Bartolo Colon’s great start
Posted by Andy on April 28, 2011
Bartolo Colon has put together a great season so far for the Yankees. First he filled in on long relief of Phil Hughes, who got hammered thanks to his dead arm, and now he's got Hughes' spot in the rotation.
Yesterday, Colon became the first pitcher in 2011 who's at least 37 years old to pitch 8 innings while allowing no more than 1 run:
| Rk | Player | Age | Date | Tm | Opp | Rslt | App,Dec | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | Pit | Str | GSc |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bartolo Colon | 37.338 | 2011-04-27 | NYY | CHW | W 3-1 | GS-8 ,W | 8.0 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 99 | 65 | 69 |
| 2 | Derek Lowe | 37.104 | 2010-09-13 | ATL | WSN | W 4-0 | GS-8 ,W | 8.0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 105 | 66 | 82 |
| 3 | Andy Pettitte | 38.023 | 2010-07-08 | NYY | SEA | W 3-1 | GS-8 ,W | 8.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 0 | 107 | 67 | 73 |
| 4 | Jamie Moyer | 47.216 | 2010-06-22 | PHI | CLE | W 2-1 | GS-8 ,W | 8.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 107 | 66 | 78 |
| 5 | Derek Lowe | 37.001 | 2010-06-02 | ATL | PHI | W 2-1 | GS-8 ,W | 8.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 119 | 73 | 72 |
| 6 | Tim Wakefield | 43.294 | 2010-05-23 | BOS | PHI | W 8-3 | GS-8 ,W | 8.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 102 | 68 | 71 |
| 7 | Jamie Moyer | 47.170 | 2010-05-07 | PHI | ATL | W 7-0 | SHO9 ,W | 9.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 105 | 71 | 88 |
| 8 | Andy Pettitte | 37.313 | 2010-04-24 | NYY | LAA | W 7-1 | GS-8 ,W | 8.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 114 | 75 | 74 |
Interestingly, when Colon was in camp with the Yankees, the reports all along were that his stuff looked great but his conditioning was poor. It makes me wonder how many more effective outings Colon has in him. I wouldn't be surprised if he breaks down before the All-Star game.
April 28th, 2011 at 3:29 pm
Last night's game was the first time Colon lasted at least 8 IP since Sept. 2007, and just the 2nd time since his 2005 CYA season.
April 28th, 2011 at 3:45 pm
Interesting thing I found about Colon's opponent last night, Mark Buehrle: He leads this list of pitchers who, since 1919, pitched 9-inning complete games and faced the minimum 27 batters. Obviously, his perfect game was one, but he picked off the only runner in his no-hitter, and induced double plays to remove both baserunners during a 2-hitter in 2004. An odd bit of trivia about an underappreciated guy.
http://bbref.com/pi/shareit/zTfMA
April 28th, 2011 at 4:02 pm
I watched much of last night's game and it was the first time I'd gotten to see Colon for an extended stretch this year. He really did look impressive.
Also, I must say it's a joy to have a game end in a little over two hours. I guess that's not rare for a Buehrle start. It's exceedingly rare for a Yankee game.
April 28th, 2011 at 4:50 pm
The second most amazing thing about Colon was that he hit 96 on the radar gun last night.
The most amazing fact is that he's listed at 185lbs.
April 28th, 2011 at 5:44 pm
Predicting that somebody is going to hurt themselves is kinda lame, Andy. And it is an easy and safe prediction, anyways. I'm 38 and athletic, and I just hurt myself typing this.
April 28th, 2011 at 6:37 pm
@5 LOL move over, I'm 35......
Good for Bartolo. Still a living link, to the Montreal Expos:))) hope that his career, somehow outlasts Mr. Selig's.
April 28th, 2011 at 7:38 pm
@2: Buehrle's one of my favorites. It's too bad he seems to be a .500 guy most of the time.
April 28th, 2011 at 8:55 pm
Amen, Nash. Selig is the worst thing to happen to baseball since Arnold Rothstein.
April 28th, 2011 at 11:59 pm
Voomo, I don't think Andy was predicting an injury. Just that one of Colon's axles might rust when they try rolling him back out to the mound.
April 29th, 2011 at 12:55 am
I'm not saying Andy is a bad person. Just dont see the positive aspect of pointing out that a man has resurrected his career... and then doubting how long it will last. I come to this site every single day because it offers two things that I havent found anywhere else on the www: an impeccable approach to statistics, and a true, un-cynical love for baseball.
The people who take the time to write here, both the bloggers and us commenters, all seem to understand the beauty of the game; both the scientific beauty, and the Human beauty.
I respect this site and I respect Andy's contributions.
Just voicing my opinion that saying (in effect) "Bartolo is fat, he will fail" is neither insightful nor does it serve any positive purpose, and I think this site and Andy's writing are better than that.
April 29th, 2011 at 5:31 am
Colon's lack of conditioning was widely reported during spring training. There have been many cases of pitchers breaking down in seasons where they reported in spring training in poor shape. Given Colon's age and recent history, it seems quite likely. I am merely repeating here what has been widely speculated in the New York media.
I didn't post it to be negative, or to try to crap on Colon in any way. I didn't hear you complain when I predicted Phil Hughes' demise for 2011 after his second start.
April 29th, 2011 at 9:57 am
If someone could ever solve the issue of why an uber-talented person doesn't do everything possible to maximize their talent that person will be rich.
April 29th, 2011 at 1:47 pm
About Bart's weight; I can think of several plus sized pitchers who seemed to do better while heavier.
As a Met fan, I can recall Sid Fernandez (If anyone here forgets or has never looked at Sid's rate #'s, please do) and his dominance, but also the year he reported to camp 30lbs lighter and was being touted as an early Cy Young favorite (maybe '89 or '90) and he simply fell apart then got injured without the weight.
Ditto for David Wells.
And it is too early to say, but CC Sabitia seems to be a bit less effective this year after shedding 25ilbs.
April 29th, 2011 at 2:12 pm
It's clearly a legitimate point of baseball discussion to question the stamina of any starting pitcher -- even one who appeared to be in good shape -- who has not topped 81 IP since 2007. (That's majors & minors combined.)
April 29th, 2011 at 2:20 pm
Well, a simple math approach would be to analyze if weight leads to breakdowns. The probelm is the listed weights are WAY UNDER actual.
So maybe we do this by asking who were the 10 fattest ptichers we can think of, and seeing how often they broke down...the problem is we only rememebr the ones who didn't. Maybe there were fat guys who broke down so fast we don't even remember them.
So now we are back to just pontificating.
April 29th, 2011 at 2:23 pm
Great example of sample bias, Noodle. For every David Wells, Curt Schilling, or Rick Reuschel, there's an Andy Sisco, Sidney Ponson, Eddie Kunz, Juan Gutierrez etc...tough to know the ratio.
April 29th, 2011 at 2:44 pm
Ponson's problem was not his belly, it was his brain.
I just find their to be (at least by watching the game) a greater percentage of pitchers whom are portly.
And it would make sense, in pitching, that weight could lend itself to speed.
April 29th, 2011 at 5:23 pm
Even if we knew actual weights, I don't know how much it would help us. CC Sabathia may be (very) heavy, but I don't think he looks out of shape. Obviously he doesn't have a washboard stomach, and maybe I'd change my mind if I saw him shirtless. To me he just appears to be a very big guy who's carrying some extra pounds. David Wells looked to be in worse shape, but still carried himself like an athlete -- he could move quickly when covering 1st, for example. Colon just looks like a blob. That may not impair his pitching, but I wouldn't be surprised if it affects his fielding, and if carrying all that weight around will wear him down further as the season progresses. Especially since he hasn't been pitching anything close to a full season lately.
April 29th, 2011 at 6:33 pm
What a surprise to find a forum with respectful and knowledgeable people that really appreciate the game. The large majority uses sites like this to offend each other and vent their frustrations, but not here. Think i'll visiti this place more often. Thank you guys and May God bless you all....
April 29th, 2011 at 6:35 pm
I was at the game w my 9 year old son
Colon was dominant
Buerle was too -- one mistake to Cano in 1st
When Colon washed out with the Red Sox it was his attitude that sealed it...think he noshowed some practices etc
Maybe he has turned that around
A question: with arod (615) Dunn (350) and Jones (400)in line up there were probably. 2000 career homers across the starters. Could we calulate the most career HRs across 18 starters in a game?
I read Colon said "I thought I'd never pitch againin the najors". So to see him resurrect and rule was pretty inspiring
April 29th, 2011 at 11:28 pm
@ Rico
In a recent chat we all were guessing at the same question. I found a few in 1971 that might take the HR cake. Aaron and Cepeda playing against Mays and McCovey.
April 30th, 2011 at 1:44 am
@13 CC does not appear to be less effective. He had had a pretty good April and CC isn't that great in April. He was at best okay in 09 and 10 and he was terrible his first four starts in 08.