Most game scores over 80 in 2009
Posted by Andy on October 30, 2009
Check out this list of most game scores (regular season) of at least 80 during the 2009 season:
This is my second recent post involving the Game Score stat, so in case you're not familiar with it, you can read about how it's calculated right here.
Year Games Link to Individual Games +-----------------+----+-----+-------------------------+ C.C. Sabathia 2009 4 Ind. Games Tim Lincecum 2009 4 Ind. Games Roy Halladay 2009 4 Ind. Games Zack Greinke 2009 4 Ind. Games Joel Pineiro 2009 3 Ind. Games Jake Peavy 2009 3 Ind. Games Ricky Nolasco 2009 3 Ind. Games Jon Lester 2009 3 Ind. Games Cliff Lee 2009 3 Ind. Games Felix Hernandez 2009 3 Ind. Games Danny Haren 2009 3 Ind. Games Yovani Gallardo 2009 3 Ind. Games Chris Carpenter 2009 3 Ind. Games Matt Cain 2009 3 Ind. Games
Lots of expected names on that list although a few stick out. Ricky Nolasco finished the season with a 5.06 ERA but still managed 3 games with game scores of at least 80. Here are those 3 games:
Cnt Date Tm Opp GmReslt App,Dec IP H R ER BB SO HR Pit Str GmSc IR IS BF AB 2B 3B IBB HBP SH SF GDP SB CS Pk BK WP ERA +----+-------------+---+----+-------+---------+----+--+--+--+--+--+--+---+---+----+--+--+--+--+--+--+---+---+--+--+---+--+--+--+--+--+------+ 1 2009-07-05 FLA PIT W 5-0 GS-8 ,W 8 3 0 0 2 12 0 112 75 86 28 26 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0.00 2 2009-08-18 FLA @HOU W 6-2 CG 9 ,W 9 3 2 2 0 10 1 115 80 83 30 30 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2.00 3 2009-09-30 FLA @ATL W 5-4 GS-8 ,W 7.2 4 2 0 2 16 0 123 83 81 29 27 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0.00
Indeed--all great games. The thing that must be remembered about the Game Score stat is that it favors high strikeout games as well as low-hit games.
Jake Peavy makes the list too, despite starting only 16 games this past season.
Joel Piniero's name isn't much of a surprise given the great season he had. Looking at his stats, the thing that sticks out from 2009 was his incredibly low walk rate. Among the 102 active pitchers with at least 1000 career IP, Piniero has the 21st best walk-rate. (Keep in mind that getting to 1000 IP means the pitcher must have at least a someone decent walk rate to start off with.)
But check this out...how many active pitchers have thrown at least 200 innings in a season while walking fewer than 1.2 batters per 9 innings? Would you believe just two?
Cnt Player Year IP BB/9 Age Tm Lg G GS CG SHO GF W L W-L% SV H R ER BB SO ERA ERA+ HR BF HBP +----+-----------------+----+-----+-----+---+---+--+---+---+--+---+--+--+--+-----+--+---+---+---+---+---+------+----+--+----+---+ 1 Joel Pineiro 2009 214 1.14 30 STL NL 32 32 3 2 0 15 12 .556 0 218 94 83 27 105 3.49 119 11 865 8 2 Roy Halladay 2003 266 1.08 26 TOR AL 36 36 9 2 0 22 7 .759 0 253 111 96 32 204 3.25 145 26 1071 9
Pretty amazing, huh?
Here are the last 20 such seasons:
Cnt Player Year BB/9 IP Age Tm Lg G GS CG SHO GF W L W-L% SV H R ER BB SO ERA ERA+ HR BF HBP +----+-----------------+----+-----+-----+---+---+--+---+---+--+---+--+--+--+-----+--+---+---+---+---+---+------+----+--+----+---+ 1 Joel Pineiro 2009 1.14 214 30 STL NL 32 32 3 2 0 15 12 .556 0 218 94 83 27 105 3.49 119 11 865 8 2 Brad Radke 2005 1.03 200.2 32 MIN AL 31 31 3 1 0 9 12 .429 0 214 98 90 23 117 4.04 110 33 831 7 3 Brad Radke 2004 1.07 219.2 31 MIN AL 34 34 1 1 0 11 8 .579 0 229 92 85 26 143 3.48 136 23 901 6 4 Roy Halladay 2003 1.08 266 26 TOR AL 36 36 9 2 0 22 7 .759 0 253 111 96 32 204 3.25 145 26 1071 9 5 David Wells 2003 0.85 213 40 NYY AL 31 30 4 1 0 15 7 .682 0 242 101 98 20 101 4.14 106 24 887 8 6 Brad Radke 2003 1.19 212.1 30 MIN AL 33 33 3 1 0 14 10 .583 0 242 111 106 28 120 4.49 101 32 888 5 7 Curt Schilling 2002 1.15 259.1 35 ARI NL 36 35 5 1 0 23 7 .767 0 218 95 93 33 316 3.23 142 29 1017 3 8 Brad Radke 2001 1.04 226 28 MIN AL 33 33 6 2 0 15 11 .577 0 235 105 99 26 137 3.94 116 24 919 10 9 Greg Maddux 2001 1.04 233 35 ATL NL 34 34 3 3 0 17 11 .607 0 220 86 79 27 173 3.05 146 20 927 7 10 Brian Anderson 1998 1.04 208 26 ARI NL 32 32 2 1 0 12 13 .480 0 221 100 100 24 95 4.33 97 39 845 4 11 Greg Maddux 1997 0.77 232.2 31 ATL NL 33 33 5 2 0 19 4 .826 0 200 58 57 20 177 2.20 189 9 893 6 12 Greg Maddux 1996 1.03 245 30 ATL NL 35 35 5 1 0 15 11 .577 0 225 85 74 28 172 2.72 162 11 978 3 13 Greg Maddux 1995 0.99 209.2 29 ATL NL 28 28 10 3 0 19 2 .905 0 147 39 38 23 181 1.63 262 8 785 4 14 Bob Tewksbury 1993 0.84 213.2 32 STL NL 32 32 2 0 0 17 10 .630 0 258 99 91 20 97 3.83 103 15 907 6 15 Bob Tewksbury 1992 0.77 233 31 STL NL 33 32 5 0 1 16 5 .762 0 217 63 56 20 91 2.16 157 15 915 3 16 Zane Smith 1991 1.14 228 30 PIT NL 35 35 6 3 0 16 10 .615 0 234 95 81 29 120 3.20 113 15 916 2 17 Greg Swindell 1991 1.17 238 26 CLE AL 33 33 7 0 0 9 16 .360 0 241 112 92 31 169 3.48 120 21 971 3 18 Jimmy Key 1989 1.13 216 28 TOR AL 33 33 5 1 0 13 14 .481 0 226 99 93 27 118 3.88 94 18 886 3 19 La Marr Hoyt 1985 0.86 210.1 30 SDP NL 31 31 8 3 0 16 8 .667 0 210 85 81 20 83 3.47 103 20 839 2 20 La Marr Hoyt 1983 1.07 260.2 28 CHW AL 36 36 11 1 0 24 10 .706 0 236 115 106 31 148 3.66 115 27 1034 1
October 30th, 2009 at 8:03 am
RE: Walk rate -- Greg Maddux would beg to differ. He walked fewer than 1.2 per 9 innings with at least 200 IP three straight years from 1995 - 1997 (1.0, 1.0 and 0.8!!!, respectively).
October 30th, 2009 at 9:08 am
Yeah, are you only looking at active pitchers? There are tons of guys who have done that.
October 30th, 2009 at 9:13 am
I see 188 such seasons all time. If you limit it since 1893, it's been done 75 times. Since 1900, 73 times. Since 1920, 38 times. Since integration, 28 times. Since divisional play, 22 times. Since 1993, 14 times. But it does look like Halladay and Pineiro are the only ones active, that must have been the mistake.
October 30th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Thanks JT, you found my mistake.