Useless Jake Westbrook Information

 

 

You know baseball is a beautiful sport when someone like Jake Westbrook can step out of the back of the Indians' bullpen and become a walking useless-info factory. But that's what he did last week, starting with one of the most bizarre games of modern times. If you just looked at the score of the Indians' April 19 game with the Tigers (Detroit 10, Cleveland 4), you'd have no idea. But this was a game in which the Indians' starting pitcher, Jeff D'Amico, faced six hitters and got no outs. And it was a game in which the relievers who followed Westbrook gave up six runs and got three outs.?

 

 

 

But in between, Westbrook faced 21 hitters -- and retired all of them. Which didn't merely mean the Tigers were able to score 10 runs in a game in which they went three hours without a baserunner. It meant Westbrook was the first reliever to throw seven perfect innings (that's 7-0-0-0-0-7 in your box scores), according to the Elias Sports Bureau, since Lindy McDaniel unfurled a 7-0-0-0-0-6 line on Aug. 23, 1968.

 

 

McDaniel did it in a 17-inning game, though (also against the Tigers, by the way). So to pull it off in nine innings -- especially in a game in which everyone else who pitched allowed 10 runs in a span of three outs -- is an all-time all-timer.

 

Longest perfect relief stints in between McDaniel and Westbrook, according to Elias:

 

 

Casey Cox, Senators -- July 7, 1969 vs. Cleveland (6 2/3-0-0-0-0-1)

 

 

John Montague, Mariners -- July 24, 1977 vs. California (6 2/3-0-0-0-0-6)

 

 

 

Westbrook then faced the Tigers again Sunday and retired the first five hitters he faced, leaving him one out from recording 27 straight outs against them. Whereupon, naturally, Carlos Pena homered. (Pena, according to the Detroit Free Press' John Lowe, managed to hit three balls to the outfield that day before any other Tigers even hit one.)

 

 

 

But if you go back to the last out of Westbrook's outing before he first faced the Tigers, he did indeed retire 27 hitters in a row over three games -- a feat which Baseball Prospectus' Keith Woolner has labeled a "hidden perfect game."

 

 

Woolner reports, on the Baseball Prospectus site, that nine other pitchers currently in the big leagues have thrown hidden perfect games. That figure counts Pedro Martinez, who retired 30 in a row over two starts in 1999 and also had a 1995 game in which he retired 27 in a row in the same game but lost his perfecto in the 10th.

 

 

The others who have done it: Carl Pavano and Luis Ayala (both last year), and Hideo Nomo, Randy Johnson, Mike Mussina, David Wells, Rick Reed and Rod Beck over the previous decade. The only two besides Westbrook to do it mostly in relief: Ayala (over nine appearances) and Beck (over five appearances in 1992).

 

Does anyone remember when this was? I think it might have been in August or September when he was really on (remember that start against the Phils where he was untouchable) but I'm not sure.

Another Marlin related useless fact:

 

The Marlins' highest-paid pitcher the last two years has been Mike Hampton -- even though it just so happens he has been pitching for the Braves all that time. But in a way, the Marlins have gotten their $15 million's worth because, amazingly, Hampton has started against the Marlins six times in that span but hasn't beaten them once.

He's 0-3, with a 6.87 ERA, against Florida. And the Marlins are batting .297 against him.

Another Marlin related useless fact:

 

The Marlins' highest-paid pitcher the last two years has been Mike Hampton -- even though it just so happens he has been pitching for the Braves all that time. But in a way, the Marlins have gotten their $15 million's worth because, amazingly, Hampton has started against the Marlins six times in that span but hasn't beaten them once.

He's 0-3, with a 6.87 ERA, against Florida. And the Marlins are batting .297 against him.

lololololol

 

The irony of it is hilarious.

Another Marlin related useless fact:

 

The Marlins' highest-paid pitcher the last two years has been Mike Hampton -- even though it just so happens he has been pitching for the Braves all that time. But in a way, the Marlins have gotten their $15 million's worth because, amazingly, Hampton has started against the Marlins six times in that span but hasn't beaten them once.

He's 0-3, with a 6.87 ERA, against Florida. And the Marlins are batting .297 against him.

I love that stat...