The “win” as a metric for evaluating starting pitchers
I hope we’re all well past the point of thinking that “win” totals are a good way of evaluating starting pitchers. But for anyone who’s still not sure, here’s yet another example (consider it Gonzo’s famed Example #642):
Sunday night, Dice-K gives up 6 runs in 7 innings - and gets the win. In his previous two starts combined, he gave up 5 runs in 13 innings - and lost both games.
The difference? He was facing rookie Chase Wright Sunday night, making his second major league start - and surrendering four HRs in a row (only the second pitcher to do that in MLB history, and only the fifth time in history its happened overall). The other two starts were against the next-big-thing, Felix Hernandez and Sox-killer, Gustavo Chacin. But whether you want to give the opposing pitcher credit for pitching well, or the Sox offense the blame for not giving Dice-K run support, the point is that Dice-K pitched far better in his two losses than he did in his win.
And I sincerely hope nobody is dumb enough to try and trot out, “well, he was pitching to the score”. That has got to be one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard in my life.
Okay, I’m done now.