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Revolving Door On The Mound

Posted by Steve Lombardi on July 10, 2009

Today I found myself wondering "What's the high mark for most pitchers used by a team in a 9-inning  (or less) game where the team was not throwing a ton of pitches?"  Basically, I was looking for games where a manager was running pitchers in and out of a contest faster than someone with a severe sharting problem changes their underwear.  So, I used Baseball-Reference.com's Play Index Team Pitching Game Finder and set the controls for "From 1954 to 2009, (requiring pitchers>=8, IP<=9 and Pitches<=150), sorted by greatest pitchers in a game" - and this is what I found:

  Cnt Date          Tm   Opp GmReslt  IP   H  R ER BB SO HR Pit Str IR IS  BF  AB 2B 3B IBB HBP SH SF GDP SB CS Pk **Ptchrs**   ERA
+----+-------------+---+----+-------+----+--+--+--+--+--+--+---+---+--+--+---+---+--+--+---+---+--+--+---+--+--+--+----------+------+
    1 2006-09-25    HOU  PHI W  5-4   9    8  4  4  4  6  1 148  95  5  0  39  34  0  0   0   0  1  0   0  0  0  0        9     4.00
    2 2008-09-17    MIL  CHC W  6-2   9    6  2  2  3  8  1 140  91  1  0  36  32  0  0   0   0  1  0   0  0  0  0        8     2.00
    3 2008-09-09    FLA  PHI W 10-8   9   12  8  8  2  4  1 149  97  4  2  41  38  2  1   0   0  1  0   0  4  0  0        8     8.00
    4 2007-09-30    CHC  CIN L  4-8   8    9  8  8  1 10  1 138  90  2  0  36  33  2  0   0   2  0  0   0  1  0  1        8     9.00
    5 2006-09-30    ATL  HOU L  4-5   9   12  5  2  3  3  2 136  84  6  0  41  38  0  0   0   0  0  0   1  0  1  0        8     2.00
    6 2002-09-29    ATL  NYM L  1-6   8   10  6  2  2  9  2 141  91  1  0  34  30  2  0   0   0  2  0   1  1  1  0        8     2.25
    7 2002-07-07    ARI  SFG L  2-5   9   10  5  5  4  3  2 140  87  5  0  41  37  0  0   0   0  0  0   1  1  0  0        8     5.00
    8 1998-09-27    TBD  NYY L  3-8   8   10  8  8  4  5  1 135  83  7  3  36  31  1  0   0   0  0  1   0  1  1  0        8     9.00
    9 1996-09-27    MON  ATL L  4-6   9   13  6  6  2  7  2 134  83  5  2  43  39  1  0   0   0  1  1   0  1  0  0        8     6.00
   10 1995-09-27    DET  BOS W  7-5   9   16  5  5  0  2  1 118  89  8  1  42  42  4  0   0   0  0  0   1  0  0  1        8     5.00
   11 1995-09-18    MON  CIN L  4-7   8   14  7  7  3  4  0 129  80  7  2  40  37  3  2   0   0  0  0   0  2  0  1        8     7.88
   12 1994-07-07    OAK  BAL W  6-4   9    9  4  3  3  3  0 145  89  6  0  37  31  2  0   0   0  2  1   1  0  0  0        8     3.00
   13 1993-09-27    PIT  PHI L  4-6   9    8  6  6  8  3  1 144  76  6  1  41  33  1  1   0   0  0  0   1  0  1  1        8     6.00

Games found: 13.

Lotta September games here - as expected since teams have expanded rosters and more pitchers to use in September.  However, note those two games on July 7th.  Tony LaRussa and Bob Brenly really worked their pens in those games.

6 Responses to “Revolving Door On The Mound”

  1. Atlas Says:

    Really? "[F]aster than someone with a severe sharting problem changes their underwear" was the best comparison you could make?

  2. jackfish Says:

    That July 7th game featured six different pitchers on the same team collecting a hold. Is that a record?

    Jack

  3. JohnnyTwisto Says:

    You should note that pitch count data is very sporadic before the '90s or so.

  4. zuty Says:

    JohnnyTwisto: "You should note that pitch count data is very sporadic before the ’90s or so."

    Well, that's okay -- since the nonsense overuse of relievers, lack of training in starters and pretending that 100 pitches is everyone's magic threshhold -- that all began in the '90s... or so. 🙂

  5. NoPepperGames Says:

    Both of those July games were the game before the All Star break as well.

  6. NoPepperGames Says:

    The day before, to be specific. Sorry.