Fun With Numbers: World Series Edition

60% OF THE TIME, THEY WORK EVERY TIME

We’re back with a World Series edition of Fun with Numbers.  No game focuses more on numbers than baseball so we had plenty of stuff to work with here.  Almost too much.  Our heads are still spinning.

Without further ado, here are your numbers.

2: World Series Championships in Phillies history

2: Number of times the Yankees have won 4 straight World Series Championships (’36-’39 and ‘49-’53 when they won 5 straight)

31: World Series games played by the Phillies in the franchise’s 116-year history

32: World Series games played by Derek Jeter

10,167: Losses in Phillies franchise history, making Philly the only team in American sports history to surpass the 10,000 loss plateau

16.7: Consecutive 0-win, 162-loss seasons the Yankees would need to reach 10,000 losses

1: Number of times Cy Young winners have faced off in Game 1 of the World Series before CC Sabathia and Cliff Lee tonight (In 1995, Greg Maddux of the Braves faced the Indians Orel Hersheiser)

0: Teams that have started pitchers in World Series Games 1 and 2 who weren’t on their Opening Day roster (Lee and Martinez are scheduled to pitch games 1 & 2)

5 2/3: World Series innings pitched by Phillies Closer Brad Lidge

9: World Series games saved by Mariano Rivera, the most all-time

1.89: Cliff Lee’s ERA in his last 3 starts (2-1) versus the Yankees, including a 10-2 win on Opening Day this year

0.74: Lee’s ERA in 3 starts this postseason (2-0 with 1 no-decision)

8: Consecutive postseason games with an RBI by Ryan Howard and Alex Rodriguez, an all-time record shared with Lou Gehrig

1976: Year the last National League team repeated as World Champs (Cincy’s Big Red Machine in ‘75-’76)

Here’s a look at some other numbers you should know.

2009 Postseason Numbers

• Alex Rodriguez: .438 AVG, .548 OBP, 5 HR, 12 RBI
• Ryan Howard: .355 AVG, .462 OBP, 2 HR, 14 RBI

Yankees World Series Numbers

• Derek Jeter: 32 G, .302 AVG, .375 OBP, 27 R, 3 HR, 8 RBI
• Johnny Damon: 4 G, .286 AVG, .286 OBP, 4 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI
• Jorge Posada: 23 G, .208 AVG, .337 OBP, 6 R, 2 HR, 6 RBI
• Mariano Rivera: 20 G, 31 IP, 4 ER, 1.16 ERA, 9 SV, 29 K, 6 BB

Phillies World Series Numbers

• Jimmy Rollins: 5 G, .267 AVG, .261 OBP, 4 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI
• Chase Utley: 5 G, .167 AVG, .375 OBP, 5 R, 2 HR, 4 RBI
• Ryan Howard: 5 G, .286 AVG, .375 OBP, 3 R, 3 HR, 6 RBI
• Brad Lidge: 5 G, 5 2/3 IP, 2 ER, 3.18 ERA, 2 SV, 9 K, 0 BB