July stats recap: MLB's best and worst from the month

This July, we had one national birthday celebration, one All-Star break, one Hall of Fame ceremony, one Republican National Convention, one Democratic National Convention, two triple plays and no trading deadline.

But those were not the only unusual things about July. Take a look at some statistics in MLB:

1. The average major league team hit .252, but the Angels led every team by hitting .292 (edging the Red Sox, who hit .291). The Angels went 15-11 in the month. It was their first winning month of the season.

2. The average major league team had a 4.03 ERA. The Nationals had the best ERA at 3.01, but only had a 13-12 record. The Brewers had the second best at 3.18, but their record was 12-13. The third best ERA belonged to the Marlins, who had a 16-10 record (now, we’re talking!).

3. There were four teams who won a league-high 16 games; the Blue Jays had the best record at 16-8. They had a team ERA of 3.37, the fourth best in baseball and moved into first place in the AL East on July 30, only to fall back behind the Orioles on July 31. Baltimore was 12-14 with a 4.27 ERA in July.

4. Speaking of the Orioles, they did not hit for the cycle in July. I’m not saying there wasn’t an Orioles player who hit for the cycle; I’m saying the team fell a triple shy of the cycle. The Orioles were the only team in baseball without a triple in July. They have not hit a triple since Nolan Reimold did so on May 30. The Orioles have hit three triples this season; 44 players have at least four triples this season.

5. One more triples note: the Padres (12-14 in July) hit five triples in the month, which was the MLB average in July. Yet somehow, the Padres pitchers allowed 11 triples.

6. The Cubs are heading in the wrong direction. They lost 10 games in May, 12 in June, and 14 in July as they suffered their first losing month of the season, going 12-14.

7. The Cubs' pitching staff had a 4.47 ERA, 24th in the majors, and allowed an MLB-leading 41 homers (MLB average was 28.8). The Brewers pitchers only permitted 17 homers, the fewest in the month. The Rockies' staff permitted the second fewest allowing 19.

8. Brewers starter Zach Davies pitched 26.1 innings and did not permit a homer (he went 3-0). Braves starter Matt Wisler, who leads the league with 22 home runs allowed and led the month with nine, will be making his next start for Triple-A Gwinnett.

9. Quick question: Ryan Schimpf: a) Spoke at the Republican National Convention; b) Spoke at the DNC; c) Plays second base for the Padres. Good for you if you picked “c.” Not only does Schimpf play for the Friars, he led the majors with nine homers in 93 plate appearances (78 at-bats). Schimpf is 28 and made his MLB debut in June. He hit .103 and no homers in 38 PA in his first month.

10. Charlie Blackmon has hit 12 homers this season, but no batter had more PA (119) than Blackmon without a homer.

11. As the old expression says, “Live by the knuckleball, die by the knuckleball.” Red Sox knuckler Steven Wright did both. Wright went 4-0 in the month, but had a 6.23 ERA and tied for the MLB lead with 43 hits allowed. He tied the Rangers’ Martin Perez, who had a 6.31 ERA. Perez went 0-3 in the month, which is another example of why we ignore win-loss records for pitchers.

12. Before we ignore W-L records completely, Hector Santiago went 6-0 for the Angles. Seven pitchers had four losses in the month, with Patrick Corbin and Yordano Ventura the two who went 0-4.

13. Yunel Escobar is having an outstanding season with a .322 average. He hit .352 and led the majors with 37 hits. Andrelton Simmons had 36 hits and Mookie Betts had 35 hits. Betts led the majors with 62 total bases in the month.

14. Joey Votto had 31 hits and led the majors with 25 walks. He led the majors with a .413 batting average, a .549 on-base percentage, and a 1.176 on-base plus slugging percentage.

15. Riddle me this: What starts with “C” and ends with “3”? The answer is three batters with the lowest averages in July: Cody Asche (.143); Chris Davis (.153); and Chris Carter (.173).

16. No matter what calendar you look at, this has not been the year of the Trout, but Mike Trout did lead the majors with 26 runs scored.

17. But let us throw a little respect toward Trout’s teammate, Albert Pujols, who not only hit .297 but also drove home an MLB-best 31 runs, the most RBI the future Hall of Famer has ever had in July.

18. As long as we are throwing respect to those oldies but goodies, Justin Verlander had a great month. He went 4-0, with a 1.69 ERA, 0.891 WHIP and led the majors with 48 strikeouts. He struck out 48 for the third time in his career, tying 2009 and 2011.

19. And one more - The David Ortiz Farewell Tour continues: Big Papi hit .273, good for 80th in the majors; slammed seven homers, tied for eighth; and drove home 22, good for fourth.

20. Miguel Sano led all batters with 39 strikeouts in just 104 PA. Former Yankee Willie Randolph had four different seasons in which he struck out 39 times.

21. Double your pleasure with Daniel Murphy, who hit .346 and led the majors with 11 doubles. And double your fun (if you were the opposition) with Mike Leake and Martin Perez, who each allowed 12 doubles.

22. Danny Espinosa and Starlin Castro each were hit by five pitches, the most in the majors.

23. Not only is Francisco Lindor hitting .375 with a runner on third and less than two outs this season, but he has 25 RBI, which is helped by the league-leading six sac flies.

24. As we get into the dog days of summer, don’t minimize the contribution of batters who stretch out pitchers. Xander Bogaerts led the majors in seeing 506 pitches. D.J. LeMahieu was next at 505 pitches. Brett Gardner was third with 501 pitches, and Jayson Werth saw 500 pitches. No one threw more pitches than Verlander’s 657.

25. Coming out of the bullpen: Raisel Iglesias led the majors by pitching 18.2 scoreless innings. Jeurys Familia led the majors with 10 saves. Ryan Madson led with three blown saves, and Addison Reed led with 10 holds.

The great Earl Weaver said, “Don't worry, the fans don't start booing until July.”

Let me add, they will continue in August.