In the modern world, stat guys don't care too much for the "wins" statistic. It's silly, they argue, to give a pitcher credit for "winning" a baseball game. He might have pitched badly, but his team might have scored a lot of runs. On the other hand, a pitcher might pitch great and "lose" because his team didn't support him. And besides, these days everyone pulls out their starting pitcher after six or seven innings anyway.
But there have been two NL postseason games so far, and each has featured a complete-game shutout. Last night, of course, Roy Halladay pitched a no-hitter for the Phillies. Today, Tim Lincecum (the NL's Cy Young winner in 2008 and 2009) shut out the Braves 1-0. Here were his numbers:
9 inning pitched
119 pitches thrown
2 hits allowed
0 runs
0 earned runs
1 walk
14 strikeouts
It was an absolutely masterful performance. I don't think even the stat guys will mind saying that Lincecum "won" this game.
Bill Simmons and Tony Kornheiser had the discussion about wins recently on PTI. Like Kornheiser I had no idea this was going on.
ReplyDeleteThe Heath Post's coverage of the Major League Baseball playoffs is outstanding.
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