Random Baseball Stuff You Hadn’t Thought Of

Lots and lots of solo homers, 200,000 games, a little trivia, and other random baseball notes:

— When San Francisco’s Pablo Sandoval hit a homer in the first inning of Wednesday’s 9-2 loss, it tied a 97-year-old major-league record. Sandoval’s hit was the 19th straight homer by the Giants to come with nobody on base. San Francisco’s last homer that wasn’t a solo shot was a two-run drive by Nate Schierholtz on July 6.

The 19 straight solo homers ties the mark set by the 1914 Philadelphia Phillies. The average NL team hit 33 homers that year but the Phillies, playing in one of the all-time-great home run parks, hit 62.

This year, about 59 percent of home runs throughout the major leagues have been solo shots. Last season, roughly 57 percent came with nobody on base.

— Baseball-reference.com has an interesting item on its home page: “The Road to 200,000 Games.” According to the countdown, through Tuesday there had been 199,373 games in major-league history. They project Sept. 24 will be the date of the milestone 200,000th game.

Before the first round of expansion in 1961, there were about 1,235 games played every year. Now, with 30 teams and a 162-game schedule, there are about 2,340 each season.

— Of those almost 200,000 major-league games, which team has won the most? Which five teams have 10,000 wins? (Answer below)

— Headline from Fark: “Rookie Johnny Giavotella, just called up to KC Royals from AAA, has amazing weekend series, going 5 for 11 with a .909 slugging percentage. Team give him the coveted ‘Guys Who Sound Like Sopranos Characters But Aren’t’ award.”

— With two hits already Wednesday (they’re in the sixth inning as I write this), Dan Uggla has extended his hitting streak to 31 games and raised his batting average to .223. When the streak started, Uggla was batting .176. Here is his game-by-game log for the season.

— Trivia answer: The New York/San Francisco Giants have won 10,500 games in their 129-year history. The Cubs (believe it or not) are second, followed by the Dodgers, Cardinals and Braves — the other teams with 10,000 wins. The Yankees have by far the highest winning percentage, at .568, but the NL teams have been around some 20 years longer than the Yankees.

— Only the Phillies and the Braves have 10,000 losses.