Smoltz made his Cardinals debut on Sunday. He struck out 9 in 5 innings of shutout work. 7 of those strikeouts came consecutively, setting a new franchise record. But it was against the worst hitting team in baseball: the San Diego Padres. They're averaging 3.82 runs per game, which is the worst in MLB. So I wouldn't look too much into Smoltz's performance.
Source:
ESPN.com
Photo Credits:
AP Photo/Denis Poroy
Smoltz helped prove that an NL TEAM is weak, not the whole league.
ReplyDeleteThe Phillies are good. Maybe the Dodgers. The rest...
ReplyDeleteVery funny.
ReplyDeleteWas he tipping his pitches??
ReplyDeletehttp://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090824&content_id=6592952&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb&partnerId=rss_mlb
That's an interesting possibility, and if Smoltz thrives against better hitting NL teams, it's something to look into.
ReplyDeleteBut the supporting statistical evidence doesn't quite demonstrate what the article suggests. It's true that his opponents hit much better when there were men on base. But he was pitching much worse in those innings (hence allowing those baserunners in the first place).
It's like when "experts" try to prove homefield advantage in the NFL playoffs. They point to how much better home teams do compared to away teams. But they ignore that better teams EARN homefield advantage and are thus more likely to win no matter where the game is played.