(Misleading) stat of the day
Hiroki Kuroda has been the Dodgers' most consistently effective starting pitcher this season, and it's little fault of the Japanese right-hander that his record is only 2-4 going into tonight's start against the New York Mets.
Never mind what an L.A. Times stats box this morning seems to suggest.
The Times lists Kuroda among the major-league pitchers who have losing records even though their teams score lots of runs for them. The Dodgers average 5 runs per nine innings in Kuroda's games. But the suggestion that he's an underachiever is misleading.
His nine losses and no-decisions include the following:
- Four games he left with the Dodgers leading but the bullpen gave up tying and/or winning runs.
- Two other games in which the Dodgers scored only one and two runs for him.
- Another game in which two unearned runs (because of a Dodgers fielding error) made the difference in a one-run loss.
- Another game he left with the score tied after a solid seven-inning, three-runs performance.
Kuroda leads the rotation with a 3.29 ERA. He leads team with 8 quality starts (Chad Billingsley has 6, Derek Lowe 5, Brad Penny 3). Basically, he has had one start in which he pitched himself -- and the team -- out of any chance of winning.
So the Dodgers are scoring runs for him. Pretty much all of his other luck has been bad.
Expect him to begin winning. If not tonight against Johan Santana, then soon.
Update: Not tonight, indeed. Kuroda had his shortest outing in the major leagues, and the Dodgers lost 6-1. Lack of run support was no excuse this time.
About this blog
Kevin Modesti watches sports from a new angle since his promotion from sports columnist to sports editor for the Los Angeles Newspaper Group. In his new blog, Modesti not only comments on the big sports stories of the moment-- he talks about what makes them big. Think of it as a conversation with readers about how these stories should be covered.
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