clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Matt Kemp & The First Half 20-20 Club

Matt Kemp is on pace for 43 home runs and 43 stolen bases this season.
Matt Kemp is on pace for 43 home runs and 43 stolen bases this season.

With Matt Kemp joining the 20-homer, 20-steal club last night in game number 75 of the season, he joined some select company. I did some research last night, and was able to find just eight other seasons in which a player had 20 home runs and 20 stolen bases in a team's first 81 games. I'm not saying this is the definitive list -- there might be others -- but here are the players I found to hit the 20-20 mark through 81 games.

20 Home Runs & 20 Stolen Bases Through 81 Team Games
Player Year Through 81 Season
Ken Williams 1922 20 HR / 26 SB 39 / 37*
Bobby Bonds 1973 21 / 24 39 / 43
Eric Davis 1987 24 / 33 37 / 50
Jose Canseco 1988 23 / 22 42 / 40
Barry Bonds 1996 23 / 20 42 / 40
Alex Rodriguez 1998 27 / 22 42 / 46
Jose Canseco 1998 23 / 21 46 / 29
Alfonso Soriano 2003 21 / 23 38 / 35
Matt Kemp** 2011 20 / 20 ???
*154-game season
**Through 75 games

In case you were wondering, the closest Willie Mays came to joining the first half 20-20 club was in 1960, when he had 18 home runs and 19 steals.

Today's Game

Ted Lilly has started five day games this season, and the Dodgers have lost all five. In 10 starts at night, Lilly is 5-3 (the Dodgers are 7-3) with a 3.32 ERA, 11 walks, and 43 strikeouts. In five daytime starts, Lilly is 0-3 with a 6.63 ERA with six walks and 17 strikeouts in 27 innings, though he did allow just one run in six innings in his last day start, with the roof closed in Houston on May 25.

Starting for the Tigers is Rick Porcello, who was hammered for nine runs in three innings at Coors Field in his last start. Porcello, however, says he has corrected a flaw in his delivery that he says has increased his velocity. "From working on it (the last two days), I'm starting to get that feel back a little bit. I can just tell," Porcello told John Lowe of the Detroit Free Press. "It might not be four miles an hour faster, but it is one or two miles an hour faster. And the ball is exploding out of my hand, instead of my just guiding it."

Tigers Dodgers
CF Wells
2B Miles
2B Raburn 3B Uribe
LF Boesch RF Ethier
1B Cabrera CF Kemp
C Martinez 1B Loney
RF Ordoñez LF Thames
SS Peralta C Navarro
3B Worth SS Carroll
P Porcello P Lilly

Game Time: 12:10 p.m.

TV: Prime Ticket

MLB Gameday