Cy Young

Cy Young was born on this day in 1867. Young's record of 511 wins is often cited as one of the records that cannot be broken. To me, though, the real unbreakable record of Young's is his 749 complete games. Pud Galvin is in second place with 646 and Tim Keefe is third with 554. That's a difference of about 200 complete games between 1st and 3rd place. You won't find an entire pitching staff in baseball these days with a combined 200 complete games.

Cy Young

Cy Young was born on this day in 1867. Young's record of 511 wins is often cited as one of the records that cannot be broken. To me, though, the real unbreakable record of Young's is his 749 complete games. Pud Galvin is in second place with 646 and Tim Keefe is third with 554. That's a difference of about 200 complete games between 1st and 3rd place. You won't find an entire pitching staff in baseball these days with a combined 200 complete games.

Top 5 - Greatest Single Seasons by a Red Sox Pitcher

Rick Porcello won the 2016 AL Cy Young Award but how does his season stack up in Red Sox history? Well his 22-4 with a 3.15 ERA and 145 ERA+ doesn't come close to cracking the top 5 seasons by a Boston pitcher.

1. Pedro Martinez - 2000 - 18-6 / 213 IP / 313 K / 2.07 ERA / 285 ERA+ 

2. Cy Young - 1901 - 33-10 / 371 IP / 158 K / 1.62 ERA / 216 ERA+ 

3. Pedro Martinez - 1999 - 23-4 / 217 IP / 284 K / 1.74 ERA / 245 ERA+ 

4. Roger Clemens - 1990 - 21-6 / 228 IP / 209 K / 1.93 ERA / 211 ERA+ 

5. (tie) Pedro Martinez - 2003 - 14-4 / 186 IP / 206 K / 2.22 ERA / 211 ERA+
    (tie) Smokey Joe Wood - 1912 - 34-5 / 344 IP / 258 K / 1.91 ERA / 180 ERA+ 

Notes: Cy Young's 158 K's may seem small but it led the league that year and his ERA+ is smaller than what Pedro had in 1999 but keep in mind that Cy pitched 154 more innings - so I think we can give him a break on the ERA. Roger Clemens finished second in Cy Young voting in 1990 to Bob Welsh of the A's who had a 27-6 record with an ERA that was a full run higher than Roger (2.95 to 1.93). Joe Wood had a great 1912 but his K's and ERA were still second in the league to Walter Johnson of Washington. You could also argue Pedro's 2002 and I'd be OK with that.

Top 5 - Greatest Single Seasons by a Red Sox Pitcher

Here are what I consider the greatest 5 pitching seasons in Red Sox history.

1. Pedro Martinez - 2000 - 18-6 / 213 IP / 313 K / 2.07 ERA / 285 ERA+ 

2. Cy Young - 1901 - 33-10 / 371 IP / 158 K / 1.62 ERA / 216 ERA+ 

3. Pedro Martinez - 1999 - 23-4 / 217 IP / 284 K / 1.74 ERA / 245 ERA+ 

4. Roger Clemens - 1990 - 21-6 / 228 IP / 209 K / 1.93 ERA / 211 ERA+ 

5. Smokey Joe Wood - 1912 - 34-5 / 344 IP / 258 K / 1.91 ERA / 180 ERA+ 

Notes: Cy Young's 158 K's may seem small but it led the league that year and his ERA+ is smaller than what Pedro had in 1999 but keep in mind that Cy pitched 154 more innings - so I think we can give him a break on the ERA. Roger Clemens finished second in Cy Young voting in 1990 to Bob Welsh of the A's who had a 27-6 record with an ERA that was a full run higher than Roger (2.95 to 1.93). Joe Wood had a great 1912 but his K's and ERA were still second in the league to Walter Johnson of Washington. 

Red Sox Magic Number - 163 (Still)

Did you know that according to Wikipedia - Cy Young and Tim Wakefield both hit 163 batters in their careers? Well that's crap. Cy Young hit 161 batters in his career and Tim Wakefield hit 186 (how do you confuse 186 with 163?). As Abraham Lincoln is famous for saying - it just goes to show how much trust you should place in things you read on the Internet.

Seeing Tim Wakefield and Cy Young mentioned in the same sentence may look strange to people outside of Boston but Red Sox fans are well aware that Tim Wakefield was actually only 6 wins behind Cy Young (and Roger Clemens) for the team record for wins at 192 (Wikipedia probably has that number listed as 162).

Truth is Tim Wakefield never should have been allowed to get close to that number. The last two seasons in Boston were just bad. In 2010 Tim had an ERA of 5.34 and a WAR of -.07 and in 2011 he had an ERA of 5.12 with a WAR of -1.2. Tim Wakefield is a very likable guy but the naked truth is letting him have a combined 42 starts the last two season probably kept the Red Sox out of the playoffs both seasons. Sorry but that's just the truth.

Another uncomfortable truth for Red Sox fans is the fact that JD Drew was more valuable in his 5 years in Boston than Tim Wakefield and Jason Varitek combined over that same period. As a member of the Red Sox - JD Drew had a combined WAR of 14.6 while Varitek (4.3) and Wakefield (4.2) had a combined 8.5. Yet on Opening Day at Fenway I'd guess that JD Drew's name won't even come up even though he also "retired" after last season just like Wakefield and Varitek. Yeah I know that Drew was overpaid and that WAR isn't the most accurate barometer of success but it just struck me strange that JD Drew probably will be a complete afterthought to almost everyone.

What does all this mean? Who knows. Nothing makes sense this early in the season. For example - the Baltimore Orioles are currently in first place.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Happy 45th birthday to immortal hottie Elle McPherson...What? Peter Gammons had this puzzling statement in his last column: "Crisp was frightened by the death valley that is center and right-center field in Fenway Park." What? Crisp played Gold Glove defense at Fenway. Was I missing something? I'd look for Crisp to be among the favorites for a Gold Glove this year too... I've long wanted to read Shelby Foote's epic The Civil War: A Narrative (3 Vol. Set) and finally I've got the first volume in my hands. I've read about the first 200 pages and I must say this this may just be the best book of history I've ever laid eyes on... Speaking of Coco Crisp - Jacoby Ellsbury should go fairly high among outfielders in many fantasy baseball drafts. Think of Coco Crisp as a later round equivalent to Ellsbury. I'd look for Crisp and Ellsbury to put up similar numbers this season. Same is true of Joba Chamberlain and Seattle's Brandon Morrow. Both pitchers have about equal stuff but Joba probably goes a few rounds ahead of Morrow... Cy Young was born on this day in 1867. Young's record of 511 wins is often cited as one of the records that cannot be broken. To me, though, the real unbreakable record of Young's is his 749 complete games. Pud Galvin is in second place with 646 and Tim Keefe is third with 554. That's a difference of about 200 complete games between 1st and 3rd place. You won't find an entire pitching staff in baseball these days with a combined 200 complete games.

Dice K for Cy Young?

The way that Daisuke Matsuzaka has been pitching lately is making me think that there is a good chance that he could accomplish something that has not been done in baseball since Fernando Valenzuela in 1981. That year Fernando won both the Rookie of the Year award and the Cy Young award.

Dice K is 10-5 with a 3.53 ERA but those numbers don't tell the story of how dominant he has been recently. In his last 5 starts Matsuzaka has averaged 7 innings, 8.6 strikeouts, 3.8 hits with an ERA of just 1.03 in those starts. In that time he has also dropped his season ERA by almost a run - from 4.52 on June 10th to his current 3.53.

It is quite possible that Dice K has acclimated himself to playing in the US and we are now starting to see what he's capable of. And what Matsuzaka is capable of is starting to remind people of Pedro Martinez in his prime.

He's been that good.