Matt Garza Pulls a Pedro
by R.J. Anderson on Jul 26, 2009 8:00 AM EDT
3 comments
Writers often talk about earmarks; accomplishments that alone signify worth - greatness in some cases - all on their own. Nothing further is needed than that box score. No scouting reports, advanced statistics, whatever. Just that line. An American League pitcher tossing ine innings with nine (or more) strikeouts and zero walks comes awfully close to that status.
Since 1954, the feat has occurred 253 times. I don't have the time and you don't have the patience for me to track down each of the occasions and determine whether the pitcher was good or not. Instead let's focus on a relatively smaller task and simply look at the last 50 pitchers to do it. Let's go through the list, year-by-year:
2009
Garza
Zack Greinke (twice)
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
Pedro Martinez
2002
2001
Mike Mussina (thrice)
Mark Mulder
2000
Pedro Martinez (thrice)
1999
Pedro Martinez
Chris Carpenter
David Cone
Wilson Alvarez
Mike Mussina
1998
Brad Radke (twice)
David Wells (twice)
Roger Clemens (twice)
David Cone
Randy Johnson
Aaron Sele
Doug Drabek
Mike Mussina
Pedro Martinez
There are actually 52 occasions thanks to Martinez and Radke pulling the stunt twice in late 1998.
I'm going to name this type of outing "Pulling a Pedro". Mike Mussina isn't too bad either.
This seems to happen a lot less now than it did a decade ago. Since 2006 we've had 10 "Pedro" outings; in 1999 there were 6; in 1998, 14. I went back and checked a few more years too; 1997 had 7; 1996 and 1995 had four. Maybe 1998 was just one of those years.
29 pitchers are listed. Of those, only two (two!) have career FIP over 4.5. 16 have FIP sub-4. In other words: it takes a good pitcher to pull this in the American League, at least nearly 95% of the time.
Yes, Wilson Alvarez was a Devil Ray at the time, and coincidentally he also had a Pedronian performance versus the Blue Jays. He faced off with David Wells (who only lasted five, allowing three homeruns), threw 138 pitches, and needlessly completed a game that was 11-3 after seven innings.
The Jays lineup from that game is amusing:
Tony Batista SS
Shawn Green RF
Geronimo Berroa DH
Jacob Brumfield CF
Willis Otanez 3B
Mike Matheny C
Homer Bush 2B
Does anyone remember who Willis Otanez is? I bet if you polled the other eight players in the lineup that day, at least three would have no recollection of him.
The amount of games against the Rays is a bit jarring. I know this dates back to the expansion days, but my goodness:
1998 Brad Radke
1998 Mike Mussina
1998 Brad Radke
2000 Pedro Martinez
2004 Pedro Martinez
5/52 against, 2/52 for, that means All told the Rays contributed to 13.5% of these games.
0 recs |
3 comments
|
Email
Print
Comments
Good stuff--never thought about it
I think BB have become a bigger part of the mind set, with the advebt of OBP and OPS playing larger
by Raymondo on Jul 26, 2009 8:56 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
What really makes it odd, it was Garza, who entered the game
surrendering 50 BB, 4th highest in the AL
by Raymondo on Jul 26, 2009 9:02 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
This strikes me as a similar approach
to Posnanski citing Bill James’s claim that generally a pitcher who has a 15K game will be pretty good. Ordinarily, you cannot base any such claims on a 1 game performance. For example, you cannot say that pitchers who throw no-hitters will probably be excellent. In this case, it appears that pitchers who threw 0BB, 9K games were generally excellent with but a few exceptions.
by bobr on Jul 26, 2009 12:33 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Certain photos copyright © 2010 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
