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    Hitting, scoring drop to lowest in 2 decades

    By RONALD BLUM - AP Sports Writer | AP – Tue, Jul 12, 2011

    PHOENIX (AP) — Scoring in the first half of the season dropped to its lowest level in 19 years and the major league batting average shrunk to its smallest midseason figure since 1985, confirmation that the Steroids Era has ended and that a new Age of the Pitcher is taking hold.

    There were 8.4 runs per game prior to the All-Star break, according to STATS LLC, down 6 percent from last year's 8.9 at the midpoint and 20 percent from the peak of 10.5 in 2000.

    "The pitchers in the National League — it's crazy," San Francisco's Pedro Sandoval said Monday, a day before the All-Star game. "We've got Roy Halladay, Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Cole Hamels and Cliff Lee."

    It's not only scoring that's decreased. Many offensive measures dipped during the first three months of the regular season.

    The major league batting average of .253 was down from .259 at last year's All-Star break. It hasn't been this low since at midseason in 26 years, since it sunk to .252 in 1985. A dozen years ago, at the height of the Steroids Era, it rose to .273.

    Hits per game dropped to 17.2 from 17.6 last year, down from 18.8 in 1999 and 2000. Home runs per game declined to 1.8, down a tenth of a point from last year and an astounding 31 percent below the 2000 average of 2.6 at the break.

    The major league ERA of 3.85 is down from 4.15 during the first three months of last season and more than a run below the 4.86 ERA when players broke for the 2000 All-Star game at Atlanta's Turner Field.

    "It seems like a lot of guys are throwing a lot harder these days. It seems like every team has a couple guys throwing 100," said Chicago White Sox slugger Carlos Quentin, who has 17 homers. "As a hitter, you embrace that challenge."

    Hitters seem to be taking shorter strokes, not going for the fences. Strikeouts averaged 6.3 per game, down from 6.6 last year and a high of 7.7 in 2000.

    "There's been a lot of young pitcher coming to the big leagues," Philadelphia's Placido Polanco said. "I think that makes a difference."

    Quentin has another insight: The way some pitchers are being used has changed.

    "There's a lot of guys coming out of the bullpen that are good," he said. "You see a lot of guys that are converted from being starters to relievers, and all of a sudden they're throwing 95 and 96 out of the 'pen for one-plus inning. I feel like I've seen more of those guys of late."

    Halladay, 11-3 with a 2.45 ERA, was to start for the National League, following Vida Blue, Roger Clemens and Randy Johnson as the fourth pitcher to make an All-Star start for both leagues. The Los Angeles Angels' Jered Weaver, 11-4 with a 1.86 ERA, was slated to open for the AL.

    The AL won 12 straight All-Star games played to a decision before the NL's 3-1 victory last year in Anaheim. It was the first time the NL won since the All-Star game started determining home-field advantage for the World Series in 2003, and the Giants went on to beat the Texas Rangers in five games for the title.

    "Home field can be a very important component in winning the world championship," Weaver said. "So I think it's a great thing for the best players in the world to go out there and compete and work for that home-field advantage."

     

    46 comments

    • Semper Fi
      Semper Fi  •  10 mths ago
      Can't get your drugs, can't get your hits. Coincidence?????
    • Sid
      Sid  •  10 mths ago
      Best in the world for the all-star game? who are they kidding. It's a popularity contest that has nothing to do with the best players, only the most popular. they need to figure out another way to determine home field advantage. this one is a joke.
    • A Yahoo! User  •  10 mths ago
      No steroids = No long ball.

      Erase all records attained from 1990-2010.
      • WADE
        WADE 10 mths ago
        You forgot Bautista.
      • DASH
        DASH 10 mths ago
        Someone has it right! Kudos!
    • James
      James  •  10 mths ago
      I think the All-Star game should determine home field advantage... but only for next year's All-Star game and not the World Series. Please go with best record or alternate again... and get both leagues to play by the same set of rules, please.
      • DASH
        DASH 10 mths ago
        Makes sense!
      • A Yahoo! User 10 mths ago
        Makes no sense. The idea was to make the all star game mean something. If it means nothing, then home field advantage for that game also means nothing.
    • RickG
      RickG  •  10 mths ago
      If you actually watch baseball, you'd see we're in a cycle of better pitching. As has already been mentioned, there is no drug that makes you hit better. That would be like having a drug that makes you write better.
      • slinger
        slinger 10 mths ago
        You are really naive.
      • Gary
        Gary 10 mths ago
        Then why exactly did so many ballplayers take it? They cheated when they realized they couldn't keep up with the guys who were already cheating. The game totally transformed due to steroids and now has totally transformed back.
      • DASH
        DASH 10 mths ago
        I agree... but moron RickG is right about the point about hitting better. A good hitter will always hit! Problem is, steroids help to hit the ball a little further. Most of *'s hr's would have been simple flyouts. That's the only difference!
    • themerryprankster
      themerryprankster  •  10 mths ago
      Argue all you want to, I still say that if you cannot hit a baseball, you will never, ever hit a home run. Steroids might enable a person to hit a pitched ball another 50', but they do not improve eye-hand coordination. If you do not have the ability, all the steroids in the world will not enable you to hit a baseball.
      • papoon for president
        papoon for president 10 mths ago
        right, you can't hit a baseball if you can't hit a baseball. but lets say you can hit one with power 315 feet. what it that? a pop fly, a long out, another 0 for four night. now let's say you use and get that extra 50 feet. you are now at 365. what is that? Double off the wall, or a homer, an extra 70 points on the BA. you ain't talking about some poindexter coming in from computer school with a pocket protector, juicing and winning a triple crown. these are jocks in training year round the best of the best steroid use gave these freaks an unfair advantage.
      • themerryprankster
        themerryprankster 10 mths ago
        I wouldn't say that hitting a baseball 315' feet is a demonstration of "power". I've seen 13-yr olds hit it that far! The guys accused of and/or who admitted to using steroids could all already hit the ball well over 400'. Steroids did NOT turn any Juan Pierre's into Babe Ruth.
      • Al S
        Al S 10 mths ago
        So Sammy went from a thin kid with some talent to play.. to a well developed stud who hit more 60 home run plus years than anyone, to later ( after he forgot how to speak English) someone who couldn't hardly hit the ball. Steroids are and continue to be a big joke and you defenders are right there with them.
    • Mark S
      Mark S  •  10 mths ago
      So...the hitters are off steroids--and the pitchers are ON them? Non-use steroids may have something to do with the HR drop, but overall the strong young arms and a visibly larger strike zone (the umps are calling high strikes again--a clear boon to all the young hard throwing pitchers) are the bigger cause of hitting decline. It runs in cycles.
      • James H
        James H 10 mths ago
        What? You mean the umps are calling the zone defined in the rule book? Outrageous!
      • DASH
        DASH 10 mths ago
        Not all pitchers are on steroids... who's the DOPER Cy Young winner that pitches for SF Giants?
    • T
      T  •  10 mths ago
      It does seem like scores are lower but that actually builds the excitement for me. It seems like every night whatever game I'm watching (usually Twins) the game comes down to the last inning and tying run is at the plate. Makes it fun. Pitchers now-a-days do seem to be a lot better. I wonder how Ruth would do today.
    • Pat
      Pat  •  10 mths ago
      Off topic, but I hate the DH rule.
    • Reed
      Reed  •  10 mths ago
      Lets not put an asterisk to the individual records of those that took steroids. lets just ignore them. Bonds, Sosa, McGuire, Rodriquez, Palmeiro,Clemons and a lot of others just need to be ignored and never see foot in Cooperstown. If Shoeless Joe is out, then these guys CERTAINLY should be as well.
    • Al S
      Al S  •  10 mths ago
      No steroids for these young stars means no hits. We have taken away their talent. Maybe the old timers were really better.
    • NoBama
      NoBama  •  10 mths ago
      Once again, media drawing a faulty conclusion. Steriods can't make you hit the ball. Maybe a bit further than you otherwise would, but reaction, timing and placement drive batting averages far more than the long ball.

      My conclusion - overall, the talent has been taken out of baseball, as most of those who had talent, also were users. They have now retired, been indicted (or are on their way to being so), or are now experiencing the effects of coming off their drugs, which has affected their talent level, (it didn't increase their talent to be users, but the 'crash' is obvious).

      Need to build up the talent again. Some Kaleil Greene' shortstop work and Tony Gwynn batting are what I long to see.
    • scott
      scott  •  10 mths ago
      amazing how much the steroids affected baseball
    • Chad
      Chad  •  10 mths ago
      Anyone who knows anything about statistics knows that your cant assume that the dip is due to lack of steroids alone. That is merely an assumption and there are probably several other factors attributing to the dip that may not even include steroids! Ah statistics, oh how people can twist your outcome to their views!!!
    • DASH
      DASH  •  10 mths ago
      "confirmation that the Steroids Era has ended" Bonds, your era is over, give up your ill gotten *!
    • Weston
      Weston  •  10 mths ago
      It's mostly Seattle's fault. That team can't hit to save its collective soul. Terrible.
    • wendells
      wendells  •  10 mths ago
      Baseball is long and boring without homeruns. Majority of the game, the players are just standing around the field. Bring back the steriods, its about entertainment.
    • nxnne
      nxnne  •  10 mths ago
      UFC, MMA....they use testosterone therapy...
    • nxnne
      nxnne  •  10 mths ago
      well the next cheaters solution is...Hormone Therapy/ Testosterone Therapy
      ...it is an end-around to steroids...get a quack and say your blood levels are low
    • Chris R
      Chris R  •  10 mths ago
      Some of you really don't get it: OF COURSE pitchers were 'roided up. Exhibit A: Roger Clemens. But hitters had so much more to gain from steroids than pitchers, so it ought to go without saying that now that MLB has gotten tough on PES, batting averages are going down, power stats are in decline and pitchers are winning the day. It cannot all be conclusively linked tio steroids, but it has to be more than mere coincidence.
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