Post by Rog on May 27, 2016 10:51:16 GMT -5
I can think of several reasons not to fear the Dodgers' calling up of Julio Urias to pitch tonight's game.
First of all, the guy's still a teenager, and even a 22-year-old Tim Lincecum posted a 4.00 ERA as a rookie.
Perhaps more importantly, he hasn't pitched as many as 90 innings in a season before, and he's already thrown 41 this season.
But have no doubt: This is justifiably the most heralded Dodgers pitching debut since Clayton Kershaw, and we know how he turned out. As a Giants fan, I'm not pleased by this. As a baseball fan, I'm thrilled.
Incidentally, Tim Lincecum's showcase earlier this month came on the 9th anniversary of his major league debut. And Tim shows just how lousy this Urias guy must be. Yeah, at first glance, Urias' 1.10 ERA and 0.78 WHIP are impressive, but not when we compare them to Tim's 0.29 ERA and 0.74 WHIP.
On the other hand, it's scary to think that Kershaw and Urias could become better than Koufax and Drysdale. Clayton has pretty much already caught Sandy, and Julio looks to have the potential to catch Don.
Here's a surprise. Even in today's reliever-heavy game, Kershaw and Urias have a shot at equaling Koufax and Drysdale in wins. As great as Sandy and Don were, they didn't come close to winning 400 games between them. Sandy won 165, and Don won 209.
We know, of course, that Sandy's best pitching came late in his career. In Sandy's case, because he was forced to retire at age 30, those were the prime years of his career. But as strange as it seems, at Kershaw's age, Sandy hadn't won even 100 games. Clayton has already won 121, and hopefully for baseball's sake (if not that of the Giants and the rest of the National League), Clayton will be able to pitch until he's five to 10 years older than Sandy when Sandy's circulation in his pitching arm forced a very premature retirement.
Incidentally, this is Kershaw's age 28 season. His ERA so far this year is 1.48. Sandy's ERA in his age 28 season was 1.74. In their 27-year-old seasons, Clayton's ERA was 2.13 to Sandy's 1.74. At age 26, Clayton went 1.77 to Sandy's 2.54.
In other words, so far Clayton has better than equaled Sandy's first three great seasons in terms of ERA. And that was after putting up ERA's of 2.79, 2.91, 2.28, 2.53 and 1.83 back at the ages when Sandy was still struggling.
I surely wish he were a Giant instead of a Dodger, but I hope that as baseball fans we appreciate just what we're seeing in Kershaw. Probably the greatest Dodgers pitcher we've ever seen.
And I hate that beginning tonight, Urias may well become Kershaw's Don Drysdale.
Incidentally, let's not forget that while wearing number 55, Tim Lincecum on his debut on 05/06/07 gave up five runs on five hits and five walks, while striking out 5 and pitching into the 5th inning. Urias doesn't throw as hard as Tim, but he his already known for pitching smarter than Tim has ever been able to.
Gosh, come to think of it, Tim and Urias now BOTH pitch for LA teams. At least Tim isn't pitching for the Dodgers.
First of all, the guy's still a teenager, and even a 22-year-old Tim Lincecum posted a 4.00 ERA as a rookie.
Perhaps more importantly, he hasn't pitched as many as 90 innings in a season before, and he's already thrown 41 this season.
But have no doubt: This is justifiably the most heralded Dodgers pitching debut since Clayton Kershaw, and we know how he turned out. As a Giants fan, I'm not pleased by this. As a baseball fan, I'm thrilled.
Incidentally, Tim Lincecum's showcase earlier this month came on the 9th anniversary of his major league debut. And Tim shows just how lousy this Urias guy must be. Yeah, at first glance, Urias' 1.10 ERA and 0.78 WHIP are impressive, but not when we compare them to Tim's 0.29 ERA and 0.74 WHIP.
On the other hand, it's scary to think that Kershaw and Urias could become better than Koufax and Drysdale. Clayton has pretty much already caught Sandy, and Julio looks to have the potential to catch Don.
Here's a surprise. Even in today's reliever-heavy game, Kershaw and Urias have a shot at equaling Koufax and Drysdale in wins. As great as Sandy and Don were, they didn't come close to winning 400 games between them. Sandy won 165, and Don won 209.
We know, of course, that Sandy's best pitching came late in his career. In Sandy's case, because he was forced to retire at age 30, those were the prime years of his career. But as strange as it seems, at Kershaw's age, Sandy hadn't won even 100 games. Clayton has already won 121, and hopefully for baseball's sake (if not that of the Giants and the rest of the National League), Clayton will be able to pitch until he's five to 10 years older than Sandy when Sandy's circulation in his pitching arm forced a very premature retirement.
Incidentally, this is Kershaw's age 28 season. His ERA so far this year is 1.48. Sandy's ERA in his age 28 season was 1.74. In their 27-year-old seasons, Clayton's ERA was 2.13 to Sandy's 1.74. At age 26, Clayton went 1.77 to Sandy's 2.54.
In other words, so far Clayton has better than equaled Sandy's first three great seasons in terms of ERA. And that was after putting up ERA's of 2.79, 2.91, 2.28, 2.53 and 1.83 back at the ages when Sandy was still struggling.
I surely wish he were a Giant instead of a Dodger, but I hope that as baseball fans we appreciate just what we're seeing in Kershaw. Probably the greatest Dodgers pitcher we've ever seen.
And I hate that beginning tonight, Urias may well become Kershaw's Don Drysdale.
Incidentally, let's not forget that while wearing number 55, Tim Lincecum on his debut on 05/06/07 gave up five runs on five hits and five walks, while striking out 5 and pitching into the 5th inning. Urias doesn't throw as hard as Tim, but he his already known for pitching smarter than Tim has ever been able to.
Gosh, come to think of it, Tim and Urias now BOTH pitch for LA teams. At least Tim isn't pitching for the Dodgers.
