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ShareThisArchive for December, 2008
Fewest Pitches by a Winning Starter
In honor of Greg Maddux retiring I thought it might be interesting to take a look at this list. Over the years Maddux has been known for for being dominant, economical with his pitches, and sometimes quick to leave a game.
Here are the games over the last ten years in the which the fewest pitches were thrown by a starter who recorded a win.
Cnt Player Date Tm Opp GmReslt App,Dec IP H R ER BB SO HR **Pit** Str GmSc IR IS BF AB 2B 3B IBB HBP SH SF GDP SB CS Pk BK WP ERA +----+-----------------+-------------+---+----+-------+---------+----+--+--+--+--+--+--+-------+---+----+--+--+--+--+--+--+---+---+--+--+---+--+--+--+--+--+------+ 1 Greg Maddux 2003-09-21 ATL FLA W 8-0 GS-5 ,W 5 1 0 0 0 0 0 43 29 65 16 16 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 2 John Smoltz 2005-05-06 ATL HOU W 9-4 GS-5 ,W 5 2 1 1 0 2 0 46 36 61 17 17 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.80 3 Greg Maddux 2008-09-27 LAD @SFG W 2-1 GS-6 ,W 6 2 1 1 0 2 1 47 38 66 19 19 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1.50 4 Greg Maddux 2002-05-31 ATL @CIN W 7-0 GS-5 ,W 5 2 0 0 1 2 0 51 36 64 17 16 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0.00 5 Greg Maddux 2002-09-27(1) ATL @NYM W 3-1 GS-5 ,W 5 5 1 1 0 4 0 53 40 57 18 17 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 1.80 6 Masato Yoshii 2002-04-16 MON CHC W 8-4 GS-5 ,W 5 3 1 1 1 1 0 54 34 57 18 17 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1.80 7 Edgar Gonzalez 2007-09-16 ARI @LAD W 6-1 GS-5 ,W 5 6 1 1 1 1 1 55 37 51 18 17 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 1.80 8 Wandy Rodriguez 2005-08-30 HOU CIN W 5-2 GS-5 ,W 5 4 1 1 1 4 0 55 38 58 19 18 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.80 9 Chris Sampson 2008-07-05 HOU @ATL W 6-1 GS-5 ,W 5 2 1 1 0 2 1 56 36 61 17 17 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.80 10 Rocky Biddle 2004-07-10 MON PIT W 4-0 GS-5 ,W 5 2 0 0 1 3 0 56 35 65 17 14 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 0.00
4 out of 5 ain't bad.
6 Comments | Posted in Game Finders
Post-2003 Yanks Starting Pitching Scorecard
Playing around with Baseball-Reference.com's Play Index Pitching Season Finder, I asked it to show me, since 2004, how many Yankees pitchers have posted a season where they appeared in at least 28 games, with 90% of them being starts, and had an ERA+ of 110 (or greater) on the season. Here's that list:
From To Ages Seasons +-----------------+----+----+-----+-------+ Chien-Ming Wang 2006 2007 26-27 2 Mike Mussina 2006 2008 37-39 2 Andy Pettitte 2007 2007 35-35 1 Randy Johnson 2005 2005 41-41 1 Seasons/Careers found: 4.
That's it. In the last five years the Yankees have only had four starting pitchers to have "very good" seasons - and, in total, these four have authored six such seasons.
Think about that for a moment. Assume that, in a perfect world, you had 5 starting pitchers in your rotation and each of them never missed a turn. That means you would have 5 "starting seasons" per year. Now, multiply that by five seasons (from 2004 through 2008). That's twenty-five.
So, in this department, the Yankees have gone 6 for 25 - or a percentage of 24%. Sounds bad, right?
Well, check out the Boston Red Sox, using the same filters, since 2004:
From To Ages Seasons +-----------------+----+----+-----+-------+ Curt Schilling 2004 2006 37-39 2 Tim Wakefield 2008 2008 41-41 1 Daisuke Matsuzaka 2008 2008 27-27 1 Jon Lester 2008 2008 24-24 1 Josh Beckett 2007 2007 27-27 1 Pedro Martinez 2004 2004 32-32 1 Bronson Arroyo 2004 2004 27-27 1
Seasons/Careers found: 7.
Boston, over this time, has posted 8 such seasons (from 7 pitchers). So, the Red Sox are at 32%.This makes me think that we should lower that ERA+ bar. What happens if we move it to an ERA+ of 100 (or greater)? Here are those results:
From To Ages Seasons +-----------------+----+----+-----+-------+ Chien-Ming Wang 2006 2007 26-27 2 Mike Mussina 2006 2008 37-39 2 Andy Pettitte 2007 2007 35-35 1 Jaret Wright 2006 2006 30-30 1 Randy Johnson 2005 2005 41-41 1 Seasons/Careers found: 5.
From To Ages Seasons +-----------------+----+----+-----+-------+ Tim Wakefield 2004 2008 37-41 4 Daisuke Matsuzaka 2007 2008 26-27 2 Curt Schilling 2004 2006 37-39 2 Bronson Arroyo 2004 2005 27-28 2 Jon Lester 2008 2008 24-24 1 Josh Beckett 2007 2007 27-27 1 David Wells 2005 2005 42-42 1 Pedro Martinez 2004 2004 32-32 1 Seasons/Careers found: 8.
Well, there it is, huh? Since 2004, the Yankees have had just 7 "solid" seasons from a starting pitcher (coming from 5 starters) whereas the Red Sox have had 14 "solid" seasons from a starting pitcher (coming from 8 starters).
This puts the Yankees at 28% for a success rate whereas the Red Sox have a success rate of 56% over the same period of time. Do the math on that one - it's double.
So, if you want to know why the Red Sox have two World Series rings since 2004 and the Yankees have zero, part of the reason is the fact that Boston (and their front office) has lapped the Yankees (and their front office) in terms of identifying and retaining quality starting pitching.
And, unless the Yankees organization can close this front office efficiency gap with respect to filling out a starting rotation, don't expect New York to catch up to Boston, any time soon, in that ring tally board.
1 Comment | Posted in Season Finders
Joe (Big Game) Carter?
Just playing around with Baseball-Reference.com's Play Index Batting Game Finder, I asked it to show me, since 1956 (of course) who had the most games with: TOB>=3, XBH>=3, R>=3, and RBI>=3
I was very surprised to see Joe Carter on the top of this list. In any event, he's the leader board for the "Four Threes (or greater)" -
Games Link to Individual Games +-----------------+-----+-------------------------+ Joe Carter 10 Ind. Games Frank Robinson 9 Ind. Games Manny Ramirez 9 Ind. Games Carlos Delgado 9 Ind. Games Willie Stargell 8 Ind. Games Willie Mays 8 Ind. Games Dave Kingman 8 Ind. Games Steve Finley 8 Ind. Games Larry Walker 7 Ind. Games Sammy Sosa 7 Ind. Games Alex Rodriguez 7 Ind. Games Barry Bonds 7 Ind. Games Billy Williams 6 Ind. Games Mark Teixeira 6 Ind. Games Darryl Strawberry 6 Ind. Games Jim Rice 6 Ind. Games Dale Murphy 6 Ind. Games Mark McGwire 6 Ind. Games Luis Gonzalez 6 Ind. Games Ellis Burks 6 Ind. Games Albert Belle 6 Ind. Games Jeff Bagwell 6 Ind. Games Garret Anderson 6 Ind. Games Moises Alou 6 Ind. Games Hank Aaron 6 Ind. Games
4 Comments | Posted in Game Finders
