Cornered mediocrity: Washington Nationals throw 5 pitchers with nearly identical ERAs
Posted by Andy on August 8, 2011
Check out the box score from Saturday's Nats-Rockies game. Here is the line for just the Nationals' pitchers:
| Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | BF | IR | IS | WPA | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Livan Hernandez, L (6-11) | 3.2 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4.41 | 22 | -0.409 | ||
| Tom Gorzelanny | 2.1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4.50 | 10 | 1 | 0 | -0.041 |
| Todd Coffey | 0.2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.50 | 5 | 0 | 0 | -0.031 |
| Sean Burnett | 0.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.79 | 2 | 2 | 2 | -0.021 |
| Henry Rodriguez | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4.57 | 7 | 0 | 0 | -0.002 |
| Team Totals | 8 | 19 | 15 | 13 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 14.62 | 46 | 3 | 2 | -0.504 |
It's neat that all five of their pitchers finished with their season ERAs right around 4.50.
They all also had a negative WPA for the game, and they all allowed at least one earned run (except Sean Burnett, who just allowed his 2 inherited base runners to score.)
August 8th, 2011 at 8:58 am
If they had won 16-15, I vote for Burnett as the winning pitcher.
August 8th, 2011 at 9:04 am
I remember a coupleyears back I saw a boxscore that had a team (the A's I think) where all the pitchers (think they used 3) ended the game with a 0.00 ERA. Now, early in the season that might not be a big deal but this was into the season a bit and it really stuck out to me...not sure if PI could be used to find this, I guess you could query all shutouts with more than 1 pitcher?
August 8th, 2011 at 9:35 am
That was Livan's 24th start.
He is the definition of hot and cold.
In Livan's best 12 starts he has 83.67 IP with 16 ER for a 1.72 ERA.
In Livans worst 12 starts he has 61.33 IP with 55 ER for a 8.07 ERA.
August 8th, 2011 at 10:08 am
Of course, since they were trailing by the time Livan was replaced, they did not use their best relief arms, Clippard and Storen. Gorzelanny was their #5 starter but has been pushed to the bullpen, even after they traded Jason Marquis at the deadline. They have brought up Wang and Detwiler and put them in the rotation, to no great effect so far.
August 8th, 2011 at 10:22 am
@2 Do you think it was April 29, 1995 but that was the 4th game of the year because of the strike delayed season.
August 8th, 2011 at 10:36 am
#2 I believe it was the Pirates/Reds game on August 12, 1966.
If you laughed when you read that, then I salute you for being a loyal reader of this blog.
August 8th, 2011 at 11:01 am
Sham-wow!
August 8th, 2011 at 11:14 am
@5...no, it was only a couple years back, and I want to say May...but as with all the other "facts" I've provided about the game, I'm not sure! 🙂
August 8th, 2011 at 11:17 am
Congratulations, Andy! You just made the 50,000th post on this blog about Art Shamsky. (-;þ
August 8th, 2011 at 11:54 am
Now that we're well into the dog days, the excitement value of the Nats consistent mediocrity is waning. But, at least Nats fans can look forward to next month's series with the Astros.
Why? After the 4-Rodriguez game earlier this year between the Astros and Rays, that may be topped with a 5-Rodriguez game between the Nats (Henry and I-Rod) and Stros (Aneury, Fernando and Wandy). It didn't come close to happening in their July series, but Pudge should be back by September, so there could be another chance.
Hey, when two teams combined are almost 50 game out in early August, you have to take whatever you can find.
August 8th, 2011 at 3:25 pm
What yesterday's Nationals quintet had for symmetry in ERAs, the 1999 Brewers trio of Pulsipher, Pittsley and Plunk had in sheer euphony.
August 8th, 2011 at 8:24 pm
In 1970 the Pirates had pitchers named Moose, Lamb, Mudcat Grant, Veale and Gibbon and for the vegetarians McBean
August 8th, 2011 at 11:08 pm
Cincy once fielded an outfield of Young, Frank and Stein.
August 9th, 2011 at 12:29 am
It was Young, Frank, and Chris Stynes actually.
August 9th, 2011 at 12:32 am
Thanks for the correction, Andy. The last time I called up sports radio here in Philly, I answered this trivia question correctly. No prize, though.
August 9th, 2011 at 12:04 pm
The Giants played the 3 Alou brothers together in the outfield for 2 innings on Sept. 15, 1963 for the one and only time.
August 9th, 2011 at 1:58 pm
Is it true that the Nats' team ERA was 14.62?
August 9th, 2011 at 2:01 pm
For that game, yes. 13 earned runs in 8 innings = 14.625 ERA.
August 9th, 2011 at 4:05 pm
Oh, yes, I see.
August 10th, 2011 at 1:51 pm
The ERA in the "Team Totals" line is for the game, but the ERAs for each pitcher are for the season thus far? Forgive me if this is a silly question.
August 10th, 2011 at 1:53 pm
That's correct, Brian, it's a bit confusing out of context.
August 10th, 2011 at 2:45 pm
I wonder how many pitchers with ERAs of 4.50 or higher are in the Hall of Fame. I would guess there's at least a few.
August 10th, 2011 at 3:32 pm
You would be correct, if you include the pitching totals of people who were not inducted for their pitching.
The highest ERA of any real HOF pitcher is Red Ruffing's 3.80. That would be topped if Andy Pettitte (3.88) or Jack Morris (3.90) one day make it.
There have been some solid pitchers with career ERAs over 4.50, but none for whom any kind of HOF case could be made.
August 10th, 2011 at 3:40 pm
Some other longshot HOF possibilities who would top Ruffing's ERA:
Josh Beckett 3.80 (it will probably be lower if he actually puts together a HOF career)
Mel Harder 3.80
Chuck Finley 3.85
George Uhle 3.99 (if he got pioneer credit for possibly inventing the slider)
Wes Ferrell 4.04
David Wells 4.13
Jamie Moyer 4.14
***
I just noticed that Freddy Garcia is Bartolo Colon's statistically most similar pitcher (and Colon is 6th on Garcia's list). How odd.
Once upon a time I was tracking how Garcia and Tim Hudson's early careers were quite similar, but they diverged long ago.
August 10th, 2011 at 4:55 pm
Excellent information. Thank you.
I can see that 4.50 is truly mediocre. Solid, perhaps, but not excellent by any stretch.
I was thinking that some pitchers in the right era, playing for teams with powerful offenses, might be able to get by with a 4.50 ERA and still string together an impressive winning percentage.
August 10th, 2011 at 7:27 pm
I'm sure a lot of HOF voters shy away from anyone with an ERA starting in "4." I wonder if Wes Ferrell might have been inducted if his career mark was 3.98 (or if he had won just a few more games -- he finished with 193). One might think it could have been possible to put together a HOF-type career with an ERA over 4.00 in the recent high-octane offensive era, but there don't seem to be any strong candidates.
Best winning % for an ERA over 4.50 in at least 1000 IP is Roy Mahaffey, .578.
Best in over 2000 IP is Aaron Sele, .569.
Sele also has the most wins of any 4.50+ guy, with 148.
Jeff Suppan has the most IP, 2512, with 138 wins. Hmm, I didn't realize Suppan had been in the minors all season.
Best ERA+ is John Thomson at 104. I had forgotten about that guy.
August 12th, 2011 at 4:21 am
In 1970 the Pirates had pitchers named Moose, Lamb, Mudcat Grant, Veale and Gibbon and for the vegetarians McBean
The 1950 Cardinals had pitchers in their minor-league system named Robert Cloud, Gene Clear, James Freeze, and Paul Dewey. The big club gave a few at-bats to Nippy Jones.