A fighter for sure; he looked totally washed up after 2010. Fine career.
If you’re Bessemer City’s Kevin Millwood, there’s a lot of coaching youth sports, hunting and fishing in your future.
Millwood, a 1993 Bessemer City High graduate, said Friday during a celebration of his alma mater’s basketball history that his major league baseball career had come to an end…
After going 6-12 with a 4.25 ERA in 28 starts last season for the Mariners that included being a part of the second no-hitter of his career, Millwood says he told his agent, Scott Boras, that he only wanted to pitch “close to home,” indicating the Atlanta Braves and Tampa Rays were really the only two choices.
When neither team showed interest, Millwood said he’s enjoyed living in Gainesville, Ga., while coaching his 11-year-old (Kevin Jr.) and 10-year-old (Conley) sons in basketball and baseball…
Millwood said finishing his career after a solid season was important and he felt he did that last season with the Mariners.
“I feel like I can still throw it well and going out on a high note is a big deal,” Millwood said. “I just felt it was time to be closer to home and to be around the kids more often.”
The highlight of last season was the June no-hitter against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Millwood went the first six innings before a groin injury forced him to the sideline; Five relievers pitched no-hit ball over the past three innings to complete the no-hitter.
“It was a cool experience,” said Millwood, who watched his teammates get the final nine outs from the training room. “But it was bittersweet to not be able to finish it out.
“I’d rather have gone on and lost it (the no-hitter) late in the game than not be able to complete it. But it was a special moment for my team, my teammates and me.”...
Millwood finished with a 169-152 pitching record during a career in which he made the All-Star team for the National League in 1999, threw a nine-inning no-hitter for the Phillies in 2003 against a San Francisco Giants lineup that included all-time home run leader Barry Bonds and led the American League in ERA (2.86) in 2005 for the Cleveland Indians.
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1. Walt Davis Posted: February 03, 2013 at 06:51 PM (#4361337)I don't know why, but I like the idea of piecing together four of five stats/facts/moments of a player's career when he retires. Now we just need someone to do Casey Fossum's and Damaso Marte's.
I'm guessing it'll take a lot more work to make Fossum's career sound impressive.
Add a twist to the Fossum-Marte game: Do that for an arbitrary player of recent vintage, but don't reveal the name, and see how hard it is to guess.
I wonder how many pitchers have started two games in a four-game regular season series in the five-man rotation era.
I can't do the individual anecdotes, but Fossum in 2002 was an exciting player. He was a 24-year-old lefty swingman/starter who struck out nearly a batter an inning and put up a 132 ERA+. That was my first year watching the Red Sox full-time and I thought I was going to see him win a lot of games over the next five or six years. It didn't work out, but he was a bright spot for a little while (and he was part of the package that brought Schilling to Boston, for which red Sox fans should always be thankful).
In July this year, Zack Greinke became the first pitcher to start three consecutive games for his team in 96 years. He started on July 7, and was ejected for arguing a call at first base after four pitches; as a result, the Brewers decided to give him the start the next day. After that, of course, came the All Star break; Greinke started the team's first game back.
50's: This journeymen all-star set a record for most times striking out when he was a Cub. The next year his on field antics led to a ruling change concerning batted balls. Who is this guy?
50's: This opposing pitcher starts the season winning ten games in row, but then loses to the Cubs to break the streak. Also if it hadn't been for the Cubs this pitcher would have won 20 games in a row, he lost to the cubs twice in his first 20 decisions. Plus if it wasn't for the Cubs he would have been the first pitcher to reach 20 wins that year. Finally the Cubs accounted for 60% of this players losses that year. Name the Pitcher please
60's: What year did a Cub become the first NL firstbasemen to register 22 putouts in a game? Also who was the Cubs firstbasemen.
70's: What pitcher drafted by the Cubs threw two no hitters at the age of 20 in the NBC tournament?
80's: This Cub pitchers first career complete game was against Tom Seaver, he also threw a one hitter that day. Name this Pitcher.
90's: What 8 year streak ended on April 5th, 1993?
00's: This Cub had his first 5 hit game in the same city that he got his first hit as well as his first home run (not in the same decade as the five hits though) in. Name the Cub and the City
Extra Credit One: In what year and against whom did the Cubs issue a record 9 walks in one inning, and who were the pitchers?
Extra Credit Two: The Cubs are tied I believe for the major league record for most triple plays in a season with 3. What Cubs pitcher was on the mound and benefitted from all 3 triple plays?
Was Piersall a Cub when he ran the bases backwards?
Jamie Moyer?
Opening Day hitting streak for Sandberg?
I had tickets to that game but moved to Wisconsin about two weeks before that game.
Incorrect on the triva answers.
The "obvious" answer here would be Maddux so I'm going for Harkey.
I am incorrect except in that it wasn't Maddux. Harkey didn't have a complete game until 1990. I had to cheat pretty extensively to find the answer.
Firey outfielder had over 1500 hits and 200 HR in his career. He is one of only six players who have concluded a 30-homer season with more homers than walks (31 HR, 29 BB) Played for a team in every division during his career. Never afraid of taking one for the team, he once led the league in HBP, is in the top 25 all time in HBP, and 6 times had more HBP than GIDP.
Is that correct? Both in terms of number of players to do it and the numbers for the player?
Here's one:
Undrafted out of a California high school, this right-hander signed with an AL team a week before his 18th birthday. He spent four years with them, mostly in relief, before his boy-wonder manager gave up on him and sent him to the senior circuit for peanuts. Thrust into his new team's rotation, he spent five years as a starter, earning Cy Young votes with an 18-4 record before leaving in free agency for an NL West rival, who sent him to another NL team in an 8-player trade. Never known as a quick worker, he started 283 games for six teams but had only a 109-95 career record. In his last season, he was a rotation stalwart of a 94-win team that had only one pitcher with more than 10 wins, but two (including him) with more than 10 losses.
I found 12 besides Guillen, including most of the usual hackers; I'm sure there are more: George Bell, Bichette, Garret Anderson, Joe Carter, Galarraga (2 times), Dawson (2), Tony Batista (2), Vinny Castilla (3), Soriano (3), Matt Williams (3), Kingman (4), Juan Gonzalez (4, and almost a 5th)
Mark Portugal. When the Giants signed him after their 103 win season of 1993 I thought there was no way they couldn't win in 1994. There wound up being at least two.
Player WAR GS ERA+ From To CG IPMark Langston 46.9 428 107 1984 1999 81 2962.2
Javier Vazquez 40.2 443 105 1998 2011 28 2840.0
Bob Welch 39.9 462 106 1978 1994 61 3092.0
Curt Simmons 38.2 462 111 1947 1967 163 3348.1
Paul Derringer 37.0 445 108 1931 1945 251 3645.0
Jim Perry 35.0 447 106 1959 1975 109 3285.2
Charlie Hough 34.8 440 106 1970 1994 107 3801.1
Fernando Valenzuela 34.2 424 104 1980 1997 113 2930.0
Tim Wakefield 30.4 463 105 1992 2011 33 3226.1
George Mullin 30.0 428 101 1902 1915 353 3686.2
Rick Wise 28.5 455 101 1964 1982 138 3127.1
Kevin Millwood 26.8 443 106 1997 2012 22 2720.1
There was nothing terribly wrong with Millwood's tenure in Texas – he had 125 starts with an ERA+ of 100, thousands of pitchers should be so lucky – but as we'd point out here roughly from time to time, he was being paid like an ace and was delivering #3-4-starter performance.
It looks like most of the difference is the Millwood played in front of consistently above average defenses and Vazquez in front of bad ones.
He was very good in Houston (mostly), and had pitched really well against SF in 1993. I remember that. and also remember thinking at the time that he was a guy who benefited a lot from pitching home games in the Astrodome. Then again, I suppose a lot of pitchers did.
Yeah, it doesn't seem like much at first but, by the stats, Millwood's defenses were saving him an average of .16 runs per 9 while Vazquez's were costing him .16 per 9. Over their careers that adds up to about 100 runs or 10 wins. Those defensive numbers are roughly equivalent to a team saving or giving up 25 runs relative to average.
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