Mota still had more in his Motor!!

Manny Mota was almost exclusively used as a pinch-hitter from 1974 (age 36) on. And boy, was he good at it! In fact, from 1977 on thru 1979, then for 7 at bats after being activated late in 1980 at age 42, and again fro 1 at bat in 1982, he finished his career with an amazing 42 hits in his last 121 at bats, for an average of .347. Add in 16 walks in those years, and his on-base percentage was .423!! Incidently in the FIRST 3 years of being almost exclusively a pinch-hitter, from 1975-77, his average wasn't as impressive (.2785 on 44 for 158) but he had an incredible 39 RBIs on those 158 ABs!! (37 for 132 as pinch-hitter in those years, with 33 pinch-hit RBIs)

Phillies: Masters of the Stolen Base

Here's an unbelievable stat: the same team has led all other 29 MLB teams in stolen base percentage for an incredible 6 years. The Phillies are the master thieves. Here's the breakdown, including the Phil's percentage, the 2nd place team's percentage, the MLB average for that year, and the Phillies top base stealers for that year: 2012: Phil. 83% (116-23); 2nd LAA 80% (134-33); ML avg. 74% (108-38) PHI: Pierre 37-7, Rollins 30-5, Victorino 24-4, Utley 11-1, rest 14-6 2011: Phil. 80% (96-24); 2nd NYM 79% (130-35); ML avg. 72% (109-42) PHI: Rollins 30-8, Victorino 19-3, Utley 14-0, Mayberry 8-3, rest 25-10 2010: Phil. 84% (108-21); 2nd OAK 80% (156-38); ML avg. 72% (99-38) PHI: Victorino 34-6, Rollins 17-1, Utley 13-2, Werth 13-3. Francisco 8-0, Valdez 7-0, rest 16-9 2009: Phil. 80.952% (119-28); 2nd TEX 80.54% (149-36); ML avg. 72% (99-38) PHI: Rollins 31-8, Victorino 25-8, Utley 23-0, Werth 20-3, Howard 8-1, rest 12-8 2008: Phil. 84% (136-25); 2nd OAK 81% (88-21); ML avg. 73% (93-35) PHI: Rollins 47-3, Victorino 36-11, Werth 20-1, Utley 14-2, Bruntlett 9-2, rest 10-6 2007: Phil. 88% (138-19); 2nd ARI 82% (109-24); ML avg. 74% (97-33) PHI: Rollins 41-6, Victorino 37-4, Bourn 18-1, Utley 9-1, Werth 7-1, rest 26-6 Jimmy Rollins, Shane Victorino, Chae Utley and Jayson Werth have had the most to do with PHiladelphia's success in this area over the past half-dozen years.

Allen Craig of the Cards is batting .262 with no homers, but, incredibly, has 18 RBIs in 20 games! May be the best clutch hitter in baseball today!