tue night trivia

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Posted By: Peter_Spaeth

Name the pitcher (25 decisions or more) who had the lowest ERA in a season in which he had a losing record.

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Posted By: ali_lapoint

ed walsh? 1910 18-20 with a 1.27 ERA?

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Posted By: Peter_Spaeth

OK that was too easy.

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Posted By: Steve Dawson

This question makes me think of Nolan Ryan's 1987 season. He led both leagues in strikeouts (270) and ERA (2.76), yet only had an 8-16 W-L record due to the Astros' inept offense!


Steve

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Posted By: Matt

A variation on the question (this isn't trivia since I don't know the answer ):
Name the pitcher (20 decisions or more) who had the highest winning percentage in a season in which his team had a losing record. Cliff Lee is making a run at whoever currently holds the mark.

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Posted By: cn

I remember 1972 when Steve Carlton won 27 games while the Phillies won only 59 for the whole season. I think that season is the greatest I have seen better than Gibson in 1968,Guidry in 1977 and Gooden in 1985. CN

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Posted By: john/z28jd

Im not 100% sure but I think the answer to Matt's question is Bob Gibson in 1970 when he went 23-7 for a team that went 76-86

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Posted By: ChiSoxFan

Don't know which answer best suits the Pitcher with winning record on Team with lossing record.

Here is the top 5 based on Pitcher with highest winning percentage:
1. Sandy Koufax 1964 19-5 (.792) - Dodgers 80-82 (.493)
2. Bob Gibson 1970 23-7 (.767) - Cardinals 76-86 (.469)
3. Roger Clemens 1997 21-7 (.750) - Blue Jays 76-86 (.469)
4. Steve Blass 1968 18-6 (.750) - Pirates 80-82 (.493)
5. Fred Toney 1915 17-6 (.739) - Red 71-83 (.461)


Here is the top 5 based on Team with lowest winning percentage:
1. Randy Johnson 2004 16-14 (.533) - Diamondbacks 51-111 (.315)
2. Doc Scanlan 1905 14-12 (.538) - Superbas 48-104 (.316)
3. Jesse Tannehill 1906 13-11 (.542) - Pilgrams 49-105 (.318)
4. Jimmy Ring 1923 18-16 (.529) - Phillies 50-104 (.325)
5. Ray Scarborough 1949 13-11 (.542) - Senators 50-104 (.325)


ChiSoxFan

Looking for T206 Sweet Caporal Fact. #30 White Sox in Poor to Fair condition.

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Posted By: Matt

ChiSox fan - great research! Looks like Koufax is the answer. For the time being.

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Posted By: barrysloate

Cliff Lee at 19-2 is approaching the best winning percentage for any pitcher with 20 wins, regardless of the team's record. I don't believe any pitcher ever won 20 games with two or fewer losses. Guidry at 25-3 and Grove at 31-4 are the all-time best.

Greg Maddux was 19-2 for the most wins with two losses.

Edited to correct an error.

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Posted By: Fred C

Clemens came close but, cough, cough, cough....

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Posted By: Anthony S.

So close. The year Roy Face went 18-1 --- how the hell did he do that with only 93 innings pitched. The original victory vulture --- the Pirates only finished 2 games over .500.

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Posted By: Bob Manning

He did it by being the luckiest closer in the history of the game, at least for one season. A check of Face's stats for '59 shows him with those 18 wins AND JUST 10 SAVES in 57 appearances, all in relief. (The entire staff had only 17 saves for the entire season.) Those Pirates, remember, featured the same starting lineup that won it all the following year, and probably had a better bench. And while they won only 78 games in '59, an impressive number of them were of the come-from-behind variety. It seemed to happen about once a week ... ElRoy would come into a game in which the Bucs either led or were tied, and somehow give up enough to become the pitcher of record. Then a big rally would give him the win. Eighteen of them, before losing his final decision.

I spent the entire summer of '59 listening to Bob Prince and Jim Woods tell me this --- it must have been so.

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Posted By: Dan P.

CN is right--Carlton's 27 wins rates as the highest pct. of his team's wins. The only thing that saved the fillies from a 100 loss season was the season was 7-10 days late starting due to a labor dispute (the games weren't made up).

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Posted By: john/z28jd

Looks like the Indians arent in the mood to let Lee set that record because as of right now theyre just 2 games under .500 and theyre on a 10 game winning streak