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Sports by the Numbers MLB Stat of the Week

52 Goose Gossage, now a member of the Hall of Fame, notched (52) saves in his career during which he pitched more than two innings – an almost unbelievable number. By comparison, Mariano Rivera entered 2008 with 443 saves but had worked more than two innings for a save only once – and Trevor Hoffman, the all-time saves leader, has never pitched more than two innings for a save. Gossage saved 310 games total, and in 125 of those games he recorded six outs or more.

Honorable Mentions

2 Dick Williams won (2) World Series titles during his Hall of Fame managerial career. He won it all in 1972 and 1973 with the Oakland Athletics, but he also won pennants with the Boston Red Sox in 1967, and the San Diego Padres in 1984. Williams and Gossage were inducted into the Hall of Fame over the weekend. Williams said during the ceremony, “It’s hard to believe that at age 79, this has to be one of my most memorable times.”

14 Greg Maddux has made (14) consecutive starts without a victory. He won game number 350 of his career back on May 10, but he is 0-5 with nine no decisions since then – including his latest effort which San Diego lost, 9-5, to Cincinnati last week. The Padres have lost his last four starts, and seven out of his last nine.

20 The Florida Marlins struck out (20) times on Saturday against the Cubs – and won. Rich Harden started and struck out ten in five innings for Chicago, but Sean Marshall gave up a homerun to Jeremy Hermida that tied the score 2-2 in the eighth. Hermida, who struck out twice, hit two homeruns in the game – and he also scored the winning run when Jorge Cantu doubled in the twelfth.

24 Philadelphia scored (24) runs in three games against the Braves over the weekend. Atlanta scored 27 runs in the series – winning the opener 8-2, but the Braves blew a six run lead on Saturday and lost 10-9, and then on Sunday Atlanta gave up five homeruns, and blew a 5-0 lead, as they lost 12-10.

83 Baltimore gave up (83) runs in a stretch of 15 consecutive Sunday games – all of which they lost. It was the longest losing streak on a single day of the week in the majors since 2004, when Arizona lost 15 straight Saturday games. The Orioles only scored 43 runs during the streak – but they beat Ervin Santana and the LA Angels 5-2 on Sunday to end the skid. Orioles’ manager Dave Trembley, who was pestered with questions about the streak in recent days, said after the game, “No questions about Sunday – it’s done, it’s dead, put it to rest.”

Shockey is a "Saint," Danica's Antics, and Norman's Invite

Sports by the Numbers Stat of the Week

289 Greg Norman posted a nine-over (289) during four rounds at the British Open. There were a lot of people who thought this year’s tournament would be a major letdown after the Tiger Woods-Rocco Mediate playoff at the U.S. Open – turns out, it was anything but. The 53-year-old Norman was leading on the back nine, on Sunday, before Padraig Harrington took over and claimed his second consecutive Open Championship – but after tying for third place, Norman gets an automatic invite to next year’s Masters. Norman, when asked about returning to Augusta, the scene of his greatest collapse in 1996, said, “Time out – I’ve got a lot of water to go over the dam to get to that.”

Honorable Mentions

12 The finish position (12) for Danica Patrick in Sunday’s running of the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio. Patrick made headlines the day before the race, but once again, it was because of antics outside of her car, rather than for her performance behind the wheel. Patrick confronted the “other” female IRL driver at the event, Milka Duno, saying later, “I just wanted to know if she saw me out there.”

80 The top (80) on the LPGA Tour money list get a card for next year – and Michelle Wie probably will not be among them. She needs to win at least $80,000 more to get there, but she is down to her last sponsor’s exemption – which is the only way she can get into tournaments these days. This weekend she was one back of the lead going into the final round of the State Farm Classic, but she was disqualified for not signing her card before leaving the scoring area. No money for that, but without the DQ she likely would have earned enough to get her card – and now we find out she plans on teeing it up against the men again, next week, at the Reno-Tahoe Open.

371 Jeremy Shockey caught (371) passes during six seasons with the New York Giants – but the unhappy star, a four-time Pro Bowl selection, was traded today to the New Orleans Saints. The Saints gave up two picks in next year’s draft, second- and fifth-rounds, to get Shockey. Sean Payton, the head coach for the Saints, was the one working hard to get this deal done – he was the offensive coordinator for the Giants when Shockey was a rookie.

916 “The Commission’s determination that CBS’ broadcast of a (9/16) of one second glimpse of a bare female breast was actionably indecent evidenced the agency’s departure from its prior policy.” That was the ruling today of a federal appeals court, as it tossed out the $550,000 fine that was levied against CBS after the Justin Timberlake-Janet Jackson “wardrobe malfunction” during the halftime show of the 2004 Super Bowl. No word yet on how much money CBS spent to avoid paying the fine.

956 The Yankees got a rather bizarre (9-5-6) out during the ninth inning of Sunday’s win against Oakland. Mariano Rivera was trying to nail down the 2-1 decision after giving up a one-out hit to Ryan Sweeney, when Bobby Crosby hit a routine fly that right fielder Bobby Abreu dropped. Abreu picked the ball up and gunned it to shortstop Derek Jeter, who was covering second base, to try and force Sweeney – only problem was Abreu airmailed it over Jeter’s head. Alex Rodriguez was backing Jeter up, however, and he quickly flipped the ball to Jeter in time to get the 9-5-6 force out. Jeter said after the game, “I didn’t know what happened. I was looking at the runner at first when I heard the crowd, and then Bobby airmailed it – fortunately it all worked out.”