Brandon Backe pitched a complete game shutout last night against the San Francisco Giants. Both complete games and CG shutouts continue to be vs. the same period last year:
| Through six weeks | 2004 | 2005 |
|---|---|---|
| Games Started | 1102 | 1112 |
| Complete Games | 33 | 51 |
| CG Percentage | 3.0 | 4.6 |
| CG Shutouts | 11 | 17 |
| CGS Percentage | 1.0 | 1.5 |
The only teams without complete games so far are Boston, Tampa Bay, Cincinnati and San Diego. The Padres have a magnificent bullpen this season. Cincinnati has poor starters, as does Tampa Bay. Boston starters are much better than their relievers; it’s not clear from the information I have why they don’t have a CG. Clement went eight shutout innings against Baltimore on 4/21 and threw 110 pitches. Foulke was brought in to record the final three outs. Clement had given up two hits in the 8th, but both were infield singles. It appears their starters are on a very tight pitch count.
There have been quite a few cases where Terry could have let the starter go 9:
4/15 Wells 7 IP 96 p
4/20 Wells 8 IP 109 p
4/21 Clement 8 IP 110 p
4/30 Arroyo 7 IP 99 p
5/5 Arroyo 8 IP 112 p
Only two of those were close (4/21, 5/5); in both of those cases, Foulke finished up. My guess is that if the Red Sox had neither Foulke nor such a good offense, we would have seen a CG or 2 by now.
well, Backe threw 114 last night and he loses a LOT of control after about 100. He had velocity without good control in the 9th, but it looked to me as if the giants had already packed it in by then…
hope he isn’t tired for his next start – interleague ball – yecccccccccch…