Waste of a Good Barrel, Really
Making fun of people who don’t understand why wins are a dumb way to evaluate pitchers is about as old and pointless (although the drunk Jays Fans did breathe some life into it after Purcey’s last start) as making fun of their poster-boy, Richard Griffin. But Fire Joe Morgan is still hilarious and they seem to like lampooning him whenever he confirms what century he left his SABR membership in.
Richard Griffin, meanwhile, got a 2 on his AP Physics test (claimed to be sick that day), dropped out of Lakehead, cheated on an Inuit girl named Arnakua’gsak, and is about to say something stupid about baseball.
What I really want to know is if baseball fans like Mr. Shyminsky who know about K/9 and BB/K ratios and all that dorky, silly, stuff actually write into Griffin expecting a rational response or a real explanation, or if they’re just baiting him for exactly this purpose.
Speaking of not understanding the role of run support, here’s a little ditty on Halladay’s case for the Cy Young (notice the attempt at being even-handed). Lee put a pretty serious nail in that coffin tonight with a complete game shutout and his 20th win, but he’s still a wuss for not taking the ball against the Doc last month…
He was supposed to start the day before against Seattle but was pushed back to face the White Sox and Clayton Richard (he of the era over 6 going into the game).
Sure Lee’s pitched well, but it sure seems like Cleveland’s playing some dirty pool to help make sure he gets as many wins as possible.
I suspect that if you look back through his games, there are VERY few times that he’s lined up against the opposing team’s ace. (I know he went up against Grienke a couple weeks ago but that’s KC and it doesn’t count.)
DougB
September 2, 2008 at 9:55 am
They gotta give the fans something….
Dave
September 2, 2008 at 11:38 am
Well sure but should they be rewarded for doing that?
DougB
September 2, 2008 at 12:07 pm
I would be really disappointed if the Jays started skipping the Doc’s starts against NY/Bos, or ducking strong pitchers for the sake of the Cy. In a lost season I’d rather at least have the entertainment of a few great duels and epic showdowns than the cold comfort of hardware at the end of it.
halejon
September 2, 2008 at 12:42 pm
One of the commentors there says that because Lee is 20/26 in qs/gs versus Halladay at 18/27 is another indicator in Lee’s favour.
I say: Would you rather a pitcher go 9 innings and allow 4 runs, or pitch 6 innings and allow 3?
I think the answer is fairly obvious. That is something that has erked me about the QS statistic. /end rant.
zeppelinkm
September 3, 2008 at 5:54 pm
Yeah, I was going to say something about that but I’m too nice outside of my own turf. QS are a good start when they show glaring differences with all else being equal, but they’re not a superior form of wins or particularly reliable on their own. The very fact that the Doc tends to go further into games clearly cancels out a small number of quality starts that Lee has on him. There’s way too much grey area in another couple of innings or another couple of runs.
Hey wiki does this one too!
Complete Games
Another criticism against the statistic is that it isn’t beneficial for pitchers who pitch many innings per start. If a pitcher allows 3 Earned Runs in 6.0 innings, he gets a Quality Start with an ERA of 4.50 for that game. But if a pitcher pitches for 9.0 innings and allows 4 Earned Runs, he would have a 4.00 ERA, but wouldn’t get the Quality Start.
halejon
September 3, 2008 at 9:55 pm