Here we are at the 75-game mark, and as promised the second part of
this report will deal with pitching. We all know that "good pitching
will beat good hitting anytime, and vice versa" (
Bob Veale), but we're
going to investigate the situation anyway.
The
bright lights of Wins and ERA leaders leads us directly to the
historical foundation of baseball itself, the city of Cincinnati. No
team epitomizes the early history of base ball as the Cincinnati boys
do, and here in the Legends League, despite the hitter-friendly
confines of Crosley Field, the Cincinnati pitching staff has risen
above the crowd to stand in the rarified atmosphere of the league
leaders. The team boasts the second best ERA in the Legends League at
3.49, but considering the best mark (3.44) is held by Keokuk with the
aid of their intensely pro-pitcher park, the Cincinnati stat is all the
more impressive. Keokuk leads in many categories, but when one
considers that the overall batting average in Perry Park at this
juncture is a microscopic .187 . . . one realizes that Keokuk's numbers
are anomolous. Cincy's Noodles Hahn (8-5) leads the Legends circuit
with a 2.40 ERA, while teammate Mike Mussina (2.63) is tied for the
lead in Wins with a 10-3 mark. On the flip side, Houstaon, also in the
South Division with Cncinnati, trudges in with the Legends League's
lowest Win total, and worst ERA (4.84). Aside from the relief work of
Rick Aguilera (5-4, 2.72, 12 Sv), the Astros have suffered through
terrible times with Mike Torrez (2-6, 7.08, 16 Starts), Fernando
Valenzuela (3-9, 6.40, 14 Starts), Mike Cuellar (3-6, 5.05, 16 Starts)
and Mike Hampton (1-6, 4.81, 10 Starts). Something needs to be done
when you can talk about Houston pitching without even mentioning Nolan
Ryan (4-5, 4.01, 16 Starts).
The
Union League is not without their own pitching pre-eminence, and
perhaps no other team characterizes that more than the Newark Eagles of
the Atlantic Division. As in Cincinnati with Crosley Field, Newark with
hitter-friendly Ruppert Stadium provides substance to their claim of
having the best pitching staff in the ATL. With a team 3.29 ERA they
have the best ATL mark there, and they come in on top with the most
Quality Starts (45) as well. But the one stat that shows the Eagles
have succeeded in an uphill battle is the single shutout they've
managed in 76 games. Consistency, thy names are: Mariano Rivera (3-2,
1.50, 18 Sv), Juzo Sanada (8-2, 2.43, 4 CG), Sam Crawford (4-2, 3.06, 1
CG), Terris McDuffie (4-2, 3.28, 3 CG), Satchel Paige (5-4, 3.42, 3CG 1
Shu), Bill Holland (5-3, 3.60), John Candelaria (5-0, 3.65, 1 CG), Luis
Tiant Sr., (5-1, 3.75, 1 CG) and Joe McGinnity (6-4, 4.47). On the
other hand, there is the
Wild Thing
of Seattle, Mitch Williams (0-3, 4.02, 8 Sv). Mitch's record doesn't
seem to be a flip side of that, even when one considers that in 30
appearances he has compiled 28 Walks, 20 K's, and allowed just 19 Hits
in 31.1 innings . . . until one realizes that Williams has the best ERA
of the Seattle staff, and it is that staff we are discussing. A staff
with a composite 4.60 ERA. Additionally, with 1.4 HR/9 & 1.2 K/BB
(both worst in ATL), 13.0 R/9, 4.0 BB/9 and 1.43 WHIP (all 2nd-worst in
ATL) one can see why most of the betting has gone against the Pilots of
late.
But
where is the superstar of pitching at this 75-game mark? Is it Ferguson
Jenkins of Montreal with his 4 Shutouts? May Pitcher of the Month,
Toronto's Larry Jansen, with his .778 Quality Start Percentage? Or are
we looking in the wrong place entirely? What about the bullpen? Ah, now
we see the
Jolly Roger of the
ATL, Troy Percival (1-0, 1.19, 19 Sv, 1 Hld) of Pittsburgh. Percival
has a take no prisoners attitude with a 3.0 H/9 & BB/9, and 8.9
K/9. Mind if I say that again?
3.0 Hits per 9 innings!
The league is batting .102 against him, and his heater has shut down
the power numbers as well -- no doubles, 1 triple and 2 homers have
been hit against him, for a .184 slugging percentage against. Percival
isn't doing it alone, he is getting late-inning help of late from Mort
Cooper (2-1, 1.71, 3 Sv), but what I meant was that he is getting set
up nicely by John Franco (2-1, 3.00, 6 Hld) and Jeff Nelson (3-0, 5.03,
6 Hld). Pittsburgh is tied with the Yankees with the most Holds in the
ATL (18). On the other hand, where does one find the opposing player to
Percival? Perhaps that would be Steve Howe (1-5, 5.53, 2 Sv, 3 Hld) of
Brooklyn. At first blush those stats don't seem as dark as Percival's
is bright, but then let's look at Howe's Inherited Runners Scored
Percentage: .667, 16 of 24 in 34 Games. Of relievers who have inherited
20 or more runners so far, Howe's record is the worst. Batters are
hitting .327 against him, with a .509 slugging percentage and ,389 on
base average. Troy Percival is the Fireman, while Steve Howe has been
the Fire Starter.
Where
do we wrap up our sojourn into the ATL pitching? What dark recess or
bright summit shall we explore? Well, pitching is winning, they say,
and we've looked at three of the division leaders above (Cincinnati,
Newark, Pittsburgh), and three cellar-dwellers (Brooklyn, Houston,
Seattle) . . . so which of the remaining six teams in those positions
merit our inquiry? The Cubs? The White Sox? The Seals? The Beaneaters?
The Tigers? The Westerns? No fair peeking to right and left! The
Cubbies sit atop their Legends League North Division on the strength of
a three coordinated right arms: Jim Palmer (10-5, 3.14, 4 CG, 1 Shu),
Tom Henke (5-1, 3.35, 7 Hld) and John Wetteland (1-1, 2.37, 12 Sv, 13
SvOp) -- ace starter, solid setup man, and dependable closer. In
addition, Jeff Reardon (1-0, 3.47, 1 Hld) has contributed a .217 IR% in
28 games, and has led the team to a .318 IR% -- the best mark of any
team with more than 100 inherited runners. To be sure, the Cubs have
had problems in the rotation and bullpen, evidenced by Don Drysdale
(3-6, 6.03), Greg Olsen (2-1, 5.97, 2 Sv, 1 Hld), Jim O'Toole (3-4,
5.61, 1 Sv, 3 Hld) and Jack McDowell (2-7, 5.11), but by working as a
team they have pulled it together for a tie for first in the North with
Toronto. Teamwork. That brings us to Boston where the idea of team play
hasn't quite gelled. The Beaneaters primary problem is inherited
runners. Or put another way, backing each other up on the mound. The
ATL worst IR% resides in Boston, with a .500 mark. 90 runners have been
inherited, 45 have scored. The Beaneaters are not that bad in other
stats. In Union League standings they are 3rd in Blown Save % (.227),
2nd in Holds (17), 5th in Complete Games, Shutouts & Quality
Starts, and around the league average in many other stats. But
where it all breaks down is in Inherited Runners. Yoshiro Sotokoba
highlights the problem as he has the team's 2nd-best ERA at 3.25, and
otherwise is 4-5 in 12 starts and 6 relief appearances . . . but has a
.700 IR% (7-10). Jeff Russell (0-2, 4.85, 5 Hld, .727 IR%) and Max
Lanier (1-3, 5.54, 3 Hld, .521 IR%) have both allowed the most
inherited runners to score on the team, 8. But the blame here goes
further than that. No matter who the Beaneaters put in relief, they
continue to allow inherited runners to score. It is tough enough to win
in this league, but when your relief corps can't back up your starting
rotation . . . it is doubly difficult.
That concludes the second part of this series, in the next, at the 90-game mark, I'll take a
look at defense, and how that holds up in the All Time League.
