BASEBALL
	6.30.03 - Cycles There were two instances in the last week where players hit for the cycle in a game.  First, Brad Wilkerson of the Expos hit for a "natural" cycle, meaning he got the hits in order (single, double, triple, homer) and then Eric Byrnes of Oakland got one of the regular variety.  This got me thinking about cycles and how rare they are.  Here then is my list of interesting or semi-interesting facts about cycles: 1.  There have only been 256 cycles in the history of baseball. 2.  No Devil Ray, Marlin, or Padre has ever hit for a cycle. 3.  Thirteen players have done it twice in their career and two others have done it three times. 4.  Dodger Babe Herman is the only player since 1900 to do it twice in the same season (1931), he is also one of the two players to have done it three times (the other is Yankee Bob Muesel). 5.  Joe DiMaggio did it twice, but eleven years apart (1937 and 1948). 6.  During a two week stretch in 1933, three different Athletics hit for the cycle, Mickey Cochrane on August 2, Pinky Higgins on August 6, and Jimmy Foxx on August 14. I also found it interesting that John Olerud had hit for the cycle twice, once with the Mets and once with the Mariners.  It would seem that the hardest part of hitting for the cycle (other than the obvious difficulty of just getting four hits in a single game) would be the triple.  They are by far the rarest of the four hits.   To get a triple you need to be able to hit and be able to run.  This is why it suprised me that Olerud had done it twice, because he is one of the slowest players in the game.  Upon further review of Olerud's career statistics I found that he has only hit 12 triples in his entire career (13 full seasons).  The most he ever had in one season was four, and in the two years that he hit for the cycle (1997 and 2001), those were the only triples he hit for the whole year.  In fact, Olerud hadn't hit a triple in 1999 or 2000 when he hit for the cycle in 2001 (he has yet to hit one since then, as well).  So, if you see Olerud hit a triple, you are seeing something rare, indeed.  It also means that, if his career numbers hold true, you have almost a 17% chance of witnessing someone hit for a cycle.                                                                          ***** We are approaching the halfway point on the season, so let's check out the three overachievers that I've followed in this column all season: Mike Matheny: Projected statistics - .269 8 HR 53 RBI Career averages     - .238 7 HR 51 RBI (per 162 games) Matheny has almost completely reverted back to his career averages, although his batting average is thirty one points higher than his career rate.  With the downward spiral Matheny's offensive statistics have taken, he is well on his way to regain his .238 average as well. Brent Mayne: Projected statistics  - .249 8 HR 39 RBI Career averages      - .267 5 HR 53 RBI Mayne has fallen off a cliff, statistically.  The Royals have even taken to starting Mike DiFilice quite a bit lately.  Mayne's early heroics were definitely a flash in the pan. Jeff Suppan: Projected statistics   - 12-15  3.78 ERA  118 Ks Career averages       -  6-7     4.96 ERA   69 Ks While Suppan has certainly dropped off his early pace, I would think that the Pirates (who are not a good team by any stretch of the imagination) would be ecstatic about a pitcher winning 12 games with a 3.78 ERA and only paying him $1 million this season (actually, most teams would take that bargain - with a low ERA the losses have to be mostly attributed to playing on a crappy team). You can click here to check out the projected statistics for these three players from when I initially wrote about them.
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