BBTF's Newsblog Discussion :: Greinke pitches 1-hitter, retires final 22 batters

Baseball Primer Newsblog
— The Best News Links from the Baseball Newsstand

Monday, August 31, 2009

Greinke pitches 1-hitter, retires final 22 batters

Even if Zack Greinke wasn’t trying to make another statement Sunday afternoon regarding his status as a Cy Young Award candidate…consider it made anyway.

It doesn’t get much better than this:

Greinke pitched a complete-game, one-hit shutout that provided the Royals with a 3-0 victory over the Seattle Mariners at Safeco Field.

“Things just kind of flowed well,” he said. “A lot of balls were hit at people early on. Later on, I started to pitch better. (Shortstop Yuniesky) Betancourt made a couple of nice plays to help out.”

... “It was really a clinic today,” Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu said. “He was almost unhittable to me. You go into a ballgame like this, offensively, with a guy that struck out 15 in his last appearance.

“Really, the only way you beat a guy like that is try to get his pitch count up, but it’s hard when he strikes out 15 the game before. You don’t want to get deep in counts with him.

“You look up in the board in the last inning, on his 113th pitch, it’s 96 mph. And with that he complements it with a 65-, 66-mph curveball with command. It’s one of those days you tip your cap to that kid, because he was awfully, awfully impressive.”

Thanks to Cy Barnald.

Repoz Posted: August 31, 2009 at 12:30 AM | 35 comment(s) Login to Bookmark
Tags: game recaps, mariners, royals

Reader Comments and Retorts

Go to end of page

Statements posted here are those of our readers and do not represent the BaseballThinkFactory. Names are provided by the poster and are not verified. We ask that posters follow our submission policy. Please report any inappropriate comments.

1. Baseball-Birthdays.com Posted: August 31, 2009 at 12:55 AM (#3309368)

heh... I wonder what Ball Star's topic will be in the morning...

2. Enrico Pallazzo Posted: August 31, 2009 at 01:05 AM (#3309371)

I'm so glad I tuned into this game after the Jays-Sox ended. Dominant.

3. SG Posted: August 31, 2009 at 01:05 AM (#3309372)

But Halladay's supposed to catch him in ERA by the end of the year, isn't he?

Greinke should be the slam dunk Cy Young, and he probably should be in the discussion for MVP as well.

4. Cowboy Popup Posted: August 31, 2009 at 01:07 AM (#3309373)

Not to take away from Greinke, who I think is awesome, but that was one seriously bad lineup. After the game, the top OBP in the Mariners' lineup tonight was .346, the second best was .316. There were FIVE guys in the starting lineup that finished the night with an OBP below .300.

5. Shock Posted: August 31, 2009 at 01:12 AM (#3309375)

Bah humbug.

6. Crispix Attacks Posted: August 31, 2009 at 01:36 AM (#3309384)

Not to take away from Greinke, who I think is awesome, but that was one seriously bad lineup. After the game, the top OBP in the Mariners' lineup tonight was .346, the second best was .316. There were FIVE guys in the starting lineup that finished the night with an OBP below .300.

Greinke held them to a combined OBP of .069 today, though.

The only walk? Bill Hall.

7. Cowboy Popup Posted: August 31, 2009 at 01:44 AM (#3309388)

Greinke held them to a combined OBP of .069 today, though.

Oh yeah, Greinke was sick, again, I wasn't trying to take away anything from how good he was tonight. But Seattle is over .500, I was stunned to see how bad their lineup was tonight.

8. cardsfanboy

Posted: August 31, 2009 at 01:49 AM (#3309391)

But Halladay's supposed to catch him in ERA by the end of the year, isn't he?

that is what I came over here to say, it seemed like everyone was acting as if it was a foregone conclusion.

9. Jarrod HypnerotomachiaPoliphili(Teddy F. Ballgame) Posted: August 31, 2009 at 01:50 AM (#3309392)

Ichiro's out, Beltre's out, I think Branyan was out. Did Gutierrez play? The M's aren't an offensive juggernaut even when they're at full strength, but right now they're horrible.

10. Shock Posted: August 31, 2009 at 01:56 AM (#3309398)

that is what I came over here to say, it seemed like everyone was acting as if it was a foregone conclusion.

No, they weren't. Where the hell do you keep coming up with this ########?

I said that. Me. Only me. I said it. Once. Only once. Since then, Halladay has given up a million runs and Greinke has been brilliant. I was wrong, okay? I was ####### wrong. Nobody else was wrong, just me. Stop making #### up. This is the second time you have flat-out just made #### up for no ####### reason. Stop it.

For #### Sakes. Since when do I get to be "everyone" and why the #### wasn't I informed about it?

11. RoyalsRetro (AG#1F) Posted: August 31, 2009 at 02:00 AM (#3309404)

Greinke has three shutouts this year, most in baseball. To borrow from Pos's column last week, just imagine if he got to face the Royals lineup. If he were on the Twins, he'd probably have 5-6 shutouts and an ERA under 2.00.

12. cardsfanboy

Posted: August 31, 2009 at 02:08 AM (#3309410)

I said that. Me. Only me

I don't know who said it, I just know that it's been repeated multiple times since Greinkes streak ended, not something that is a wholly recent situation.

13. akrasian Posted: August 31, 2009 at 02:12 AM (#3309414)

No, they weren't. Where the hell do you keep coming up with this ########?

I said that. Me. Only me. I said it. Once. Only once. Since then, Halladay has given up a million runs and Greinke has been brilliant. I was wrong, okay? I was ####### wrong. Nobody else was wrong, just me. Stop making #### up. This is the second time you have flat-out just made #### up for no ####### reason. Stop it.

For #### Sakes. Since when do I get to be "everyone" and why the #### wasn't I informed about it?

I hate when everyone on Baseball Think Factory swears.

14. Shock Posted: August 31, 2009 at 02:15 AM (#3309417)

I don't know who said it, I just know that it's been repeated multiple times since Greinkes streak ended

Repeated in what way? It's been repeated ironically as a snide swipe, yes. Three times by yourself, I believe. It has not been ever repeated in any other context that I am aware of.

15. Baseball-Birthdays.com Posted: August 31, 2009 at 02:20 AM (#3309420)

I hate when everyone on Baseball Think Factory swears.

awww... I didn't swear...

and neither did Andy today.

16. cardsfanboy

Posted: August 31, 2009 at 02:24 AM (#3309425)

wow, you are really upset about this aren't you?

people have from the streak raised the possibility that Greinke was not guaranteed post 6, DCA

it's not a swipe, it's an "inside" joke, there was nothing mean about the intent or anything, just relax a little. Heck I haven't found it, but I'm pretty sure I said something similar about Halladay having a good chance to lead in ERA a few months back also.

17. Greg (U)K Posted: August 31, 2009 at 02:29 AM (#3309432)

Greinke has three shutouts this year, most in baseball. To borrow from Pos's column last week, just imagine if he got to face the Royals lineup. If he were on the Twins, he'd probably have 5-6 shutouts and an ERA under 2.00.

It's a good thing he's in the AL. I don't want anything to ruin Joel Piniero leading his league in shutouts as often as Roy Halladay has...that's going to win me a free pitcher of beer in some trivia contest some day.

EDIT: I'm going to suggest we give Shock a pass here...not a good time to be a Jays fan...not a nice feeling to get it rubbed in that on top of everything else, our big guy isn't doing so hot lately.
And to be fair, the thread you were referring specifically to last time this came up was Shock saying Halladay would have the better ERA by the end of the season and about 7 people immediately saying "I'm not so sure about that".
Plus the post you refer to was in May, saying that while Greinke was the most likely pitcher to win the Cy Young at that point, it wasn't a lock. Hardly what I'd call the statement of a Greinke doubter.

18. Eric P. Posted: August 31, 2009 at 02:31 AM (#3309434)

It's just not a good idea to joke with Jays fans right now, especially when it comes to Halladay. He was the one thing making this #### storm of a season somewhat watchable and now that he's in a funk, we're basically homicidal, genocidal, suicidal maniacs.

19. Baseball-Birthdays.com Posted: August 31, 2009 at 02:34 AM (#3309437)

we're basically homicidal, genocidal, suicidal maniacs

ok, so long as you don't go all herbicidal on us...

20. Good cripple hitter Posted: August 31, 2009 at 02:51 AM (#3309446)

we're basically homicidal, genocidal, suicidal maniacs.

This actually cheered me up, if only because it caused me to envision a JP Ricciardi vs Tony LaCava "General Manager's Contract on a Barbed Wire Wrapped Pole" match.

"Waitaminute! That's.... that's Gord Ash's music! What's he doing here?!?"

21. cardsfanboy

Posted: August 31, 2009 at 02:56 AM (#3309448)

Plus the post you refer to was in May, saying that while Greinke was the most likely pitcher to win the Cy Young at that point, it wasn't a lock. Hardly what I'd call the statement of a Greinke doubter.

my point was that Shock wasn't the only one saying that Halladay has a good chance to win the ERA title. Again I'm pretty sure I said something on par with "if I'm a betting man, I'll bet Halladay finishes the season with a better ERA" or something like that, even in June or late May. If I never said it, I did think it.

22. AJM Posted: August 31, 2009 at 03:09 AM (#3309452)

Who cares if someone said Halladay would beat out Greinke? It's Roy ####### Halladay, not Chien-Ming Wang.

23. Shock Posted: August 31, 2009 at 03:15 AM (#3309457)

I'll admit I flipped out a bit too much.

But yeah. Every year I know we aren't making the playoffs and I wind up rooting for Doc to win the Cy more than I root for the Jays. A big strange, I guess, but it's the way it is. These last few weeks have ####### sucked.

24. RJ in TO Posted: August 31, 2009 at 03:32 AM (#3309470)

"Waitaminute! That's.... that's Gord Ash's music! What's he doing here?!?"

Look, if you don't want people to hunt you down, don't say things like that, even as a joke. As displeased as I am with how this season has turned out, one of the few things that would make it worse is the possibility that Gord "What's a career year?" Ash could return to Toronto. I'm still stunned by the stupidity that was the 5 year deal to Alex Gonzalez.

The only thing worse than Gord Ash returning would be if Isiah Thomas were to somehow buy the Raptors.

25. base ball chick Posted: August 31, 2009 at 03:39 AM (#3309474)

shock

i understand. but it could be worse - you could be an astros fan. and if i were not a total lady all yall would hear some very, uh, unladylike comments about every astros player not named wandy or bourn. and i assure you i would not be complimenting them by calling them by the names of female reproductive parts neither

those lazy swing at crap good fer nothins can bite my uterus is all i can say. IF they had any teeth.

which they don't

26. Srul Itza At Home Posted: August 31, 2009 at 03:45 AM (#3309477)

I hate when everyone on Baseball Think Factory swears.

Simon: I swear, when it's appropriate.
Kaylee: Simon, the whole point of swearing is that it ain't appropriate.

27. CFiJ Posted: August 31, 2009 at 03:46 AM (#3309478)

Really liking that Firefly, eh, Srul?

28. Tom (and his broom) Posted: August 31, 2009 at 03:49 AM (#3309480)

shock,

Last year all that mattered to me was Lincecum getting a Cy Young. This year, I enjoy his pitching just as much but would gladly trade the CY for the playoffs. In a way i am glad he won it last year so there isn't the big deal about it now.

29. Srul Itza At Home Posted: August 31, 2009 at 03:57 AM (#3309483)

Really liking that Firefly, eh, Srul?

Yup. Hulu was a great way to watch the series -- all the episodes in a row, very limited commercials. Looks like I'll have to rent Serenity next.

30. Infinite Yost (Voxter)

Posted: August 31, 2009 at 04:26 AM (#3309494)

I hate when everyone on Baseball Think Factory swears.

I think akrasian won the thread.

31. Brandon in MO (Yunitility Infielder) Posted: August 31, 2009 at 04:26 AM (#3309495)

Zack Greinke broke Mark Gubicza's Royals strikeouts-in-a-game record in his last start, and he threw a one-hitter today (amongst Royals pitchers, this was last achieved by Mark Gubicza).

By the end of his time as a Royal, Greinke will continue his campaign to wipe out Gubicza's honors by topping him in strikeouts and actually appearing in a World Series game.

Currently, Greinke's K:BB ratio is better than Bret Saberhagen's.

Also, what's the biggest HBP:WP ratio? Greinke hit 13 and threw 4 wild pitches in 2005.

32. RJ in TO Posted: August 31, 2009 at 05:01 AM (#3309509)

Also, what's the biggest HBP:WP ratio? Greinke hit 13 and threw 4 wild pitches in 2005.

Dave Stieb had seasons of 11:1, 11:2, 13:3, and 13:4, and was 129:51 for his entire career. Pedro had seasons of 14:1, 15:3, and 16:2 - in the 14:1 season, he also only walked 32 guys in 217 innings, so he was probably somewhat selectively wild.

33. Walt Davis Posted: August 31, 2009 at 06:57 AM (#3309519)

In 97, Maddux threw 232 IP without a WP (hit 6 guys, walked 20). I love that guy.

In 06, he threw 210 IP without a WP or a HBP.

I'm actually somewhat surprised by the "high" number of WP Maddux has. Imagine how many it would be if Javy Lopez caught him! :-)

34. wcw Posted: August 31, 2009 at 05:02 PM (#3309802)

I think Greinke is the best pitcher in baseball, too, but why bring up the three shutouts? "Just a wee bit better than Bronson Arroyo," who has two, doesn't really quantify what Greinke is doing this year, does it?

35. Good cripple hitter Posted: August 31, 2009 at 06:05 PM (#3309891)

Look, if you don't want people to hunt you down, don't say things like that, even as a joke.

In my defense, I was picturing Gord Ash wielding a barbed wire wrapped baseball bat and interfering on behalf of LaCava. I also considered going with Alex Rios or Roy Halladay. I agree that there would be nothing worse than Ash returning to Toronto.... well, maybe if he brought Tim Johnson and Buck Martinez along with him to act as co-managers.

You must be Registered and Logged In to post comments.

<< Back to main

Monday, August 31, 2009

Greinke pitches 1-hitter, retires final 22 batters

Reader Comments and Retorts

Support BBTF

Bookmarks

Hot Topics