A customer walked into the bar the other day, a younger guy in his mid-twenties. After having a series of mini-conversations with him, he appeared relatively baseball knowledgeable, which struck me as odd considering true baseball fans his age are getting harder to come by. He sipped his beer, tuning intently to the Rays-Yankees game while I tended to the rest of the bar. A statistic flashed across the screen. Chris Archer, the young Rays starter, was attempting to become the first opposing pitcher since 1907 to win his first five outings against the New York Yankees. Curious as to who accomplished this feat over a century ago, the young man took to his Google Machine to look up the answer. He told me the guy went by the name “Big Train,” chuckling at the nickname. It soon became clear he had never heard of Walter Johnson before. More at: http://sportschump.net/2014/07/02/m...lity-start-continued-softening-america/14046/
couldn't disagree with this more. the win stat is way too flawed to use a the biggest measuring point on a pitcher in todays game. need proof ? go look at cole hamels stats and tell me i'm wrong. need more ? compare curt schilling and jamie moyer. who was the better pitcher ? the guy with more wins ?
I Grew up loving baseball and watching every game i could on tv.now,it is a waste of time. I Will say in my view the last few years the playoffs are better.
Smeags... That doesn't change the fact that pitchers these days are pitching far less than they used to which was really the point of the piece. Dees... I actually think the addition of the wild card has drawn a little more fan interest. For example, without it the Rays season would be over but two wild card spots lead us to believe, probably mistakenly, that we still have a chance at the post-season.
