Consecutive Starts with 2 Runs or Fewer to Start the Season
Posted by Raphy on May 31, 2010
With another dominant performance today, Ubaldo Jimenez has now made 11 starts this season and has not allowed more than 2 runs in any of them. Here are the longest such streaks in PI history. (I've updated Jimenez's numbers to include today's game.)
| Rk | Strk Start | End | Games | W | L | GS | CG | SHO | GF | SV | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | HBP | WP | BK | Tm | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Edinson Volquez | 2008-04-06 | 2008-06-04 | 12 | 8 | 1 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 73.1 | 48 | 12 | 11 | 37 | 89 | 2 | 1.35 | 6 | 3 | 0 | CIN |
| 2 | Barry Moore | 1969-04-11 | 1969-06-06 | 11 | 5 | 1 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 62.2 | 48 | 14 | 13 | 24 | 24 | 4 | 1.87 | 0 | 2 | 0 | WSA |
| 3 | Ubaldo Jimenez | 2010-04-05 | 2010-05-26 | 11 | 10 | 1 | 11 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 80.1 | 46 | 7 | 7 | 26 | 70 | 1 | 0.78 | 3 | 4 | 1 | COL |
| 4 | Zack Greinke | 2009-04-08 | 2009-05-26 | 10 | 8 | 1 | 10 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 75.0 | 54 | 8 | 7 | 12 | 81 | 0 | 0.84 | 1 | 3 | 0 | KCR |
| 5 | Jake Peavy | 2004-04-06 | 2004-07-02 | 10 | 5 | 2 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 59.0 | 57 | 13 | 13 | 20 | 59 | 3 | 1.98 | 2 | 0 | 1 | SDP |
| 6 | Bob Tewksbury | 1992-04-10 | 1992-05-30 | 10 | 5 | 1 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 74.0 | 64 | 15 | 15 | 6 | 27 | 5 | 1.82 | 0 | 1 | 0 | STL |
| 7 | Juan Marichal | 1966-04-12 | 1966-05-26 | 10 | 9 | 0 | 10 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 92.0 | 51 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 60 | 3 | 0.59 | 0 | 0 | 0 | SFG |
Other than Marichal, it looks like Jimenez has been the most dominant of the bunch. However, Jimenez is probably less concerned with what he has done and is more concerned with what he is going to do. Here are the season totals for the other pitchers on the list.
| Player | Year | Age | Tm | Lg | W | L | W-L% | ERA | G | GS | GF | CG | SHO | SV | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | IBB | SO | HBP | BK | WP | BF | ERA+ | WHIP | H/9 | HR/9 | BB/9 | SO/9 | SO/BB | Awards |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Edinson Volquez | 2008 | 24 | CIN | NL | 17 | 6 | 0.739 | 3.21 | 33 | 32 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 196 | 167 | 82 | 70 | 14 | 93 | 5 | 206 | 14 | 1 | 10 | 838 | 138 | 1.327 | 7.7 | 0.6 | 4.3 | 9.5 | 2.22 | AS RoY-4 |
| Barry Moore | 1969 | 26 | WSA | AL | 9 | 8 | 0.529 | 4.3 | 31 | 25 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 134 | 123 | 70 | 64 | 12 | 67 | 1 | 51 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 582 | 80 | 1.418 | 8.3 | 0.8 | 4.5 | 3.4 | 0.76 | |
| Zack Greinke | 2009 | 25 | KCR | AL | 16 | 8 | 0.667 | 2.16 | 33 | 33 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 229.1 | 195 | 64 | 55 | 11 | 51 | 0 | 242 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 915 | 205 | 1.073 | 7.7 | 0.4 | 2 | 9.5 | 4.75 | AS CYA-1 MVP-17 |
| Jake Peavy | 2004 | 23 | SDP | NL | 15 | 6 | 0.714 | 2.27 | 27 | 27 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 166.1 | 146 | 49 | 42 | 13 | 53 | 4 | 173 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 694 | 171 | 1.196 | 7.9 | 0.7 | 2.9 | 9.4 | 3.26 | |
| Bob Tewksbury | 1992 | 31 | STL | NL | 16 | 5 | 0.762 | 2.16 | 33 | 32 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 233 | 217 | 63 | 56 | 15 | 20 | 0 | 91 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 915 | 158 | 1.017 | 8.4 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 3.5 | 4.55 | AS CYA-3 |
| Juan Marichal | 1966 | 28 | SFG | NL | 25 | 6 | 0.806 | 2.23 | 37 | 36 | 1 | 25 | 4 | 0 | 307.1 | 228 | 88 | 76 | 32 | 36 | 3 | 222 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 1180 | 167 | 0.859 | 6.7 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 6.5 | 6.17 | AS MVP-6 |
As you would expect, all of the starters returned to earth. Most coasted back and posted dominant numbers for the season. Barry Moore came back without a parachute. Through June 6th, Moore was 5-1 with a 1.86 ERA (He had a short relief appearance mixed into the starts above.) After June 6th, he was 4-7 with a 6.46 ERA. Here is a graph of Moore's progressive ERA for the season.
That's quite a climb. Fortunately for Jimenez, Moore is the exception in this case. An ERA+ above 150 is the norm.
May 31st, 2010 at 10:12 pm
Lest we denigrate Moore too much for his post-streak decline, remember that his numbers were racked up with a team {the second Washington Senators} that spent it's entire existence {1961 to 1972} trying to avoid the American League cellar. When a team can call finis to the careers of Curt Flood and Denny McLain {and for that matter, even Ted Williams}, a 9-and-8 won-loss record should be looked at as quite respectable; and any winning record would border on the heroic.
May 31st, 2010 at 10:30 pm
Greinke was unbelievably dominant last year ... and Jimenez may outdo him. Give points to Zack for playing in the DH-league, but dang!
June 1st, 2010 at 1:25 am
What's your criteria for the list? Lou Fette started 1939 with 14 consecutive starts allowing 2 runs or less. Some of them were less than 5 IP though, so maybe your search parameters were too strict & missed some starters?
June 1st, 2010 at 3:55 am
That's some hard cheese from Fette in 39
June 1st, 2010 at 4:18 am
Devon -You're looking at earned runs. Fette allowed 4 runs in his fourth start of the season. If you change the requirement to ER, Fette would have the PI era lead. http://bbref.com/pi/shareit/5fkCc
June 1st, 2010 at 6:36 pm
I vaguely remember Barry Moore, but 1969 was the best year in the life of the expansion Washington Senators (1961-1971). Just like the Mets, 1969 was going to be the year that this team just had to finish higher than it had ever finished before. Thanks to divisional play, the lowest position was now 6th, instead of 10th. Actually, unlike the Mets, who never finished higher than 9th in the 10-team league, the expansion Senators did finish 6th one year - 1967 - so they were guaranteed to finish at least as high as their previous high. But unlike the Mets, they did not have an expansion team in their division in 1969. The Mets figured on finishing higher than the Expos that year, but 6th place was still a distinct possibility for the 1969 Senators.
Yes, we all know that the Mets finished first in their division and eventually won it all in 1969. The Senators only reached 4th place, not even good for the top half of the AL East, but they did have their only winning season of the 11 they were in DC, 86-76 (.531). Maybe Ted Williams in his first year of being manager helped. But the new team ownership made those awful trades afterwards, and they were off to Texas two years later.
I wondered who could possibly have finished below the Senators in 1969. I figured that Cleveland would be one of the two bottom teams, and it turns out that I was right. I know that the Orioles had won the division and eventually faced the Mets in the World Series. I also remembered that Detroit had finished 2nd that year. Could the Red Sox have fallen from being the AL champs two years earlier all the way to 5th place, behind the Senators? No, Boston was third. It's hard to believe that the Yankees had some lean years, but they finished 5th, with a record of 80-81.
I have always felt that 1986 would have been the Washington Senators' year to win the AL East if they had stayed in DC. The Rangers didn't do too badly that year, finishing 2nd to the Angels in the AL West with a record of 87-75. Yes, I know, that only matched the record of the 3rd place team in the AL East, Detroit, with the winning Red Sox at 95-66. But the Senators would have had a different bunch of players and other different things, compared to the Rangers.
The reason the Senators would have won the AL East in 1986 is a silly one, though - the other three early 1960s expansion franchises all won their divisions. The Mets again, the Astros (Colt 45s), and the aforementioned Angels. So, the Senators would have made it all four, in their 25th anniversary season, which was also the 25th anniversary season of the Angels, and the 25th playing season of the Mets and Astros. (1961-1986 = 26 playing years, but a 25th anniversary. 1962-1986 = 25 playing season, but a 24th anniversary.)
Nolan Ryan would not have likely signed with the Senators to finish his career, thus removing one of my favorite trivia questions - Who played for all four early 1960s expansion teams, and no other teams? I haven't checked this out in a few years, though. Someone else may have joined him.
June 1st, 2010 at 9:53 pm
The real argument (I think) should be most consecutive starts with 2 or fewer Earned Runs. In that case, Jaime Garcia falls under that category this year (11 starts). He did have two starts (4/23 vs. SF, 5/31 vs CIN). Someone has to start paying attention to this guy. He may not be as dominant as Ubaldo, but that it rediculous in it of itself.
June 2nd, 2010 at 1:59 am
one of my favorite trivia questions - Who played for all four early 1960s expansion teams, and no other teams?
Ryan is still the only player to have played only for these four teams. Darren Oliver also has played with all four teams, plus some others.