Short Hops: Bradley not an everyday player

OPS = Only Plays Sometimes

By at least one criterion — OPS — Milton Bradley (1.020) is the best hitter in the American League. When he plays, that is. The problematic slugger hasn’t been on the disabled list this season, a destination he’s visited a dozen times (not including two suspensions) since 2002, resulting in almost 400 missed games. He has, however, been more day-to-day than Fidel Castro.

Just this month, Bradley has been unavailable due to back stiffness, a sinus problem, knee woes and a quadriceps injury. In July, he missed time with an ejection, a forearm bruise and a knee. In June, it was a quad. In May, “light-headedness” (we’ll vouch for that one), another ejection, shoulder pain and a hamstring tweak. And he was only intermittently available in April as he recovered from 2007 knee surgery.

The curious part of all this is that it’s almost routine for the Rangers to inform, or at least imply, to the media that Bradley will be back in the lineup presently, only to have him declare himself out of commission at gametime. Something tells us that the itinerant outfielder will be wearing yet another uniform in 2009. Occasionally.

Pitching by the “Pound”

Perhaps you’ve noticed the rash of beatings taken by pitchers recently. Hapless hurlers have been pounded for seven or more runs in an alarming 278 starts this season, including double digits on 15 occasions. Five of the latter have occurred in the first 19 days of August alone, including a 12-run atrocity by Scott Feldman and TWO 11-runners by Brandon “Way Way” Backe.

We wondered how bad is bad, so we tackled the database on baseball-reference.com, which covers the last 53 seasons. The criterion was the Bill James-developed “game score,” which weighs seven stats to determine a single number that measures the quality of an outing.

A starter has to be categorically brutal to post a negative game score; there has been an average of about only two of those per season since 1956. Not even Feldman’s debacle (which included six unearned tallies) qualified. The worst of 2008 so far comes courtesy of Brian Bannister (game score of -10) and Bronson Arroyo (-9), both of whom slogged through one-inning/10-earnie outings. Those implosions, though, looked like quality starts compared to one by Mike Oquist of the 1998 A’s. His GS of -21 is the worst of the time frame, and no one else is close. Left to suffer for five innings by manager Art Howe, he was pummeled by the Yankees for 14 runs (all earned) and 16 hits (four homers). (Imagine if he had not induced two double plays.)

We’re going to give Oquist’s outing an asterisk (the good kind), however. His primary tormentor that day — a guy who torched him for two home runs and a double before there was even an out in the third inning! — had some unfair assistance, we now know. Chuck Knoblauch, according to the Mitchell Report, was one of the players Brian McNamee injected with steroids while the four-time All-Star played in New York. Knobby has neither confirmed nor denied, saying only, “One of my strongest characteristics is not really caring what people think.” Mike Oquist, however, might.

HIT AND RUN

Short Hops’ recurring installment of slapdash observation and imprudent opinion:

Jack Cust recently tied his own Athletics record by striking out in a 19th consecutive game for the second time this season. Through Tuesday, he’s fanned three or more times in 17 contests. He’s up to 156 for the year — a comfortable 32 more than his closest challenger to “defend” his AL crown, but still seven in arrears of NL leader Ryan Howard.

Melvin Mora has been released by the Astros, played in Taiwan to keep his career on life support, virtually given away by the Mets and scorned in Baltimore after a feeble 2007 season. Now 36, he’s on the verge of a 100-RBI campaign after going .432-9-43 between July 17 and August 17.

The Rays are red hot and wildly entertaining. On Tuesday they staged a gripping, last-at-bat come-from-behind win to overtake the Angels for the best record in the American League. The attendance was 15,902. An apologetic media member we know in St. Pete told us this morning, “West Coast teams just don’t draw [there] during the week.” Sorry, you’ll have to do better than that. That night, the Rangers drew more against the Tigers. Two bad teams — the Giants and Orioles — attracted a crowd more than triple what the Rays hosted. The Indians drew more despite playing the ROYALS. And the Dodgers pulled in 46,687 against the Rockies...but, of course, their fans were lured by the return to the majors of Tanyon Sturtze — a former Ray.

QUOTABLES

“Wow! I grew a beard there in that game.” — Twins manager Ron Gardenhire after watching his club outlast the Mariners, 11-8 on Sunday.