One week ago, roguejim wrote a post about just how lousy the Brewers starting rotation has been. Here are some more numbers showing just how hard Brewers starters have been hit.
Check out the fifteen highest slugging averages allowed by MLB pitchers with a minimum of 100 innings pitched in 2009. Note: these numbers are through August 17, so Parra's start last night and those of anyone else on the list are not included.
| Name | SLG | IP | ERA | HR | W-L |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Josh Geer | .561 | 102.2 | 5.96 | 27 | 1-7 |
| Jeff Suppan | .512 | 114.1 | 5.27 | 18 | 5-8 |
| Trevor Cahill | .506 | 139.1 | 4.97 | 25 | 6-12 |
| Jeremy Guthrie | .506 | 140.0 | 5.66 | 28 | 7-12 |
| Todd Wellemeyer | .498 | 112.2 | 5.67 | 17 | 7-9 |
| Braden Looper | .496 | 143.0 | 5.03 | 30 | 10-6 |
| Brian Moehler | .495 | 113.1 | 5.40 | 16 | 7-9 |
| Jamie Moyer | .491 | 123.1 | 5.47 | 22 | 10-9 |
| Livan Hernandez | .491 | 135.0 | 5.47 | 16 | 7-8 |
| Armando Galarraga | .487 | 129.0 | 5.16 | 21 | 6-10 |
| Brad Penny |
.482 | 127.2 | 5.22 | 17 | 7-7 |
| Jason Hammel |
.479 | 118.0 | 4.73 | 11 | 7-7 |
| Joe Saunders |
.477 | 136.2 | 5.33 | 24 | 9-7 |
| Aaron Harang |
.471 | 155.1 | 4.35 | 24 | 6-14 |
| Manny Parra |
.470 | 107.2 | 6.44 | 12 | 8-8 |
The Brewers are the only team with more than one pitcher on that list and they very nearly had four. Jeff Suppan has seen his reputation improve with time spent on the DL, but Dave Bush has made out pretty well, too. He only had 81 innings pitched when he was placed on the DL, but his .534 slugging average allowed would have placed him second. If you add nineteen perfect innings to his season line, his resulting .450 still comes in 27th. If you're curious, Yovani Gallardo's .371 is 79th out of 102 qualifying pitchers.
I know including W-L records in anything is heresy these days, but it gives me an excuse to post this snippet originally found in the August 16 Elias Says column:
Braden Looper handed a 5-4 seventh-inning lead to the bullpen, but the Astros rallied against Brewers relievers to post an 8-5 win at Milwaukee. It was the fifth time this season that relievers relinquished a lead in a game in which Looper was in line for a victory. The only starting pitchers in the majors with more blown wins this season than Looper are Randy Wolf (7), Gavin Floyd (6) and Looper's mound opponent on Sunday, Roy Oswalt (6).
Strange to think that Looper could right now be the worst 15+ game winner in recent memory.