|
It's Labor Day, a time for reflection in the form of relaxation, or -- as it often turns out in backyards across America -- the very opposite of what the day was named for.In other words, while many of us don't consider the acts of swatting mosquitoes, loading half-pound burgers onto charcoal grills or repeating arm curls with 12-ounce beverages to be laborious, there is a lot to the moniker this football kits Monday.Labor Day, created to honor the American worker, became a federal holiday in 1894. Yet, while the employees of Major League Baseball who ply their trade with bats, gloves and sanitary socks are known as "players," well, they're still working.They're winding down a season that began in mid-February on the fields of Spring Training. Now they're rounding third in a 162-game marathon. Eight te football kits ams and 200 players will make the postseason, which means the lucky few could add another month to their time clocks.True, big league ball might not feature the ups and downs and side-to-sides of commercial halibut fishing, the stinging realities of pest control or the hazards of asbestos removal. And, sure, it pays a lot better than most 9-to-5s.But let's not kid ourselves. Baseball's still a job football kits , somebody's got to do it, and a lot of us will be having fun watching those somebodies do it this Labor Day while we kick back and pig out.So in the spirit of the real purpose of the holiday, here's to the workhorses of the Major Leagues in 2011. They're the men excelling in a group of statistical categories that lend themselves well to the age-old American tradition of heavy lifting. Innings pit football kits ched: Detroit right-hander Justin Verlander might be a unanimous American League Cy Young Award winner come winter, and he's also making quite of a case for the Most Valuable Player award. But even if he doesn't haul home that hardware, the Tigers ace is a heck of a horse. His workaday attributes include current Major League leads in innings pitched (223, five ahead of Yankees lefty CC Sabathia's football kits 218).Pitches thrown: Verlander has also thrown the most pitches (3,486). That means Verlander, who also, by the way, leads the Majors in strikeouts (224, two more than Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers), is averaging 116.2 pitches per start, which also leads the Majors. Then again, that's this year. For history's sake, the leading active pitching workhorse would have to be the timeless, ageless Livan football kits Hernandez of the Washington Nationals. According to Bill Arnold's Beyond the Box Score, with his 34th pitch last Monday night, Hernandez became the 12th player since 1988 to throw at least 50,000 pitches in the Majors, finishing the game with 50,071. Tom Glavine owns the record, having thrown 68,226 in his 21-year career. By the way, don't count Hernandez out surpassing that mark either.Relief ap football kits pearances: Starting pitchers aren't the only ones putting in the hours. Relievers, after all, are the ones who pitch in the most games. They're the ones expected to go three, four, five games in a row, often extending themselves past their comfort zones when things go haywire. This year, nobody has appeared in more games than Atlanta's left-hander Jonny Venters, who has seen action 74 times throug football kits h Sunday. His excellence relies on his ability to miss bats (6-1, 1.39 ERA, 42 hits allowed in 77 2/3 innings and 87 strikeouts). But let's also recognize Jeff Samardzija of the Cubs, who is barely leading Venters -- and the Majors -- in relief innings with 78 and has struck out 80 batters while limiting opposing hitters to a .197 average.Games played: Commitment starts with the simple -- and some football kits times not-so-simple -- act of grabbing ye olde lunch pail and showing up at the job site every day. Labor-intensive kudos must be dished out to Matt Kemp. The Dodgers center fielder is not only a solid NL MVP candidate, but is the Major Leagues' active leader in consecutive games played (343), dating back to the final 43 games of the 2009 season. For posterity, let's also recognize 44-year-old Oma football kits r Vizquel of the White Sox -- the active leader in career games played at 2,905. With 2,838 hits and 11 Gold Gloves, it's just another telltale stat for a guy who could very well someday be enshrined in Cooperstown -- if he ever retires.Walks: We don't yet have a system -- or person with enough free time -- in place to track the hours, minutes and seconds spent standing at home plate watching pitc football kits hes go by before the end of an at-bat. However, we'd assume that this type of high-intensity, full-concentration work is represented in statistical form by the guy who draws the most bases-on-balls.So congratulations, Blue Jays right fielder Jose Bautista. You're leading the big leagues in walks this year with 109, which is nine more than you drew all of last year in your breakout season. And way football kits to go, Indians slugger Jim Thome. You're the active career leader in free passes with 1,717. Oh, and you hit your 600th homer this year. Good job on that, too.Pitches seen: Along those same lines, let's hear it for Yankees center fielder Curtis Granderson, who's having an MVP-caliber year with 38 homers, 107 RBIs, 125 runs and 24 steals. His surge may relate to the fact that he's seen the most pit football kits ches of any player in the Majors, with 2,705 in 604 plate appearances through Sunday for a Majors-leading average of 4.48 pitches per plate appearance. Being selective counts for a lot ... Hit-by-pitches: ... and so does being burly and tough, which leads us to the next characteristic of a reliable worker -- the ability to "take one for the team." This year, nobody has done that better than Carlos football kits Quentin of the White Sox, who's been plunked 23 times, six more than runner-up Danny Espinosa of the Nationals. That gives Quentin 97 HBPs to date in his six-year career, an average of more than 16 per season. We're not sure if that'll get him within an elbow protector's length of the active leader in lifetime HBPs, Colorado's venerable Jason Giambi, who has been hit 172 times in his 17-year care football kits er.Then again, if Quentin keeps getting hit by pitches, he might not stay healthy.Sacrifices: Yes, sacrifices pay off. This year's big-league leader in sacrifice flies, Baltimore center fielder Adam Jones, has traded an out for a run 12 times. He also won the 2009 All-Star Game with a sac fly, and that's the last time the AL was able to snag home-field advantage in the World Series.This year's co- football kits leaders in sacrifice hits, or sacrifice bunts, are Chicago's Juan Pierre and Kansas City's Alcides Escobar, both with 17.Thank you, gentlemen. Your tireless efforts in giving of one's self are appreciated.Games managed: And so are yours, Tony La Russa. You've been at management level for 33 years now, and you've sat, stood, paced, argued, kicked, screamed, smiled, high-fived, won and lost through football kits 5,075 Major League games. That makes you the active leader by more than 1,900 (Detroit's Jim Leyland is next at 3,153), and second in big-league history to Connie Mack (7,755).Alright. Enough of this already. Back to work. football kits
|