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Game 135 Open Thread: September 4, 2007

morris

pineiro

8-8, 4.41

4-3, 4.37

GAME TIME 7:10 CDT

this matchup pits the starting pitcher the cardinals almost traded for on july 31 vs the one they did trade for. here's a comparison of how they fared in august, quick n dirty:
w-l era avg obp slg
pineiro 3-2 3.71 .269 .301 .492
morris 1-1 4.66 .301 .380 .434

insofar as pineiro didn't come with $9 million worth of strings attached for 2008, he's been by far the superior acquisition --- up to this point, anyway. we'll see how it shakes out tonight.

there was a little discussion this afternoon of the cards' won-loss record behind various starting pitchers in 2007. the stat goes like this: the cards are 11-39 when wells, reyes, and maroth start, but 56-28 behind all the other starters combined. since reyes has gotten the shaft this year, run-supportwise, i decided to sort out his starts by number of runs allowed, and see how the team fared in those starts ---- and, by comparison, how the team fared in equivalent starts by select teammates. here's how it breaks down:

overall 0
runs
1
run
2
runs
3
runs
4
runs
5+
runs
reyes 4-15 0-0 0-1 2-3 0-4 1-4 1-4
thompson 9-3 0-0 1-0 3-0 2-1 2-0 1-2
wellemeyer 7-1 1-0 1-0 1-0 2-0 1-0 1-1
wells 6-19 2-0 1-1 1-1 1-3 0-3 1-11
maroth 1-5 0-0 0-1 0-0 0-0 0-1 1-3

wells' won-loss record is largely deserved --- he has allowed 5 runs or more in 11 of his 16 losses. ditto maroth, who allowed fewer than 4 runs only once in 6 tries. but look at reyes. when he allows 3 runs or fewer --- ie, when he generally keeps the team in the game ---- the cards are only 2-8, thanks to poor run support. when thompson or wellemeyer allows the same number of runs, the cardinals are 11-1. here's another comparison: when anthony allows 3 or 4 runs --- so-so outings --- the cards are just 1-8; but when thompson / wellemeyer allow the same number of runs, the cardinals are 7-1. they're 1-6 when wells allows 3 or 4 runs.

some of you, i realize, will continue to insist that won-loss records are meaningful indicators of pitching ability. . . . . . .