Rich Harden.

I don't really need to say anything else about last night's game, so I won't.

Instead, I'll talk about a useless stat Jayson Stark made up called "runs not scored". Runs Not Scored is Runs Scored subtracted from Times On Base. Stark notes that Ichiro didn't score many runs for a guy who was on base so much, and wonders who else in history has had such problems.

Ordinarily I'd ignore such a stat, because "RNS" is misleading: it sounds like you're measuring a bad thing, but it's actually a good thing. Teams that have a lot of RNS usually have a lot of runs scored too, because they have a lot of baserunners overall.

But I was certain that last year's A's team must have had a ton of Runs Not Scored, so I was curious to see just how much.

We Bay Area baseball fans saw an awful lot of runners left on base last year. The 2004 A's had 1,415 RNS, which was second only to Barry Bonds the Giants, who had 1,427. The Giants' total was 16th all time, while the A's total was tied for 35th all time.

That's not quite as many as New York fans saw in 1999, though. The '99 Mets had 1,465 (2nd all time), while the Yankees had 1,441 (12th all time).

This year's A's team does not actually have this "problem"; the 2005 A's are actually tied for 16th in RNS with 124. (The Yankees are first with 150.) The problem with this year's A's, despite Eric Chavez being 0-for-15 with RISP, is not so much driving in runners; it's getting enough of them on base in the first place.

The all-time record for team RNS is held by the 1989 Boston Red Sox, who had 1,476. Below, I'll put a list of the top 50 all-time teams for RNS. You'll notice that most of these teams were good teams. Only 12 of the top 50 teams were below .500.

team	year	r	tob	rns	w	l
BOS	1989	774	2250	1476	83	79
NYN	1999	853	2318	1465	97	66
SLA	1941	765	2228	1463	70	84
CLE	1982	683	2144	1461	78	84
NYA	1997	891	2349	1458	96	66
BOS	1949	896	2352	1456	96	58
CIN	1976	857	2308	1451	102	60
DET	1993	899	2346	1447	85	77
DET	1921	887	2333	1446	71	82
BOS	1956	780	2225	1445	84	70
MIN	1978	666	2109	1443	73	89
NYA	1999	900	2341	1441	98	64
CLE	1980	738	2171	1433	79	81
BOS	1990	699	2128	1429	88	74
CLE	1996	952	2379	1427	99	62
SFN	2004	850	2277	1427	91	71
CLE	2000	950	2375	1425	90	72
DET	1949	751	2176	1425	87	67
BOS	1988	813	2237	1424	89	73
CHA	1996	898	2321	1423	85	77
DET	1947	714	2137	1423	85	69
MIN	1974	673	2096	1423	82	80
NYA	1996	871	2294	1423	92	70
DET	1950	837	2259	1422	95	59
MIL	1999	815	2237	1422	74	87
HOU	1999	823	2243	1420	97	65
NYA	1993	821	2240	1419	88	74
CLE	1999	1009	2427	1418	97	65
BOS	1948	907	2324	1417	96	59
FLO	1997	740	2157	1417	92	70
SFN	1998	845	2262	1417	89	74
BAL	1992	705	2121	1416	89	73
MON	1973	668	2084	1416	79	83
WS1	1937	757	2173	1416	73	80
BRO	1947	774	2189	1415	94	60
MIN	1973	738	2153	1415	81	81
OAK	2004	793	2208	1415	91	71
SEA	1990	640	2055	1415	77	85
DET	1924	847	2261	1414	86	68
SFN	1970	831	2245	1414	86	76
BOS	1954	700	2113	1413	69	85
PHA	1949	726	2139	1413	81	73
BOS	1996	928	2340	1412	85	77
PHI	1975	735	2147	1412	86	76
BAL	1973	754	2165	1411	97	65
PHI	2002	710	2121	1411	80	81
PHI	1979	683	2092	1409	84	78
BOS	1985	800	2207	1407	81	81
CHA	1949	648	2055	1407	63	91
BOS	1997	851	2257	1406	78	84