Edinson Volquez Starting Strong
Posted by Raphy on May 14, 2008
Last night Edinson Volquez allowed 1 runs in 6 innings. It was the 8th time in as many starts this season in which he has allowed 2 runs or fewer. Only 4 pitchers since 1956 have started their season with a longer streak.
StreakStart Streak End Games W L GS CG SHO GF SV IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA HBP WP BK Teams -----------------+-----------+-----------+-----+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Barry Moore 1969-04-11 1969-06-06 11 5 1 11 2 0 0 0 62.2 48 14 13 24 24 4 1.87 0 2 0 WSA Jake Peavy 2004-04-06 2004-07-02 10 5 2 10 0 0 0 0 59 57 13 13 20 59 3 1.98 2 0 1 SDP Bob Tewksbury 1992-04-10 1992-05-30 10 5 1 10 2 0 0 0 74 64 15 15 6 27 5 1.82 0 1 0 STL Juan Marichal 1966-04-12 1966-05-26 10 9 0 10 8 4 0 0 92 51 8 6 8 60 3 0.59 0 0 0 SFG
Moore and Tewksbury each mixed in 1 scoreless relief appearance.
The overall (any time during a season) post 1956 record of 14 consecutive games is shared by Greg Maddux and Mike Scott. Maddux's streak extends from 1993 to 1994. It does not include his 2 playoff starts (one of which would have ended it). Maddux's streak was followed by another streak of 10 games. Over those 25 regular season starts (including the one in between) Maddux posted a 1.41 ERA in over 197 innings. Scott's streak was all within his magical '86 season.
A couple of other notes:
1) Johan Santana posted 2 streaks of 10 games in 2004. These were seperated by 2 games in which he allowed 3 runs. Those were his last 22 starts of the regular season. In them he posted a 1.36 ERA. He then pitched 2 playoff games and allowed 1 run in 12 innings.
2) In the last 2 seasons the only pitcher with a streak longer than Volquez (at any point during the season) was Jason Schmidt in 2006.
3) Volquez isn't the only one with a streak going. John Maine (7 games), John Danks (6 games) and Aaron Cook (5 games) all have active streaks of at least 5 games. However, Volquez is the only one of the 4 to have his streak encompass his whole season.
May 14th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
Barry Moore is an anomaly. He had a subpar career; and even a subpar 1969! After his great start, he posted a 6.46 ERA the rest of the way. In fact, in 3 of his first 11 starts of the year, he failed to log 5 IP and qualify for the win.
May 14th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
You never did post what the number of games Maddux and Scott had. Do it now.
May 14th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
Sorry Mr. Shark. I also forgot the link. Its fixed now. Thanks.
May 14th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
I heard on tv that Volquez actually has tied a similar record. The record is an all-time record for consecutive starts to open a season allowing 1 ER or less. Mike Norris shares it from his 1980 season. Unknown who else has 8 such starts before 1956. I'm a bit surprised Norris could have such a streak to start the season, finish second in the Cy Young voting, yet not be an all-star.
May 14th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
Norris pitched 8 innings on 7/6/80, the last game before the All-Star break. That might be why he wasn't chosen -- he wouldn't have been available to pitch.
May 15th, 2008 at 9:33 am
I have to think that they picked the all-star reserves well in advance to not make a decision solely based upon who was pitching that final day. That's something that should be changed.
May 15th, 2008 at 10:54 am
Barry Moore should be disqualified. 😉 In his 4th start, he got the first batter out, walked the next 4 guys, and then was yanked. In his next start, he went 2 innings and gave up 2 runs.