So we may as well say that we're at the halfway point of the season right now. During this time, we've celebrated some people that are excelling and some that were excelling. We've looked at the strikeouts of all of those free swingers that just keep thinking that they can win if only they swing for the fences (a concept that works better against alien invaders that come out of a Pennsylvania cornfield than it does in reality).
However, today, let's look at pretenders and winners on the win / loss circuit of pitchers.
In the last 10 games, Cole Hamels has let up 4 runs once. In that stretch, he has let up 0, 1, or 2 runs 7 times to include his last 6 starts. In those game, he has lost 2 times and his team blew the game a third time. For that reason, his record is 9-4. However, his WHIP is 0.96 and his ERA is 2.49.
This definitely sounds a lot better than the vast majority of 10 game winners not named Justin Verlander (124 strikeouts, 0.84 WHIP and 2.38 ERA because nobody can touch him right now), who is my Cy Young pick for the season (at the halfway point). It's definitely better than CC Sabathia's 3.25 ERA and 1.22 WHIP (very pedestrian) to get to that 10-4 record (definitely a benefit of playing in the Bronx, I might add).
Roy Halladay is truly becoming Mr. Consistency in that beautiful way that numbers like 2.40, 1.03 and 123 add up to (and 5 complete games now, too).
But what about the forgotten people? We've remembered Justin Masterson, Dan Haren, and Kyle Lohse, but where is Jair Jurrjens who is now 10 and 3 with a WHIP of 1.14 and an ERA of 2.07? We see these numbers now, and we say "shit god damn" (ot at least we listen to the Eagles of Death Metal singing them).
This is becoming an every non-injured year thing for Jurrjens.
However, what sets him apart from the other guys on the list is 3 fewer starts. He's just winning, and he's winning for Atlanta... a team that isn't exactly scaring the hell out of other pitching staffs. The strikeouts may not be there (55), but the walks aren't really that numerous either (22). He's just quietly good on a team that's always been known for its pitching. Is he the Tom Glavine to the flashier Greg Maddux-esque characters listed above? I hope not since I never thought much of Glavine (he always reminded me of a David Cone type player - you know, a Yankee who wins because he's on a team that wins a lot and he's above average).
In 3 years in the bigs (we'll forget the short season in 2007 and the injured campaign in 2010), he's doing some good things (13-10 and 14-10 - getting a little better in ERA year 3 as he dropped to a 2.60 from a 3.68).
And while he's not doing it with a winning team, he's still doing it and doing it strong as he shores up his options at getting to Phoenix in the next 2 weeks.
Hopefully, the abundance of teams that aren't worthy of having anyone go, but still, they send someone because Bud Selig hasn't ammended that rule (not necessarily a bad things because nobody wants to watch the Yankees / Red Sox combined team take on the Phillies (other than a few players who will be there on talent and fan vote alone, you know that it's true) won't affect Jurrjens deserved spot on the NL All Star roster.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Jair Jurrjens
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