Halladay’s Historic Home-Mound Hurling
From SABR member Mark Simon at ESPN.com on August 26:
One of the neat things about this being such a fine season for pitching is that there are some great examples of incredible home-field dominance by moundsmen.
Angels starter Jered Weaver continued his remarkable season pitching in spacious Anaheim, lowering his ERA there to 1.38 after a win on Wednesday. (Good luck guessing who the last pitcher was to finish a season with at least 70 innings and a home ERA that low.) And Brewers ace Zack Greinke has not disappointed at Miller Park this season, where he puts a perfect 9-0 mark on the line on Sunday against the Cubs.
Those are impressive numbers for the statistical traditionalists, but it is Roy Halladay’s performance at Citizens Bank Park that may rank among the most amazing in the history of the sport. He’ll be pitching there again against the Marlins on Saturday.
Why is Doc’s performance so remarkable? Because of these three numbers in his 104 2/3 innings pitched: 102 strikeouts, eight walks and two home runs allowed. In the world of Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP), a statistic that estimates ERA based on strikeouts, walks and home runs allowed, this translates to a 1.56 FIP. That’s stratospherically good
Read the full article here: http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/15421/halladays-historic-home-mound-hurling
Originally published: August 31, 2011. Last Updated: August 31, 2011.