Kyle Kendrick / Consecutive 6+ inning starts to begin a career
Posted by Andy on July 29, 2007
The AP preview on today's Pirates-Phillies game notes that Kyle Kendrick pitched at least 6 innings in his first 6 starts for the Phillies this year, which were the first 6 starts of his career. That got me to wondering who the leaders are for that category. The results are not too surprising. For year 2000 to present, most consecutive starts with at least 6 innings pitcher to start a career:
StreakStart Streak End Games W L GS CG SHO GF SV IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA HBP WP BK Teams +-----------------+-----------+-----------+-----+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Brandon Webb 2003-04-27 2003-07-24 16 7 3 16 1 1 0 0 110 83 31 30 30 96 10 2.45 6 5 0 ARI Vicente Padilla 2002-04-03 2002-06-19 15 9 4 15 1 1 0 0 104.2 91 38 35 27 74 6 3.01 4 3 0 PHI Brandon Duckworth 2001-08-07 2001-09-29 10 3 1 10 0 0 0 0 64.2 51 25 23 26 38 2 3.20 6 2 0 PHI Jered Weaver 2006-05-27 2006-08-03 9 7 0 9 0 0 0 0 59.2 41 13 12 14 47 2 1.81 2 1 0 LAA Bobby Madritsch 2004-08-05 2004-09-19 9 3 3 9 0 0 0 0 66.1 53 22 22 25 51 3 2.98 3 2 1 SEA Randy Wolf 2000-04-07 2000-05-17 8 3 2 8 0 0 0 0 54 46 23 21 20 45 7 3.50 3 0 0 PHI Mark Redman 2000-05-06 2000-06-10 7 3 1 7 0 0 0 0 45.1 48 17 17 8 44 7 3.38 0 1 0 MIN Kyle Kendrick 2007-06-13 2007-07-13 6 4 0 6 0 0 0 0 37.2 39 16 16 11 14 4 3.82 2 0 0 PHI Chien-Ming Wang 2005-04-30 2005-06-04 6 3 1 6 0 0 0 0 40 34 18 18 8 13 1 4.05 2 0 0 NYY Josh Beckett 2001-09-04 2002-04-12 6 2 3 6 0 0 0 0 36.2 26 14 8 16 35 4 1.96 1 3 0 FLA Robert Ellis 2001-04-16 2001-05-15 6 3 1 6 0 0 0 0 37.1 35 18 18 15 12 1 4.34 1 1 1 ARI Ben Sheets 2001-04-05 2001-05-13 6 4 2 6 0 0 0 0 38.1 35 14 12 16 25 4 2.82 2 2 0 MIL Ruben Quevedo 2000-05-30 2000-08-13 6 1 2 6 1 0 0 0 42 33 20 17 19 29 7 3.64 2 1 0 CHC Todd Ritchie 2000-04-07 2000-05-05 6 2 1 6 0 0 0 0 41.2 43 12 12 8 28 4 2.59 1 0 0 PIT Javier Vazquez 2000-04-05 2000-05-05 6 3 0 6 0 0 0 0 39.1 34 13 12 16 26 4 2.75 1 0 0 MON Rick Reed 2000-03-30 2000-05-04 6 3 1 6 0 0 0 0 44 34 14 13 8 25 6 2.66 0 1 0 NYM Brad Penny 2000-04-07 2000-05-03 6 3 3 6 0 0 0 0 39.1 36 17 16 15 23 3 3.66 1 1 0 FLA Orlando Hernandez 2000-04-03 2000-04-29 6 4 1 6 1 0 0 0 43.2 39 19 17 11 36 7 3.50 1 0 0 NYY
Webb's streak is still in most of our memories, as is Jered Weaver's impressive start last year. It's interesting that with Vicente Padilla, Brandon Duckworth, Randy Wolf, and Kyle Kendrick, the Phillies have 4 of the top streaks since 2000. This is one of the reasons why so many over the last several years have picked the Phils to turn it around and win the division, but they haven't done it yet. (As of this writing, being just 3.5 games behind the Mets, they probably have their best chance in a while, although they did just lose Chase Utley.) The Phillies' problem, as with a number of teams, continues to be pitching. Even with offensive forces like Ryan Howard, Utley, Jimmy Rollins, as well as emerging players like Shane Victorino and Aaron Rowand, they are just barely hanging on above .500.
Anyway, who had the longest streak of 6+ inning starts at the beginning of his career in the 1990s?
Answer is:
StreakStart Streak End Games W L GS CG SHO GF SV IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA HBP WP BK Teams +-----------------+-----------+-----------+-----+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Bill Pulsipher 1995-06-17 1995-09-06 16 5 6 16 2 0 0 0 121 112 53 51 43 78 11 3.79 3 1 1 NYM Norm Charlton 1990-07-15 1990-09-11 12 6 3 12 1 1 0 0 83.1 61 21 17 33 45 4 1.84 1 4 1 CIN Willie Adams 1996-06-11 1996-09-06 10 3 2 10 1 1 0 0 67.1 62 30 26 19 61 11 3.48 3 2 0 OAK
The three guys here did not have good careers as starters, although Charlton had a great career as a reliever.
For the 1980s:
StreakStart Streak End Games W L GS CG SHO GF SV IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA HBP WP BK Teams +-----------------+-----------+-----------+-----+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ John Farrell 1987-08-21 1988-06-06 21 10 4 21 5 0 0 0 159.1 153 62 56 46 62 11 3.16 9 1 3 CLE Bob Stoddard 1981-09-04 1982-09-22 12 5 2 12 3 1 0 0 90 69 25 23 25 40 8 2.30 3 4 0 SEA Dave Righetti 1981-05-23 1981-09-16 12 6 3 12 1 0 0 0 87.1 60 18 17 30 76 1 1.75 0 1 1 NYY
How about John Farrell? Those were the 21 best starts of his pitching career, I think. Now he's the Red Sox pitching coach.