Gio is Washington's first 20-game winner since 1953 (Bob Porterfield) and its first 200-strikeout hurler since 1916 (Walter Johnson), both of which have more importance in the eyes of D.C. fans than anything Ross Grimsley did.

Gonzalez became the second pitcher in franchise history—Ross Grimsley for the 1978 Expos is the other

Shhh, we're supposed to be pretending that the Nationals sprang up out of the ground with no prior history!

Kind of surprised that Steve Rogers or El Presidente never hit the magic 20 win barrier

its first 200-strikeout hurler since 1916 (Walter Johnson)

Wow, that really surprises me. I guess strikeouts were low back when IP were high, but still. I didn't think 200 K was THAT hard to do historically.

more importance in the eyes of D.C. fans than anything Ross Grimsley did.

Well, to be fair, Grimsley pitched for the Orioles for 4 seasons after the Senators moved to Texas, so the O's were the only game in town.

Fun game, congrats to Gio. Now maybe he can get a date.

I was really really really wrong about Gio a the start of the year.

more importance in the eyes of D.C. fans

Oh c'mon now. You've got to be at least 50 to even remember when DC had baseball before the Nats. There can't be more than 20 people who actually care about this "it's been so long since DC had a winning team" silliness.

" I guess strikeouts were low back when IP were high, but still. I didn't think 200 K was THAT hard to do historically."

back when IP were REALLY high, 200k pitcher seasons were common. after 1892 and the 10 foot jump in distance between rubber and plate, 200k seasons immediately floundered.

after that.. times were different, the season shorter than today. Looked at from another angle, the first year where TWO major league batters struck 100 times was 1914 (thank you, Federal League). Next time that happened was 1937. In 2012, season nearly over but still room for more whiffers, there are today 91 major league batters with 100k+.

Expansion alone does not account for that. There were a myriad of other conditions lending themselves to the thin flock of post-1892 200k pitcher seasons, well documented elsewhere: strategy, emphasis on putting the ball in play and play for one run at a time, management demanding a batter skill set that emphasized making contact, weaker lineups 1 through 9 that afforded pitchers lesser challenges later in the order, pitchers easing up on those weaker batters to conserve resources and allow them to complete game (anything less than a complete game was basically NOT a Quality Start), and so on.

I'm happy for Gio, even though I'm told this is a completely meaningless achievement.

Fun game, congrats to Gio. Now maybe he can get a date.

6. Jose Can Youk Seabiscuit Posted: September 22, 2012 at 07:46 PM (#4243279)
I was really really really wrong about Gio a the start of the year.



That's what she said.



Mark me down as surprised that Johnson didn't K more than 200 in a season after 1916.

From 1917 until 1950, there were only 15 200 K seasons in the majors, just about one every other season. Puts Bob Feller's 1946 performance in a different content.

Oh c'mon now. You've got to be at least 50 to even remember when DC had baseball before the Nats. There can't be more than 20 people who actually care about this "it's been so long since DC had a winning team" silliness.

There are plenty of baseball fans in their fifties and over in the D.C. area. Just piss off.

From 1917 until 1950, there were only 15 200 K seasons in the majors, just about one every other season. Puts Bob Feller's 1946 performance in a different content.

Would have the best K rate in the modern era if not for Hal Newhouser in the same year.

Oh c'mon now. You've got to be at least 50 to even remember when DC had baseball before the Nats. There can't be more than 20 people who actually care about this "it's been so long since DC had a winning team" silliness.

Still a lot more people than the number of joint Nationals / Expos fans.

Congrats to Gio. Long time Fantasy stalwart of my AL teams.