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Did they just make up some innings limit to give him this title?
You have to lower the innings threshold to 45 to get someone with a lower ERA than those two, which gets you Joey Devine's 2008 (0.59 in 45.2) and Buck O'Brien's 1911 (0.38 in 47.2). O'Brien had 7 UER runs (vs 2 ER) though, and 5 GS with 1 relief appearance, while Devine, Eckersley, and Rodney each had 4 UER and no GS. Devine also had a bunch more appearances where he didn't finish the game, so presumably more chances for the bullpen to bail him out of baserunners he put on or allow runs to score that he got charged. After a quick check, it looks like neither Eckersley nor Rodney got relieved for with runners on in their respective seasons.
I always got Jose Valverde and Fernando Rodney confused before, and this business of one of them having a fluke perfect season of save conversion, then the other one having a fluke perfect season of ERA, isn't helping.
I remember seeing Rodney in a game against the Orioles 3-4 years ago. He was throwing both his 97-99 MPH fastball and ridiculous change up for strikes, and I thought "how does anyone ever get a hit off of this guy?" I have no idea if he can maintain this going forward (probably not), but I'm not surprised he was able to do this for a short stretch.
16.Austin posted on October 04, 2012 at 05:01 PM #hit 0 | hit 0
The four unearned runs for both Rodney and Eckersley make me curious. I don't use B-R much, and for the life of me I can't figure out how to find who owns the best single-season RA9 with a similar innings limit. Can anyone help me with that?
17.UCCF posted on October 04, 2012 at 05:02 PM #hit 0 | hit 0
I remember seeing Rodney in a game against the Orioles 3-4 years ago. He was throwing both his 97-99 MPH fastball and ridiculous change up for strikes, and I thought "how does anyone ever get a hit off of this guy?" I have no idea if he can maintain this going forward (probably not), but I'm not surprised he was able to do this for a short stretch.
It's funny how many pitchers there are like this. I remember when Carlos Marmol came up, and he was throwing those fribee breaking balls that guys were missing by 2 feet. Juan Cruz was the same way - he seemed to have better pure stuff than any of the other young Cubs pitchers (Prior, Wood, Zambrano).
Some combination of control and makeup seems to be the thing that separates the ones who make it from the ones who don't.
Earl Moore, in 26 innings for 1908, allowed zero earned runs. Can't beat that.
Fred Norman in 1967: 3 batters faced, 3 strikeouts.
Only 4 guys have a K/9 of 27 and 0 baserunners, Norman and three guys with 1 batter faced each. They are Joey Dawley, Scott Sheldon, and, of all people, Kevin Seitzer.
The four unearned runs for both Rodney and Eckersley make me curious. I don't use B-R much, and for the life of me I can't figure out how to find who owns the best single-season RA9 with a similar innings limit. Can anyone help me with that?
At 60 IP it's Kimbrel with a 1.01 RA.
At 70 IP it's Rollie Fingers from 1981. There are 4 guys with 70 IP and 9 runs allowed:
Rk Player IP R Year ER ERA ERA+ 1 Rollie Fingers 78.0 9 1981 9 1.04 333 2 Fernando Rodney 74.2 9 2012 5 0.60 634 3 Eric OFlaherty 73.2 9 2011 8 0.98 389 4 Dennis Eckersley 73.1 9 1990 5 0.61 603
They do this with some reliever every year; I'm telling you those guys have got something figured out...
One thing. . .Rodney in LA was throwing 10% sliders. They ditched the slider, which was a mediocre pitch, and had him go back to throwing fastballs and changeups. That was a good move, but he had drifted off to the slider because he wasn't that sharp with fastballs and changeups (before 2011).
21.Ardo posted on October 04, 2012 at 05:54 PM #hit 0 | hit 0
Did anyone notice that Craig Kimbrel struck out 116 of his 231 batters faced?
I saw it on Bleacher Report. Kimbrel is the only pitcher to do this over a large sample size. The only other player to strike out a majority of his batters faced (min. 10 BF) was Francisco Rodriguez, who struck out 13 of 21 batters (5 2/3 IP) in September 2002 before earning postseason glory as K-Rod.
As for Rodney, being a Detroiter I've seen a lot of him. It seemed as a Tiger that he would have command of either the fastball or changeup, but seldom both (and sometimes neither). With the Rays, he has had great command of both pitches and he appears more comfortable on the mound.
23.Austin posted on October 04, 2012 at 07:43 PM #hit 0 | hit 0
At 60 IP it's Kimbrel with a 1.01 RA.
Excellent! I thought Kimbrel would be in the running, but I definitely didn't expect him to hold the record (at least for a 60 IP minimum). It really is a season for the ages.
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1. BourbonSamurai, vassal of the Harpsburg Empire posted on October 04, 2012 at 03:14 PM # hit 1 | hit 0I wish the worst upon him: I hope he goes back to being the old Fernando Rodney.
You have to lower the innings threshold to 45 to get someone with a lower ERA than those two, which gets you Joey Devine's 2008 (0.59 in 45.2) and Buck O'Brien's 1911 (0.38 in 47.2). O'Brien had 7 UER runs (vs 2 ER) though, and 5 GS with 1 relief appearance, while Devine, Eckersley, and Rodney each had 4 UER and no GS. Devine also had a bunch more appearances where he didn't finish the game, so presumably more chances for the bullpen to bail him out of baserunners he put on or allow runs to score that he got charged. After a quick check, it looks like neither Eckersley nor Rodney got relieved for with runners on in their respective seasons.
Kimbrel. Rodney was a fluky year, Kimbrel has shown over two seasons that he is this good.
It's funny how many pitchers there are like this. I remember when Carlos Marmol came up, and he was throwing those fribee breaking balls that guys were missing by 2 feet. Juan Cruz was the same way - he seemed to have better pure stuff than any of the other young Cubs pitchers (Prior, Wood, Zambrano).
Some combination of control and makeup seems to be the thing that separates the ones who make it from the ones who don't.
Fred Norman in 1967: 3 batters faced, 3 strikeouts.
Only 4 guys have a K/9 of 27 and 0 baserunners, Norman and three guys with 1 batter faced each. They are Joey Dawley, Scott Sheldon, and, of all people, Kevin Seitzer.
At 60 IP it's Kimbrel with a 1.01 RA.
At 70 IP it's Rollie Fingers from 1981. There are 4 guys with 70 IP and 9 runs allowed:
Rk Player IP R Year ER ERA ERA+1 Rollie Fingers 78.0 9 1981 9 1.04 333
2 Fernando Rodney 74.2 9 2012 5 0.60 634
3 Eric OFlaherty 73.2 9 2011 8 0.98 389
4 Dennis Eckersley 73.1 9 1990 5 0.61 603
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 10/4/2012.
I saw it on Bleacher Report. Kimbrel is the only pitcher to do this over a large sample size. The only other player to strike out a majority of his batters faced (min. 10 BF) was Francisco Rodriguez, who struck out 13 of 21 batters (5 2/3 IP) in September 2002 before earning postseason glory as K-Rod.
As for Rodney, being a Detroiter I've seen a lot of him. It seemed as a Tiger that he would have command of either the fastball or changeup, but seldom both (and sometimes neither). With the Rays, he has had great command of both pitches and he appears more comfortable on the mound.
Excellent! I thought Kimbrel would be in the running, but I definitely didn't expect him to hold the record (at least for a 60 IP minimum). It really is a season for the ages.
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