My Two Cents On Pitching (1997)

(written for the NUMB News, 6/27/97)
In our current scoring period, much has been made of some heavy-K pitching performances. Cone got 16 strikeouts, Johnson 19, Mussina 12. Cone and Mussina won, but Johnson lost. Which begs the question: How important are strikeouts? They can be very handy and they sure can be dramatic -- the big bopper whiffing with the game on the line and the knee-buckling called 3rd strike provide ESPN with endless highlights.

I say it's all good fun, but over-rated window dressing -- 19 K's and he lost! The aim of pitching is to limit scoring, make the opponent spend more time in the field than at the plate, and let your team hit. Toward that end, strikeouts are a model of inefficiency.

We're all mightily impressed with a perfect game: No hits, no runs, no errors, no walks, 27 batters faced. But a real perfect game would be: No hits, no runs, no errors, no walks, no strikeouts, and 27 pitches thrown!!

That's my two cents. Keep the change.