Best Pitching Tandem in Baseball
Posted on | June 13, 2009 | No Comments
Which team has the top 2 pitchers? Which team has the top pitching tandem in all of baseball? Teams like the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, New York Mets, and maybe even the Kansas City Royals or Toronto Blue Jays probably spring to mind. But you know what? It’s actually the Detroit Tigers. Yup, with Justin Verlander and Edwin Jackson, the Tigers have the top pitching couple in MLB. And it’s not even close.
First of all, let’s look at Edwin Jackson. He didn’t have a good game yesterday against the Chicago White Sox. But his ERA is still one of the best in the Majors at 2.24. His record is 6-3 but it could easily be something like 9-2 if Jackson got any type of run production.
But Jackson is just the 2nd best pitcher on the Tigers staff.
Justin Verlander is the best pitcher on the staff and his last 9 starts he’s been the best pitcher in baseball. He’s given up just 7 runs in his last 9 games. That’s the best in the Majors. Verlander also leads the Majors in strikeouts. Verlander’s record is 7-2.
But to see him pitch is truly a thing of beauty. He works fast, so that’s a good thing. But then he’s able to hit the glove with his fastball, his curve, and a change-up. Plus his fastball tops out at around 100 – even in the late innings. And that’s another thing that makes Verlander great. He’ll throw consistent fastballs around 95. But then when he get’s into trouble he cranks it up to 99-101. And that usually gets him out of trouble.
The great thing for the Tigers is that 2 out of every 5 games the opposing bats only get a run or two for the game. So the Tigers have a great chance of winning those games. Then they just need to focus in on the other 3 games. And no matter how bad things get, they have 2 stoppers who pitch every 5 games.
It’s these 2 stoppers that have allowed the Tigers to build a 4 game lead in the AL Central, and it’s these 2 that will give the Tigers a chance to go a long way this year.
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