Ten things to know about Zack Greinke.
1. Zack Greinke has a 1173 ERA+. I would wager than no pitcher in baseball history has had a 1173 ERA+ through six games.
2. There have been two complete game shutouts thrown in the American League this year. Greinke threw both of them. That makes for a fun “Shutouts” chart on Baseball Reference.
3. There have been eight complete games thrown in the American League. Greinke has three of them.
4. Greinke currently leads the league in wins, ERA, ERA+, shutouts, complete games, strikeouts, WHIP and he has not yet allowed a home run.
5. The league is hitting .242/.294/.337 against him with nobody on base.
But the league is hitting .109/.136/.125 against him with runners on base.
And the league is hitting .097/.097/.097 against him with runners in scoring position.
6. Greinke’s strikeout-to-walk ratio with runners in scoring position — 14-to-0.
7. Batters are hitting .171 against Greinke in the seventh inning and after.
8. Greinke has fallen behind 3-0 to a hitter only four times all year. He did not walk any of the four. He struck out two of them.
9. Greinke’s 0.40 ERA is so low, he could give up nine runs in an inning in his next start, get pulled, and his ERA STILL would be lower than 2.00.
10. This from brilliant reader Rob: Dating back to last year, Greinke has won nine consecutive starts, and in those nine starts he has an 0.69 ERA. How good is that? Well, legendary. There have been 50 pitches since 1954 who have won nine or more consecutive starts. Greinke’s is the second-best.*
*The best of those by ERA?
1. Bob Gibson, 1968: 12-0, 0.50 ERA.
Note for posterity: Gibson completed all 12 of those games.
2. Zack Greinke, 2008-09: 9-0, 0.69 ERA
3. Steve Blass, 1968: 9-0, 0.70 ERA
4. Hoyt Wilhelm, 1959: 9-0, 0.79 ERA
5. Cal Eldred, 1992: 10-0, 0.95 ERA
Note for posterity: In 1997, Eldred led the league in losses.
6. John Tudor, 1985: 9-0, 0.97 ERA
7. Warren Spahn, 1961: 10-0, 0.99 ERA
8. Gaylord Perry, 1974: 11-0, 1.00 ERA
Note for posterity: I’m in Cleveland right now reminiscing about Perry’s amazing 1974. Only July 3, he was 15-1 with a 1.31 ERA. He seemed a legit threat to win 30 games. He promptly lost nine of his next 10 decisions.
9. Randy Johnson, 1999-00, 9-0, 1.09 ERA
Note for posterity: You know, there’s a case to be made that Randy Johnson is the greatest pitcher in baseball history. This is just a warning … that case might be coming.
10. Roy Oswalt, 2002, 9-0, 1.22 ERA.
Also worth pointing out Johan Santana’s 12-0, 1.28 ERA stretch in 2004, Pat Dobson’s 12-0, 1.77 ERA stretch in 1971 and Brad Radke’s 12-0, 1.87 ERA stretch in 1997.
And one more thing … remember when Bob Welch won 27 games in 1990? Well, he won 9 decisions in a row in the middle of that year. His ERA during the stretch — 3.59. Boy, that team scored a lot of runs for him.
