I noticed that today is Woody Williams' birthday, so I was wracking my brain for something interesting to say about him when I recalled that he had arguably the best day at the plate by a Padres pitcher. I fired up the ol' Baseball Reference Play Index to see if I was completely off-base, and I'm happy to report that my memory is at least somewhat intact.
Williams did indeed have quite a day with the bat back on July 20, 2000. His pitching left something to be desired, as the Padres lost 7-3 to the Giants, but that's beside the point. He went 3-for-3 with a home run and a double, which put him in rarefied air.
- Williams is one of seven Padres pitchers with two extra-base hits in a game (Jake Peavy and Adam Eaton both did it twice). Of the four to hit a double and a home run in the same game, Williams is the only to record a third hit.
- His three hits in the game put him in the company of just ten other guys. Williams is the franchise leader with three such games; Chan Ho Park is the only other Padres pitcher to do it even twice. Woody's other two three-hit games happened in September of that same season, and then six years later in his second stint with the team.
- His two runs and two RBI put him in the company of, yet again, just ten other guys. Only five of them had a homer in their game, and of them, only Williams recorded three hits.
- The one other game that keeps popping up is Jake Peavy's effort on July 26, 2006. Peavy went 2-3 with a double, home run, two runs scored, and four batted in. Those four RBI were two more than Williams had in his big game, but Williams was a perfect 3-3 while Peavy was retired once. I guess it's a matter of personal preference which you value more, but I'll take the one with the extra hit and the perfect line. It's not like Jake Peavy had anything to do with two more guys happening to get on base before him.
So, there you have it. Woody Williams had the best day at the plate by any pitcher in Padres history. Unless you're super-into the idea of RsBI, in which case your mileage may vary.