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Last edited by corduroy_blazer on Tue Apr 08, 2008 6:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.
blah blah blah. Sanford was throwing to 150 pound cleanup hitters, had a strike zone the size of a coke machine, and pitched on a higher mound....
how about Unit's 2001 season:
IP: 249.7 Hits: 181 Ks: 372 BB: 71 ERA: 2.49
or Pedro in 99/00.
_________________ “You’re good kids, stay together. Trust each other and be good teammates to one another. I believe there is a championship in this room.”
-Ernie Accorsi in his final address to the NY Giants locker room before retiring as GM in January of 2007
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 10:59 am Posts: 9057 Location: Camden, NJ
in 1965 Koufax was the NL triple crown winner, Cy Young winner (only 1 per BOTH leagues back then), Pitcher of the year, WS MVP, and threw a perfect game...and this was the famous year he had hemorrhaging in his throwing arm and spent the entire year in constant pain and was drugged up thru every start
beat THAT randy johnson!!!!
JOOS RULE!
_________________ Frank Parisan was my friend. He was my Camden Brudda. He will be missed
over 300 innings? Koufax should have had his pitch counts monitored more closely so he wouldn't be so tired.
do you think he retired at age 30 because he loved broadcasting so much?
_________________ “You’re good kids, stay together. Trust each other and be good teammates to one another. I believe there is a championship in this room.”
-Ernie Accorsi in his final address to the NY Giants locker room before retiring as GM in January of 2007
As a follow up to my last blog, I want to discuss the greatest single season performances by a pitcher, relative to the league/time period. As I have stated many times, I believe that what Pedro did in 99' or what Maddux did in 95,' is more impressive than what Christy Matthewson may have done in 1905. But when I compare single season pitching performances, I put a lot of stock in "Adjusted ERA," so I know that it takes into account the performance of the rest of the league, etc. But I truly believe that it is harder to excel in todays game. The population has increased significantly, there are more countries producing great ball players, and ball players in general. The stadiums are smaller, generally speaking. So if it was harder for Babe Ruth to hit home runs in the early 1900's than it was also easier for Cy Young to keep the ball in the ballpark, right? Not to mention that the game back then revolved a lot less around the home run anyway. But on to the best single seasons ever by a pitcher we go (No particular order).
Greg Maddux, 1995- This season falls in at fifth, tied with Walter Johnson, in "ERA+." Maddux went 19-2 with a 1.63 ERA and a WHIP of 0.811. His 94' campaign was even a little better but the season was never finished due to idiocy.
Bob Gibson, 1968- 22-9 with a 1.12 ERA. A WHIP of 0.853. The lowest WHIP he had by a rather large amount, when compared to his other seasons. He also only gave up five earned runs in 27 innings in the World Series that year. But after all, he was Bob Gibson.
Sandy Koufax, 1966?- He had a few years that could be on here, as do some other pitchers. 1966 was his best regular season. But in 65' he gave up only 1 earned run in the World Series over the span of 24 innings. And he is the most overrated left hander of all time, right Jayson Stark? It is up in the air, because if we include Barry Sanders or Jim Brown in the discussion of greatest running backs of all time, then we have to include guys like Pedro and Koufax, right? But I understand where Stark came from in his argument, but Koufax was simply dominating, as I watched him numerous times back in 1965...when I was -16 years old.
Roger Clemens, 1997- According to "Adjusted ERA" this was his best season. He struck out 292 batters and finished up the season with an ERA of 2.05. Attribute it to Dan Duquette, or the "whispers" that we hear. But this was an incredible resurgence by arguably the greatest pitcher of all time.
Walter Johnson, 1913- I cannot assume that everyone who played in this era wasn't a quality player. Assumptions can get people in trouble, see "whispers" above. All Walt Jocketty, I mean all Walter Johnson did was win 36 games and give up only 44 earned runs in 346 innings. But come on, obviously 36 wins is not going to happen in this day and age.
Dwight Gooden, 1985- A 24-4 record. An ERA of 1.53. This was definitely an aberration from the rest of his career, but he was still very good for this portion of his career. It was more a sign of what could have been had he focused on baseball, unfortunately he did not solely do this.
Pedro Martinez, 1999- My all time favorite single season performance. This included with the year 2000 were in my mind the most dominant years ever, by any pitcher. Steroid ERA. Played in a division with arguably the best dynasty ever. This season the Red Sox made the playoffs, unlike the following season. 9th best season according to "ERA+." 2000 comes in at 2nd. Which in my opinion, makes Pedro's 1999 and 2000 seasons the most impressive seasons of all time. Tim Keefe's season in 1880 is the only one that falls in ahead of Pedro's according to my omnipotent "Adjusted ERA" stat. I doubt very much so, that Keefe was a better pitcher in 1880 than Pedro was in 1999.
Ron Guidry, 1978- This falls in at 29th all time in "ERA+." But more importantly he was the leader of a team that came back from a 14 game deficit. Everyone speaks of Bucky Dent. But what Dent did, was have a miserable regular season followed up by an incredible home run at maybe the most perfect time ever. His contributions were miniscule when compared to Guidry's. People need to recognize this more, as I am doing now. Same thing with Aaron Boone.
Well there are the greatest seasons of all time, but not all of them. It would take too long to list every single one of them. But feel free to leave suggestions. That is what I am doing here, trying to promote a discussion on the one thing I am truly passionate about right now. But the one thing you will not persuade me to do is admit that there was anyone better than Pedro at his peak, so don't even try.
_________________ Unfortunately, at the Dawning of the Age of Aquarius, the Flower Children jerked off and went back to sleep.
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EllisEamos wrote:
petey's second cy young, 2nd place in MVP voting (bos, 1999)
23-4 GS - 29 CG - 1 IP - 213.3 K - 313 K/9 - 13.21 ERA - 2.07
just so everyone knows, koufax's season above his K/9 was 10.24
The best pitching performance I ever witnessed in person was Pedro in September 99 throw a 1 hitter against teh Yankees at the Stadium, striking out 17. He basically made one mistake all night, a solo HR, and was otherwise perfect. The best offense in the league was made to look like they were handicapped for two and a half hours. It was ugly.
Also, Maddux, when he was in his prime in teh mid 90s, was amazing to watch on TV. Perfect form, and every single pitch had just a little bit of movement and seemed to catch one side of the plate or the other in such a way that it must have appeared unhittable to the batters. It was like watching a video game.
_________________ Unfortunately, at the Dawning of the Age of Aquarius, the Flower Children jerked off and went back to sleep.
Surprised nobody's mentioned Stevie Carlton's 72 season. Not a typical choice, but the Phils leading batter that year was like a .275 hitter. He also won nearly 50 percent of the Phils' games that year, which I believe has yet to be bested.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 4:52 pm Posts: 6822 Location: NY Gender: Male
punkdavid wrote:
Also, Maddux, when he was in his prime in the mid 90s, was amazing to watch on TV. Perfect form, and every single pitch had just a little bit of movement and seemed to catch one side of the plate or the other in such a way that it must have appeared unhittable to the batters. It was like watching a video game.
I think Maddux always gets overlooked because his style wasn't glamorous, just unbelievably efficient. I've never seen a pitcher who could have such great control and ball placement game after game. Just a master of the art of pitching as a whole.
Joined: Sat Sep 03, 2005 4:35 pm Posts: 1545 Location: Boston
punkdavid wrote:
The best pitching performance I ever witnessed in person was Pedro in September 99 throw a 1 hitter against the Yankees at the Stadium, striking out 17. He basically made one mistake all night, a solo HR, and was otherwise perfect. The best offense in the league was made to look like they were handicapped for two and a half hours. It was ugly.
That would've have a been a solo HR hit by Chili Davis to lead off the second inning. The only Yankee to reach base that night. Petey got them in order in the first, let up that HR and then set another 24 down in order. It was amazing. I don't think i've ever seen a pitcher make a lineup of that caliber look so foolish.
The best pitching performance I ever witnessed in person was Pedro in September 99 throw a 1 hitter against the Yankees at the Stadium, striking out 17. He basically made one mistake all night, a solo HR, and was otherwise perfect. The best offense in the league was made to look like they were handicapped for two and a half hours. It was ugly.
That would've have a been a solo HR hit by Chili Davis to lead off the second inning. The only Yankee to reach base that night. Petey got them in order in the first, let up that HR and then set another 24 down in order. It was amazing. I don't think i've ever seen a pitcher make a lineup of that caliber look so foolish.
he plunked Knoblauch.
Obviously a great game for Pedro...but IMO, his most impressive performance that year was game 5 against Cleveland (who had a much better lineup than the Yanks in 99).
_________________ “You’re good kids, stay together. Trust each other and be good teammates to one another. I believe there is a championship in this room.”
-Ernie Accorsi in his final address to the NY Giants locker room before retiring as GM in January of 2007
Joined: Sat Sep 03, 2005 4:35 pm Posts: 1545 Location: Boston
Ricardo Tubbs wrote:
ms11781 wrote:
punkdavid wrote:
The best pitching performance I ever witnessed in person was Pedro in September 99 throw a 1 hitter against the Yankees at the Stadium, striking out 17. He basically made one mistake all night, a solo HR, and was otherwise perfect. The best offense in the league was made to look like they were handicapped for two and a half hours. It was ugly.
That would've have a been a solo HR hit by Chili Davis to lead off the second inning. The only Yankee to reach base that night. Petey got them in order in the first, let up that HR and then set another 24 down in order. It was amazing. I don't think i've ever seen a pitcher make a lineup of that caliber look so foolish.
he plunked Knoblauch.
Obviously a great game for Pedro...but IMO, his most impressive performance that year was game 5 against Cleveland (who had a much better lineup than the Yanks in 99).
You're right. There were two Pedro gems at Yankee Stadium. One was the aforementioned game and the other was in May of 2000. He and Clemens were both unbelievable that night. There was only 1 bad pitch made by either guy that night and Trot Nixon hit a home run off Clemens in the 9th. I think this qualifies as a pitcher's duel:
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 12:58 pm Posts: 19700 Location: long island Gender: Female
ms11781 wrote:
You're right. There were two Pedro gems at Yankee Stadium. One was the aforementioned game and the other was in May of 2000. He and Clemens were both unbelievable that night. There was only 1 bad pitch made by either guy that night and Trot Nixon hit a home run off Clemens in the 9th. I think this qualifies as a pitcher's duel:
Pedro: 9 IP, 4 hits, a walk and 9 K's
Roger: 9 IP, 5 hits, 2 ER and 13 K's
i was at that game it was fantastic the stadium was electric even after the HR people knew they had witnessed something special
Joined: Sun May 21, 2006 2:02 am Posts: 91597 Location: Sector 7-G
godsdice wrote:
ms11781 wrote:
You're right. There were two Pedro gems at Yankee Stadium. One was the aforementioned game and the other was in May of 2000. He and Clemens were both unbelievable that night. There was only 1 bad pitch made by either guy that night and Trot Nixon hit a home run off Clemens in the 9th. I think this qualifies as a pitcher's duel:
Pedro: 9 IP, 4 hits, a walk and 9 K's
Roger: 9 IP, 5 hits, 2 ER and 13 K's
i was at that game it was fantastic the stadium was electric even after the HR people knew they had witnessed something special
I am extremely jealous that you were at this game.
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And didn't he have chronic arthritis or something?
