Rickie Weeks came into the game with a bit of a curious statistic: He was fourth in the league in runs scored with 28. However, Weeks was hitting .197 and had an on-base percentage of .324, and both numbers are low for someone scoring so many runs. He lowered both statistics by going 0 for 3 Tuesday.

Of course, Yost didn't see anything odd about it.

"Rickie's a run scorer," he said. "There's nothing weird about it."
-- Milwaukee Journal Sentinal, May 6, 2008

That quote has turned into a joke around here. Does Ned believe Rickie's got some skills that extend to the players behind him that causes them to drive him in where other players would be stranded on the basepaths? Was it a throwaway, "what-kind-of-lame-question-is-that" type of quote? Who cares? The fact of the matter is, Rickie Weeks is actually near the top of MLB in runs scored per time on base.

I figured out times on Base the way you'd expect. It's the sum of a players hits, walks, times hit by pitch, and times reached on errors. A player's runs scored are easily available, but I wanted to avoid giving credit to guys who come in often as pinch runners (hello, Rajai Davis), so I took out all runs scored by players inserted as a pinch runner. However, if that PR then took the field and scored later in the game, those runs still count because they had to get on base to score them. Pretty simple, really.

Anyway, after figuring out times on base and runs, it was easy to make the Runs per Time on Base table. I set the minimum amount of playing time at 400 plate appearances for the season. That's a little below the amount that qualifies players for most leaderboards at this point, but that's okay. I've also included each player's usual lineup spot (or two, if they've spent significant time in more than one spot) to see if the list favors any areas of the lineup.

Most Runs Scored per Times on Base in 2008
Minimum 400 PA

Some of the guys on the list no doubt are helped out by their own home run power. But hey, if you're good enough to consistently drive yourself in, that's a positive for the team. Not many guys from the bottom of the order wound up on the list.

Now that we've seen the run scorers, which guys clog up the bases without scoring?

Fewest Runs Scored per Time on Base in 2008
Minimum 400 PA

Guys from all over the lineup wind up on this list. A lot of the players here are on teams that aren't very good offensively, though, so no matter where they are in the lineup, it's tough to score. I like the gaggle of catchers at the top - having "catcher speed" and weak offense impacts your run scoring opportunities a lot.

If you take away the minimum plate appearances requirement, the best run scorer on the Brewers is Laynce Nix - he's only been on base twice, but he scored one of those times. Russell Branyan (.462) follows Weeks, while Joe Dillon (.429) and Gabe Kapler (.422) round out the top five. The closest regular to Weeks is Ryan Braun (.394), followed by Mike Cameron (.388) and Corey Hart (.382).