Draysbay on ESPN.com

by td32 on Mar 2, 2010 3:01 PM EST

Here's the link, although it is Insider:

http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/tmi-mlb/post?id=164

In 2008, Garza had a group of starts that would have been labeled “tremendously tremendous.” He two-hit the Rangers, one-hit the Marlins and had eight other appearances in which he pitched seven or more innings and allowed one run or fewer.

In the 11 games Garza won, his ERA was 0.64. I challenge you to find a pitcher who could match that. At the time, we asked Elias, and looked on Baseball-Reference.com, and the pitcher whose name kept coming up was Nolan Ryan. In 1980 Ryan won 11 games and had an ERA of 0.89 in those victories. The following year, he won 11 games, and had an ERA of 0.53 in his wins.

The problem for Garza was his other 19 starts. Some were decent. Most were not. His ERA in them: 6.30.

Fast-forward a year and you think that maybe those two ALCS wins will turn Garza into a star. They did….at least against the teams in the AL East (a more detailed analysis of which can be found in the blog Drays Bay). Most notably, Garza made six starts against the Red Sox, had a 2.74 ERA, and a .194 opponents batting average. But that didn’t carry over to other opponents.

Garza finished 2009 8-12 with a 3.95 ERA, and Rays diehards properly attribute that to his lack of run support.