Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Francisco Liriano and some thoughts

As many people have heard, Liriano pitched a no-hitter last night.  It was far from a gem, and it was arguably the worst no-hitter in major league history.  Here are a few stats to chew on.  Francisco Liriano had the 2nd worst ERA going into his no-hitter in history with a 9.13 ERA.  He also had the lowest game score, an 83, of a pitcher who threw a no-hitter.  (Here is a link about Game Score if you do not know what it is.)  Finally he walked 6 batters and labored to 123 total pitches. 

He definitely had rough spots.  He was also very lucky.  He recorded 2 strikeouts, which means that he relied on his defense behind him to cover enough ground to record the other 25 outs.  Normaizing this start to the league average BABIP stats that 6 or 7 of those balls in play should have fallen for hits.  Of course, facing a team scuffling like the Chicago White Sox, who are also having a very unlucky time with their BABIP, Liriano's luck was somewhat justifiable.  

It wasn't pretty, but it was still a no-hitter, and the first of quite a few we will see this season.

In other news, the Braves' play a doubleheader, so I may have some thoughts going around about that later tonight or tomorrow.  Go Braves

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