Touching the Bases

Game 1 Dodgers Phillies Preview

brianinfla — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 15:05:38 +0000

The opening of MLB’s Championship features the Los Angeles Dodgers visiting the Philadelphia Phillies.
The match up sees Cole Hamels take the mound for the Phillies and Derek Lowe for
the Dodgers.

Cole Hamels is coming off a season with a 14-10 record and 3.09 ERA. In 2
games against the Dodgers this year Hamels was 1-0 with a 2.57 ERA. He
allowed 10 hits, 4 runs, walked 2 and struck out 12 in 14 innings. In his
career, Hamels has faced the Dodger batters for 67 plate appearances. He
has allowed 11 hits for a .180 batting average against and a.279 slugging
percentage. In Hamels last outing, he pitched 8 scoreless innings against
the Brewers in the ALDS. Lifetime, he is 1-1 in 14 innings over the past 2
years.

The Dodgers will be sending Derek Lowe to the mound. Lowe was 14-11 this
year with a 3.24 ERA. Lowe won his lone start against Philadelphia on
August 11, allowing 3 runs in 6.1 innings. Lowe like Hamels has pitched
well against the opponent allowing the Dodger hitters to a .205 average and .351
slugging percentage. Lowe faced the Cubs in the NLDS allowing 2 runs and 7
hits in earning a victory. Lifetime Lowe is 5-4 in 19 postseason games
with a 3.31 ERA.

For the season, The Dodgers are 36-45 on the road and the Phillies are 44-37
at home. The teams split their season series 4 games apiece with each team
sweeping their home series. The Dodgers are 31-21 against lefties and the
Phillies are 60-48 against righties.

I give the edge to the Dodgers for game 1. Lowe is coming off a very
hot last 10 games and is more proven in the post season. Manny Ramirez has
more to prove if he wants to hope to meet his former team in the World
Series. Add to that Joe Torre can prove a little as well in taking the
Dodgers in his first year to the World Series.

My prediction Dodgers 3 Phillies 2

MLB Championship Series Schedule

brianinfla — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 13:52:48 +0000

Playoff Schedule

and

Game	Matchup	Day	Date	Time ET	TV
Gm 1	LAD @ PHI	Thu	Oct. 9	8:22 PM	FOX
Gm 2	LAD @ PHI	Fri	Oct. 10	4:35 PM	FOX
Gm 3	PHI @ LAD	Sun	Oct. 12	8:22 PM	FOX
Gm 4	PHI @ LAD	Mon	Oct. 13	8:22 PM	FOX
Gm 5*	PHI @ LAD	Wed	Oct. 15	8:22 PM	FOX
Gm 6*	LAD @ PHI	Fri	Oct. 17	8:22 PM	FOX
Gm 7*	LAD @ PHI	Sat	Oct. 18	8:22 PM	FOX

and

Gm 1	BOS @ TB	Fri	Oct. 10	8:37 PM	TBS
Gm 2	BOS @ TB	Sat	Oct. 11	8:07 PM	TBS
Gm 3	TB @ BOS	Mon	Oct. 13	4:37 PM	TBS
Gm 4	TB @ BOS	Tue	Oct. 14	8:07 PM	TBS
Gm 5*	TB @ BOS	Thu	Oct. 16	8:07 PM	TBS
Gm 6*	BOS @ TB	Sat	Oct. 18	4:37 PM	TBS
Gm 7*	BOS @ TB	Sun	Oct. 19	8:07 PM	TBS

NLCS Preview will be on Wednesday and ALCS Preview will be done on Thursday.

AL Cy Young Award

brianinfla — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 01:01:08 +0000

In 2008, a few starting pitchers in each league had very impressive years. The American League featured ROy Halladay, Daisuke Matsuzaka and Cliff Lee. Matsuzaka had an 18-3 record with a 2.90 ERA. He did not finish a game that he started. Roy Halladay agains was the workhorse of the Toronto BLue Jays. His record was 20-11 with a 2.90 ERA in 246 innings. He completed 9 games and two were by shutout. Cliff Lee finished with an amazing 22-3 record. Over his 223.1 innings his ERA was 2.54. He completed 4 games and 2 by shutout. Lee also had the third highest winning percentage of any pitcher with 25 or more decisions (1. Guidry 25-3, 2. Grove 31-4).

2008 also showcased a record breaking year for a reliever. Francisco Rodriguez saved 62 games for the Angels while posting a 2.24 ERA. This broke Bobby Thigpen’s record of 57 that stood since 1990.

So the award comes down to 4 pitchers. Lee, Halladay, Matsuzaka and Rodiguez. With Lee’s dominance, he runs away with the award in my opinion. Rodriguez will come in a distant second and Halladay and Matsuzaka will be 3rd and 4th.

Name W L S ERA IP WHIP CG SHO Halladay 20 11 0 2.78 246 1.053 9 2 Lee 22 3 0 2.54 223.1 1.111 4 2 Matsuzaka 18 3 0 2.90 167.2 1.324 0 0 Rodriguez 2 3 62 2.24 68.1 1.288 0 0

Congratulations Brad Lidge

brianinfla — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 01:00:04 +0000

Congratulations to Brad Lidge on a comeback year and helping the Phillies to win the National League East division. He finished the year 2-0 with 41 saves and an ERA of 1.95. Not a bad year for a closer. To think he came in 72 games and pitched 69.1 innings allowing only 50 hits is equally impressive. The one glaring weakness is he is babied as a pitcher. How can this be with those great stats? Well the pitcher you hand the ball to in the 9th to protect a lead isnt the same pitcher you hand the ball out when a game may be truly on the line.

Lidge ranked 3rd in games for the Phillies pitchers

Romero 81

Madson 76

Lidge 72

Durbin 71

He ranked last of ALL their relievers in relieving with inherited runners. Nine other pitchers came in with more runners on base. For the season the following stat is unbelievable

Lidge 72 games 69.1 innings and ONE inherited runner.

Only Trevor Hoffman with his 2006 season of 65 games 63 innings and 46 saves come close. At least Hoffman didnt allow his runner to score.

So congratulations Brad on a great season that wasn’t as spectacular as it appears on paper.

Weclome to the Majors Brad Ziegler

brianinfla — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 03:38:44 +0000

Who? Brad Ziegler? Why a story on someone people have never heard about. Well for 1 reason he has made quite an entrance into the majors.

After a mediocre at best start of a career in the minors as a starter, The Oakland A’s organization decided to make Ziegler a reliever. Not a celebrated closer but a grunt guy that gets few accolades. In 2007 his combined ERA was 2.41 in 78.1 innings. Ziegler returned to AAA Sacramento to start 2008. He pitched 24.1 innings, striking out 20 and walking only 4. Good stats but nothing baseball geeks would notice. Oops I forgot to mention allowing only 1 earned run during those 24+ innings. His microscopic 0.37 ERA earned a promotion to the majors. Before allowing his first earned run Ziegler had completed 16 innings. After allowing the run he finished out the minors with a streak of 8.1 innings of scoreless baseball.

On May 30th 2008, Ziegler got the call to Oakland. It would be 1 day before he made his debut against Texas. Flash forward two and a half months and Ziegler continues his fairy tale season. 29 games, 38 innings and no earned runs. Not even 1 unearned run. Ziegler broke the records to start a career for innings and games of scoreless pitching. He also added to his yearlong total of 48 games with 1 earned run. 46.1 consecutive scoreless innings and 36 straight scoreless appearances.

Well, all good things must come to an end. Ziegler finished his major league scoreless streak at 39.1 innings and his unearned run streak including the minors at 47.2 innings. He now holds the rookie scoreless inning streak record and rookie games pitched not allowing a run record. His ERA now ballons to 0.23.

Below is his game log for the season including minor league games.

DATE     OPP DEC     IP H R ER BB SO
4/7      POR          2 1 0  0  0  1
4/10     POR          1 2 1  0  0  0
4/12     LVG        1.2 1 0  0  0  1
4/16     TCN  S       2 1 0  0  0  3
4/19     LVG        0.1 2 0  0  0  0
4/21     LVG          1 1 0  0  0  1
4/25     CSP          1 0 0  0  0  1
4/30     OMA  S     1.1 1 0  0  0  0
5/1      OMA  S       1 0 0  0  1  1
5/4      IWA        1.1 1 0  0  0  1
5/8      OKL  W     2.2 1 0  0  1  1
5/11      NO  W       2 2 1  1  2  1
5/13      NO  S       1 0 0  0  0  2
5/16     SLK  S       1 0 0  0  0  1
5/19     CSP  S       1 1 0  0  0  3
5/22     CSP          1 1 0  0  0  1
5/23     TCN  S       1 0 0  0  0  1
5/26     TCN          1 0 0  0  0  1
5/28     POR  S       1 0 0  0  0  0
Date     Opp         IP H R ER BB SO
5/31    @TEX        0.1 1 0  0  0  0
6/3      DET        1.2 0 0  0  0  0
6/4      DET          1 1 0  0  0  0
6/7      LAA        1.2 1 0  0  0  2
6/8      LAA  W     1.2 0 0  0  1  0
6/12     NYY          1 0 0  0  0  0
6/14    @SFG H1     0.2 1 0  0  0  0
6/18    @ARI          1 2 0  0  0  0
6/19    @ARI        1.1 1 0  0  1  0
6/20     FLA H2     0.1 2 0  0  0  0
6/21     FLA H3     0.2 0 0  0  0  0
6/27     SFG H4     0.2 0 0  0  0  1
6/29     SFG          1 0 0  0  0  1
7/1     @LAA          2 0 0  0  0  3
7/4     @CHW          1 0 0  0  0  1
7/7      SEA H5       2 1 0  0  0  0
7/10     SEA          1 1 0  0  2  0
7/12     LAA        1.1 0 0  0  0  1
7/13     LAA H6     0.1 0 0  0  0  0
7/19    @NYY          1 0 0  0  1  1
7/22    @TBR H7       2 2 0  0  1  0
7/25     TEX        1.1 1 0  0  0  0
7/27     TEX H8       2 2 0  0  0  3
7/30     KCR          3 2 0  0  1  1
8/1     @BOS          2 1 0  0  1  1
8/5     @TOR H9       2 0 0  0  1  0
8/7     @TOR          1 2 0  0  0  0
8/8     @DET S1       2 0 0  0  2  2
8/12     TBR S2       1 0 0  0  0  0
8/14     TBR          2 2 1  1  1  1

When 15 runs isn’t enough

brianinfla — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 01:08:53 +0000

On Tuesday, AUgust 12th the Texas Rangers came back from a 10 run deficit in the first inning to score 17 runs. THe only problem was their pitching staff wasn’t quite done allowing runs when the Boston Red Sox added 9 more runs to win 19-17. The Rangers became the 3rd team to score 17 runs and lose since 1956. It also marked the second most runs scored by a losing team during the same time period.
Following is a chart with team losing while scoring 15 or more runs. Also included are the losing teams extra base hits and left on base information

Date          Tm  Opp  mReslt R  H  2B  3B  HR  RBI  LOB
5/17/1979     CHC PHI  22-23  22 26 3   1   6   22    7
8/12/2008     TEX @BOS 17-19  17 20 7   0   1   17    9
7/4/2008      FLA @COL 17-18  17 22 7   0   2   17   12
8/3/1969      PHI CIN  17-19  17 21 4   1   3   17    7
5/5/2000      OAK @TEX 16-17  16 16 3   0   5   16    8
9/14/1998     DET CHW  16-17  16 22 4   1   3   16    8
4/17/1976     CHC PHI  16-18  16 19 5   0   3   16   12
5/23/1970     SFG SDP  16-17  16 23 2   0   4   16   15
5/8/2004      DET @TEX 15-16  15 16 3   0   1   15    8
5/14/2000     CHC @MON 15-16  15 21 1   0   3   14    9
6/30/1996     LAD @COL 15-16  15 18 2   1   6   15    9
9/24/1985     CHC MON  15-17  15 20 2   0   3   15    9
7/28/1977     CIN @CHC 15-16  15 19 5   0   5   14   15
1956-07-01(1) STL CIN  15-19  15 23 2   0   3   14   15

Looking at the list raises other questions. Three teams scored 15 or more runs while leaving at 15 men on base. The record for a 9 inning game is 20. Following is a quick list on the most men left on base of a losing team.

Date         Tm  Opp Res Score LOB
9/21/1956  NYY @BOS   L  7-13  20
4/7/1977   CHW @TOR   L  5-9   19
8/28/1980  MIL @DET   L  7-11  18
5/1/1979   BOS @OAK   L  5-7   18
9/28/1974  CHW @OAK   L  5-6   18

So there ya have it. Lots of runs while losing and lots of runners while losing.

Coming up in the next few days is CC Sabathia, a case of a 2008 disposable pitcher.

If it smells like trash …………………….

brianinfla — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 01:49:38 +0000

“If you look in a trash can you will find trash” Plato or some other smart guy

The waiver wire in baseball is often filled with trash. Sometimes you will find something valuable but most of the time is is pure trash. This brings me to Livian Hernandez. He was waived by the Minnesota Twins and claimed by the Colorado Rockies on August 6th. The following was posted on the Rockies web site.
…The Rockies have been searching for a consistent innings-eating starter all year, and they feel Hernandez will be a perfect fit. …..”He’s been around for a while, and he’s proven he can throw in some big games,” Clint Barmes said. “Hopefully he comes in, and feels comfortable here and can put up some good games for us.”
Before making a claim on Hernandez, Hurdle spoke with Twins manager Ron Gardenhire about the pitcher. Hurdle was assured Hernandez would be a positive addition to the club.
“Gardenhire and I go way back together,” Hurdle said. “We’ve never lied to each other.” …….
Now for the facts.
1. Hernandez does eat innings. He can pitch all night. As a side effect of his eating innings he will allow hits. Lots of hits. He allowed 199 hits in 139.2 innings for the Twins this year. His WHIP last years wass 1.595 and 1.632 this year. Hits lead to runs. Runs somehow for him don’t always lead to losses.
2. Hernandez can throw in big games. His WHIP in 2 post season games last year was 1.71. Prior to that he had not pitched in post season since 2002.
3. Ron Gardenhire and Clint Hurdle go way back and Gardenhire wouldn’t lie. Maybe it wasn’t a lie. Maybe a fib. Maybe a little white lie. Ok Ok if Gardenhire said it, he was telling a huge lie and Hurdle bought the story. They also bought the rest of his contract and his incentive bonuses. In return all the Twins asked for was………………… NOTHING.

Under Pressure, Inherited Runners Where is the Glory

brianinfla — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 02:40:37 +0000

Before I get started , my apologies to the young Trevor Hoffman who actually saved games on the line. The elder Hoffman still gets my goat saving games. August 3rd Blog Now to the meat and bones.

For years baseball pitchers were either starters or so-so pitchers who came from the bullpen. When the save stat came along, the media took notice and grouped pitchers into starters, closers and pitchers in between. Some in between pitchers became the set up men whereas others remained not good enough to get an official label.

The middle reliever is my main concern for this article. The pitcher that comes in with 2 men on in the 6th inning and doesn’t allow anyone to score. They guy with bases loaded in the 7th that allows 1 runner to score etc. The true pressure pitchers. I looked back at seasons since 1956 and one thing comes glaringly clear. The true closer does not face many men on base or is not good at stranding the men on base.
The first chart shows the best percentage os stranding runners with 75 or more inherited runners.

Player           IS/R% IR Year Tm  G  GF  W  L SV  IP    ERA
Ed Vande Berg     0.13 96 1982 SEA 78 27  9  4  5  76    2.37
Mike Myers        0.14 78 1999 MIL 71 14  2  1  0  41.1  5.23
Scott Eyre        0.15 78 2005 SFG 86 15  2  2  0  68.1  2.63
John Hiller       0.15 84 1973 DET 65 60 10  5  38 125.1 1.44
Kent Tekulve      0.17 76 1979 PIT 94 67 10  8  31 134.1 2.75
Dan Plesac        0.19 80 1998 TOR 78 16  4  3   4 50    3.78
Dennis Cook       0.20 81 1996 TEX 60  9  5  2   0 70.1  4.09
Keith Comstock    0.21 80 1990 SEA 60 19  7  4   2 56    2.89
Mark Davis        0.21 75 1989 SDP 70 65  4  3  44 92.2  1.85
Brian Shouse      0.23 78 2007 MIL 73 13  1  1   1 47.2  3.02

As you can see it has been 19 years since Mark Davis actually came in rough situations and earned saves as well.

The next chart will show 75 or more inherited runners and best stranding percentage since 1989.

Player            IS/R% IR Year Tm  G  GF W L SV IP   ERA
Mike Myers        0.14  78 1999 MIL 71 14 2 1  0 41.1 5.23
Scott Eyre        0.15  78 2005 SFG 86 15 2 2  0 68.1 2.63
Brian Shouse      0.23  78 2007 MIL 73 13 1 1  1 47.2 3.02
Randy Choate      0.26  76 2004 ARI 74 17 2 4  0 50.2 4.62
Ray King          0.26  77 2001 MIL 82 19 0 4  1 55   3.60
Mike Venafro      0.27  75 2000 TEX 77 21 3 1  1 56.1 3.83
Boone Logan       0.28  78 2007 CHW 68 13 2 1  0 50.2 4.97

Again you can see baseball evolve. Not one closer is listed in the top 10 of any season while inheriting runners.

The last chart shows the past 2 years. 60 or more inherited runners sorted by best strand percentage.

Player            IS/R% IR Year Tm  G  GF W L SV IP    ERA
Pedro Feliciano   0.2   60 2007 NYM 78 12 2 2  2 64    3.09
Geoff Geary       0.23  60 2007 PHI 57 10 3 2  0 67.1  4.41
George Sherrill   0.23  71 2007 SEA 73 16 2 0  3 45.2  2.36
Brian Shouse      0.23  78 2007 MIL 73 13 1 1  1 47.2  3.02
Scott Proctor     0.27  64 2006 NYY 83 12 6 4  1 102.1 3.52
Brian Shouse      0.27  60 2006 TOT 65 10 1 3  2 38.1  3.99
Boone Logan       0.28  78 2007 CHW 68 13 2 1  0 50.2  4.97
Neal Cotts        0.30  67 2006 CHW 70 14 1 2  1 54    5.17
Jimmy Gobble      0.31  61 2007 KCR 74 12 4 1  1 53.2  3.02
Sean Green        0.31  68 2007 SEA 64 10 5 2  0 68    3.84

Again there are no closers on the list

Now as a last resort I figured some closers had to face pressure. I had to lower the inherited runners to get any sort of list for the past 10 years for pitchers that saved 40 games.

Player           IS/R% IR SV Year Tm  G GS GF W L IP   ERA
Bobby Jenks       0.17 30 41 2006 CHW 67 0 58 3 4 69.2 4.00
Danys Baez        0.19 31 41 2005 TBD 67 0 64 5 4 72.1 2.86
Trevor Hoffman    0.21 34 43 2001 SDP 62 0 55 3 4 60.1 3.43
J.J. Putz         0.22 32 40 2007 SEA 68 0 65 6 1 71.2 1.38
Ugueth Urbina     0.30 37 41 1999 MON 71 0 62 6 6 75.2 3.69
Mariano Rivera    0.49 35 40 2003 NYY 64 0 57 5 2 70.2 1.66

As a comparison, I looked for the men that can handle pressure and paid accordingly. The following list has 2008 pitchers with 20 or more saves. Look closely at how many runners were on and what percentage scored.

Player             IR  IS IS/R%   SV Year Tm
Salomon Torres     23   6 0.26    21 2008 MIL
George Sherrill    21   9 0.43    31 2008 BAL
Jonathan Papelbon  17   0 0.00    31 2008 BOS
Francisco Cordero  15   9 0.60    22 2008 CIN
Brian Wilson       15   1 0.07    31 2008 SFG
Jose Valverde      13   6 0.46    27 2008 HOU
Kevin Gregg        11   0 0       24 2008 FLA
Kerry Wood         10   2 0.20    24 2008 CHC
Francisco Rodrigu   9   3 0.33    45 2008 LAA
Mariano Rivera      7   1 0.14    26 2008 NYY
C.J. Wilson         6   3 0.50    24 2008 TEX
Brian Fuentes       5   3 0.60    20 2008 COL
Billy Wagner        5   3 0.60    27 2008 NYM
Bobby Jenks         5   1 0.20    22 2008 CHW
Brandon Lyon        5   4 0.80    24 2008 ARI
Trevor Hoffman      4   0 0       23 2008 SDP
Joe Nathan          4   4 1.00    30 2008 MIN
Joakim Soria        2   1 0.50    32 2008 KCR
B.J. Ryan           2   0 0       21 2008 TOR
Troy Percival       1   1 1.00    24 2008 TBR
Total             180  57 0.32   529

As a summation, you can see how baseball has evolved. Less pitchers are facing inherited runners frequently. Closers face an inherited runner about 1/3 of their saves and about 1/5 of their appearances.So I ask liked I did Augaust 3rd. Who are the true pressure pitchers. Statisically it is not the closer.

Quick Dividends

brianinfla — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 17:40:20 +0000

Normally the trade deadline comes and go with a flurry of smaller names being dealt and then the veteran players are slipped through waivers in the following weeks. This year was kind of different with so many big names going to new teams. Often the players have a feeling out process in their new environment but this year again was different. The following is a list of a few players and their contributions so far for their new team.
Manny Ramirez 8-13 4 runs 1 double 2 home runs 5 RBI
Jason Bay 4-11 6 runs 1 triple 1 home run 3 RBI .533 OBP
Ivan Rodriguez 3-9 1run 1 home run 1 RBI .400 OBP
Mark Texiera 4-18 2 runs 1 home run 5 RBI .391 OBP
Ken Griffey Jr 3-7 1run 2 RBI .500OBP
Xavier Nady 10-26 8 runs 3 doubles 3 home runs 10 RBI .467 OBP
CC Sabathia 5 wins 0 losses 1.88 ERA .958 WHIP
Rich Harden 1 win 1 loss 24.3 IP 1.11 ERA .904 WHIP
Big names, big results !!!!

WHIP it, WHIP it real good

brianinfla — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 00:50:43 +0000

For many years, baseball pitchers have been judged by wins, losses ERA and if a reliever, saves (dont get me started, see below). The first 2 stats are pretty dependent on your team. Of course if you throw a no hitter, there is a good chance you will win and if a pitcher allows 10 home runs there is a good chance they will lose. ERA is a better judge but still many factors come into play such as size of stadium etc. Saves just sucks for reasons stated on an earlier post.

A newet statistic that some commentators, newspapers and other media outlets are using is WHIP. This is almost purely pitcher result driven. Yes hits can be detrmined by park size but walks cannot.

Over the years a WHIP of 1.00 is normally a barometer of an excellent game or season. If a pitcher allws 4 hits and 3 walks in a 7 inning effort, he would be considered to have pitched a decent game. If a pitcher ends the year with 200 innings, 170 hits and 50 walks again it would be considered to be an excellent year. But what about the pitchers that have maintained a low WHIP for a career. Who are they? Are they hall of famers? Did the low WHIP translate to a winning pitcher?

Below is a list of the 10 lowest pitchers followed by the leading active pitchers and their all time rank. I used 1000 innings pitched to give at least some longevity to a career. You may be surprised at who shows up and who doesnt appear.

Rank Player            WHIP  IP     W-L%  SV ERA  From To
1    Addie Joss        0.968 2327   .623   5 1.89 1902 1910
2    Ed Walsh          1     2964.1 .607  34 1.82 1904 1917
3    Cy Young          1     3313   .606   9 2.12 1901 1911
4    Mariano Rivera    1.031 1001.1 .579 469 2.31 1995 2008
5    Pedro Martinez    1.041 2723.1 .691   3 2.87 1992 2008
6    Christy Mathewson 1.054 4747   .668  28 2.11 1901 1916
7    Walter Johnson    1.061 5914.2 .599  34 2.17 1907 1927
8    Mordecai Brown    1.066 3172.1 .648  49 2.06 1903 1916
9    Reb Russell       1.08  1291.2 .579  13 2.33 1913 1919
10   Deacon Phillippe  1.081 2007   .652  11 2.46 1901 1911
16   Johan Santana     1.102 1462.2 .667   1 3.18 2000 2008
36   Curt Schilling    1.137 3261   .597  22 3.46 1988 2007
44   Greg Maddux       1.145 4948.2 .613   0 3.14 1986 2008
68   Randy Johnson     1.168 3973.1 .651   2 3.26 1988 2008
70   John Smoltz       1.17  3395   .588 154 3.26 1988 2008
74   Roger Clemens     1.173 4916.2 .658   0 3.12 1984 2007
81   Jake Peavy        1.18  1209   .592   0 3.24 2002 2008
97   Mike Mussina      1.19  3495.2 .636   0 3.69 1991 2008

As you can see, the lower WHIP numbers do translate to about a .600 winning percentage or higher. Only 1 true career reliever made it into the list. Mariano Rivera joined the list last week. He barely leads Pedro Martinez by .01 or what translates to 1 extra runner every 100 innings. This will be intersting to track as Santana faces National League hitters and Johnson, Schilling, Maddux and Mussina wind down their career.