The only report I couldn’t get cleaned up in time to post was my look at a kid I really like, Braden Shipley. If I can I’ll post it later. I also had a pretty lengthy document explaining how I look at pitching, where I think the important stuff exists and what I think about projecting and going forward.

Mark Appel report 2013

Chris Anderson report 2013

Jon Gray Report

Kohl Stewart

Ryan Eades report 2013

Sean Manaea

Ryne Stanek

OOPS! Forgot this kid!

Trey Ball report 2013

Think I cleaned this one up enough, lots to like on this one.

Brade Shipley report 2013

Thats sure sounds like a performance enhancer cheating to me…

as you’ve been quoted as saying in the past that you believe records should be thrown out for people proven or who admit cheating, should all of your wins while under the influence and use of Toradol be thrown out?

seems like the answer has to be yes, unless…. it’s true and you are the loud-mouth hypocrite that many accuse you of being

That was the end of a ‘question’ posted by someone who didn’t want to use their real name, shocker.

I apologize that the facts don’t support your argument in any way, any possible way. Toradol is not a PED, it’s a pain killer, like marcaine, like aspirin, like vicodin and others. They are, and have been, used by about every player that’s ever suited up. Your earlier rant about me being a “Government hating Republican” sort of tips one off to the reasons behind the ‘anger’, but that’s not odd really. Most of the people saying what you say start their posts off that way.

It’s not a PED, never has been. What I did I did within the confines of the rules. Now whether you agree or not, or like it or not, isn’t relevant in any way. But thanks for the post I guess. I’ll pray you find some happiness somewhere in your life.

What was the single most memorable moment of your career? What is the one career accomplishment that means most to you?

 

An unfair question. There were moments, both good and bad, that are enduring.

Moment I was most proud of? Winning the Roberto Clemente Award in 2001.

Back in the winter before the 1992 season Shonda and I were talking and she asked me “What’s the one award you want to win before your career is over?”

My answer? The Roberto Clemente Award. The reasons were many. Growing up a Pirate fan (my dad was born and raised in Somerset, PA) I was a fan from the time I can remember, around 1971, until I got to the big leagues. I grew up with the Pirates of the ’70′s, which was a great time to be a Bucs fan. My dads favorite player when I was very young was Mr. Clemente. He loved everything about him, that he was an all around player, could beat you with his bat, legs, arm, glove, whatever was needed to win.

True story. I paid to go to one MLB game in my entire life. My dad took me to see the final regular season game of the 1971 season, September 30th, in Three Rivers. For folks that might not understand the significance, the game was between the Pirates and the Mets. In what would be the final regular season at bat of his career Mr Clemente doubled off John Matlack for his 3000th career hit. He would die in a plane crash three months later, taking aid to Managua, the capital city of Nicaragua. When the news came out, it was the first time I’d ever seen my father cry, so obviously I cried. I idolized Mr Clemente my entire life, because my father did. I was an obsessed baseball fan so I read up on Mr Clemente and came to understand the man was every bit as big, if not bigger, than the player. The way his teammates talked about him, the way fans revered him.

I came to look at the Clemente award as something you had to earn, as a human being, that what you did on the field meant very little other than you needed to be an MLB player to be eligible. But the award represented things that were, when all was said and done, far more important than a win, loss or shutout. You had to impact peoples lives, you had to use the window of opportunity baseball gave you. Shonda and I tried to do that, and in the end, being nominated and then winning, meant that someone thought we had made a positive impact off the field.

I was able to come on the field with Shonda, and (at the time) our 2 kids, Gehrig and Gabriella, and receive the award, and explain to them why this happened. Proud to say our oldest Gehrig is a Best Buddy, and Gabby has aspirations to work with disadvantaged children, and I like to think that these moments meant enough to them to do that.

I was honored and flattered to be able to meet and get to know the Clemente family. I also had a chance to meet Mr Stargell before he passed and got to talk to him at length about playing with Roberto. Pops was my new favorite player after Mr Clemente passed.

Roberto Clemente, like Lou Gehrig, came to represent everything that was amazing about this game, and winning an award with Mr Clemente’s name on it was the, I think, the most important achievement of my career.

Do you feel under appreciated in New England, considering that you were the impetus for delivering a championship to the most championship starved city in the U.S.?

 

Not sure I’ve ever looked at what’s happened since then, with that perspective. I guess I can’t really worry or dwell on it. The guys I suited up with, played with, know, the Lord and my family know, and in the end those are the opinions that matter really. In the same vein, I know those same guys were in many ways every bit, and in some cases more so, responsible than I was. I think Keith Foulke was the single biggest reason we won (well he and Dave Roberts of course:). I still believe his post season in ’04 was one of the greatest ever by a reliever. Stats aside the workload, and results, were nothing short of amazing. The innings Wake pitched to save the pen, the job Bronson did, D Lowe clutching up in 3 series clinchers. There were so many things beyond my contributions that mattered, but the sock grabbed much of the news, which given what we did I think is a bit unfortunate.

But here’s the thing.

I’ve haven’t done any of  the following: Hit my wife, hit my kids, cheated on my taxes, gotten drunk and driven, done drugs, used PED’s, been a racist, stolen, cheated on my wife, beaten an animal, talked behind a teammates back. In other words I haven’t done the things that make news and turn public opinion on many athletes.

Now don’t misunderstand me. That’s not to say I haven’t made my share of mistakes because I surely have. Anyone that talks as much as I have, and did, is bound to make mistakes. But I put my head on the pillow at night because I haven’t, and don’t make mistakes out of malice or ill will. I’ve said many many dumb things, and saying “well who hasn’t?” doesn’t make my mistakes ok, they just make me human, and I am ok with that. The only perfect human I know of walked this earth a little over 2000 years ago, every one since then has been and done wrong, everyone. Again, that doesn’t make it ok, it just makes it easier to live every day, knowing perfection, while desirable, is unattainable. Doesn’t mean you stop trying.

But the hatred, the vitriol, I’d say 90% of the ‘stuff’ that’s come out the past 8-9 years has as much, if not more, to do with my political  beliefs than anything else. I can certainly appreciate and understand the difference in opinions, even if I disagree with them, but that’s what makes this country great.

As for 38, that’s certainly garnered the lions share of ‘news’ about me in the past year. The amazing thing is how much opinion has been formed with so little, very little, of the actual events about and around what happened, being made public. I created a company, invested over 30 million dollars of my own money into it, created and provided 400+ jobs for 5+ years, took an offer from the State of Rhode Island that ANY, and I mean ANY, entrepreneur would have taken. We had something amazing, something that would have been what we set out to make it, had it not ended when, and how, it did. There has been an amazing amount of anger, bitterness, hatred and other stuff from that. I can absolutely understand ANYONE that had issues with the original deal. I have always understood anyone having issue there, but there was nothing, not one thing, done below board. Once the deal was done I expected the state to be as invested in 38 being successful as we were, as I was, and that was where I made one of many fatal mistakes.

That is one of the most painful events I’ve ever gone through, still is actually. 400+ families lost their jobs ‘overnight’ for reasons that will likely come out over the next year or two, and when they do I’m hopeful people will see what really happened, and how and why it happened, and point the venom and anger in the appropriate directions. I do understand people bothered by the deal though, and always have. I think we made a big mistake at 38 by not getting more involved locally, in Providence, in the community more, to show them who we were, what we were doing because the people that worked at 38 didn’t deserve the public scorn, and anger, that they got. They were hard working incredibly talented people with families to provide for.

Went off on a tangent there (as I often do, but hey it’s my blog so I think it’s ok). But if you look at what’s happened since ’04, it’s never been about something I ‘did’ has it? I think it’s been far more about things I’ve said, which I can understand in many cases if you don’t agree with me on one or more things. Somehow I grew up the polar opposite of my incredible father, a man of very few words, but I’ve always been very obsessed and passionate about the things I believe in, the things I love, and when people ask me about them, I’ve never been a ‘canned answer’ sort of guy. Maybe I should have been, but that’s never been who I am, or likely who I ever will be.

At the end of the day I’ll continue to ask the Lord for forgiveness for the stupid and bad things I’ve done, and will do, and I can look my 3 boys, my daughter, and my wife, in the eye and know for better or worse, I am who I’ve said I was, and always have been. That’s all we’ve ever asked of our kids, to please be themselves, go out, change the world, and be themselves. If you do that I think you can put your head on the pillow each night and sleep.

Hope that answers your question.

P.S. I am not going back and re-reading or editing, so this is all raw, off the cuff stuff, sorry for any typos.

I like it. Compare and contrast each World Series club house that you were a part of. Were there some that felt like winning was inevitable? Were there honest moments when losing felt just as inevitable?

The 4 World Series I played in were 4 incredibly different clubhouses from a personality standpoint. I would tell you that 2004 and 2007 were the two instances where I believe our team ‘knew’ we were winning it all before the series started. Our offenses, and in 2007 with Josh Beckett on a Gibson like run, led us to feel, and I think rightly so, that neither the ’04 Cards (without Carpenter) and the ’07 Rockies had anyone on their staff, starter or reliever, that could stop us from scoring, a lot.

I think we all ‘knew’ we were winning before the 1st pitch of either of those series.

The 1993 Phillies team was literally one in a million. As offensively talented and deep as just about any team of that era (except for the team we were playing actually). That was very different, at least for me personally, in that I wasn’t ‘in’ on that team. It was a team of older players that didn’t take to younger guys much, especially younger players that talked a lot, like me. I knew they respected me when I had the ball, and I felt that they wanted me to have the ball, but that was a very hard year for me personally. Todd Pratt, Mickey, Kevin Jordan, Ben Rivera, those were pretty much my only close friends on the team. I did a lot of sitting in my hotel room watching TV, or playing on my laptop. Towards the end of the year I had software that would become the cornerstone of my career in scouting hitters and stuff (which I became obsessed with).

Everything was new that year, Shonda and I had just gotten married that past winter, and we were both trying to figure out how this thing was supposed to work. That was a team that had a very clear team/family line of demarcation, and you did not cross that line. No family on the road except for the family trips and playoffs. It was a challenge, but it was also a huge lesson in what was to become the life. It was also somewhat of a ‘dying breed’ in as much as the next few years, and then the decade after that, families started to become ‘more involved’ in the life, traveling more and being around more. The ‘old school’ way was to never have wives, kids and family around if at all possible, and that changed dramatically in the 90′s.

As for the World Series, I don’t know if we ever thought we’d win, for sure, or lose, for sure. That Toronto team was loaded, but we weren’t scared of anyone, we truly did take on the city personae in ‘taking on the world’, and it served us well, right up to Joe Carter’s at bat. I remember watching that ball get hit, and knowing the second it did our season was over. And realizing just how suddenly life can change. I also remember thinking “I am witnessing one of the greatest moments in baseball history”, though on the wrong side.

The 2001 team? I think we felt we were a lock to win it after RJ dominated in game 2, and after game 5 I am not sure what anyone thought. If you were not a Yankee fan then that World Series happened in perfect fashion. In a raw post 9/11 America New York hosted 3 of the most amazing World Series games you’ve ever seen, and I truly felt like the city got some sort of a lift from that. I think the ‘pliable” nature of that team, and the fact that RJ was going game 6, was the main reasons we didn’t fold up shop after game 5. We felt we couldn’t get beat when we pitched, and I think the guys in the field believed that as well.

To this day I still believe that was the best World Series ever.

But I started thinking what I might do.

To be able to talk about the things I’ve seen, done and been involved in, that might interest people.

What if I allowed you to ask me a direct question, and I’d ‘write’ the answer out every few weeks? No subject is off limits, and I’d answer as openly and honestly as possible. That way I’d likely be writing about stuff that was interesting to more folks than just me. Since it would be on my blog, and people would have to make an effort, at least some effort, to get here and ask, it would likely be able to focus on things people were curious about.

I don’t know why it matters if he’s facing the instructional leaguers or the Astros.

Holy crap. To me that’s exactly like saying “I don’t know why it’s different benching 25 pounds or 500 pounds? Those two settings are about as different as you can possibly get for a pitcher. Yes you exert effort and try to pitch your best in a rehab, you work to do the things you do normally, but the setting, the environment are such strong impacting forces for any good pitcher that it cannot help but be insanely different. 21 people (if it’s a good day) at extended spring in Florida vs. 50k+ people in a major league stadium? Ya, it’s very different, and it takes a very different toll on your arm and body.

I was blessed to be taken care of by someone I think has earned a reputation as the premiere shoulder physician in the world, Dr Craig Morgan out of Wilmington, Delaware. I also was one of the earliest cases and fixes of a SLAP repair on my throwing shoulder. My surgeon and my PT, along with Jeff Cooper and Mark Anderson (trainers in Philly), Paul Lessard (trainer in Az and Boston) set me up to pitch over 3000 innings AFTER I had this major surgery. I did it because they drove my rehab, they allowed me to get back on the mound, at the right levels, with a combination of input.

I don’t think for a second the Nationals will or would do anything to jeopardize this kids future, because it’s theirs too, but you show your ignorance of the game making dumb statements like the one above.

I think I found another number, another stat, that can be used to determine the most truly dominant pitching seasons the game has ever seen, with the potential to go even farther and tab the most dominant pitchers ever.

First the why, or how, or both. A pitchers job is to win games (well a starting pitcher anyway). To win games you have to give up 1 fewer run than the other guy. That’s IF you go all 9, if not your staff has to help. But for arguments sake we’re talking starting pitchers. The key to giving up fewer runs is to give up fewer base runners. This statistic is 100% devoid of Wins as an impacting factor. While that doesn’t completely sit right with me it works. It works because we are trying to determine what one guy, who has almost total control of these stats, does over the course of a season compared to the ‘other guys’ at his position, in the same league.

A couple of stats to get used to:

WHIP = The number of walks and hits per inning a pitcher allows.

BR9 = the number of base runners per 9 innings a pitcher allows. Created by multiplying a pitchers WHIP by 9

ERA = Earned Run Average (total number of runs that pitcher averages giving up for every 9 innings they pitch)

TOA = Total Offense Against (Adding a pitchers ERA to their BR9)

PDF = Pitchers Dominance Factor is calculated as follows:

Take the leagues Starters ERA (Only the starting pitchers ERA! Very important!) and add the leagues Starters BR9.

Then take your pitchers ERA added to HIS BR9. You will end up with two numbers, the first we call the Leagues Total offense against, or LTOA, and the second number is that pitchers PTOA. Now subtract the PTOA from the LTOA. As a formula it looks like this: League ERA+BR9 – Starters ERA+BR9.

The resulting number is that pitchers Pitcher Dominance Factor, or PDF.

Here’s why I think it works. Think about some of the most dominating seasons by starting pitchers, ever.

Sandy Koufax had what many consider the greatest 5 year run by a starting pitcher. In 5 years he put up the following numbers:

1962 14-7 2.54 ERA 9.27 BR9 11.81 PTOA

1963 25-5 1.88 ERA 7.88 BR9 9.755 PTOA

1964 19-5 1.76 ERA 8.43 BR9 10.19 PTOA

1965 26-8 2.04 ERA 7.71 BR9 9.76 PTOA

1966 27-9 1.73 ERA 8.86 BR9 10.595 PTOA

Nothing can change the fact that these were, and always will be, incredible seasons, the win loss record in 64, 65 and 66 alone is amazing. Here’s where it gets interesting. Sandy’s PDF for those 5 years? 4.30, 4.48, 4.62, 5.07 and 4.32.

To put some context around those, relative to that era, consider another season, Bob Gibson’s 1968. Considered by many the most dominating season by a starting pitcher ever. 22-9 with an other-worldly 1.12 ERA, and a BR9 of 7.68. His PDF that year? 4.80.

The reason I think this is relevant is this. Their numbers are a calculated against what their respective league averages were in those seasons. Yes Gibsons ’68 was incredible, but it was also a season in which the LEAGUE WIDE starters ERA that year was, get this, 2.97! To put that in context the National League this year  has a starters ERA of 3.94! If that holds up it will be the lowest ERA by NL starters since 1992 when it was 3.54.

The ERA for the National League starters during Koufax’s run was 3.99, 3.28, 3.56, 3.62 and 3.63.

Let’s skip ahead to some guys we may have actually been alive to watch. Remember Ron Guidry’s 1978 season? 25-3, 1.74 and a BR9 of 8.52 for a PTOA of 10.25. His PDF that year was 5.57.

For what it’s worth that appears to be near the margin of greatest ever or once in a decade type seasons. Any season a starter manages a PDF over 6 is very rare.

Since 1960 there have been a total of 14 seasons by 7 starting pitchers with a PDF of 6+. Pedro 5 times (4 AL 1 NL) Maddux 2, Santana 1, RJ 2 (1 AL 1 NL), Clemens 1, Sabathia 1 (NL, though in my opinion the cutoff for starters should be either the ERA qualifying number of innings, 162, or something like 180 (30 starts with a 6IP avg)), Kevin Brown 2.

The top seasons and some cool other stuff to think about?

Those 7 guys are the only starters in the game, over the last 51 years, to manage a PDF of 6+, with Pedro’s moonshot of 10.14 far and away the best PDF ever recorded in the AL. Again, fwiw, the ONLY 8+ ever is also his, and it was the 8.05 PDF he recorded in the season prior to his 2000, 1999.

The best NL PDF, and only other season in the past 51 to surpass 7, is Madduxs’ 1995 score of 7.49.

2000 Pedro Martinez 18-6 1.74 ERA 6.64 BR9 (Ok a few things here. This line is so beyond comprehension it’s almost laughable. Pedro gave up a TOTAL of 6.64 base runners PER NINE INNINGS! In a year when the league AVERAGE for starters was 13.42 base runners per 9….. Think about that a second. It’s also, by a wide margin, the most dominating season ever by a starting pitcher as his PDF checks in at 10.14. No pitcher since 1960 has ever approached a 10+ PDF, and for what it’s worth Pedro’s 1999 season is the second best as well, coming in at 8.09!

The LTOA in 2000 was 18.51 (starters ERA of 5.10 plus BR 9 of 13.42 = 18.52) and Pedro’s PTOA was 8.38! Giving him a 10.14 PDF. Unreal and unmatched.

1995 Greg Maddux 19-2 1.53 ERA 7.299 BR9 = 8.829 PTOA. NLTOA was 16.42 (4.20 ERA, 12.22 BR9) resulting in a PDF of 7.59.

1997 Pedro Martinez (Yep, him again, and now maybe you can understand why what he did during his run is considered the most dominating performance in history) 17-8 1.90 ERA 8.388 BR9 for a PTOA of 10.288 versus a LTOA of 16.36 leading to a PDF of 6.07.

Not only did he have 3 of the best pitching seasons in the game during his run, but they are 3 of the most dominating seasons by a pitcher ever in my opinion.

1978 Ron Guidry 25-3 1.74 ERA 8.514 BR9 for a PTOA of 10.25. ALTOA was 15.83 for a 5.58 PDF.

1985 Doc Gooden (not sure you can forget this season if you got a chance to see it). 24-4 1.53 ERA 8.68 BR9 for a PTOA of 10.215. The NLTOA was 15.21 for a PDF of 4.99, 5 if you want to round up…

The beauty of this for me is the simplicity of the scale. 10 is “Perfect” in a sense, it’s only ever been done once and few have even approached this level, ever.

As an FYI I’ve started to work on relievers as well, and at first glance it appears the same scale, with 10 being other worldly, works. Dennis Eckersley, in 1990, had an ERA of 0.62 and a baserunners per 9 of 5.526 for a PTOA of 6.16. AL Relievers that year had a 3.59 ERA and a base runners per 9 of 12.18 for a LTOA of 15.77. Eck’s PDF? 9.63.

Eric Gagne’s 2003 season, 1.20 ERA and BR9 of 6.228 gave him a PTOA of 7.43 against an NL relievers LTOA of 16.80 for a PDF of 9.37.

As with any data or statistics there will be outliers. In looking at the top 25 PDF seasons from each league since 1960 it becomes very clear that to make this list you have to do a few things.

1) Be a power pitcher with very good to great control

2) NOT walk people

3) Strike people out

Two names on this list will absolutely jump out at you as being ‘not like the others’.

2002 Derek Lowe? Nothing against Dlowe, the kid has always been a VERY good pitcher, but a 5+ season from a guy that’s a ground ball pitcher and doesn’t K a ton of guys is odd, very rare actually. He didn’t strike a ton of guys out, 127 in 210 innings and his K/BB ratio was just 2.65 to 1. This list is chock full of power and command pitchers, Derek is neither but his ability to keep the ball on the ground and the 2nd best BB/9 ratio of his long career are big factors in his one 5+ season. I would also bet his BABIP (batting average on balls in play) that year was totally out of the realm of normalcy for his stats, and against the league. For what it’s worth his PDF in 2002 was 5.59.

Another outlier, which I had thought was a 5+ but seems it was not, is someone I would bet NO ONE outside the windy city has ever heard of. Joe Horlen? He checks in with a 1964 season of 5.40, which in itself is an awesome year. A very pedestrian 13-9 won/loss record with just 138 K’s in 210 2/3 innings. A nice, but relatively unspectacular 2.5 to 1 K/BB ratio. The magic in that season was his 1.83 ERA and the fact that he only gave up 142 hits in those 210+ IP.

But outside of those seasons, and a few other by guys you may have forgotten, Juan Guzmans 1996, Cal Eldred?, ya his 1992 season, and a few other guys, the top 10 seasons reads like a who’s who of dominating starting pitching. Pedro is all over the lists, RJ, Clemens, Maddux, Kevin Brown, Jason Schmidts 2003 season and Kevin Millwoods 1994 season make an appearance.

The top 14 seasons in the NL are all 1994 or later with the 15th being J.R. Richards 1980 season at 5.41 sneaking in. The top 15 in the AL are 1989 or later, with Saberhagens ’89 season being the only pre’92 season in the bunch.

Some other cool seasons to look at.

In 1998 Randy Johnson pitching for the Seattle Mariners was 9-10 with a 4.11 and a PTOA of 15.93. His PDF was 1.78. After being traded to Houston he went 10-1 with a 1.28 ERA for a PTOA of 10.1 and a PDF of 6.72! That gives you some idea of the difference in 5 points of PTOA, the Randy in Seattle was a league average guy with a PDF of 1.78 and the Houston RJ was a Cy Young candidate with a PDF of 6.72. Granted that was only a half season of data but the point remains that a 1-2 point spread in PDF results in vastly different pitcher controlled stats like WHIP an ERA.

It appears that when you start hitting the 4 number for PDF you are in serious Cy Young territory. In fact that’s a great test to run through, creating the PDF of the Cy Young finishers for the past 15-20 years and I would bet you’ll see some injustices:)

In 2010 Felix Hernandez goes 13-12 with an ERA of 2.27 and a BR9 of 9.51 for a PTOA of 11.78. His PDF? 4.32.

How does a guy with 13 wins get the Cy? Look at the runners up in 2010. Their PDFs show a difference, favoring Felix by a pretty decent margin.

David Price goes 19-6 with a 2.72 ERA and a BR9 of 10.71 for a PTOA of 13.42 and a PDF of 2.90.
CC Sabathia goes 21-7 with a 3.18 and a BR9 of 10.71 for a PTOA of 13.99 and a PDF of 2.33.

Interestingly down in 6th place Clay Bucholz goes 17-7 with a 2.33 and a BR9 of 10.8 for a PTOA of 13.13 and a PDF of 3.19.

Trevor Cahill in 9th place goes 18-8 with a 2.97 ERA and a BR9 of 9.972 for a PTOA of 12.94 and a PDF of 3.38.

In 2009 Zack Greinke goes 16-8, a good record but in prior years the win total likely takes him out of contention. His 2.16 ERA and BR9 of 9.657 create a PTOA of 11.82 and that creates a PDF of 4.80. Cy runner up? Felix Hernandez, 19-5 with a 2.49 ERA and a BR9 of 10.21 for a PTOA of 12.71 and a PDF of 3.91. Discounting wins (which cannot, in  my opinion ever be totally discounted) and you’ve got a almost a full point of PDF difference between the 1st and 2nd place finishers.

Want to see an injustice?

Pedro Martinez goes 20-4 with a 2.26 ERA, BR9 of 8.307 and a PTOA of 10.57 for a PDF of 6.37. Insane year (matched btw by Clemens 97 season in Toronto), not for the season but of all time.

He finishes 2nd to Barry Zito, who don’t get me wrong, had an awesome season at 23-5 with a 2.75 with a 10.22 BR9 for a PTOA of 12.97, but his PDF ends up at 3.96.

Those two years aren’t even close from a pure dominance perspective. Zito had a great season, but a season matched or surpassed in dominance by a significant amount of pitchers in the past decade. Pedro had a season only maybe 5 guys were ever more dominant, and he was 2 of them! In fact I’ve looked at 20+ seasons of dominance from starters, most recommended when I asked people to give me their ‘top seasons ever’ and the only 2 seasons I’ve checked a pitcher out that saw them with a PDF below Zito’s was Tom Seavers 1969 season where he registered a PDF of 3.55 and David Cones 20-3 1988 season where he registered a 2.44 PDF.

As a starting pitcher wins were the ONLY thing that ever mattered. It took a few years as a young pitcher to get it, but the fact was that on the day I got the ball, if we won, it was all good, no matter how I pitched. And you play the game to win, but starting pitchers are sometimes removed from the equation. Be it through an inept offense, bad defense, an opponent that shuts down your offense. There are a ton of factors that are outside the control of the pitcher, but giving up base runners and allowing runs are about the only things you can ‘totally’ control (recognizing the umpire, score keeper and your defense will always have some sort of impact on those two factors).

There are many things to work out, sort out and talk through and I am sure the Sabermetric folks are going to chime in. Let me say that there was a frenzy to get this updated and Randal Robles of Elias, as well as the slew of incredible stat guys at ESPN’s Baseball Tonight chipped in mightily. To that end there are some decimals off here and there that I noticed in trying to tie this up. I am sure there will be no shortage of folks ‘fixing’ and correcting.

My other thoughts are, and in no particular order. I want to do this for the great relievers, to see where they shake out after quickly checking the two seasons that came to mind for Gagne and Eck. I would be big dollars Riveras’ going to show up more than once.

It appears that it’s ‘easier’, if that’s the right word, to have a potentially high PDF over the past 30 or so years than it was in the 60′s and 70′s and I am not sure how to weigh that. Given these occurred mostly during the Steroid Era it makes sense, since looking at league ERA’s and WHIP’s will clearly spell out the massive offensive surge that accompanied the plethora of cheaters we now know played during those years. I don’t think that diminishes anything (except for the pitchers that were juicing that showed up on these lists as well, I’d likely just remove their numbers if doing this as a barometer of greatness).

I am working out how to ‘explain’ what this number ultimately says. I do believe it marks the greatest pitching seasons in the modern history of the game. To make this list you had to be a power pitcher that didn’t allow many baserunners (Hence the exclusion anywhere on either list of the greatest strikeout pitcher that ever lived in Nolan Ryan). Not sure anyone ever considered Greg Maddux a “power pitcher” but I do know, from first hand experience, he was better than anyone I ever saw except Pedro at not allowing baserunners.

I also think it’s a pretty cool way to put guys now, in season, in perspective. I was told the top two guys in MLB right now in PDF are Cole Hamels at 1, and Doc Halladay at 2, which I will try to firm up. That the Phils have the top 2 is telling, and likely scary, for the rest of the league.

We could have picked an easier year to do this as some of the largest RPG and gaming franchises in history were there as well, most announcing their next releases and franchise updates.

But as is custom around here we generally don’t do things the easy way and rarely choose the path of least resistance.

Reckoning walked away from E3 with 7 Best In Show Nominations!

Now the place has been cleaned up, people have returned home and the awards are being handed out.

I couldn’t be prouder of the team!! Here’s where we stand today!

Adam Sessler of G4 picks us as his “Best in Show”

RipTen picks us as “Best RPG of E3″ against heavyweights and multi-hundred million dollar franchises Skyrim and Mass Effect 3!!

And on Page 3 of this link you can see The Escapist picks Reckoning as one of its “Best games of E3″

The awards and recognition keep pouring in and if you are interested in our IP, MMO or RPG there are tons of links below to get the latest information!

Our Reckoning Website! Just Reckoning.com for those interested!

Our Reckoning Facebook page!

Our Reckoning Twitter account!

And of course the 38 Studios home page, where we continue to look for awesome new people to hire on the world’s most talented and passionate team!

UPDATE! Reckoning is nominated by what is basically “The Academy” of award presenters, the E3 Critics Award, as Best RPG of E3…