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.