Cliff Lee and two consecutive post-season starts without allowing a walk
Posted by Andy on October 13, 2010
In his two starts against the Rays this post-season, Cliff Lee pitched at least 7 innings both times while not walking a single batter.
Here are the longest post-season streaks in which the pitcher went at least 7 innings with no walks in each:
| Rk | Strk Start | End | Games | W | L | GS | CG | SHO | GF | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | Tm | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carl Mays | 1921-10-05 | 1921-10-12 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 26.0 | 20 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 1.73 | NYY |
| 2 | Deacon Phillippe | 1903-10-06 | 1903-10-13 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 26.0 | 28 | 14 | 11 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 3.81 | PIT |
| 3 | Cliff Lee | 2010-10-06 | 2010-10-12 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 16.0 | 11 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 21 | 1 | 1.13 | TEX |
| 4 | Cliff Lee | 2009-10-18 | 2009-10-28 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 17.0 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 0 | 0.00 | PHI |
| 5 | Carl Pavano | 2003-10-22 | 2009-10-11 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15.0 | 12 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 13 | 2 | 1.80 | FLA-MIN |
| 6 | Mark Buehrle | 2005-10-12 | 2005-10-23 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 16.0 | 12 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 2.81 | CHW |
| 7 | Jose Contreras | 2005-10-04 | 2005-10-11 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16.0 | 15 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 10 | 1 | 2.81 | CHW |
| 8 | Greg Maddux | 1996-10-16 | 1996-10-21 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15.2 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0.57 | ATL |
| 9 | Johnny Sain | 1948-10-06 | 1948-10-09 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 17.0 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 9 | 1 | 1.06 | BSN |
| 10 | Schoolboy Rowe | 1934-10-04 | 1934-10-08 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 21.0 | 17 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 2.14 | DET |
| 11 | Ray Collins | 1912-10-09 | 1912-10-14 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 14.1 | 14 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 1.88 | BOS |
| 12 | Christy Mathewson | 1912-10-09 | 1912-10-12 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 19.0 | 15 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0.95 | NYG |
| 13 | Cy Young | 1903-10-03 | 1903-10-07 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 16.0 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0.56 | BOS |
So Lee is the most recent guy to go it since, umm, Cliff Lee last year.
A few other interesting observations:
- Note how many more strikeouts Lee has in his games than anybody else.
- Carl Pavano has the biggest gap between games, completely skipping over his time with the Yankees and Indians (when he didn't make any post-season starts.) He's also the only guy to have his streak with two different teams, although Lee's two streaks have come with different teams.
- Two of the streaks on here include non-starts: both Roy Collins and Cy Young made one of their appearances in relief. Collins relieved Buck O'Brien to start the second inning and pitched the rest of the game. Young relieved Tom Hughes in the 3rd inning and finished out the game.
- Only Lee (both times) and Greg Maddux actually won all the games in their streaks.
October 13th, 2010 at 10:34 am
I believe that the Phillies only two wins in the World Series last year against the Yankees were pitched by Cliff Lee. He pitched very well. 2-0, 2.81 era, 13 k's and 3 walks.
The Yankees have the experience which may serve them well when facing the other Rangers pitchers but they are going to have problems with Cliff Lee.
October 13th, 2010 at 11:07 am
Adding to the impressiveness of this is the way Lee handily exceeds all of the others in strikeouts. Only four other pitchers in history have had one post-season game with 10+ strikeouts and no walks (Phillippe, Newcombe, Seaver and Hitchcock). Lee has four all by himself.
October 13th, 2010 at 12:30 pm
[...] 10 Rays in Game 1. For the second straight game Lee did not hand out a walk as Baseball Reference takes a look at all the pitchers that have done that before…hint, Lee was already on the list prior to this postseason. The [...]
October 13th, 2010 at 1:31 pm
In the post season so far in his career he's 6-0 with a 0.781 WHIP. Please don't let him go to the Yanks...
October 13th, 2010 at 1:41 pm
Phils-Rangers! woo
October 13th, 2010 at 3:12 pm
Okay, but Mays hit a batter. (Seriously.)
October 13th, 2010 at 5:02 pm
I was happy to see Mays recognized for somwthing positive. He was a great pitcher, who unfortunately had his career overshadowed by the one pitch to Chapman.
October 13th, 2010 at 6:09 pm
Since Lee's greatest pitching skill by far is preventing walks, he's ideally suited to beating the Rays and the Yankees who are the top 2 walking teams in baseball this year. He destroys a large part of their offense. Now if the Rangers were to meet the Giants in the WS, he would not nearly as much of a world-beater because they don't walk hardly at all. He'd be relying on his ability to strikeout and on balls in play, which, while good, are only Top 30 good, not best in baseball.
October 13th, 2010 at 6:20 pm
A brilliant and stupid comment.
October 13th, 2010 at 6:44 pm
I don't know... walks can be a tricky thing. Greg Maddux said that if you didn't walk anybody, then no one would be fooled by your full count pitch that looked close.
October 13th, 2010 at 6:45 pm
It's like; "you have to let them know that you're not ALWAYS bluffing"
October 14th, 2010 at 4:18 pm
Lee's been dominant the last few years but check out his postseason record - 6-0, 1.44 ERA, 7 starts, 56.1 IP, 54 SO, 6 BB.
October 14th, 2010 at 10:19 pm
[...] Texas’ bullpen had a 5.27 ERA in the ALDS. -Phil Hughes has never allowed a run in Texas. -Cliff Lee is one of 12 pitchers in postseason history to pitch at least seven innings in two consecutive [...]
October 18th, 2010 at 12:04 am
Buehrle has issued just one free pass in his 30 2/3-inning postseason career—and it was an intentional walk, to Manny Ramirez in the third inning of Game 2 of the ALDS vs. Boston. But even counting that IBB, Buehrle still could possess the third-longest walkless streak in playoff history (adding his 2008 playoff start vs. the Rays), if not for his 1/3-inning relief appearance en route the save in the World Series clincher vs. Houston.
So although Buehrle has an active streak of 27 straight innings pitched in the playoffs without giving up a walk, that single relief appearance in 2005 snapped his streak of starting/seven-inning efforts sans walks.