Non Sequitur Stats of the Day

• Ichiro grounded into 24 less double plays than Lopez did.

• Billy Butler hit 51 doubles.  Billy Butler plays for the Royals.  Billy Butler plays first base.  Hmmmm…..

• Shane Victorino led the league with 13 triples.

• Had Mark Reynolds never struck out, he would have batted .341. Unfortunately, he did – 223 times, in fact – and thus hit .260.

Some comparisons:

• Carlos Pena had a 0.54 groundball-to-flyball ratio.  Skip Schumaker had a 3.49 groundball-to-flyball ratio.

• Emiliano Bonifacio had a 1.1 HR/FB percentage.  Russell Branyan’s was 21.7%.

• Mark Teixeira had a -1.73 clutch rating, fourth worst in the league for qualified batters.  Franklin Gutierrez had a 2.44 clutch rating, second overall.  And he’s ours.  For a long, long time.

• Ben Zobrist was worth 8.6 WAR.  Franklin Gutierrez was worth 5.9 WAR.  Alfonso Soriano, Jermaine Dye, Alex Rios, and Vernon Wells were worth a combined….. -1.2 WAR.  Defense matters.  A lot.  Anyone who thinks otherwise is inconceivably mistaken.  Or a monkey of slightly above-average intelligence.

• Ryan Zimmerman is a beast (18+ UZR) and he plays for the Nationals. What a waste.