The demise of the complete game
Joe Sheehan writes a good article about why it's silly to diminish today's pitchers for not throwing as many complete games as yesterday's pitching stars like Bob Gibson and Juan Marichal.
It reminded me of the Cubs' series against the Blue Jays, where their hitters were taking a ton of pitches. Prior threw 100+ pitches just to get through 5 2/3 innings, and the Cubs' bullpen got a lot of work. Against a patient team like that, throwing strike one is really key. In Pedro Martinez's last start against the White Sox, he was strike one to just about every hitter. The White Sox were taking lots of pitches b/c they knew he was in only his second start back off of the DL and was on a pitch limit. Pedro was more than happy to take advantage of the situation. A hitter down 0-1 in the count is much less dangerous. Of course, the White Sox strategy ultimately paid off when Pedro got pulled and the Red Sox bullpen blew the win for him again. Still, if Pedro was healthy, he would have been tough to beat. It's like starting every at-bat down a strike automatically.
The problem is that many managers and starting pitchers feel like they've failed if they don't work deep into the game, and that can encourage abuse. Dusty Baker and Kerry Wood seem particularly susceptible to that old-school machismo. Let's hope it doesn't backfire. The Cubs have a good bullpen--no reason to leave them sitting.
It reminded me of the Cubs' series against the Blue Jays, where their hitters were taking a ton of pitches. Prior threw 100+ pitches just to get through 5 2/3 innings, and the Cubs' bullpen got a lot of work. Against a patient team like that, throwing strike one is really key. In Pedro Martinez's last start against the White Sox, he was strike one to just about every hitter. The White Sox were taking lots of pitches b/c they knew he was in only his second start back off of the DL and was on a pitch limit. Pedro was more than happy to take advantage of the situation. A hitter down 0-1 in the count is much less dangerous. Of course, the White Sox strategy ultimately paid off when Pedro got pulled and the Red Sox bullpen blew the win for him again. Still, if Pedro was healthy, he would have been tough to beat. It's like starting every at-bat down a strike automatically.
The problem is that many managers and starting pitchers feel like they've failed if they don't work deep into the game, and that can encourage abuse. Dusty Baker and Kerry Wood seem particularly susceptible to that old-school machismo. Let's hope it doesn't backfire. The Cubs have a good bullpen--no reason to leave them sitting.