Complete games pitched 2011

Although I would still like to see the occasional mound workhorse reach double digits in complete games. The age of the complete-game season maybe even ten and the innings-pitched or even, perhaps, innings are over. First, how about the steady decline in complete games? Back in As the chart below shows, that number declined fairly steadily — and was at less than 1 percent in the last full season , with just 45 complete games in 4, starts. As you saw in the first chart, even with the seven-inning doubleheader games, MLB has stayed around the 1 percent mark in complete games in Some observations from my examination of this trend.

And, was the first year that a league leader notched less than 14 complete games. The last time, we saw 20 complete games in a season? Fernando Valenzuela in James Shields, in , became the first pitcher to reach double-digits 11 in complete games in a dozen years — and earned a reputation as an iron man. Between and Cubs and Cardinals , Jack Taylor threw a record consecutive complete games with 15 relief appearances interspersed. White went that year, with a 1. For his career, White completed of starts.

The record for career complete games belongs to Cy Young at Young completed The active leader in career games is Justin Verlander with 26 in starts over 16 seasons. Verlander may not pitch in , as he recovers from Tommy John surgery. Among pitchers pitching this season, Clayton Kershaw and Adam Wainwright share the lead in career complete games at The combined 76 complete games twirled by Verlander, Kershaw and Wainwright would place them th on the all-time list.

Babe Ruth, by the way, tossed complete games in career starts. As complete games have dropped, the numbers of pitchers used in each game have risen. In , you were more likely to see between eight and nine players take the mound in a game. MLB attempted to address that trend and its impact on game time with a new rule in — requiring each pitcher to either face at least three hitters or complete the half-inning.

Thus far, in , team are actually using 4. Five-man Rotations … and. As we moved into the s, teams started moving to five-man pitching rotations.

He went on a run that no Phillie had done since Robin Roberts in He worked around seven Giants hits over the nine innings to hold the defending champions scoreless to get his fifth shutout of Then in a start where he notched his th strikeout of the year, Lee threw another gem against the Atlanta Braves on Sept.

Lee once again secured a complete-game shutout, his sixth of the season. Lee almost completed another shutout earlier in the season. On Aug. With two outs and two runners on base, Lee had an count against Reds hitter Miguel Cairo. Just one strike away from the shutout, Lee hit Cairo with a curveball to load the bases. Phillies manager Charlie Manuel brought in Ryan Madson, who got the final out. If Lee threw just one more strike at the end of the game, it is quite possible that he would have had seven shutouts in Pitchers have only thrown three shutouts in a season 11 times since , and none have done so since The major-league lead for complete games in was three, just half the number of shutouts Lee pitched in Paul Byrd KCR.

Curt Schilling ARI. Steve Sparks DET. Curt Schilling PHI. Scott Erickson BAL. Pat Hentgen TOR. Ramon Martinez LAD. Bret Saberhagen KCR. Roger Clemens BOS. Tom Candiotti CLE. Dwight Gooden NYM. Mario Soto CIN. Charlie Hough TEX. Dave Stieb TOR. Rick Langford OAK. Steve Rogers MON.

Dennis Martinez BAL. Mark Fidrych DET. Andy Messersmith LAD. Mel Stottlemyre NYY. Dean Chance MIN. Dean Chance LAA. Camilo Pascual MIN. Frank Lary DET. Camilo Pascual WSH. Bob Porterfield WSH. Ned Garver SLB. Vern Bickford BSN. Johnny Sain BSN. Ewell Blackwell CIN. Jim Tobin BSN.