Putting the 'quality' into quality starts
We're in it for the long haul today with a game at 1 and another at 7 tonight. It figures to be a relatively small crowd for Game 1. The Cubs have a makeshift lineup, with D-Lee suffering from a sore left foot, courtesy of a foul ball last night. First, the lineup, then talk about quality starts.
Lineup
Theriot, SS
Fukudome, CF
Baker, 3B
Hoffpauir, 1B
Fox, LF
Scales, RF
Soto, C
Blanco, 2B
Lilly, P
Last night, Ryan Dempster turned in the Cubs' 93rd quality start of the season. The Cubs are 60-33 in quality-start games, with the starters having a sparkling ERA of 1.98 in those starts. When the Cubs don't get a quality start, the team is 22-41.
Here is the breakdown among pitchers:
Lilly: 21 quality starts
Dempster: 19
Zambrano: 17
Wells: 17
Harden: 14
Marshall: 2
Hart: 2
Gorzelanny: 1
I decided to keep a log of quality starts a couple years ago, just to see if the stat tells you anything. I had heard it derided as the "4.50 stat." In other words, all you have to do to get a quality start is pitch at least 6 innings and allow no more than 3 earned runs. People who want not only to start there, but stop there, say, "Well, that's a 4.50 ERA; what's so 'quality' about that?"
The stat isn't perfect, but you have to start somewhere, and the 6/3 number is the baseline. As you can see, the Cubs far outdo the minimum requirement for quality starts, and the team has an overwhelmingly winning record when it gets a quality start and a poor record when it doesn't.
Speaking of pitching, Larry Rothschild has done a pretty nice job under trying circumstances this year, which is why he's a lock to come back next year. Larry got more out of Harden than anybody thought possible. And who gave Randy Wells a chance in spring training? Marmol has come on in the second half, and Dempster has gone at least 6 innings in each start since Aug. 2.
Cubs starters are 61-50 with a 3.64 ERA. Relievers are 21-24 with a 4.06 ERA and 40 saves in 58 chances (69 percent).
Here is how the Cubs stack up in some NL pitching rankings:
ERA: 5th (3.78)
Batting average against: 3rd (.246)
Quality starts: second
Strikeouts: third
Walks: Sixth most allowed
OBP against: fifth (.325)
Save percentage: fifth
WHIP: fifth (1.32)
K/BB: ninth (2.14)
More later. Let's play two.
The Cubs annnounced a "crowd" of 34,362 for today's game, but only about half that many are here. The entire second-tier of center-field bleachers is empty as is most of the second tier of the upper deck. (A colleague tried to get into the center-field bleachers but was brusquely escorted away.)
Just seconds after the press-box announcement of the attendance, the Cubs sent out a press release announcing they had reached 3 million fans in home attendance six seasons in a row and that the Cubs are one of five major-league franchises to do so every year since 2004 (when Andy MacPhail was still in charge).
Chairman Crane Kenney was quoted (or quoted himself) in the release as saying: "We thank our fans for their extraordinary support of this franchise as Wrigley Field welcomes its three millionth fan for the sixth year in a row." There was something else from Crane about thanking the city or some such.
There won't be any quality start this afternoon. Lilly gave up 4 runs in the first, throwing 34 pitches, 17 for strikes. It'll be interesting to see if Teddy Ballgame takes care of business with Lastings Milledge for leg-whipping Theriot at second base.
..for jinxing today, and for the stats.. :-)
Can't watch - am in BORING integration meetings, but I hope Teddy Ballgame retaliates. If the first inning ejection in 2007 in Atlanta is any indication after Renteria's antics the night before on Fontenot ....
The 4.50 stat is such a misnomer. Cubs' record when they do get a quality start speaks for itself. Pitching has been pretty good overall. Too bad the hitting did not follow suit this year.
..for jinxing today, and for the stats.. :-)
Can't watch - am in BORING integration meetings, but I hope Teddy Ballgame retaliates. If the first inning ejection in 2007 in Atlanta is any indication after Renteria's antics the night before on Fontenot ....
The 4.50 stat is such a misnomer. Cubs' record when they do get a quality start speaks for itself. Pitching has been pretty good overall. Too bad the hitting did not follow suit this year.