Once again, there were a number of contenders for the Performance of the Week award.
The Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw was outstanding in his start on Sunday against the Marlins, pitching a complete game shut-out and racking up 10 strikeouts in the process.Â
The Yankees’ Bartolo Colon also went the distance without conceding a run against the A’s on Monday, while on the same night the Arizona Diamondbacks enjoyed two fruitful appearances by Justin Upton (5-for-5 with a homer and a stolen base) and Kelly Johnson (4-for-6 with two homers).
However, despite the above, the final vote came down to two pitchers.Â
The winner
Ubaldo Jimenez had gained eleven wins by this time last season, but prior to his start against the Dodgers on Wednesday night, he remained win-less in 2011. The Blue Jays’ Jo-Jo Reyes was having the same bad luck in 2011, but his 2010 season wasn’t as impressive as Jimenez’s. In fact, Reyes had failed to be credited with a win in 28 straight starts stretching back into last year.
Now, wins for pitchers don’t count for as much as some will tell you. A pitcher can have an average start and get a ‘W’ one day, while going the full nine innings and conceding just one run another and take the loss next time out. However, I doubt many starting pitchers will look at an ‘0’ in the win column nine starts into the season in Jimenez’s case, let alone 28 in Reyes’, and be able to shrug their shoulders at their bad luck.
They both finally picked up a win this week and did so while pitching well. Reyes went eight innings and gave up just one run on a solo shot by the Indians’ Shelley Duncan, although he did give up eight hits in total and walked four as well.Â
As for Jimenez,  he went the full nine innings pitching a gem of a game against the Dodgers: no runs conceded and just four hits allowed. That just pushed his effort past that of Reyes’ and earned him the Performance of the Week award.
Not that Jimenez doesn’t deserve it, but it was Jo-Jo Reyes’ first complete game of his career and those 28 starts without a win go all the way back to June 2008. Bad luck aside, his pitching wasn’t overly great at the start of the season, but he seems to be getting better now.
Like you said, pitching win-loss records aren’t as clear cut as they can appear. The pitcher is responsible for less than half of the outcome, considering fielding errors and missed calls by the umpires. Doesn’t seem like it was a year ago for Galarraga’s “perfect game that wasn’t”.
Hi Andrew. I didn’t realise it was Reyes’ first CG. Maybe that would have tipped the balance. Hopefully I haven’t sent him back to his losing ways by missing out on my award!
I don’t think I’ve seen a game on ESPN America this season where they haven’t replayed the Galaragga incident during an ad break. Every time I see it I’m further at a loss as to how he called the runner safe. That’s what he thought he saw in real time, so I guess you have to give a little credit that he didn’t bow to the situation and called it as he saw it. Shame he saw it wrong!
Fingers crossed! Hope your A’s can the next couple of games from the Red Sox, would be very much appreciated!
Same. Wonder how much, if any, argument there would have been by the Indians if he’d changed his call. On a related note, there’s a good video on MLB.com (http://atmlb.com/lvsD8M) about the prime 9 near no hitters. Doubles as a good showcase for how far broadcast quality has come too!