Justin Verlander Is The American League's Best Pitcher - June 19, 2011 - 9:58 pm by Ryan Phillips
Posted on 08/23/2011 4:42:26 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Justin Verlander Is The American League's Best Pitcher - June 19, 2011 - 9:58 pm by Ryan Phillips
Today, a pitcher has between 30-40 starts, and often times not more than 6-7 innings per game. A starter will play from 155-162 games each season, nine innings as game, and often extra innings.
There is NO comparison.
MLB Predictions 2011: 13 Pitchers Most Likely To Make A Run At 20 Wins
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/681174-mlb-predictions-2011-13-pitchers-most-likely-to-make-a-run-at-20-wins
MLB Predictions: Jon Lester and 20 Pitchers Poised to Win 20 Games In 2011
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/610483-2011-mlb-forecast-20-pitchers-poised-to-become-baseballs-next-20-game-winner
Justin is on FIRE this year, mostly due to Jack Morris telling him to stop thinking so much.
That’s our boy. Papa Grande has been pretty spectacular in his own right.
At least twice beyond the no hitter Verlander has gone 8 innings without giving up a hit this season.
McLain, Lolich, Morris, Verlander.
History?
And so today I was looking over the stats and standings and thinking, if the season ended right now, I would vote Verlander BOTH Cy Young AND MVP. For most of the year, I've been thinking Adrian Gonzalez for MVP, but he's come back to the pack a bit, while Verlander has just been phenomenal! Without him, the Tigers are a losing team. With him, they're in the playoffs.
In the NL, BTW, right now I would vote either Braun or Fielder MVP--could go either way on that one--and Halladay for Cy Young.
Verlander leads the majors in innings pitched this year (besides being 19-5, even before the end of August). He alone is the difference between the Tigers being five games up in their division and being a losing ballclub.
Verlander’s started 28 games, lost 9; with 37 games to go, at that pace he could reasonably be expected to win another four or five games. The fact is, as MLB’s last 30 game winner Denny McLain said, the team wins when I’m pitching because the team is hitting. Lolich’s best year was 25 wins I think, and he once said that it will probably be rare, and a 30 win season an impossibility, because the rotation is a lot easier, giving the pitchers fewer opportunities to pitch (iow, a monkeys and typewriters explanation). Verlander’s ERA is better to date during the 2011 season than he’s seen during his career.
Justin Verlander picks up MLB-best 19th win as Tigers prevail
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=310822130
The Cleveland Indians have had a great season thus far, trading first for second and vice versa versus the Tigers pretty much all year. The Evil Empire (NYY) or the Red Socks will, barring some disaster for either team, be the AL wild card, so it’s do or die in the other divisions. Lately, Cleveland’s been in a fade, and the Chisox have been threatening. Second place or third place are pretty much the same — go home at the end of the season. Cleveland came through big in the 9th inning of the first game of a d-h:
Mariners’ blow it in 9th, lose 7-5 to Indians
http://www.seattlepi.com/sports/article/Mariners-blow-it-in-9th-lose-7-5-to-Indians-2137948.php
Its been a regular old slugfest in the central division this year.
He’d fit right in on FR, some nights. ;’) Thanks rintense. He’s been a machine. I think his last loss was mid-July, something like that. At one point this summer he pitched two complete games in a row, and got into or through the 8th inning on his next game.
Justin Verlander: Cy Young and MVP?
by LZ Granderson
http://espn.go.com/espn/commentary/story/_/id/6878266/justin-verlander-deserves-cy-young-mvp
http://www.google.com/news?q=verlander+mvp?&hl=
Good deal.....
Hope he does it !
You make good points..I'm not disputing that....it's just that for me...it's not the same thing..a pitcher vs an everyday player.
Usually, it doesn't come up, even when a pitcher's having a great season, if there's a position player having a dominant year. This year..not quite.
Former Tiger ( now Yankee) Curtis Grandison, is having an awesome season..HRs, hits, RBIs..SB...but can you win an MVP hitting .275? Also, his fielding is questionable.
My Red`Sox have an MVP troika..Gonzalez, Ellsbury, and Pedroia....each has had some awesome months, but also have tailed of late. They will divide votes.....
Unrelated question: What's your take on the extra wild card? and do you favor a one game, or best of 3, for the new round?
there are pros and cons...good points..for either.
What I would like to see..but will NEVER happen, is see them cut the regular season back to 156 games..shorten it a week.
We all know, because God is a baseball fan, and also has a sense of humor, that when the Cubbies finally make the WS, they will play the Twinkies..and we'll be treated to a WS, night games..freezing temps, and a game will be postponed/called because of heavy snowfall...maybe then they'll finally learn...
Thanks CH. The rest of the pitching staff is competent, but overall not a winning record, so, yeah, that was spot on. :’) Jim Leyland’s been the butt of a lot of stupid frustrated jocks around here (including some local sportscasters, I’ve stopped listening, as in, I don’t turn on their radio shows any longer), because he’s actually a professional manager, and rests players who he thinks need the rest, nursing what had been a razor-thin division lead, and simultaneously getting the bench in better shape, more prepared, more experienced for the stretch and postseason; five out of six Tiger seasons over .500; the first Tigers AL pennant since, hmm, ‘84 just three years after the 119-loss season...
“If the American League Central Division had a singular worry, it would have to be the imminent threat of its rising crime rate.”
Maybe not with the way people are leaving Detroit ...
:’) In 1968, McClain had those superhuman 31 wins, Lolich had 17; but Lolich pitched three victories in the 7-game World Series that year against the Cardinals, who had a 3:1 edge by the end of game 4. All three were complete games. :’)
100th win puts Verlander in elite company
Posted by John Autin on August 12, 2011
http://www.baseball-reference.com/blog/archives/13916
[snip] By winning his 5th straight start tonight (and 13th in his last 15), Justin Verlander not only put a little more air between Detroit and Cleveland, took sole possession of the MLB wins lead, and notched his 20th game of 10+ Ks. He also reached 100 wins in 191 career games — faster than all but 12 pitchers since 1919. [/snip]
He’s really focused on the hitter, which is the mark of a great pitcher. A lot of pitchers get rattled by men on base, but that’s something for the catcher and the infield to worry about. Verlander’s average Ks per game are over 10. I should go somewhere (like a restaurant) just to watch the games, which are cable-only, at least in Michigan.
A friend of mine living in Minneapolis sez there’s nothing but Somalis everywhere he goes. :’) Probably an exaggeration. And we all know that Somalis are law-abiding people. ;’)
Please freepmail me if you wish to be added or dropped from the mitten ping.
I think of Justin Verlander as a very traditional pitcher. You could drop him into 1900 and he’d pitch the exact same game.
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