Scott Richmond's Start - and Remembering Steve Roger's Start

Nine and counting.

Sure, Scott Richmond has had nine starts in MLB. And while tonight's game was the deepest he's ever gone, 7 innings, he has also never allowed more than 3 runs in a game. Someone asked Mike Wilner on his blog - a must read, if you can wade through the sea of idiotic comments there - who held the record. Mike did not know but offered Brandon Webb, who Mike correctly recalled had 13 starts without giving up more than 3 runs. (In his first 24 starts, Webb only had one game giving up more than 3 runs and that was a win in which he gave up 4.)

I don't know either, but my candidate is Steve Rogers. My Dad and I used to watch the Wednesday night Expos games back in the 70's and it seemed like this kid Steve Rogers was on the tube a lot. His debut was on Wednesday, July 18, an 8 inning effort, and he pitched on two Wednesdays in August, the 4th and the 18th. What a phenomenal start: in his first 13 games, he pitched at least 8 innings in each, going 9-3 with 7 complete games, three of these shutouts. He didn't give up more than 3 runs in a game until his 19th game, the second game of the 1974 season, a 7-4 complete game victory over the Mets. 11 of those starts were on 3 days rest!

How times have changed. Roy Halladay is a phenom for having 9 CG in 2008, more than many teams, whereas Rogers was in double-digits for CGs in 8 of 10 years from 1974-1983 with a total of 120 CG in that span. I doubt we'll ever see numbers like that again.

So back to Scott Richmond. He's half-way to Steve Roger's streak. Don't get me wrong; I'm not trying to say Richmond's start is anything like Roger's. But slowly, Scott Richmond is starting to show that he belongs in the majors. This season, his WHIP is a respectable 1.286 and his ERA is 2.70. Three of his four starts have been quality starts, and the one that wasn't was the rain-delay game in Cleveland.

It's a great time to be a Jays fan. Enjoy.