August 3, 2002
On pace (part 2, pitching)
Baseball is, more than any other sport, a game of statistics. There are some good ones (On-base %, Slugging %, EqA) and some bad ones (Saves, Holds, Errors), but good or bad, it is always fun to see what players are "on pace" for. So, with about 1/3 of the season remaining, I thought I would take a look around baseball and check out some of the interesting paces (and make a few comments):
Pitching W-L:
Curt Schilling - 27-6 (Schilling incredibly has the exact same number of Wins, Walks and Home Runs allowed, 18)
Randy Johnson - 23-6 (The Big Unit having another great season, but his strikeouts are down and Opponent Avg is up)
Derek Lowe - 23-8 (Lowe has been baseball's best pitcher according to Baseball Prospectus' SNWL)
Barry Zito - 22-6 (Establishing himself as Oakland's ace of aces, has same amount of Ks as Hits allowed, 127)
Tom Glavine - 21-9 (Would be his 6th 20-win season for this future Hall Of Famer, lowest ERA since 1998)
Pedro Martinez - 21-3 (Pedro in July: 5-0, 0.64 ERA, 42.1 IP, 59 K, 9 BB, .154 OAVG. WOW!)
Paul Byrd - 21-10 (Not striking anyone out, only 82 in 152 IP, but not walking anyone either, 25 BB)
Bartolo Colon - 21-7 (Finally having that breakout season everyone has been expecting)
Mark Buehrle - 21-10 (I can never spell his name right, he shut out my Twins this week and he has weird facial hair)
Mike Mussina - 20-8 (Great example of W-L record being misleading. ERA over 5.00 in each of last 3 months)
Jarrod Washburn - 20-5 (Another guy with some weird facial hair)
Roy Halladay - 20-6 (While playing the Twins early in the season, the radio announcers kept calling him Ray Holiday)
Eric Milton - 19-10 (Picking up more strikeouts recently, 3-1 with a 2.57 ERA since the break)
David Wells - 18-8 (Boomer, like Moose, is loving that Yankee offensive support)
Mark Mulder - 18-9 (Oakland's 2nd ace is rolling right along. 9-2 in June and July)
Rodrigo Lopez - 18-5 (Not getting great strikeout numbers, but has been a completely surprise, to me at least)
Roy Oswalt - 18-9 (The Astros' defense has helped raise his opponent BA from .235 last year to .261 this year)
Kaz Ishii - 18-10 (Fun to watch, especially with Vin Scully announcing. Also on pace for 125 BB in 183 IP)
Jamie Moyer - 16-6 (Actually pitching better than last year, when he was 20-6)
Greg Maddux - 16-4 (Still getting it done, but on pace for fewest IP since 1987. Strikeout rate is dropping fast)
Freddy Garcia - 16-10 (A bit of a disappointment this season. On pace for 28 HRs allowed, after only 16 last year)
A.J. Burnett - 16-10 (For the love of God and the sake of my Diamond-Mind keeper league team, PITCHCOUNTS!)
Joel Pineiro - 16-6 (JO-EL is the real deal, following up on last year's impressive debut. Not great K numbers)
Pedro Astacio - 15-6 (His success might be the reason the Mets got John Thomson away from Coors)
Kip Wells - 15-12 (3.38 ERA. Making Kenny Williams look dumber, if that's even possible, each start)
Josh Fogg - 15-10 (See Above)
Kyle Lohse - 15-9 (Pleasant surprise, but may be best suited for relief long term: BA vs. R = .224, BA vs. L = .333)
Tony Fiore - 13-3 (Another Twins surprise. On pace for 13 wins with only 2 starts. Awesome Palmball/Ephus)
Roger Clemens - 12-5 (Nagging injuries are costing him, but his K rate is still great, so he should be okay)
Javier Vazquez - 12-8 (Strikeouts are way down from last season and bad 'Spos D is hurting him)
Jeff Weaver - 11-15 (Gave up only 4 homers in 122 IP for Tigers, already 10 in 34 Yankee IP)
Tim Hudson - 10-13 (As Joe Morgan would probably say, Hudson has mysteriously stopped knowing how to win)
Mark Redman - 11-14 (Making me wish the Twins had kept him more with every 7+ inning start)
Damian Moss - 10-6 (Probably benefitting from great Braves D. On pace for 116 Ks and 91 BB in 168 IP)
C.C. Sabathia - 9-14 (K rate is down and he is likely getting hurt by Indians bad D)
Mike Hampton - 7-19 (That Colorado school system better be pretty freaking wonderful. More BB than Ks)
Todd Ritchie - 7-21 (See Wells, Kip and Fogg, Josh)
Tanyon Sturtze - 2-17 (Upcoming Celeb Boxing to feature Sturtze/McRae undercard as DeJean/Royster headline)
Saves:
John Smoltz - 58 (Take away blowup against Mets and Smoltz has a 2.68 ERA vs an actual 3.90. Chasing Thigpen, 57)
Eric Gagne - 52 (Another guy with some interesting facial hair. Shouldn't have been ejected the other night)
Eddie Guardado - 49 (EDDIE! EDDIE! EDDIE! EDDIE! EDDIE! EDDIE! EDDIE! has a 0.90 ERA since break)
Mike Williams - 48 (Has saved 32 out of the 50 Pirate wins)
Jose Mesa - 47 (Joe Table is on pace for back to back 40 save seasons and a career high)
Kaz Sasaki - 43 (Kaz has improved his K rate and cut down on allowing homers each season)
Robb Nen - 42 (The Toe Tapper's strikeout rate is slowly creeping down, but he is still getting over 1/inning)
Trevor Hoffman - 40 (After tying a career high with 10 homers allowed in '01, Hoffman has only allowed 1 in '02)
Billy Koch - 40 (Another example of why Rick Peterson is so great, Koch's K rate is way up this year)
Byung-Hyun Kim - 39 (BK Kim is absolutely unhittable in Triple Play 2002 for Playstation2, just so you know)
Mariano Rivera - 36 (Walks are up, but strikeouts are still there, over 1/inning. I think he will be fine)
Other Pitching Paces:
Curt Schilling - 329 Strikeouts (Schilling's total pace: 267 IP, 27-6, 2.83 ERA, 27 BB, 27 HR, 1 Cy Young)
Randy Johnson - 323 Strikeouts (Schill and Unit are soooo clauusic. Rack me! Only the TK fans got that one)
Mike Hampton - 279 Hits allowed (Hampton is on pace to allow more than 3 times as many hits as strikeouts)
Lowe and Pedro - 2.13 and 2.36 ERAs (Boston might be the AL version of the D-Backs, if they make the playoffs!)
Ramon Ortiz - 45 Home runs allowed (Pitching pretty well. Blyleven's record appears to be safe for another year)
Julian Tavarez - 65 Doubles allowed (On pace to give up 65 doubles in 155 IP, but only 10 home runs)
Jose Paniagua - 9 Triples and only 6 doubles allowed (It's a shame Jose got send down, thus ending the "pace")
Steve Karsay - 17 Intentional Walks (Has 11 so far in only 62 IP, while Schilling has 18 total BB in 178 IP)
