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07/29/2004 Archived Entry: "MLB news: Jackson moves to No. 9 all time"
Mike Jackson moves up games list
Milestones: July 12-July 28
By Michael Toeset
The 39-year-old MIKE JACKSON isn’t the pitcher he was in his heyday, but he’s still putting up decent numbers for the White Sox, and if things played out right (or wrong, from the Sox’s perspective), Jackson could yet be a closer. As it is, he’s a middle reliever with a 4.89 ERA in 33 games. On July 18, Jackson logged his 988th career game, moving him to ninth on the all-time list, past Lindy McDaniel. Next up on the list is Goose Gossage, who threw in 1,002 games. As Jackson is still somewhat effective, there’s no reason to think he won’t move as high as No. 3 or No. 2 by the end of his career, if he still has the desire to play, that is.
On July 26, Jackson also logged another milestone, this time reaching 1,000 career strikeouts. As of July 28, Jackson had 1,001 strikeouts in 1,176 innings, a fairly decent K rate. His best strikeout season was in 1992, when he had 80 strikeouts in 82 innings.
JACQUE JONES, JOSE GUILLEN and ADAM DUNN all hit their 100th home runs this past week. Jones hit his on July 20, Guillen clubbed his on July 23 and Dunn reached the milestone on July 28. Jones has 16 homers this season and isn’t likely to top his career best of 27. He’s having a somewhat off year but has nonetheless been instrumental in the Twins’ success. It took Guillen about 100 games more than Jones to reach the century mark, but he had a slow start to his career and may be able to best his numbers from last season, when he hit 31 homers. At this juncture in the season, Guillen has 18 home runs for the Angels. Dunn, meanwhile, has 28 homers this season and reached the century mark much faster than Jones or Guillen; Dunn did it about 300 games faster than Jones. Although it may seem like Dunn has already crushed more than 40 homers in a season, the surprise is: His 28 homers are a new personal best. Dunn should have no problem logging 40 this season.
ALEX RODRIGUEZ seemingly hasn’t done too many great things this season, but his numbers are steady across the board (.280 average, 25 HR, 71 R, 64 RBI and 19 SB), and on July 20, he collected the 300th double of his career. A-Rod has only had two 40-plus doubles season, but that’s forgivable seeing as how he’s averaged better than 40 home runs a season in that same span. This year he has only 15 doubles.
ROBERTO ALOMAR is still playing? Apparently. Well, sometimes he does. He’s just suffering through myriad injuries at the moment, but he was able to get in the lineup long enough to register his 1,500th run on July 20. Alomar has only 95 at-bats this season and 10 runs, but hopefully this isn’t one of those cases where the player will only be remembered by his last few seasons. In my estimation, Alomar belongs in the Hall of Fame when he decides to hang it up. His career numbers: .301 AVG, 2,706 H, 1,500 R, 1,123 RBI, 208 HR and 474 SB.
On July 21, BRAD RADKE pitched inning No. 2,000 of his career. Radke has probably been underappreciated over the course of his career, thanks to playing on several woeful Twins teams, but at the same time, he was been overrated because of a 20-win season. Yes, it’s an enigma, but at any rate, Radke has a career 123-116 record with a 4.28 ERA.
The amazing IVAN RODRIGUEZ continues to chug toward the Hall of Fame, and he helped his cause on July 23 by collecting his 2,000th hit. There’s no doubt he’ll go down as one of the best – if not THE best – catchers of his era, and this season he’s still in the midst of a batting title race with a .353 average. With I-Rod’s 2,000 hits come a .307 average and 244 home runs.
Onetime second baseman ERIC YOUNG is logging most of his time in the outfield these days, but that hasn’t hindered his hitting prowess. He’s currently batting .320, and on July 23, he drove in run No. 500. That’s not all that many, but Young was a leadoff hitter in his prime. And while we’re on the subject of playing out of position, the Rangers should move Young to second base and stick Alfonso Soriano in the outfield. The most errors Young ever had in a season was 15; Soriano currently has that many.
JERMAINE DYE collected his 1,000th hit on July 23. The onetime postseason hero has had a tumultuous career and has never had 200 hits in a season, but he’s been a fighter, and it’s a tribute to his character that he hung around long enough for No. 1,000.
This season was supposed to be the year JOHN THOMSON made Atlantans forget about Greg Maddux, but Thomson hasn’t been able to live up to the preseason hype – which is exactly what it was, hype. Thomson’s career ERA is 4.90, and he has 20 more losses than wins. At any rate, Thomson registered his 1,000th inning pitched on July 24, a testament to, well, it’s not testament to anything. He’s just gotten lucky.
CARLOS DELGADO drove in run No. 1,000 on July 25. Because of injuries, this hasn’t been a memorable year for Delgado, but as of late he seems to be the Delgado of old. If Delgado doesn’t reach 100 RBI this season – which is a distinct possiblity since he only has 43 at the moment – it will break a streak of six consecutive 100-plus-RBI seasons.
With Derek Lee gone to the Cubs, the door was wide open for MIKE LOWELL to set a Marlins record, and he accomplished the feat on July 27, smashing his 130th franchise home run. With the Marlins still being a competetive team this season and probably for several years to come, Lowell may well put the club record somewhere in the upper 200s.
BRET BOONE got his 500th free pass to first base on July 27. Boone has never walked much – his season high is 68 – but his other numbers have made up for his lack of a great on-base percentage. For his career he also has 235 home runs.
Lefty RANDY WOLF logged his 1,000th inning on July 27. Unlike Thomson, Wolf reached 1,000 in a relatively short time span (five-and-a-half seasons), and his career record is much better than Thomson’s. This season, Wolf is only 4-6, but he has a decent 3.82 ERA.
RUSS ORTIZ just keeps winning, and so do the Braves. And on July 28, Ortiz won his 100th game. Ortiz has been remarkable consistant over the years; in the past six seasons, his ERA has been nearly identical every year but one. Along with his 100 wins, he has a 3.89 ERA and 965 strikeouts.
TROY PERCIVAL keeps moving up the saves list, and on July 28, he became only the 17th pitcher to reach 300 saves. Percival has had an unlikely career (I keep expecting a Billy Koch-type blowout), but he has been able to maintain a great success rate nonetheless. For his career, Percival also has a 3.03 ERA, 665 strikeouts in 564 innings and has recorded more than 40 saves twice.
e-mail questions or comments to mtoeset@baseballguru.com
Replies: 1 Comment
Good job, Mike. Milestones and records are the heart and soul of the game. Most people don't keep track of such things. I'm glad you do.
Posted by Max Blue @ 07/30/2004 07:16 AM EST
