Mark Reynolds Strikeout Record Watch...

The Arizona thirdbaseman made his 33rd error yesterday and struck out two more times, raising his season total to 198. The record for a season is 199, set last year by Ryan Howard.

The current list:

#.  Name           (Age) Total Year

1.  Ryan Howard*    (27)  199  2007
2.  Mark Reynolds   (24)  198  2008
3.  Adam Dunn*      (24)  195  2004
3.  Ryan Howard*    (28)  195  2008
5.  Adam Dunn*      (26)  194  2006
6.  Jack Cust*      (29)  190  2008
7.  Bobby Bonds     (24)  189  1970
8.  Jose Hernandez  (32)  188  2002
9.  Bobby Bonds     (23)  187  1969
9.  Preston Wilson  (25)  187  2000
11. Rob Deer        (26)  186  1987
12. Jose Hernandez  (31)  185  2001
12. Pete Incaviglia (22)  185  1986
12. Jim Thome*      (30)  185  2001
15. Cecil Fielder   (26)  182  1990
15. Jim Thome*      (32)  182  2003
17. Ryan Howard*    (26)  181  2006
17. Mo Vaughn*      (32)  181  2000
19. Mike Schmidt+   (25)  180  1975
20. Rob Deer        (25)  179  1986

Ryan Howard and Jack Cust are not far off the mark either...

This list, as you can see, consists of

1) Bobby Bonds

2) Rob Deer

3) Mike Schmidt

4) Pete Incavilia

5) Guys who've played in the 1990's and 2000's.

So it's players who were anomalies in the 1970's and 1980's, and then a bunch of players, and pretty good ones, too, who are playing now or have played recently. Obvioulsy, the game is changing.

Several years ago, when it looked like Jose Hernandez would break Bobby Bonds' long-standing record, his manager benched him toward the end of the year to keep his name out of the record books, and I blasted him for it, as did others. As far as I can tell, nobody else has been benched for that reason, but I could be wrong there.

I had thought that there was a general prejudice against the strikeout and this dubious record, but it seems that Jerry Royster, trying to salvage what would become the worst finish in Brewers' history, is the only one. Of course, he was replaced by Ned Yost the next spring, so that didn't work. Managers appear to recognize now that if a hitter can smack 30 homers, drive in or score 100 runs, but he has to strikeout 200 times to do it, you'd better let him.