Sounds Crazy, But ……
….. but, actually the starting pitching for the Orioles has done more to win the 47 games the Orioles have garnered than have the relievers or the offense. More on that later, but first …
There is no doubt that the starting pitching tonight – in the form of Tommy Hunter – made the difference in the game. The only two runs the Orioles were able to score were on the massive first-inning homer by Adam Jones. It is a horrible situation for pitchers that they so often have to attempt to make slim leads stand for up to nine innings, but that is the horrible situation that is faced by this team. Hunter gave up but a solo home run to the Twins (who’ve looked like the Yankees the past two nights), keeping the ball in the park and scattering the remaining base hits.
Everyone knows that the offense for the Orioles is simply absent more nights than not. Along with the shoddy defense, it is actually the bigger problem than the pitching. Conventional wisdom also says that the Orioles bullpen in now struggling, having been overworked throughout the season. The bullpen statistics, up to recent days, have been among the best in the game.
Yet, when tracking what part of the team – offense, starting pitching, relief pitching, defense – contributed most significantly night to night toward either the wins or losses, the starting pitching has done the most toward team success. It has now passed the relief; the offense remains a big problem, followed closely by the defense.
For those who have followed my system of points allocation know that there are 3 points given either positively or negatively for each game – distributed among the starters, relievers, offense, and only occasionally the defense (when either critically contributing to a win or loss). For example, this last 2-1 win over the Twins credited the starters with 3 points for Hunter’s 7.1 excellent innings. I gave no credit to an offense that scored only 2 runs and relievers who allowed 4 runners in 1.2 innings.
Anyhow… here is a summary of my tracking of these numbers for the season:
Point Summary – after 91 games = 47-44
Credit Blame Differential
Starters +60.0 -48.5 = (+11.5)
Relievers +33.0 -27.0 = (+6.0)
Offense +45.0 -49.5 = (-4.5)
Defense +3.0 -7.0 = (-4.0)
Total +141 -132
O Say 