rokhsar@lasspvax.UUCP (Dan Rokhsar) (09/18/85)
In a local newspaper (The Staten Island Advance) I found an interesting article describing an alternative measure of pitching prowess for starting pitchers, attributed to John Lowe of the Philadelphia Inquirer. The stat simply counts the number of times a starter pitches 6 or more innings and allows three or fewer runs. Here are the leaders, thru games of Friday September 13: Teams(NL) ERA, ERA rank New York 94 of 140 67% 3.18 (3) Padres 86 3.40 (5) Cardinals 85 3.11 (2) Astros 83 3.70 (9) Phillies 81 3.45 (6) Dodgers 81 2.93 (1) Reds 80 3.69 (8) Expos 79 3.30 (4) Giants 74 3.49 (7) Pirates 74 3.89 (10) Cubs 69 4.01 (11) Braves 58 42% 4.12 (12) Individual(NL) before Friday Gooden 29 of 31 94% one of the nonquality starts was the 2 2/3 innings he pitched at the beginning of the marathon 19 inning game, when he was pulled due to a pair of long rain delays; the other was the 5 run outing on 15 August Tudor 24 Dravecky 23 Bryn Smith 22 Danny Cox 22 Valenzuela 22 Darling 21 Nolan Ryan 20 Joe Niekro 20 Hershiser 20 Andujar 20 of 33 61% in his last ten outings, he is 3-4 with a 5.81 ERA Browning 20 Knepper 20 Reuschel 20 of 22 91% Show 20 Hawkins 20 Leading the AL is Dave Stieb with 25 Kansas City leads the league Guidry is ninth with 19 of 29 for 66% Ed Whitson is 5-0 in his last 9 starts; none were Quality Starts, but the (once powerful) Yankees scored more than 7 runs in each game! Sorry about the spotty AL stats, but thats all there was in the paper. How about an analogous Quality Relief Performance to augment (or supplant) "Saves"; it would be (1) 3 or more innings with 1 or fewer runs allowed, or (2) less than 3 innings with no runs allowed. I don't have the numbers, but if anyone has the necessary data base... Just thought this would interest you bums Dan Rokhsar At the risk of seeming chauvinistic, how about Tony Pena (overstrike xxxxxxxxx) oops, I mean Gary Carter, for Most Valuable Player - not just his run production but (and I know some will laugh) his playing hurt, helping to fire up the team, helping the (still) young pitching staff, etc. Considering the fabulous pitching job done by LA, replacing Guerrero by a player of lesser talent would probably not have dislodged the Dodgers from first, but theres no way the Mets could have done it (I'm planning ahead, of course!) without G.C. Some of my friends have suggested that John Tudor will be the 1985 Cy Young winner in the NL, since the award is clearly meant to be given to MORTALS, not supernatural beings! (I would put a smiley face here except I hate the way it looks)