Fewest IP Per Win & Most IP Without a Win

In the low minor leagues, teams have begun intensely limiting pitcher workloads. For a lot of young starting pitchers, this can make it tough to last the five innings necessary for a win. A necessary result is an increased number of wins going to relievers. Some of the more obvious examples: Dan Meadows of the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers has 10 wins in 47 1/3 innings. Eddie Gamboa of the Delmarva Shorebirds has six wins in 33 1/3 innings. Joey Williamson has seven wins in 41 1/3 innings.

The majors are obviously a different story as starting pitchers who don't last five innings are quickly washed out of the rotation. Those pitchers certainly have difficulty racking up wins as well. However, some pitchers in the majors actually have picked up wins while throwing relatively few innings.

Fewest Innings Pitched Per Win in a Season
(minimum 5 wins)

Name	Year	Record	IP	IP/W
Roy Face	1965	5-2	20 1/3	4.1
Scott Eyre	2008	5-0	25 2/3	5.1
Roy Face	1959	18-1	93 1/3	5.2
Gene Stechschulte	2002	6-2	32	5.3
Yhency Brazoban	2004	6-2	32 2/3	5.4
John Franco	1992	6-2	33	5.5
Johnny Murphy	1943	12-4	68	5.7
Bill Risley	1994	9-6	52 1/3	5.8
Arthur Rhodes	1996	9-1	53	5.9
Tom Gordon	2008	5-4	29 2/3	5.9

Roy Face's career is pretty impressive. Despite standing only 5'8", he was the Pirates' closer before closers and saves were invented, Face appeared in 57 games, finishing 47 of them. Retroactively assigning saves through his career gives him a total of 193, good for second all-time when his career finished. Obviously in 1959 and 1965, he benefited from timely offense behind him.

Of course, for every pitcher like those above, there has been one that couldn't buy a win.

Most Innings Pitched in a Season Without a Win

• Terry Felton, 1982 Twins, 117 1/3
• Stump Weidman, 1880 Buffalo, 113 2/3
• Diego Segui, 1977 Mariners, 110 2/3
• Russ Miller, 1928 Phillies, 108
• Steve Sparks, 2003 Tigers/Athletics, 107
• Bob Moorhead, 1962 Mets, 105 1/3
• Bob Shirley, 1986 Yankees, 105 1/3
• Steve Gerkin, 1945 Athletics, 102
• John Malarkey, 1895 Washington, 100 2/3
• Wes Stock, 1965 Athletics, 99 2/3

Moorhead had the fewest decisions of all those pitchers, going 0-2 with a 4.53 ERA, mostly in relief. Shirley and Stock were both 0-4.

Elias Gets Snippy

I like reading the Elias Says column on ESPN.com. It's got all sorts of odd trivia put together by Elias Sports Bureau, Inc. Today, however, there was one entry that sounded downright angry:

WE DON'T WANT TO HEAR ABOUT THE "LAST 300-GAME WINNER"
Do you think when Grover Alexander got to 300 wins in 1924 the pundits were saying that there will never be another 300-game winner? Or that they were saying the same thing when Early Wynn won his 300th in 1963? Eleven of the 24 men to win 300 games reached the milestone before 1925, and 10 others have done so since 1982. Only three pitchers reached 300 wins between 1925 and 1981: Lefty Grove, Warren Spahn and Wynn.

While pitchers are starting fewer games than in years past, they're not recording a lower percentage of wins. This season, starting pitchers have recorded 68 percent of the wins in the majors; the percentage of wins by starters has hovered between 68 percent and 74 percent each season in the last 30 years (since 1979).

So who's next? Here are the active career wins leaders among pitchers under 40, under 35, under 30 and under 25:

Under 40: Andy Pettitte (220), Bartolo Colon (153), Livan Hernandez (151).
Under 35: Livan Hernandez (151), Tim Hudson (146), Kevin Millwood (146).
Under 30: CC Sabathia (122), Jon Garland (110), Carlos Zambrano (99).
Under 25: Felix Hernandez (44), Chad Billingsley (42), Matt Cain (37).

--------

I remember when Roger Clemens and Greg Maddux were going to be the last 300-game winners. Then I remember hearing all about how Tom Glavine would be the last one. Now Randy Johnson will supposedly be the last one. And that's just this decade.

I like the irony of Johnson being named the last 300-game winner less than a week before the most hyped pitching prospect in years is due to be drafted #1 overall.

Personally, I hope Jon Garland gets there. Not because I actually think he'll get there, but because Garland doesn't seem like the type of guy who fits into the 300 club. I mean, a nondescript guy who reaches 300 just by pitching forever? I'm down with that. Come to think of it, I hope Jamie Moyer turns this year around and lasts long enough to get to 300 for the same reason.

Consecutive Decisions

With the advent of pitch counts and specialized bullpens, starting pitchers have begun averaging fewer and fewer innings per start. One often-noted effect of this is a reduced number of complete games and shutouts around the league. Where the league complete games leader routinely reached double-digits and often more than 20 CG in the 1970's, now baseball has seen only two pitchers complete more than ten games in one year since 1999: Randy Johnson's 12 that season and CC Sabathia's 10 last year. Shutouts are the same way. Where leaders used to regularly place between 5-10, baseball has only seen three players reach five in a year since 1999: AJ Burnett in 2002, Dontrelle Willis in 2005, and CC Sabathia in 2008.

Complete games and shutouts aren't the only casualties of starters not pitching as deep into games anymore. The number of decisions by those starters have been falling as well. If pitchers only last six innings on a quality night, that leaves plenty of time for a bullpen to blow a lead. Likewise, there are plenty of opportunities for his offense to let him off the hook for the loss. This means it's tough for starters to put together long streaks of decisions in each start - somewhere along the line some reliever or batter messes things up.

NOTE: When I wrote this, I was actually looking at streaks of decisions in each appearance, whether starting or in relief. Since starters appeared in relief more prior to the 1970's, it makes a difference in some of the streaks below. You can find the longest streaks of decisions in starts here. The longest such streak is really Fergie Jenkins' 63 in 1970-1971. Sorry for the confusion.

On Friday night, the Toronto Blue Jays lost to the Atlanta Braves 1-0 after a Casey Kotchman sacrifice fly drove in the winning run in the bottom of the 8th. Jays starter Roy Halladay had been pinch-hit for the inning before, so Jesse Carlson was tagged with the loss. Notably, Halladay hadn't had a no-decision since June 25, 2008. That start also occurred in interleague play, but the Blue Jays were at home, so you can't blame pinch-hitting. Halladay's string of 26 decisions in 26 starts ties him for the 40th longest such streak since 1954. The only other starters to carry a streak that far since 2000 were Roy Oswalt (26, 2004-2005), Tim Wakefield (26, 2007), and Bartolo Colon (30, 2004-2005). Colon is one of only nineteen pitchers to reach 30 straight decisions since 1954:

• Gaylord Perry, 47 (28 W, 19 L) - 1972-1973
• Nolan Ryan, 42 (25-17) - 1974-1975
• Juan Marichal, 41 (28-13) - 1964-1965
• Wilbur Wood, 38 (20-18) - 1972-1973
• Charlie Hough, 36 (18-18) - 1985-1986
  
• Fritz Peterson, 35 (18-17) - 1971-1972
  
• Nolan Ryan, 34 (19-15) - 1976-1977
  
• Dick Ellsworth, 34 (17-17) - 1963-1964
  
• Gaylord Perry, 33 (12-21) - 1974-1975
  
• Fergie Jenkins, 33 (20-13) - 1970
  
• Robin Roberts, 33 (15-18) - 1959-1960
  
• Bob Friend, 32 (19-13) - 1958
  
• Ron Guidry, 31 (21-10) - 1983-1984
  
• Luis Tiant, 31 (20-11) - 1973
  
• Stan Bahnsen, 31 (12-19) - 1973-1974
  
• Bartolo Colon, 30 (18-12) - 2004-2005
  
• Steve Rogers, 30 (19-11) - 1981-1982
  
• Mickey Lolich, 30 (19-11) - 1971-1972
  
• Fergie Jenkins, 30 (20-10) - 1970-1971
  

Randy Johnson came close to joining in 1998, carrying a streak of 29 straight through the end of the year, but the Diamondbacks bullpen couldn't protect a lead in his first start of 1999.

Halladay hasn't had a no-decision against an American League opponent since September 21, 2007, when he threw 8 2/3 innings against the Yankees in what was eventually a 14-inning, 5-4 Toronto triumph. That gives him 40 straight starts with a win or loss against the AL, placing him behind only Perry's 47 51 and Ryan's 42 41 since 1954. In those 40 starts, Halladay is 29-11 with a 2.79 ERA and 246 strikeouts in exactly 300 innings pitched. Can he go eight twelve more starts to eclipse Perry? It's definitely something to keep tabs on when following the tight AL East race.

The Steve Carlton Award

In 1972, Steve Carlton had a season for the ages. The Philadelphia lefty started 41 games, completed thirty of them, and had eight shutouts. He struck out 310 batters and walked only 87 in 346 1/3 innings pitched. His ERA was a phenomenal 1.97 and his WHIP (walks plus hits over innings pitched) was a minuscule 0.993. He won 27 games, lost 10, and easily took home the Cy Young Award after the season.

Looking at the team he played for, however, makes his won-loss record even more impressive. The 1972 Philadelphia Phillies were a terrible team. They had the second-worst offense in the National League, scoring 3.22 runs per game. Only two players hit .280 with 200 or more at bats for the team. Only four players with 200+ at bats had an on base percentage above .300. With Carlton, the starting rotation was in the middle of the pack, without him they lagged behind the rest of the league. Obviously any team would struggle without their best pitcher, but the Phillies really had little else besides their ace lefty. The Phillies' bullpen wasn't much relief. All of this added up to an awful 59-97 record and last place in the NL East.

Consider that for a moment: Steve Carlton won 27 games on a team that only won 59 games. He won 45.8% of his team's games - a major league record since 1901. In fact, he's one of only ten pitchers since 1901 to win more than 40% of his team's games in a season and the only one to do so since 1922.

Note: for simplicity's sake, pitchers appearing for two or more teams have their wins for each team treated as if they were with that club all season. For example, if Johnny Goodarm wins 8 games for the 80-82 Pirates and 14 games for the 70-92 Cardinals, he's considered to have won 10% of the Pirates' games and 20% of the Cardinals' games rather than the percentage of the wins each team got with him on the roster. Unfair? Possibly, if the universe conspires against a great pitcher and he's stuck on multiple really bad teams. I can live with that.

Highest Percentage of Team's Wins By One Pitcher
1901-2008

Rank	Pitcher	Pitcher W-L	Team	Team W-L	W%
1	Steve Carlton	27-10	1972 Philadelphia Phillies	59-97	45.8
2	Ed Walsh	40-15	1908 Chicago White Sox	88-64	45.5
3	Jack Chesbro	41-12	1904 New York Highlanders	92-59	44.6
4	Noodles Hahn	22-19	1901 Cincinnati Reds	52-87	42.3
5	Cy Young	33-10	1901 Boston Americans	79-57	41.8
6	Joe Bush	15-24	1916 Philadelphia Athletics	36-117	41.7
7	Cy Young	32-11	1902 Boston Americans	77-60	41.6
8	Eddie Rommel	27-13	1922 Philadelphia Athletics	65-89	41.5
9	Red Faber	25-15	1921 Chicago White Sox	62-92	40.3
10	Walter Johnson	36-7	1913 Washington Senators	90-64	40.0

As I mentioned before, Carlton started 41 games in 1972. Only three of the pitchers on this list besides Carlton wound up with fewer than 41 decisions in those seasons. That makes Carlton seem even more out of place on the list.

To really show how out there Carlton's 1972 season is, we should look at the same list but with more recent pitchers. Here are how pitchers since expansion in 1961 stack up:

Highest Percentage of Team's Wins By One Pitcher
1961-2008

Rank	Name	Pitcher W-L	Team	Team W-L	W%
1	Steve Carlton	27-10	1972 Philadelphia Phillies	59-97	45.8
2	Gaylord Perry	24-16	1972 Cleveland Indians	72-84	33.3
3	Nolan Ryan	22-16	1974 California Angels	68-94	32.4
4	Phil Niekro	21-20	1979 Atlanta Braves	66-94	31.8
5	Larry Jackson	24-11	1964 Chicago Cubs	76-86	31.6
6	Randy Johnson	16-14	2004 Arizona Diamondbacks	51-111	31.4
7	Wilbur Wood	24-20	1973 Chicago White Sox	77-85	31.2
8	Bob Gibson	23-7	1970 St. Louis Cardinals	76-86	30.3
9	Randy Jones	22-14	1976 San Diego Padres	73-89	30.1
10	Denny McLain	31-6	1968 Detroit Tigers	103-59	30.1

Wow. Even in a list dominated by 1970's pitchers, Carlton blows everyone away. I figured there might be someone closer to 40% than 30%, but nope. With current five-man rotations meaning healthy pitchers make around 33 or 34 starts per year, it'll be hard for any pitcher to crack that top 10. A pitcher would have to win 20 games on a team that wins 66 games or less in a season. A 15-game winner would have to toil away on a team that loses 113 or more games. A pitcher would have to win 25 games on an 81-win team. Good luck.

But that doesn't mean we can't issue a Steve Carlton Award today. It simply goes to the pitcher who is credited with the highest percentage of his team's wins. It turns out the race this year went down to the wire:

2008 Steve Carlton Award Rankings

1. Cliff Lee, 22-3 for the 81-81 Indians, 27.2%
2. Brandon Webb, 22-7 for the 82-80 Diamondbacks, 26.8%
3. Tim Lincecum, 18-5 for the 72-90 Giants, 25.0%
4. Roy Halladay, 20-11 for the 86-76 Blue Jays, 23.3%
5. Edinson Volquez, 17-6 for the 74-88 Reds, 23.0%
6. Mike Mussina, 20-9 for the 89-73 Yankees, 22.5%
7. Aaron Cook, 16-9 for the 74-88 Rockies, 21.6%
8. A.J. Burnett, 18-10 for the 86-76 Blue Jays, 20.9%
9. Bronson Arroyo, 15-11 for the 74-88 Reds, 20.3%
10. Roy Oswalt, 17-10 for the 86-75 Astros, 19.8%

The only pitcher between Lee and Randy Johnson's 2004? Would you believe Paul Byrd in 2002? He went 17-11 for Kansas City, a team that finished 62-100.

One more fun fact: the highest percentage of team wins by a pitcher who won fewer than ten games is shared between Jing Johnson and Walt Kinney of the 1919 Athletics. They both went 9-15, each winning 25% of the Athletics' games on the year. When Mike Maroth went 9-21 for the 2003 Tigers, he was responsible for "only" 20.9% of his team's 43 victories.

Franchise Vulture Wins

Yesterday's yesterday's tomorrow's tomorrow is today, right? I've put together lists of vulture wins and blown save wins by franchise and here they are. It should be obvious, but teams in two or more cities (San Francisco/New York) or with two or more names (Washington Nationals/Montreal Expos) are combined under the franchise's current identity.

Vulture Wins by MLB Franchise, 1956-2008
(through 7/24/08)
(teams extant in 1956 italicized)

1. St. Louis Cardinals, 455
2. Cincinnati Reds, 444
3. Atlanta Braves, 443
4. Philadelphia Phillies, 440
5. San Francisco Giants, 437
6. Chicago Cubs, 403
7. Pittsburgh Pirates, 395
8. Los Angeles Dodgers, 393
9. Houston Astros, 385
10. New York Mets, 359
11. San Diego Padres, 359
12. Washington Nationals, 354
13. Oakland Athletics, 343
14. Chicago White Sox, 334
    
15. Cleveland Indians, 334
16. New York Yankees, 333
17. Minnesota Twins, 319
18. Boston Red Sox, 315
19. Detroit Tigers, 298
20. Los Angeles Angels, 296
21. Texas Rangers, 274
22. Baltimore Orioles, 272
23. Milwaukee Brewers, 268
24. Kansas City Royals, 233
25. Seattle Mariners, 219
26. Toronto Blue Jays, 200
27. Colorado Rockies, 198
28. Florida Marlins, 170
29. Arizona Diamondbacks, 148
30. Tampa Bay Rays, 89

Obviously the bottom part of the list is cluttered by expansion teams, but something still jumps out at me. The first American League team doesn't show up until place #13, beneath four National League expansion teams. I suspect most of that is due to the designated hitter. After all, if the pitcher's spot never comes up, then it's easier to leave a reliever in for more than one inning, thus making it much harder for him to pick up a vulture win. It also makes it easier to leave a starter pitching well in a close game on the mound if you don't need to pinch hit for offense.

Blown Save Wins by MLB Franchise, 1956-2008
(through 7/24/08)
(teams extant in 1956 italicized)

1. New York Yankees, 169
2. San Francisco Giants, 157
3. Oakland Athletics, 149
4. Boston Red Sox, 143
5. Minnesota Twins, 140
6. Texas Rangers, 140
7. Pittsburgh Pirates, 138
8. Chicago Cubs, 135
9. Chicago White Sox, 134
10. Baltimore Orioles, 125
11. Los Angeles Dodgers, 125
12. Los Angeles Angels, 124
13. Cleveland Indians, 122
14. Atlanta Braves, 121
15. Cincinnati Reds, 121
16. Philadelphia Phillies, 114
17. San Diego Padres, 111
18. Detroit Tigers, 110
19. Houston Astros, 110
20. New York Mets, 107
21. Milwaukee Brewers, 103
22. St. Louis Cardinals, 101
23. Washington Nationals, 97
24. Kansas City Royals, 95
25. Seattle Mariners, 84
26. Toronto Blue Jays, 73
27. Colorado Rockies, 39
28. Florida Marlins, 39
29. Tampa Bay Rays, 29
30. Arizona Diamondbacks, 23

This list isn't quite as separated by league, but that makes sense. When a closer comes in and blows a save yet still picks up the win, his team most likely regained the lead in their next time at bat. Even if the closer is pinch hit for in his team's next time at bat in NL games, he's still the pitcher of record, so there's no favoring one league over the other in terms of blown save wins by team.

I'm surprised a team like Arizona that's had pretty good success during its time in the majors trails everyone else. I would've expected a team with less wins overall (like Tampa Bay) to be far behind all other teams simply because of a lack of save opportunities. Then again, perhaps Tampa Bay has had more blown saves than Arizona and thus more chances to win those games for their closer(s).

All Hail the Vulture Kings?

As I mentioned yesterday, I've found the career leaders in vulture wins. Bopperland commented on my original vulture win post saying that blown save wins should be kept separate from other vulture wins. After thinking about it for a while, this makes sense. The idea behind a vulture win is that a reliever was in the right place at the right time (whether through a manager's trust in him or a random offensive explosion) to pick up the win. When a guy blows a save and then gets the win, he's essentially created his own win opportunity through failure, whereas other vulture wins are gained simply by coming into the game.

With that in mind, I've separated off blown save wins from my definition of vulture wins. Thus the new definitions look like this:

• A pitcher is credited with a "vulture win" if he is the winning pitcher, has not blown a save in the game, and satisfies one or more of the following conditions:

1. He enters a game in relief and pitches at most one inning.
2. He enters a game in relief, pitches at least one complete inning, and gives up at least as many runs (earned or unearned) as complete innings pitched (i.e. 1 R in 1 2/3 IP, 2 R in 2 1/3 IP).

• A pitcher is credited with a "blown save win" if he enters a game in a save situation, proceeds to blow the save, and ends up as the winning pitcher.
  

Although they're not vulture wins, blown save wins are another type of undeserved win. So, in addition to forming leaderboards for career vulture wins and career blown save wins, I've also made a career undeserved wins leaderboard combining the two.

Enough talk, let's turn to the boards!

Most Career Vulture Wins, 1956-2008
(through 7/22/08)

1. Mike Timlin, 37
2. Jesse Orosco, 36
3. Paul Assenmacher, 34
4. Gene Garber, 34
5. John Franco, 32
6. Mike Stanton, 31
7. Rich Gossage, 29
8. Rudy Seanez, 29
9. Dave Weathers, 29
10. Jeff Nelson, 28
11. Felix Rodriguez, 28
12. Willie Hernandez, 26
13. Todd Jones, 26
14. Curt Leskanic, 26
15. Jose Mesa, 26
16. Mariano Rivera, 26
17. Trevor Hoffman, 25
18. Mike Jackson, 25
19. Dan Plesac, 25
20. Jeff Reardon, 25

Most Career Vulture Wins by an Active Player, 1956-2008
(through 7/22/08)

1. Mike Timlin, 37
2. Rudy Seanez, 29
3. Dave Weathers, 29
4. Todd Jones, 26
5. Mariano Rivera, 26
6. Trevor Hoffman, 25
7. Julian Tavarez, 23
8. Doug Brocail, 22
9. Tom Gordon, 22
10. Eddie Guardado, 22
11. Arthur Rhodes, 22
12. Alan Embree, 20
13. Bobby Howry, 20
14. Scott Linebrink, 20
15. Braden Looper, 20
16. Russ Springer, 20
17. Luis Vizcaino, 20
18. Ray King, 19
19. Guillermo Mota, 18
20. Joe Nathan, 18
21. Troy Percival, 18

Even with blown save wins separated from vulture wins, there are still a lot of closers and ex-closers on the active list. It's not surprising that there's a lot of setup men as well; they're the type of pitchers a manager would presumably feel safest putting into a tied game.

Most Career Blown Save Wins, 1956-2008
(through 7/22/08)

1. Rich Gossage, 27
2. Rollie Fingers, 26
3. John Franco, 23
4. Roberto Hernandez, 23
5. Sparky Lyle, 22
6. Kent Tekulve, 21
7. Rick Aguilera, 20
8. John Hiller, 20
9. Lee Smith, 20
10. Dave Righetti, 19
11. Gary Lavelle, 18
12. Jeff Reardon, 18
13. Bruce Sutter, 18
14. Dan Quisenberry, 17
15. Mariano Rivera, 17
16. John Wetteland, 17
17. Clay Carroll, 16
18. Bill Campbell, 15
19. Dennis Eckersley, 15
20. Doug Jones, 15
21. Jeff Montgomery, 15

Most Career Blown Save Wins by an Active Player, 1956-2008
(through 7/22/08)

1. Mariano Rivera, 17
2. Tom Gordon, 14
3. Todd Jones, 12
4. Jason Isringhausen, 11
5. Francisco Cordero, 9
6. Trevor Hoffman, 9
7. Mike Timlin, 9
8. Billy Wagner, 9
9. Bobby Howry, 8
10. LaTroy Hawkins, 7
11. Matt Herges, 7
12. Joaquin Benoit, 6
13. Joe Borowski, 6
14. Arthur Rhodes, 6
15. Scot Shields, 6
16. Chad Bradford, 5
17. Octavio Dotel, 5
18. Alan Embree, 5
19. Francisco Rodriguez, 5
20. Rudy Seanez, 5
21. Luis Vizcaino, 5
22. Dave Weathers, 5

Unsurprisingly, closers dominate this list. Of course, they're generally the guys with the most opportunities to blow saves. The fact that setup men also can blow saves is reflected at the bottom of the active list. The last leaderboard will basically re-hash the names of the preceding lists, but that's okay. I've spiced it up a little by putting each player's career win total in parentheses next to their undeserved win totals.

Most Career Undeserved Wins, 1956-2008
(through 7/22/08)

1. Rich Gossage, 56 (124)
   
2. John Franco, 55 (90)
   
3. Jesse Orosco, 49 (87)
   
4. Roberto Hernandez, 46 (67)
   
5. Mike Timlin, 46 (74)
   
6. Rollie Fingers, 45 (114)
   
7. Gene Garber, 45 (96)
   
8. Paul Assenmacher, 44 (61)
   
9. Sparky Lyle, 44 (99)
   
10. Kent Tekulve, 44 (94)
    
11. Jeff Reardon, 43 (73)
    
12. Mariano Rivera, 43 (66)
    
13. Lee Smith, 42 (71)
    
14. Todd Jones, 38 (58)
    
15. Gary Lavelle, 38 (80)
    
16. Dan Plesac, 38 (65)
    
17. Mike Stanton, 38 (68)
    
18. Jose Mesa, 37 (80)
    
19. Tom Gordon, 36 (138)
    
20. Doug Jones, 35 (69)
    
21. Jeff Nelson, 35 (48)
    

Most Career Undeserved Wins by an Active Player, 1956-2008
(though 7/22/08)

1. Mike Timlin, 46 (74)
   
2. Mariano Rivera, 43 (66)
   
3. Todd Jones, 38 (58)
   
4. Tom Gordon, 36 (138)
   
5. Trevor Hoffman, 34 (54)
   
6. Rudy Seanez, 34 (40)
   
7. Dave Weathers, 34 (67)
   
8. Bobby Howry, 28 (38)
   
9. Arthur Rhodes, 28 (77)
   
10. Troy Percival, 27 (34)
    
11. Doug Brocail, 26 (48)
    
12. Francisco Cordero, 26 (30)
    
13. Eddie Guardado, 26 (42)
    
14. Julian Tavarez, 26 (84)
    
15. Billy Wagner, 26 (39)
    
16. Alan Embree, 25 (36)
    
17. Luis Vizcaino, 25 (33)
    
18. Scott Linebrink, 24 (32)
    
19. Braden Looper, 24 (55)
    
20. Russ Springer, 23 (35)

I'll look at undeserved wins by team and league tomorrow, but suffice it to say that I don't think the AL having fewer vulture wins this year is a fluke.

Vulture Wins

Have you ever watched a pitcher throw seven or eight stellar innings before turning the game over to a reliever that coughs up the lead? How about that reliever's team coming back to win the game in their next time at bat? This, of course, would lead to the ineffective reliever picking up the win and the starter's brilliant outing being consigned to the dustbin of no-decisions.

As recent commenter bopperland informed me, there's a term that's started to make its way around baseball circles to describe this sort of win by relief pitchers: vulture win. I believe the term comes from the notion a reliever has swooped in and clutched the win from the rest of his team's pitchers. There are a few places online that talk about vulture wins:

• Wikipedia: "If the pitcher surrenders the lead at any point, he cannot get a save, but he may be credited as the winning pitcher if his team comes back to win (a so-called vulture win)."
• Everything2.com: "In baseball, a loose term for a relief pitcher getting credited with a Win that he doesn't seem to deserve...the thing about the Vulture Win is that the pitcher basically lucked into it. It's even worse if he gives up a ton of runs but gets the win anyway -- this happens a lot to closers who blow their save opportunities."
• ESPN: "Vulture wins are a function of opportunity, both in being the pitcher of record when a team takes the lead and of the team's ability to take that lead. While there's an element of luck involved -- being in the right place at the right time -- there's also an element dependent on having enough talent to merit a manager's faith to take the mound in potential vulture situations."

So, vulture wins are generally considered undeserved, but there's no hard definition of what constitutes one.

For example, what if a starter throws six scoreless innings, leaves with the score tied at zero, and a reliever comes in for the final three innings and gets the win in a 1-0 game? What if a starter gives up six runs in five innings and still leaves with the lead before his team's bullpen throws four scoreless innings? Should the starter get credited with a vulture win as the least effective pitcher his team put on the mound that night? What if a reliever comes in with the bases loaded and two outs in a tied game, records the out, and his team wins in the next half-inning? That may have been the biggest moment of the game, so maybe that guy deserves the win after all. What if a reliever comes in an 11-11 game, throws an inning, and his team goes on to win? If no pitcher has been particularly effective in a game, is any pitcher really deserving of a win?

There are a lot of murky situations to muddle through when it comes to vulture wins, but I think it's possible to formulate a general definition. So, here is my definition of a vulture win. Feel free to give feedback if I've overlooked something or I'm way off.

A pitcher is credited with a vulture win if he is the winning pitcher and satisfies one or more of the following conditions:

1. He enters a game in relief and pitches at most one inning.
2. He enters a game in relief and gives up at least as many runs (earned or unearned) as complete innings pitched (i.e. 1 R in 1 2/3 IP, 2 R in 2 1/3 IP).
3. He enters a game in a save situation and blows the save.

This describes almost all relief wins, but let me explain my thinking. The reason I limit condition one to at most one inning is to avoid saddling relievers who go multiple innings keeping the other team within range of a comeback with a vulture win. It's subjective, but I feel as though relievers who go multiple innings have done enough to deserve their win. That said, I feel condition two covers guys who don't pitch particularly effectively in a multiple-inning outing. A pitcher giving up two runs in two innings before his team comes back for him doesn't really deserve the win in my mind (kind of like the old "pitches effectively" phrase in the three-inning save rule). The final condition deals primarily with closers and/or setup men who fail in their only job: nailing down the game. Even if they go multiple innings after the blown save, any win is still stolen from the pitcher the game would've been saved for. Thus, the save blower's win is a vulture win. As I said, if I've missed something obvious or am otherwise in error, let me know.

So, now that I've defined a vulture win, who actually gets them regularly? So far in 2008, twenty-eight pitchers have three or more vulture wins by my definition.

Most Vulture Wins in MLB, 2008
(through 7/22)

Tom Gordon, PHI, 5
Kevin Gregg, FLA, 5

Heath Bell, SDP, 4
Francisco Cordero, CIN, 4
Joel Hanrahan, WSN, 4
Todd Jones, DET, 4
Jon Rauch, WSN, 4
Rudy Seanez, PHI, 4
Scot Shields, LAA, 4
Salomon Torres, MIL, 4
Jamey Wright, TEX, 4

Joe Beimel, LAD, 3
Joaquin Benoit, TEX, 3
Jesse Crain, MIN, 3
Bobby Howry, CHC, 3
Jonathan Papelbon, BOS, 3
J.C. Romero, PHI, 3
Adam Russell, CHW, 3
Duaner Sanchez, NYM, 3
George Sherrill, BAL, 3
Brian Shouse, MIL, 3
Jorge Sosa, NYM, 3
Matt Thornton, CHW, 3
Mike Timlin, BOS, 3
Jose Valverde, HOU, 3
Tyler Walker, SFG, 3
Wesley Wright, HOU, 3
Tyler Yates, PIT, 3

Of the pitchers with four or more vulture wins, Gregg, Cordero, Jones, Rauch, and Torres have spent time as a closer for their team. Also among the four-plus vulture win guys, Gregg, Bell, Hanrahan, Torres, and Wright have at least one relief win that wasn't a vulture win.

While putting the list of individuals together, I couldn't help but notice some teams seemed to have a lot of vulture winners. I thought it might be informative to put together a list of the top vulture winning teams.

Most Team Vulture Wins in MLB, 2008
(through 7/22)

Philadelphia Phillies, 19
Washington Nationals, 14
Boston Red Sox, 13
Florida Marlins, 13
Pittsburgh Pirates, 13
Texas Rangers, 13
Chicago White Sox, 12
Cincinnati Reds, 12
Detroit Tigers, 12
Houston Astros, 12
Milwaukee Brewers, 12
Chicago Cubs, 11
St. Louis Cardinals, 11
Los Angeles Dodgers, 10
Minnesota Twins, 10
New York Mets, 10
Baltimore Orioles, 9
San Diego Padres, 9
Colorado Rockies, 8
San Francisco Giants, 8
Arizona Diamondbacks, 7
Atlanta Braves, 7
Kansas City Royals, 7
Los Angeles Angels, 7
Oakland Athletics, 7
Tampa Bay Rays, 7
New York Yankees, 6
Toronto Blue Jays, 6
Seattle Mariners, 5
Cleveland Indians, 3

Twenty-eight pitchers alone have as many vulture wins as the Indians do. Kind of strange so many American League teams are on the bottom of the list (8 of the last 10). I wonder if that's a common thing. Tomorrow I'm planning on looking at career vulture wins by my definition to see who is the king vulture, so I'll look at teams and leagues from year to year as well.

It's Better To Be Lucky Than Good

In my last post I looked at pitchers who were exceedingly unlucky. The guys I listed all had an ERA+ of 120 or above but won one-third or fewer of their (at least 15) decisions. Today I want to look at pitchers who did the opposite: had a low ERA+ but won two-thirds or more of their decisions. The criteria again are 15+ decisions, a winning percentage of .667 or above, and 50% or more of appearances as a starter.

Lowest ERA+, .667 or above W-L%, min. 15 decisions, 1901-2007

Name	Year	ERA	ERA+	W-L Record	Run Support*	League Runs Per Game**
Santo Alcala	1976	4.70	75	11-4	6.34	3.98
Rip Collins	1921	5.44	78	11-5	6.20	5.12
Mike Lynch	1905	3.79	79	17-8	4.46	4.11
Ed Wells	1930	5.20	83	12-3	6.90	5.41
Jim Coates	1960	4.28	83	13-3	7.81	4.39
Rube Benton	1916	2.87	85	16-8	3.85	3.45
Storm Davis	1989	4.36	85	19-7	5.81	4.29
James Baldwin	1998	5.32	86	13-6	5.19	5.01
Guy Bush	1931	4.49	86	16-8	5.31	4.48
Tommie Sisk	1966	4.14	86	10-5	5.78	4.09
Chuck Dobson	1971	3.81	88	15-5	5.96	3.87
Roxie Lawson	1937	5.26	89	18-7	6.03	5.23
Johnny Allen	1933	4.39	89	15-7	6.10	5.00
Lefty Williams	1917	2.97	89	17-8	4.21	3.65
Ralph Works	1911	3.87	90	11-5	5.40	4.61
Hooks Dauss	1919	3.55	90	21-9	4.41	4.09
Jack Coombs	1911	3.53	90	28-12	5.66	4.61
Kevin Tapani	1998	4.85	90	19-9	5.37	4.60
Adam Eaton	2005	4.27	90	11-5	5.49	4.45
Rube Foster	1916	3.06	90	14-7	3.53	3.68

*Runs scored by the pitcher's team's offense in games in which he pitched; if prior to 1957, the team's runs per game. If more than one team, a weighted average based on innings pitched.
**League refers to the league (American/National) the pitcher was in. Any pitcher in both leagues gets a weighted average of the two league values based on innings pitched.

These were the only twenty pitchers who had an ERA+ of 90 or less. The complete list of all 88 seasons with an ERA+ of 100 (league average) or below can be found here.

Anything for a Win

In 1987, Nolan Ryan placed fifth in the NL Cy Young voting while pitching for the Houston Astros. He had an impressive 270 strikeouts in 211 2/3 innings and won the league ERA title by 27 points (2.76 vs. Mike Dunne's 3.03). Unfortunately for Ryan, the Astros as a team scored 648 runs that season, or 4 per game. When he took the mound, he was only received 3.28 runs of support from his offense -- the league average runs scored by a team per game was 4.52. Despite his many strikeouts and ERA title, Ryan only went 8-16 on the year. Imagine being possibly the most dominant pitcher in the league and only winning one-third of your decisions. Sometimes life just isn't fair. I should note that Orel Hershiser, who finished fourth in Cy Young voting could complain as well - he went 16-16 with a 3.06 ERA and 190 strikeouts for the hitting-challenged Dodgers.

With Ryan's season in mind, I want to find starting pitchers (i.e., 50+% of appearances were starts) who pitched well but had no luck in gathering wins. To do this, I'm going to use ERA+, defined as "the ratio of the league's ERA (adjusted to the pitcher's ballpark) to that of the pitcher. -- found by lgERA/ERA" Thus since Nolan Ryan played in a ballpark that favored pitchers in 1987, the league ERA used to derive ERA+ will be slightly higher than the actual average to reflect the slightly easier conditions (the exact process behind park adjustments is described here). Since Ryan's 2.76 was still much better than the adjusted league ERA, his ERA+ is an excellent 142. Using ERA+ also allows you to make judgments across time since it compares pitchers to others in their same league in the same year. For example, in 1918 Allen Sothoron put up a sterling 1.94 ERA in 209 innings. Though Sothoron's ERA looks much better than Ryan's, using ERA+ we see they were about equal in relation to the league they played in (Ryan's ERA+ was 142, Sothoron's was 141).

The second part of finding these unlucky guys is deciding which winning percentage to look under. Looking for guys with a losing record makes sense, but first I want to see guys who were really unlucky. To that effect, I'm going to look for pitchers who had a .333 or below winning percentage. Finally, a guy that goes 1-2 in 5 excellent starts is certainly unlucky, but I want to find pitchers who were unlucky for most of a season. Thus I'm going set the minimum for decisions at fifteen. It would be hard to start games all season and not get fifteen decisions somehow: only 35 pitchers since 1901 have started 25 or more games in a year and wound up with fewer than fifteen decisions. The only pitcher who might be excluded by this is John Dopson: he went 3-11 with a 118+ ERA for Montreal in 1988.

Highest ERA+, .333 or below W-L%, min. 15 decisions, 1901-2007

Name	Year	ERA	ERA+	W-L Record	Run Support*	League Runs Per Game**
Ned Garvin	1904	1.72	158	5-16	3.27	3.89
Jim Abbott	1992	2.77	144	7-15	2.48	4.32
Nolan Ryan	1987	2.76	142	8-16	3.28	4.52
Harry Brecheen	1953	3.07	137	5-13	3.60	4.46
Dummy Taylor	1902	1.72	132	5-16	3.19	4.11
Brandon Webb	2004	3.59	129	7-16	4.08	4.64
George Mogridge	1916	2.31	125	6-12	3.70	3.68
Turk Farrell	1962	3.02	124	10-20	2.67	4.48
Buster Brown	1910	2.67	123	9-23	3.15	4.03
Matt Cain	2007	3.65	122	7-16	3.20	4.71
Dennis Lamp	1978	3.30	122	7-15	3.65	3.99
Howard Ehmke	1925	3.73	121	9-20	4.20	5.20
Ed Durham	1932	3.80	120	6-13	3.68	5.23
Bill Piercy	1923	3.41	120	8-17	3.79	4.78
Erv Kantlehner	1915	2.26	120	5-12	3.57	3.62
Jumbo Elliott	1927	3.30	120	6-13	3.51	4.58
Eddie Smith	1937	3.94	120	4-17	4.54	5.23

*Runs scored by the pitcher's team's offense in games in which he pitched; if prior to 1957, the team's runs per game. If more than one team, a weighted average based on innings pitched.
**League refers to the league (American/National) the pitcher was in. Any pitcher in both leagues gets a weighted average of the two league values based on innings pitched.

Poor Matt Cain, stuck on a team that couldn't score for him. Of course, it's perhaps harder to feel for him with his contract that makes him set for life than it is to feel for a guy like Erv Kantlehner who was out of baseball at the age of 24 and who probably didn't get paid real well when he was in the game. But from a strictly baseball sense: poor Matt Cain. I always figured Nolan Ryan was the best recent example of good pitching wrecked by anemic offense, but Jim Abbott's 1992 is even better: Abbott's Angels even got a designated hitter to help spur offense. I cut the chart off at 120 simply for brevity's sake, but you can find the list of all 126 better than average losers meeting my criteria here.

A final note about George Mogridge and Kantlehner: as noted, their "Run Support" number reflects their team's average runs per game. They very well might (and probably did) have had even fewer runs scored behind them.

20 Game Winners With Fewer Than 100 Career Wins

Pitchers who win twenty games in a season have traditionally been considered elite by baseball fans. Today, a pitcher's won-loss record is not considered as important as it once was. For example: does Nolan Ryan's 1987 record of 8-16 mean he was a terrible pitcher that year? Apparently the BBWAA didn't think so as he placed fifth in the Cy Young voting, likely based on his 2.76 ERA and 270 strikeouts.

Regardless of the won-loss record's importance overall, 20 game winners still carry a sort of mystique. A pitcher that reaches twenty wins has to be durable, obviously making more than 20 starts in a season. One exception, sort of: Bob Grim of the 1954 Yankees made only 20 starts while putting up a 20-6 record in 37 total appearances; he holds the record for fewest games started among 20 game winners.

A pitcher with twenty wins must also be a pretty competent pitcher, at least during that year. Though ERA's a pretty bad measure across time, only two pitchers with an ERA above 5.00 have won 20 games: Ray Kremer in 1930 and Bobo Newsom in 1938. However, the league ERA adjusted to the pitcher's ballpark (ERA+; basically, guys playing in a bandbox get credit for having faced more difficult conditions and vice versa) for each pitcher was 4.97 and 4.98, so it's not as though they were far below average. In fact, the 20 game winner with the worst ERA+ was Henry Schmidt in 1903; his ERA of 3.83 just didn't cut it. Oddly enough, he called it quits (at least in the NL) after his 22-win rookie season and headed west.

It's not unreasonable to figure pitchers who win twenty games in a season would go on to have a relatively lengthy career. After all, if they have the stuff to win twenty, they surely have enough to survive in baseball for longer than a short while, right? It turns out that's not necessarily the case (see the article I linked to about Henry Schmidt for one-and-done twenty game winners). To me, guys that won twenty or more games in a season but failed to collect 100 wins in their career hold a special charm. They seem to epitomize the flash-in-the-pan pitcher with one great season and subsequent performance that failed to match it.

Since the creation of the National League in 1876, 154 pitchers have won more than twenty games in a single season and finished with less than 100 career wins. Three of those 20 game winners are still active with fewer than 100 career wins: Johan Santana (93), Josh Beckett (77), and Dontrelle Willis (68). It seems very likely all three of those pitchers will reach the 100 win mark, but you never know. Below is the list of all pitchers who won 20+ games in a single season with less than 100 career wins, sorted first by their first 20 win season and then by career wins.


In case you don't want to scroll down the entire list and look at a bunch of names from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, I'll list the pitchers on the list who pitched either in or since 1968, "The Year of the Pitcher."

• Jim Bouton, 62 career wins, 20+ win season(s): 1963
• Sammy Ellis, 63, 1965
• Dave Boswell, 68, 1969
• Jim Merritt, 81, 1970
• Jim Colborn, 83, 1973
• Ron Bryant, 57, 1973
• Steve Busby, 70, 1974
• Wayne Garland, 55, 1976
• Ed Figueroa, 80, 1978
• Mike Norris, 58, 1980
• La Marr Hoyt, 98, 1983
• Teddy Higuera, 94, 1986
• Bill Swift, 94, 1993
• Rick Helling, 93, 1998
• Jose Lima, 89, 1999
• Johan Santana*, 93, 2004
• Dontrelle Willis*, 68, 2005
• Josh Beckett*, 77, 2007

* - active player

Most Career Games Pitched, No Wins

This post is similar to the previous one but rather than looking for players with no decisions, its focus is players with zero career wins. Some of the names overlap, but there's been a fair amount of winless pitchers to throw in a lot of games. Of the 2,408 pitchers with zero career wins, there are twenty-two that have appeared in forty or more games. A number of these guys are still active, so the list will be fluid next season.

With that in mind, here are the winless wonders. As with yesterday, active pitchers are bolded:

Name	Games	Innings	Losses	(L/R)HP
Ed Olwine	80	89.2	1	LHP
Juan Alvarez	80	60.1	5	LHP
Chris Britton	63	66.1	3	RHP
Franquelis Osoria	61	75.2	6	RHP
Erik Plantenberg	61	42.1	0	LHP
Terry Felton	55	138.1	16	RHP
Frank Fanovich	55	105.0	5	LHP
Rob Mallicoat	51	53.2	2	LHP
Jeff Kaiser	50	52.0	2	LHP
Ross Powell	48	53.1	5	LHP
Mike Kinnunen	48	51.2	0	LHP
Bob Moorhead	47	119.2	3	RHP
John Lamb	47	66.1	2	RHP
Erik Schullstrom	46	60.0	0	RHP
Mike Burns	45	52.0	0	RHP
Steve Sinclair	45	34.1	3	LHP
Marcos Carvajal	42	57.0	2	RHP
Scott Forster	42	32.0	1	LHP
Brad Voyles	40	68.1	4	RHP
Ron Tompkins	40	50.0	2	RHP
Carmen Cali	40	34.1	1	LHP
Chad Bentz	40	29.2	3	LHP

Though I didn't bold his name Chad Bentz pitched this season for the Bridgeport Bluefish, an independent league team featuring other ex-major leaguers like Quinton McCracken, Brian Boehringer, and Matt Perisho, among others. It's not inconceivable that he'd be able to catch on again in some team's minor league system and the fact he's lefthanded makes it that much more probable.

Another interesting name is Terry Felton. Despite support from Brooks Robinson, Felton was released after going 0-13 for the Twins in 1982. He never appeared in the majors again and holds both the record for most career losses without a win with 16 (Steve Gerkin and Charlie Stecher are the only winless others to lose as many as ten) and the record for most losses in a season without a win with 13.

Most Career Games Pitched, No Decisions

Shortly after the season ended, I noted Trever Miller had set a single-season record for most games pitched without a decision. Today I want to look at the career leaders for most games without a win or a loss.

There have been thirty-one pitchers in baseball history to appear in 20+ games without moving their career record off 0-0. Overall, 1,417 pitchers have appeared in at least one game without a career decision.

UPDATE (2/11/13): There are now 35 pitchers who have appeared in 20+ games without a decision.  The table below has been updated through 2012.  The active contenders (pitched in majors or minors in 2012) are bolded:

Name	Games	Innings	(L/R)HP
Erik Plantenberg	61	42.1	LHP
Mike Kinnunen	48	51.2	LHP
Erik Schullstrom	46	60.0	RHP
Greg Jones	38	47.2	RHP
Allen McDill	38	34.2	LHP
Tom Qualters	34	52.2	RHP
Mike Neu	33	46.0	RHP
Dae-Sung Koo	33	23.0	LHP
Harry Shuman	30	50.2	RHP
Dustin Richardson	29	16.1	LHP
Mike Hinckley	28	23.1	RHP
Scott Watkins	27	21.2	LHP
Eulogio de la Cruz	27	32.0	RHP
Don Rowe	26	54.2	LHP
Wayne Schurr	26	48.1	RHP
Tim Kubinski	25	25.0	LHP
Roberto Vargas	25	24.2	LHP
Ron Diorio	25	20.1	RHP
John Anderson	24	44.2	RHP
Lee Hancock	24	32.1	LHP
Brad Boxberger	24	27.2	RHP
Jose Valdez	24	26.0	RHP
Norm McRae	22	34.1	RHP
Jose Cecena	22	26.1	RHP
Chris Hatcher	22	25.0	RHP
David Sanders	22	24.0	LHP
Rick Kester	21	40.2	RHP
Doug Piatt	21	34.2	RHP
Jim Morris	21	15.0	LHP
Takahito Nomura	21	13.2	LHP
Rommie Lewis	22	23.2	LHP
Lester Oliveros	22	23.0	RHP
Aaron Taylor	20	21.1	RHP
Reynaldo Garcia	20	20.0	RHP
Kevin Tolar	20	17.2	LHP

I wonder if Erik Plantenburg knows he set a major league record during his career? Speaking of Erik's, it's kind of weird that both the LHP and RHP records for career decisionless games were set by guys with the first name Erik. There have only been nine major league players (seven pitchers) named Erik, so that's almost unbelievable.

Trever Miller Record Update

In mid-September I wrote about Trever Miller's chase for a season record. At the time, Miller had 74 appearances with a 0-0 record. The previous record for most games in a season without a win or loss had been 48 games pitched by Scott Aldred for the 1998 Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Since the season is over, I thought it made sense to confirm that his final season total of 76 games in the official new record. Interestingly, Manny Delcarmen of the Boston Red Sox placed third on the all-time list by throwing in 44 games this year without a decision. Ron Villone also joined the all-time top ten this year by tying for ninth with 37 "decisionless" appearances.

Most Wins in Final Season since 1901

I was playing a historical baseball game today and came across a pitcher named Britt Burns. He threw for the White Sox in the 1980's until traded at the age of 26 to the New York Yankees. Before he threw a pitch in the Big Apple, a chronic hip condition forced him into retirement. In 1985, his final season, he recorded 18 wins. That made me curious as to what pitchers put up the most wins all-time in their final seasons.

Here's the list of all the guys to put up 15 wins or more in their last season:

• Sandy Koufax, 1966, 27
• Lefty Williams, 1920, 22
• Henry Schmidt, 1903, 22
• Eddie Cicotte, 1920, 21
• Britt Burns, 1985, 18
• Chief Johnson, 1915, 17
• Paul Derringer, 1945, 16
• Hugh Bedient, 1915, 16
• Ed Doheny, 1903, 16
• Ted Lewis, 1901, 16
• Mike Sirotka, 2000, 15
• Larry French, 1942, 15
• Monty Stratton, 1938, 15
• George Kaiserling, 1915, 15
• Jay Hughes, 1902, 15
• Win Mercer, 1902, 15

Lefty Williams and Eddie Cicotte were two of the infamous Black Sox. Henry Schmidt came to Brooklyn from the Pacific Coast League in 1903 and after his 22-win season decided he didn't like life east of the Mississippi. He packed his bags, headed west, and never threw a pitch in the major leagues again. His 22 wins place him tied for fifth among first-season pitchers since 1901 so I guess he's the only guy to appear in the top 5 for most wins in both his first and last season.

I wonder if he gets a bonus for a decision?

I got curious tonight (upon hearing Mike Stanton is 1-3 in 65 appearances) and decided to look up who holds the major league record for most appearances in a season without recording a win or loss. The record coming into the year was lefty Scott Aldred's 48 for the Devil Rays in 1998. With a couple weeks to go, however, Trever Miller has appeared in 74 games for the Astros and still carries a 0-0 record on the year. Something else to keep an eye on as the season winds down.

Highest Season ERA, 10+ Wins

Here's a list of the only twenty-three players ever to win ten or more games in a season with an ERA 6.00 or higher. These guys may have won 10+ games, but no one really won when they were on the mound.

1. Colby Lewis, 2003, 10 wins, 7.30 ERA
2. Harry Staley, 1894, 12, 6.81
   
3. LaTroy Hawkins, 1999, 10, 6.62
4. Ryan Drese, 2002, 10, 6.55
5. Ray Benge, 1929, 11, 6.29
6. Wes Ferrell, 1938, 15, 6.28
7. Chris Carpenter, 2000, 10, 6.26
8. Mike Morgan, 1999, 13, 6.24
9. Pedro Astacio, 1998, 13, 6.23
10. Pat Caraway, 1931, 10, 6.22
11. Dave Burba, 2001, 10, 6.21
12. Brian Bohanon, 1999, 12, 6.20
13. Guy Bush, 1930, 15, 6.20
14. Dave Mlicki, 2001, 11, 6.17
15. Ramon Martinez, 2000, 10, 6.13
16. Red Donahue, 1897, 10, 6.13
17. Dan Daub, 1894, 10, 6.11
18. Bill Hutchison, 1894, 14, 6.06
    
19. Jason Dickson, 1998, 10, 6.05
20. Jason Marquis, 2006, 14, 6.02
21. Darren Oliver, 2001, 11, 6.02
22. Ad Gumbert, 1894, 15, 6.02
23. John Harkins, 1887, 10, 6.02

I find it interesting that 1894 had so many guys (4) on the list. The NL averaged a jaw-dropping 7.36 R/G (the highest since 1900 was 5.68 in 1930) - from 1893-1897 the league spiked in runs before dropping down to normal pre-1900 levels again.