Phillies Sweep Reds 3-0 for NLDS Championship

Jayson Werth celebrates the first series sweep in post season play ever for the Philadelphia Phillies.  Cole Hamels won game three 2-0 with a masterful five hit performance not quite outdoing team-mate Roy Halladay's second no hitter in MLB history in Game 1 of the NLDS with the Reds. 

Philly fans were heartened following the teams's 2009 World Series loss to the New York Yankees by the addition of proven winners Roy Halladay and Roy Oswalt.   But only the most optimistic would have predicted setting a record of 11 hits allowed breaking that of the 1998 Yankees of 15 hits allowed.

The stars may be aligning for a repeat of last year's World Series between the Phillies and Yankees. More to come...

Preliminary Regular Season Series Sweep Results

 I have been tracking inidvidual game and series results throughout the season.  But, a new wrinkle has crept into these tallies.  Should the total number of Sweeps be the same as the total number of Swepts?  I think so.  But these numbers don't come out that way. I need to do some auditing of these numbers.  But here are the preliminary results of the 2010 MLB Regular Season through October 3rd.

Baseball Total = 206 Sweeps + 196 Swept = 402

AL Total =  95 Sweeps +  82 Swepts = 177
NL Total = 111 Sweeps + 114 Swepts = 225

AL East Total = 35 Sweeps + 23 Swepts = 58

AL Central Total = 36 Sweeps + 27 Swepts = 63
AL West Total = 24 Sweeps + 32 Swepts = 56

NL East Total = 31 Sweeps + 31 Swepts = 62
NL Central Total = 41 Sweeps + 49 Swepts = 90
NL West Total = 39 Sweeps + 34 Swepts = 73

Yankees Sweep Twins in ALDS 3-0

Rightfielder Nick Swisher celebrates the Yankees mastery over the Twins in post season play.  Even without home field advantage, the Yanks got strong pitching performances from their suspect #2 and #3 starters, Pettite and  Hughes following a win by their ace, Sabathia.

The Yankees Sweep Factor moves to 350 following a 6 and 2 regular season record of sweeps and being swept.  Interestingly, the Yankees were swept once each by the Rays and Rangers, one of whom will be their competition in the upcoming American League Championship Series.

With the ALDS sweep, the Twins' end the season with a Sweep Factor of 366% or 11-3 previously having had  a record of 11 sweeps and only 2 times being swept.

Giants and Braves --Avoid Sweeps, Go to Playoffs

The series sweep played a compelling role in the last weekend of the MLB regular season. The National League West division championship and the NL Wild Card were decided by two teams – the Giants and the Braves avoiding being swept.

Going into Sunday’s games, the Giants with a record of 91-70 had lost the first two games of the series against the Padres with a record of 90-71. A Giant loss and Padre series sweep would have given both teams identical 91-71 records. But The Giants won the game avoiding the series sweep, finishing 92-70 and winning the NL West Division championship. The Padres “wait til next year”!

The Braves had lost the first two games of a series with the Phillies who had already clinced the division title. By beating the Phillies on Sunday, the Braves avoided the series sweep ending up with a record of 90-71 good for second place in the NL East. The Braves also captured the NL Wildcard playoff slot edging out the losing Padres with a final 90-72 record.

PREDICTION: Rays and Rockies in World Series!

We project the Colorado Rockies will face the Tampa Bay Rays in the 2010 Major League Baseball World Series.  We base our claim on the League leading Sweep Factor for Tampa Bay of 450% and Colorado of 267%.  The new statistic developed by Seriesweep is expressed as a ratio of the number of team series sweeps divided by the number of times the team is swept.

Virtually every activity in baseball is recorded, analyzed and reported to the point of endangering the emotional dimension of the game.  And given the long and arduous march to October, I look for ways to keep my interest.  As a fan since childhood, I have been fascinated by the excitement generated by a “sweep” – the winning of all of the games in a scheduled series.  The anticipation of an impending sweep is almost as euphoric as the thrill of the actual sweep.  And the consequence of a sweep is the winner’s fans earning bragging rights over the loser’s fans – at least until the next series.” 

The results for the 2010 Major League Baseball season through September 24, 2010 are:

2010	American	League			2010	National	League
AL-East	Sweep	Swept	SF		NL-East	Sweep	Swept	SF
Rays	9	2	450%		Mets	6	2	300%
Yankees	6	2	300%		Phillies	9	4	225%
Red Sox	7	4	175%		Braves	6	4	150%
Blue Jays	7	4	175%		Marlins	6	4	150%
Orioles	5	11	45%		Nationals	1	10	10%
AL-Central	Sweep	Swept	SF		NL-Central	Sweep	Swept	SF
Twins	9	2	450%		Reds	9	6	150%
White Sox	8	3	267%		Cubs	6	5	120%
Tigers	7	3	233%		Brewers	9	8	113%
Indians	3	9	33%		Astros	9	8	113%
Royals	2	7	29%		Cardinals	4	5	80%
					Pirates	4	17	24%
AL-West	Sweep	Swept	SF		NL-West	Sweep	Swept	SF
Rangers	9	6	150%		Rockies	8	3	267%
Angels	7	7	100%		Padres	10	4	250%
Athletics	4	8	50%		Dodgers	7	6	117%
Mariners	3	8	38%		Giants	7	6	117%
					Diamondbacks	5	13	38%

Not surprisingly, a correlation exists between league leaders in Sweep Factor (SF) and MLB Standings.  In almost all instances, the top two teams match up.  The exceptions being the Cardinals with a higher second place Standing versus their number fifth position 80% Sweep Factor   The Mets also create a surprise with a  National League leading and MLB tied for third place 300% Sweep Factor.  In fact equal to their cross town rivals the Yankees.

Negative performance in the Standings is also reflected in poor performance in Sweep Factor with every last place team in Standings also being in last place in Sweep Factor with the Nationals holding the bag as the worst team in sweepiness with a 10% Sweep Factor.

Seriesweep and Sweep Factor are not in any way affiliated with Major League Baseball.  All references to team names and activities are the sole property of MLB.

New Lineup helps Mets Sweep of Braves

4/25 - Mets manager Jerry Manuel stuck Jose Reyes into the number 3 hole in game one of this three game series with The Atlanta Braves and immediately looked like a genius. In front of a national TV audience Reyes scored from second on a throwing error by the hobbled Chipper Jones to secure a 1-0 victory for Mike Pelfrey who threw a rain shortened six inning shutout.

4/23 - In the first game featuring Ike Davis' first major league homer and Reyes going 2 for 4 in the 3rd spot, the Mets used 5 pitchers for the 5-2 win.

4/24 - The middle game saw the Mets using 5 pitchers again for a 3-1 win. Jeff Franceour drove in the winning run.

Astros sweep Pirates. Even Season Record.

April 25 - Avenging a season opening sweep by the San Francisco Giants, the Houston Astros romped 10 -3 in the third game of the three game series sweep over the wilting Pittsburgh Pirates, who endured their second consecutive sweep. Pirate pitching gave up 8 walks, hit one batter and allowed 6 steals. Astros pitcher Brett Myers tried in vain to loss serving up 11 singles in six innings, but won nonetheless.

April 23 - The series started off with a close game with Astro ace pitcher Roy Oswalt throwing seven solid innings. Oswalt got his first season win 4-3 after pitching well against opponents' #1 pitchers. Carlos Lee provided the offense with 2 RBI's.

April 24 - The middle game of the series saw a horrible incident with Pirate pitcher Chris Jakubaukas getting hit in the head with a come-backer. Taken to the hospital, thankfully it appears he will be okay. Astros pitcher Wandy Rodriquez faired much better throwing seven and 1/3 innings for the 5-2 win. The Astros collected 13 hits with everyone in the lineup getting a hit.

Cubs Sweep Brewers in Reversal of Fortune

4/25 - In just 3 days since producing the largest winning margin, 20-0, in major league baseball's history, the Milwaukee Brewers could only muster 4 runs in the three games of a series sweep loss to the Chicago Cubs. The Cubbies clinched the sweep 12 -2 with all nine players getting hits for a total of 18 including a double by winning pitcher Randy Wells.

4/24 - In a game of Cubs' firsts, Ted Lilly was the winning pitcher in his first start since coming off of the DL. The Big Z, Carlos Zambrano, made his first relief appearance since being sent to the bullpen by Cubs manager Lou Pinella. Marlon Byrd provided the offense going 3 for 5 and scoring the winning run in the sixth.

4/23 - Ryan Dempster held the volatile Brewers to one run in 7 & 2/3 innings to collect the win. Kosuke Fukudome supplied the winning run by scoring in the 1st inning on a throwing error at home plate. Fukudome added a homer later in the game.

Clutch White Sox Sweep Mariners

4/25 - The Chicago White Sox completed a three game series sweep of the Seattle Mariners by scoring the winning run in a 3-2 win in their eighth inning last at bat. This followed two consecutive walk-off wins. John Danko pitched 8 innings giving up 2 runs to secure the win. A hot hitting Paul Konerko displayed his prowess with a homer in the 8th to provide the winning margin after homers in key situations in the two previous games.

4/24 - The White Sox' Alex Rios homered in the ninth for a walk-off 5-4 win in game 2 of the series. Doug Fister got the win giving up 2 runs in 8 innings. Freddy Garcia matched the performance with 2 runs in 7 innings of work.

4/23 - Andruw Jones got bookend homers - in the first and in the ninth for a walk-off win in the Sox/Mariner series first game. Mariner Jose Lopez was a brief hero hitting a grand salami in the top of the 7th prior to Jones' blast.

Brewers Crush Bucs 20-0 for Sweep

April 22 - The baseball gods struck again or the Pittsburg Pirates over-indulged in Milwaukee's most famous product. Pick one! Talking about reversal of fortune. Coming off of a three game sweep of the Cincinnati Reds on April 18th, Pirates pitching gave up 36 runs in three games and their offense managed one run in the series.

To complete the series sweep and to add insult to injury, the Milwaukee Brewers won game three 20 to nothing! More records were destroyed than Beatles' albums when John Lennon proclaimed "We're more famous than Jesus!" The game was the first 20 to 0 game in MLB history. Not suprisingly, it was the greatest margin of victory for the Brewers and greatest margin of defeat for the Pirates.

April 20 - The Brewers showed strength early in the series scoring 3 runs in the first and second innings of game one. Dave Bush pitched seven innings of no run ball and a 8 to 1 victory.

April 21 - In the series middle game, the Brewers continued their first inning proficiency with a Ryan Braun homer in the first. That was all the offense Milwaukee needed as four pitchers combined to shut-out the comatose Pirates. Yovani Gallardo struck ten Pirates in five innings.

Mariners power pitching sweeps O's

April 21 - After Seattle's new ace acquisition Cliff Lee developed injury problems, some Mariner fans may have started to worry. But as they say in the Caribe, "Don't worry, be happy". Felix Hernandez threw a complete game to win 4-1 and complete a three game sweep of the stumbling Baltimore Orioles. The M's scoring came in the 4th inning with 4 runs. The big hit was a Jack Wilson double driving in three and doubling his season RBI total to six.

April 19 - The Mariner's Doug Fister lead off the series with a 8-2 win on 7 innings of one run ball dropping his season ERA to 1.42. Seattle sent 10 hitters to the plate in the 3rd to score 7 runs on 5 hits and 2 walks.

April 20 - The series second game had all the offensive excitement in the first inning, the Orioles got one run off of Jason Vargas who went on to win 3-1 on seven innings of work. The Mariners scored 2 in the bottom of the 1st to provide the winning margin.

Padre's over Giants for 2nd Consecutive Sweep

April 21- The San Diego Padres' completed a three game sweep with a 5-2 win over bitter west coast rival, the San Francisco Giants. John Garland pitched seven innings for the win. Adrian Gonzeles and Nick Hundley homered.

In the series first game, David Eckstein provided the theatrics with a walk off homer in the tenth inning for a 3-2 Padres win. Each team used four pitchers with each team getting 10 hits.

The series middle game was a pitcher's duel between the Giant's Jonathan Sanchez and Padre's Mat Latos. Sanchez pitched a one hitter, but he needed a no-no like the one he tossed against the Giants in 2009. The Padre's Latos and two relievers threw a shutout for a 1-0 win. Chase Headley had the Friars only hit, stole second and scored on a sac fly by Scott Hairston.

Rays manhandle Bosox in 4 game sweep

April 19 - The upstart Tampa Bay Rays completed a four game series sweep of the Boston Red Sox on Patriots' Day with a 8-2 win. The Rays starter Jeff Niemann pitched 7 innings with 2 earned runs. BJ Upton provided the victory margin with a 3 run homer to highlight a 5 run inning off of the new Red Sox arrival John Lackey. Given the Bosox bitter rivarly with the NY Yankees, the Sox' first series sweep loss since August 2006 was more bitter tasting since the Yanks had just swept the Rangers.

April 17 - The Rays' Pat Burrell chose an opportune moment for his first homer and rbi of the 2010 season by hitting a 2 run dinger in dramatic fashion in the 12th inning of a suspended game from April 16th. Josh Beckett pitched good enough to win giving up no earned runs and one unearned run in 7 innings.

April 17 - In a second game on the same day, the Rays defeated the Red Sox 6-5 despite homers by Dustin Pedroia, Marco Scutaro and Kevin Youkilis. Red Sox pitcher Clay Buchholz allowed 4 runs in the first inning.

April 18 - The Tampa Bay Rays starter Matt Garza threw an 8 inning 0 run gem. Garza's record went to 3 and 0 with an era of 0.75. The Rays scored 2 runs in the second and third innings providing all the offense needed.

Yankees gain first 2010 series sweep

April 18- The current Major League Baseball World Champion New York Yankees displayed power, speed, a strong bench, effective starting and relief pitching to gain their first series sweep of the 2010 season over the Texas Rangers. The Yankees may now have a 5 pitcher rotation but their old standby Big Three did the job over the improved Rangers. CC Sabathia set the stage with a rain-shortened six inning 3 hit 6-1 win in game one. AJ Burnett followed with a steady 7 inning 6 hit 7-3 win. Not to be outdone, Andy Pettitte completed the three game sweep with a seven inning outing for a 5-2 and the 251st win of his career. Alex Rodriquez and Mark Texeira both hit their first homers of the season in the series. Ranger manager Ron Washington called speedster Brett Gardner "the Yankees own Ichiro". Bench players Francisco Cervelli and Marcus Thames both contributed key hits in the series.

Buc's walk-offs sweep Reds

April 18- The Pittsburgh Pirates used late inning dramatics in two of three wins to complete a series sweep of the Cincinnati Reds. In game one, the Pirates' Lasting Milledge stroked a 2 out single for a walk-off 4-3 win after the Reds had rallied with two runs in the eight and one in the ninth. Game two featured a second consecutive Pirate walk-off 5-4 win on a Garett Jones single.
Paul Maholm pitched well in a 5-3 game 3 win to clinch the series sweep.

Cleveland cleans White Sox in sweep

April 18 - The Cleveland Indians completed their first series sweep of the 2010 season and their first since 2003 with three victories over the Chicago White Sox. The Indians combined good pitching and Shin-Soo Choo hitting for the sweep. Jake Westbrook pitched well and Choo had a key double in a 3-2 game 1 win. Mitch Talbot threw a complete game in a 6-2 game two victory.
Shin-Soo Choo capped off a 7-4 win in game three with a grand slam and 5 RBI's on the day.

Angels top Jays for first sweep in 2010

April 18- The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim used three strong pitching outings against the Toronto Blue Jays to record their first series sweep of the 2010 season. It was the Angels first sweep since July 2004. Jered Weaver gave up 2 runs in a 7 inning 7-5 win in game 1. Joe Saunders followed with an 8 inning performance winning 6-3. Ervin Santana returned to form and tossed a 3-1 gem in game 3 to clinch the Angels sweep of the Jays. New Angel Hideki Matsui lead the offense hitting .311 for the new season. Juan Riveria collected his 100th career home run in game two.

Padres stymie Diamondbacks in sweep

April 18-Lead by offensive hero Chase Headley, the San Diego Padres swept a three game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Headley was a one man wrecking crew. In game 1's 6-3 Padres win, Headley homered. Padre pitching threw a shutout to win 5-0 in game two of the series sweep lead by starter Kevin Correia. Headley had a single and got a RBI by knocking in the only run San Diego needed in the first inning by hitting into a double play. In game 3, Headley doubled to drive in a run to complete the series sweep. The Diamondbacks were let down by weak bullpen performances throughout the series.

O's slow start continues as Rays sweep 'em

April 14- In the series first game, Tampa Bay Rays' pitcher Matt Garza held the hapless Baltimore Orioles to one run in the first inning on the way to a 9-1 victory. Carl Crawford propelled the Rays offense going 4 for 4 with a homer. The Rays won the series second game 8-6 with Carlos Pena hitting a tenth inning three run homer. In his next at bat in the first inning of game three, Pena hit a second three run homer. The Rays pitcher, David Price, held Baltimore to only one run in game 3 winning 9-1 to cap off the three game series sweep of the Orioles.