Joe Soriano
O.J. LewisDevalue The No-Hitter
May 8th 2011 11:23
First off, Justin Verlander is a beast. He was throwing it 100 miles an hour even after he threw 100 pitches. Verlander and his pitching coach have worked to make Verlander a better pitcher by slowing down his delivery in order to increase his control. With this added knowledge, Verlander has been pinpoint accurate at the beginning of games. Although he won't pitch as fast in the beginning, his blazing speed is showcased at the end of the game. Verlander has always been great at maintaining a fastball that is actually fast through the late innings. He's starting to mix up his pitches more, and this may just be a glimpse of what is to come for Verlander as the year goes on. I mean, he's always been a slow starter. This is probably Verlander beginning to get back on track.
I have always been calling for the devaluation of the no-hitter ever since Edwin Jackson's "gem" last year. Jackson walked eight batters and had a game score of 85. To put that into perspective, Verlander had a game score of 90. Game score is a Bill James stat that basically calculates how well a player did during one particular game. This year, six pitchers have had a game score of at least 90. The highest, 92, was a three-hitter with 12 K's by Cliff Lee. I believe that we should use game scores to evaluate who truly pitched the best games.
No-hitters are a great accomplishment, but the best games aren't always no-hitters. I honestly believe that a pitcher's game score is the best way to evaluate how well they pitched in that game. A no-hitter with eight walks and 6 K's is less valuable than a game where a pitcher walks one and gives up three hits while striking out 12. The former is Edwin Jackson's game against the Rays last season- 85 games score- and the latter is Lee's 92 game score outing this year. We need to look at all the statistics instead of just hits and walks to determine what were the most memorable games.
I have always been calling for the devaluation of the no-hitter ever since Edwin Jackson's "gem" last year. Jackson walked eight batters and had a game score of 85. To put that into perspective, Verlander had a game score of 90. Game score is a Bill James stat that basically calculates how well a player did during one particular game. This year, six pitchers have had a game score of at least 90. The highest, 92, was a three-hitter with 12 K's by Cliff Lee. I believe that we should use game scores to evaluate who truly pitched the best games.
No-hitters are a great accomplishment, but the best games aren't always no-hitters. I honestly believe that a pitcher's game score is the best way to evaluate how well they pitched in that game. A no-hitter with eight walks and 6 K's is less valuable than a game where a pitcher walks one and gives up three hits while striking out 12. The former is Edwin Jackson's game against the Rays last season- 85 games score- and the latter is Lee's 92 game score outing this year. We need to look at all the statistics instead of just hits and walks to determine what were the most memorable games.
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Comment by nbageek
NBA Geek
sportsworld
Comment by brokenbones
Battlefield of Broken Bones
They should all compare that to a perfect game - which is nearly non-existent.