Here are two pitching lines from Tuesday night:
Pitcher A: 7 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 4 BB, 8 K
Pitcher B: 5 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 2 K
Guess which pitcher took a win last night and which pitcher took a loss? Pitcher A is Colorado Rockies ace Ubaldo Jimenez, who suffered a 1-0 loss to the New York Mets last night. Pitcher B is Los Angeles Dodgers righty Vicente Padilla, who got credit for the win last night in the Dodgers’ 15-9 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.
Padilla was darn lucky that the Dodgers had a rare offensive explosion last night. After being spotted a seven-run lead, Padilla cruised through the Phillies lineup the first time around. Then in the fourth and fifth, the Phillies really got to Padilla.
Padilla somehow escaped a bases loaded, one-out jam in the fourth. He fell behind Domonic Brown 3-0 and Brown hit a frozen rope to right that was caught by Andre Ethier.
Padilla gave up four runs in five innings and you felt that if he went out there for the sixth, he would have given up two or three more runs.
Jimenez, on the other hand, was rock solid against the Mets. His pitching line says he finished with four walks, but two of them were intentional.
The Mets did get to Jimenez in the seventh, but for six innings, the Mets didn’t stand much of a chance against the Cy Young favorite in the National League. Last night I felt Jimenez could have thrown nothing but his fastball and have gotten away with it.
The reason his pitch count was high was because he couldn’t get his slider and curve over for strikes. The Mets also did a good job of fouling off pitches.
However, Jimenez deserved a better fate. He deserved a win.
Last night’s pitching line for Padilla and Jimenez and results that they earned is just another example of why wins is not the best indicator to judge a pitcher’s value.
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