Tuesday, April 26, 2005
They Can't Keep This Up, Can They?
Do you think Randy Johnson spit out his coffee as he read the New York Times this morning?
Randy Johnson pitched quality starts in 26 of his 35 appearances with the Diamondbacks in 2004, the best of any pitcher in baseball last year. But he lost 9 of those 26 outings.
So I'm sure it's with only a little twinge of regret he's reading about Javier Vazquez's line last night in the D-Backs' 4-2 victory over the Dodgers:
8.0 IP, 2 R, 2 BB, 9 K, 111 pitches
That is a classic Johnson line from last year. Except last year he would've lost 2-1.
As I noted at the time, Johnson's problem last year wasn't that he wasn't getting any run support, it was that nobody on the D-Backs was getting any run support -- the run support of 3.85 was worst in the league. It was just a lot easier to notice with the one pitcher who actually kept the team in the ballgame.
This year, while the offense isn't yet the highly-oiled machine we'd hoped, at least we're scoring 3 or 4 runs a game rather than 1. The result is that the team has been out of very few ballgames -- it could be argued, in fact, that only Opening Day has the game been out of reach heading into the 7th inning.
Why is this? Well, the D-Backs have had 6 quality starts in a row, 11 out of 14, and 12 for the season, a 60% clip. Compare that to last year, when -- as best as I can tell -- the D-Backs had complete games 43% of the time, or 31% when you don't include Randy, or excluding Randy and Brandon, less than 20% of the time. I don't think the D-Backs will continue at that 60% clip, but it's not unreasonable to expect something above 50% at season's end.
For what it's worth, here's the starting pitching lines for the year thus far. I dare say nobody could've expected a run like we've had in the past six days.
Date Pitcher IP H ER BB K P WHIP P/IP
4/4 Vazquez 1.2 10 7 0 2 42 6.00 25.1
4/5 Ortiz 6.0 5 3 2 3 92 1.17 15.3 *
4/6 Webb 5.1 5 2 3 2 107 1.50 20.1
4/8 Estes 6.0 8 4 1 3 93 1.50 15.5
4/9 Vazquez 5.1 5 5 3 7 103 1.50 19.3
4/10 Ortiz 5.0 7 1 3 1 86 2.00 17.2
4/11 Halsey 6.0 5 0 1 7 86 1.00 14.3 *
4/12 Webb 8.0 8 2 2 4 94 1.25 11.8 *
4/13 Estes 7.0 4 1 3 6 106 1.00 15.1 *
4/14 Vazquez 6.0 8 5 1 8 94 1.50 15.7
4/16 Ortiz 6.0 5 4 2 4 89 1.17 14.8
4/17 Halsey 6.0 7 3 0 2 76 1.17 12.7 *
4/18 Webb 6.0 5 3 3 6 98 1.33 16.3 *
4/19 Estes 5.0 6 3 6 4 93 2.40 18.6
--------------------------------------------------------
4/20 Vazquez 7.0 5 0 2 2 90 1.00 12.9 *
4/21 Ortiz 7.0 3 2 2 2 101 0.71 14.4 *
4/22 Halsey 7.0 5 2 1 4 86 0.86 12.3 *
4/23 Webb 8.0 5 1 1 5 105 0.75 13.1 *
4/24 Estes 7.0 3 3 4 2 91 1.00 13.0 *
4/25 Vazquez 8.0 5 2 2 9 111 0.88 13.9 *
Randy Johnson pitched quality starts in 26 of his 35 appearances with the Diamondbacks in 2004, the best of any pitcher in baseball last year. But he lost 9 of those 26 outings.
So I'm sure it's with only a little twinge of regret he's reading about Javier Vazquez's line last night in the D-Backs' 4-2 victory over the Dodgers:
8.0 IP, 2 R, 2 BB, 9 K, 111 pitches
That is a classic Johnson line from last year. Except last year he would've lost 2-1.
As I noted at the time, Johnson's problem last year wasn't that he wasn't getting any run support, it was that nobody on the D-Backs was getting any run support -- the run support of 3.85 was worst in the league. It was just a lot easier to notice with the one pitcher who actually kept the team in the ballgame.
This year, while the offense isn't yet the highly-oiled machine we'd hoped, at least we're scoring 3 or 4 runs a game rather than 1. The result is that the team has been out of very few ballgames -- it could be argued, in fact, that only Opening Day has the game been out of reach heading into the 7th inning.
Why is this? Well, the D-Backs have had 6 quality starts in a row, 11 out of 14, and 12 for the season, a 60% clip. Compare that to last year, when -- as best as I can tell -- the D-Backs had complete games 43% of the time, or 31% when you don't include Randy, or excluding Randy and Brandon, less than 20% of the time. I don't think the D-Backs will continue at that 60% clip, but it's not unreasonable to expect something above 50% at season's end.
For what it's worth, here's the starting pitching lines for the year thus far. I dare say nobody could've expected a run like we've had in the past six days.
Date Pitcher IP H ER BB K P WHIP P/IP
4/4 Vazquez 1.2 10 7 0 2 42 6.00 25.1
4/5 Ortiz 6.0 5 3 2 3 92 1.17 15.3 *
4/6 Webb 5.1 5 2 3 2 107 1.50 20.1
4/8 Estes 6.0 8 4 1 3 93 1.50 15.5
4/9 Vazquez 5.1 5 5 3 7 103 1.50 19.3
4/10 Ortiz 5.0 7 1 3 1 86 2.00 17.2
4/11 Halsey 6.0 5 0 1 7 86 1.00 14.3 *
4/12 Webb 8.0 8 2 2 4 94 1.25 11.8 *
4/13 Estes 7.0 4 1 3 6 106 1.00 15.1 *
4/14 Vazquez 6.0 8 5 1 8 94 1.50 15.7
4/16 Ortiz 6.0 5 4 2 4 89 1.17 14.8
4/17 Halsey 6.0 7 3 0 2 76 1.17 12.7 *
4/18 Webb 6.0 5 3 3 6 98 1.33 16.3 *
4/19 Estes 5.0 6 3 6 4 93 2.40 18.6
--------------------------------------------------------
4/20 Vazquez 7.0 5 0 2 2 90 1.00 12.9 *
4/21 Ortiz 7.0 3 2 2 2 101 0.71 14.4 *
4/22 Halsey 7.0 5 2 1 4 86 0.86 12.3 *
4/23 Webb 8.0 5 1 1 5 105 0.75 13.1 *
4/24 Estes 7.0 3 3 4 2 91 1.00 13.0 *
4/25 Vazquez 8.0 5 2 2 9 111 0.88 13.9 *
Comments:
Post a Comment
