that took exactly two hours. I am guessing it was hot. He went 0-1 pinch hitting for the P(RIP NL Pitchers hitting and the Colt 45s-Astros in the NL)
• Played his first full season two years later in 1965. He came in 2nd in ROY voting, losing to Jim Lefebvre. Very similar stat lines, but Lefebvre was on the World Series Champion Dodgers, and the Colt 45s lost 97 games
• In that rookie year, the 21 year old Morgan led the NL in Walks with 97. Not sure that has ever been replicated by a 21 year old. Barry Bonds for example was in his 7th full season before reaching that number in a year.
• In 1976, at 32 years old, Morgan stole 60 bases and was only caught 9 times.
• In 1975 and 1976 Morgan won back to back MVPs.
• 5 gold gloves.
• Something I have paid more attention too lately, Morgan only played one season in the AL, his last. He played in 1984 with the Oakland As and visited most AL parks only once or twice in his entire career. He made one trip to Arlington Stadium for example, a four game set in June(they were swept.)
• In 2546 career games, he played 2527 at 2b.

RIP Joe Morgan.

Saw this one today.

Bob Gibson - 1968 BobGibson

34 starts. 28 complete games. 1.12ERA.

Whats most amazing about this season is not the 304.2 innings, the 22 wins, the 9 losses(that seems high), the league leading 268 strikeouts, or the 13 shutouts, but he was pinch hit for six times, and was never taken off the mound!!!

his six non complete games were

Start 1 April 10 vs Atlanta. 7 innings 1 R 0 ER. Pinch hit for in the bottom of the 7th(by Bobby Tolan) even though he was 1 for 2. No decision

Start 2 April 15 at Atlanta. 7 innings 3R all earned. Pinch hit for in the top of the 8th again by Tolan. No decision

Start 7 May 12 Vs Houston. 8 innings 3 R 2 ER. Pinch hit for in the bottom of the 8th by Tim McCarver He lost the game 3-2

Start 9 May 22 vs LAD. 8 innings 1 run but lost the game to fall to 3-4 overall. McCarver again in the bottom of the 8th.

Start 23 Aug 4 vs Cubs. 11 innings 5 runs 4 earned. They lost 6-5 in 13 innings. Phil Gagliano pinch hit for him

Start 30 Sep 6 vs Giants. First of a double header. 8 innings 3 runes 2 earned. He took the loss in a 3-2 game. Johnny Edwards PH for him.

Thats it. 28 complete games. Four extra innings complete games. Four eight inning complete games, including losing a 1-0 game to Gaylord Perry who threw a no hitter in 1:40 on Sep 17th.

From June 6 to July 30 he started 11 games, completing them all for 99 innings, and allowed three runs.

Wow.

agsalaska said:

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Saw this one today.

Bob Gibson - 1968 BobGibson

34 starts. 28 complete games. 1.12ERA.

Whats most amazing about this season is not the 304.2 innings, the 22 wins, the 9 losses(that seems high), the league leading 268 strikeouts, or the 13 shutouts, but he was pinch hit for six times, and was never taken off the mound!!!

his six non complete games were

Start 1 April 10 vs Atlanta. 7 innings 1 R 0 ER. Pinch hit for in the bottom of the 7th(by Bobby Tolan) even though he was 1 for 2. No decision

Start 2 April 15 at Atlanta. 7 innings 3R all earned. Pinch hit for in the top of the 8th again by Tolan. No decision

Start 7 May 12 Vs Houston. 8 innings 3 R 2 ER. Pinch hit for in the bottom of the 8th by Tim McCarver He lost the game 3-2

Start 9 May 22 vs LAD. 8 innings 1 run but lost the game to fall to 3-4 overall. McCarver again in the bottom of the 8th.

Start 23 Aug 4 vs Cubs. 11 innings 5 runs 4 earned. They lost 6-5 in 13 innings. Phil Gagliano pinch hit for him

Start 30 Sep 6 vs Giants. First of a double header. 8 innings 3 runes 2 earned. He took the loss in a 3-2 game. Johnny Edwards PH for him.

Thats it. 28 complete games. Four extra innings complete games. Four eight inning complete games, including losing a 1-0 game to Gaylord Perry who threw a no hitter in 1:40 on Sep 17th.

From June 6 to July 30 he started 11 games, completing them all for 99 innings, and allowed three runs.

Wow.

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OK, everyone guess how many complete games Clayton Kershaw has pitched in his career.



Answer: 25.

This is why I think Ryan's record for no-hitters is the most unbreakable career record.

Don Sutton has thrown an MLB record 201 quality starts where he didn't earn a win. He was 0-98 with a 2.40 ERA in these games.

I've gotten interested with the site's game log to look back on legendary seasons and go through the game by game stuff.

In 1973, Nolan Ryan set the all-time record for strikeouts with 383 and went 21-16 with a 2.87 ERA, 11 complete games, 4 shutouts and 2 no hitters.

Some notes:
Nolan pitched on 2 days rest 4 times and 3 days rest 21 times.

The Angels averaged 3.56 runs per game when he started. 5 times they got shutout, 6 times they scored 1 run, 3 times they scored 2 runs.

Nolan's first three games of the season were all complete game wins in which he struck out 12, 11, and 14.

On May 2, he pitched 12-inning complete game that the Angels won 5-3. He faced 54 batters in that game.

On May 11, he got bombed for 5 earned runs in 1/3 of an inning and got pulled. On May 12, he came in as a reliever and pitched 2 inning to earn a save. On May 15, he pitched his first no-hitter of the year, striking out 12. He pitched again on May 19, a complete-game 4-hitter with 12 more strikeouts.

His second no-hitter came two months to the day after the first one, striking out 17 Tigers. In his next start, 4 days later, he pitched 10-1/3 innings and struck out 13 in a 3-1 loss to the Orioles.

With two starts left in the season, he trailed Koufax's strikeout record total by a count of 382-355. On September 23, the Angels beat the Twins 15-7, he pitched 9 innings, allowed 13 hits, 7 runs, walked 5, and struck out 12 to get to 367.

His last start of the year, he pitched an 11-inning complete game, which the Angels won 5-4, he allowed 10 hits, 3 runs, walked 7, and struck out 16 to get to 383.

He struck out Rich Reese for the last out of the top of the 11th to take the record, and the Angels won the game in the bottom half of the inning.

He struck out Rod Carew 3 times in that game. Carew only had 2 games that season where he struck out more than twice - both against Ryan. Overall, he had just 55 strikeouts in 657 plate appearances - 9 of them came against Nolan in 21 at-bats.

Favorite Nolan Ryan stat. In 1987 he became the first pitcher to lead the league in ERA and strikeouts, but not win the Cy Young. His record that season? 8 - 16.

Also, I just went back and re-watched the Ventura butt-whipping. This happened 2 weeks before Ryan retired. All these years later, I can say my life would be a bit less, if not for the thrill of that moment.

My favorite Nolan Ryan stat, tongue firmly in cheek, is that John McMullen decided to let him walk in free agency after the 1988 season.

Nolan went 16-10
His replacement Jim Clancy went 5-14.
The Astros finished 86-76 and missed the playoffs by 6 games.
You do the math.

94chem said:

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Favorite Nolan Ryan stat. In 1987 he became the first pitcher to lead the league in ERA and strikeouts, but not win the Cy Young. His record that season? 8 - 16.

Also, I just went back and re-watched the Ventura butt-whipping. This happened 2 weeks before Ryan retired. All these years later, I can say my life would be a bit less, if not for the thrill of that moment.

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I'm surprised too that it was that close to retirement. I distinctly remember recording it, queuing it up on a VCR tape, and putting it on the kitchen table with a note for my dad that read "Press play and enjoy!" I knew he would be up early for work and would get a kick out of it. Good times!

Another couple of Nolan Ryan stats. He is also tied for the most one hitters, with 12. That includes 5 no hitters he lost in the ninth, which is also a record.

Another oddity is that he had 7 games where he didn't give up a hit, but only 4 games where he didn't give up a walk.

agsalaska said:

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Julio Franco. That guy played in 108 games at 46 years old in 2005.

He should be in the Hall of Fame just for that alone. He batted .309 in 125 games the year before.

Hell I am 44.

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There have always been questions about his age too. There is a decent chance that in reality he did this at 48 or 49.