Record Breakers | Big_Easy64's Blog

I find it absoutely astounding that all I'm hearing about is Chipper Jones batting .400 when there are still almost four months left in the season; which means in all probability, that Jones will not finish above .400. But there are some records in baseball that could be broken this season. They might not be as sexy or exciting as hitting safely in four of every ten at-bats, but they are impressive.

1. Sac-flies: Gil Hodges hit nineteen sacrifice flies in 1954 and I'm sure nobody even knows that he did it. Right now, Jose Lopez of the Mariners has nine in the firts 72 games of the season, meaning he has 90 games to get ten sac-flies to tie, eleven to break. Sounds easy enough, but keep in mind, for a sac-fly to happen, a combination of things must happen. He has to be at the plate with a runner on third with less than two outs. He also has to see a pitch that he can drive to a deep part of the park without dropping in for a hit, and short enough for an outfielder to catch it. And there are plenty of other factors as well. The speed of the baserunner, the arm of the fielder, the depth of the ball, baserunning mistakes, etc. The list goes on. While there are plenty of games left, the opportunity will be limited.

2. Strikeouts by a batter: Yes, it's a very dubious honor for the man who achieves this record. But it's still a record and the numbers are pretty impressive. Ryan Howard holds the record with 199, and it's Howard who is again on track to shatter his old record. In only 74 games, he has struck out 102 times, putting him on pace for 223 for a full season. The chances he breaks this record are great, but several things need to happen. Howard needs to stay healthy, and he needs to keep putting up good power numbers, which he is of course very capable of doing. He'll probably hit more than 45 homers this season. But, if the Phillies keep winning and the rest of the East keeps losing, Howard could sit several games to rest up for the playoffs. However, the Marlins are playing well, and they could challenge Philly for the East title. So, all things considered, Howard will most likely break his own record this season.