Interesting Series for the Weekend

Kansas City @ Pittsburgh

These two teams seem a bit like polar opposites.  Kansas City came into the year as a trendy pick to challenge the White Sox Tigers for the A.L. Central.  Pitching was supposed to be an issue for the Royals but the narrative seemed to hint at a maturation of the offense into a formidable force.  For KC, the pitching has been an issue but so has their offense which has scored the second fewest runs in the American League.

Speaking of not scoring runs, the Pirates came into the season seemingly battling Houston to avoid relegation (woops… too much futbol).  However, Pittsburgh is only two behind Cincinnati in the N.L. Central hot off taking two of three from the Reds in Cincinnati.  They have been riding an unexpected wave of incredible pitching.  They Pirates have allowed the second fewest runs this season at 201 (second to Washington at 182).

For no particular reason other than to create my own shitty narrative, it seems like this will be the start of some better baseball for Kansas City.  Playing one of the N.L. Central’s lesser teams seems like a good enough reason for me.   It also seems like the Pirates might be about to face a “coming back to earth” (or a “back to giving up runs because we have friggin’ Pedro Alvarez paying 3B”).

Phil Hughes Leads us Down the Rabbit Hole of Game Score (GSc)

Phillip Joseph Hughes

Who is Phil Hughes one might say?  Who fucking cares one would probably answer.  But not this one!  Not today.  We’re going to look at a bunch of under-understood stats and maybe some inane social issues to learn absolutely nothing about Phil Hughes.  To prove this, the first thing I looked at was Game Score (GSc).  Here’s how you figure GSc if you care:

·         Start with 50 points.

·         Add 1 point for each out recorded, so 3 points for every complete inning pitched.

·         Add 2 points for each inning completed after the 4th.

·         Add 1 point for each strikeout.

·         Subtract 2 points for each hit allowed.

·         Subtract 4 points for each earned run allowed.

·         Subtract 2 points for each unearned run allowed.

·         Subtract 1 point for each walk.

In his last start (6/3/12 v Det), Hughes earned a GSc of 80.  For no real reason I went back to see if he had any other GSc’s of 80 or better.  He had achieved that mark twice before:

4/21/10 @ Oakland (GSc: 80).  Useless game info: Joba Chamberlain came to earn a hold with two inherited runners.  Joba was awesome in holds leagues that year (25).

5/25/09 @ TEX (GSc: 81).  Hughes gave up three hits and a walk over eight scoreless.  Useless game info: Alfredo Aceves came into the game in the 9^th up 11-0 and gave up a run.  Useless game info take two:  I totally forgot Marlon Byrd (LF-CF) played for the Rangers.

I suppose you could say 80+ Game Scores are an outlier for Mr. Hughes.  Just for shits and giggles I ran the career Game Scores of six other pitchers chosen at random to see how many each starter had at and over 80:

                Clay Buchholz:        3

                Gavin Floyd:           5

                Brandon Morrow:   5

                Stephen Strasburg:  0

                Roy Halladay:         32

                Jamie Moyer:          16

So with this information we find that Phil Hughes and Clay Buchholz are absolutely identical pitchers with nary a difference.  Oh yeah, and don’t forget that Stephen Strasburg stinks.