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ShareThisBumblings & Mumblings
I've loved Jayson Stark ever since he wrote for the Philadelphia Enquirer, and his contributions to ESPN and ESPN.com are among the best. His Rumblings & Grumblings column is always interesting.
Today I'm using the PI to look at one of his comments in the most recent edition of Rumblings & Grumblings.
Stark said this about Matt Cain:
"We couldn't find a single pitcher in the expansion era who had an ERA as good as Cain's (3.15), or a hits-per-nine-IP rate as good as Cain's (7.02 per nine IP) who wound up a season with a winning percentage as lousy as his is now (.222)"
So I did a PI Pitching Season Finder with the following restrictions: 1961-present, pitchers qualified for the ERA title, ERA of 3.15 or less, ranked by lowest W-L%:
Cnt Player W-L% ERA Year Age Tm
+----+-----------------+-----+------+----+---+---+
1 John Dopson .214 3.04 1988 24 MON
2 Jim Abbott .318 2.77 1992 24 CAL
3 Nolan Ryan .333 2.76 1987 40 HOU
4 Sammy Stewart .333 2.32 1981 26 BAL
5 Gary Ross .333 3.00 1976 28 CAL
It would appear that Stark missed John Dopson, who had 26 games and starts for the 1988 Montreal Expos, finishing 3-11 (.214%) with an ERA of 3.04. Still, he's the only one Stark missed, as the next worst season by Jim Abbott saw a lofty .318 W-L%.
Maybe Jayson should become a B-R PI subscriber?
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This entry was posted on Friday, June 22nd, 2007 at 8:07 am and is filed under Season Finders. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
June 22nd, 2007 at 8:53 am
He is.
June 22nd, 2007 at 9:07 am
It's amazing how time flies. I remember when Stark wrote Rumblings & Grumblings for the Enquirer. He's been doing that column for at least 10 years now, and never once has it failed to be very entertaining.
June 22nd, 2007 at 4:53 pm
I must be one of only a couple guys that are not connected to sports in any way (announcer, writer...) that has a subscription to the PI index.
June 22nd, 2007 at 5:09 pm
Stark didn't list Dopson because Dopson didn't fit Stark's qualifications. That is, Dopson had a H/9 of 8.00 which is not as good as Cain's 7.02.
June 22nd, 2007 at 6:29 pm
Actually, he said an ERA below 3.15 *OR* a H/9 under 8.00. That's why Dopson qualified. Perhaps he meant to say "and".