Thursday, June 7, 2018

Phillies GOAT - Starting Pitchers

How does a starting rotation of Steve Carlton, Grover Cleveland "Pete" Alexander, Robin Roberts, and Jim Bunning sound? It works for me. There are some others you can argue for, but to me, these four guys are the Phillies GOAT starting pitchers.

Carlton won 4 Cy Young Awards in his 15 years with the Phillies, winning 241 games and striking out 3,031 hitters. His 1972 season was absolutely amazing, especially when you consider how awful the team around him was. Carlton won 27 games and posted an ERA of 1.97. As a team, the Phillies only won 59 games and finished dead last, 37.5 games out of first. Lefty pitched 346.1 innings in 1972, striking out 310 and allowing only 257 hits in his 40 starts. All of the figures were best in the National League, by the way, including 30 complete games, an unthinkable figure in today's game.

His best start came on April 25, 1972, when he allowed just 1 hit and 1 walk and struck out 14 San Francisco Giants. He beat the Kansas Royals twice in the 1980 World Series, striking out 17 in 15 innings. And he's in the Hall of Fame.

Pete Alexander pitched for the Phillies from 1911 to 1917 and again in 1930, when he pitched in 9 games at age 43. He appeared in 338 games and won 190 of them, and threw 219 complete games. From 1911 to 1917, his worst ERA was 2.81 and his lowest win total was 19. He threw 16 shutouts in 1916 alone, and finished with 61 for the Phillies. His Phillies WHIP was 1.075 and he averaged 356 innings per season.

Robin Roberts was another workhorse. He won 19 games or more for 6 straight years and led the National League in wins every year from 1952 to 1955. He threw 272 complete games, a franchise record, as well as the most innings in team history. He was a 7 time all-star.

Jim Bunning only pitched in Philadelphia for 6 seasons, but his ERA in that time was 2.93. He started 208 games and had 65 complete games. He held opposing hitters to a .233 batting average and won at least 17 games for 4 straight years. He also threw the first perfect game in team history and was a 2-time All-Star.

Also under consideration were Chris Short, Cole Hamels, Curt Schilling, Roy Halladay, and Cliff Lee. But my 4 GOATs got the nod for their consistent dominance.


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