Baseball-Reference had a blog post this past week where they detailed streaks where a pitcher threw six innings or more, but gave up five or less hits every time. This was in regards to the recent success of Trevor Cahill in Oakland, and also it plays nicely with my looking at Travis Wood throwing similar games.
The man at the top of this list that only seven players have ever done? Johan Santana. He had a stretch in 2004 where he pitches 10 consecutive starts of six-plus innings, and five hits or less. He’s the only man with a double-digit streak (the others were 8-game or 9-game), he pitched the most innings of anyone on the list, and gave up the least hits. In fact, you could narrow the criteria because he never gave up more than four hits in any of those starts! That narrows the list down quite a bit.
| Rk | Strk Start | End | Games | W | L | GS | CG | SHO | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA | HBP | Tm | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Johan Santana | 2004-06-15 | 2004-08-01 | 10 | 7 | 2 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 77.0 | 27 | 15 | 13 | 18 | 102 | 9 | 1.52 | 5 | MIN |
| 2 | A.J. Burnett | 2007-08-12 | 2007-09-13 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 50.2 | 25 | 13 | 10 | 18 | 46 | 6 | 1.78 | 3 | TOR |
| 3 | Carlos Zambrano | 2006-05-16 | 2006-06-10 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 43.1 | 19 | 9 | 9 | 22 | 43 | 5 | 1.87 | 2 | CHC |
| 4 | Pedro Martinez | 2006-04-22 | 2006-05-20 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 41.0 | 21 | 11 | 11 | 9 | 53 | 5 | 2.41 | 1 | NYM |
| 5 | Sid Fernandez | 1989-09-21 | 1990-04-22 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 47.0 | 18 | 13 | 12 | 19 | 42 | 2 | 2.30 | 1 | NYM |
| 6 | Mark Langston | 1988-08-29 | 1988-09-24 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 51.1 | 19 | 5 | 5 | 29 | 43 | 2 | 0.88 | 0 | SEA |
| 7 | Jim Palmer | 1972-05-05 | 1972-05-28 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 47.0 | 21 | 8 | 7 | 11 | 38 | 3 | 1.34 | 0 | BAL |
| 8 | Nolan Ryan | 1971-04-29 | 1971-05-29 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 46.2 | 19 | 7 | 4 | 37 | 47 | 1 | 0.77 | 4 | NYM |
| 9 | Bob Feller | 1946-07-24 | 1946-08-13 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 50.2 | 16 | 2 | 2 | 24 | 47 | 0 | 0.36 | 0 | CLE |
No one else has a streak longer than 7 games, and that’s just one other pitcher since 1920! As a result of this, it’s pretty apparent that this was maybe as dominant as Santana had ever been, and I looked into it a bit further. Turns out, the last 22 starts he made in 2004 might just be one of the most impressive stretches of pitching in the division era.
Before his start on June 9th, Santana was not all that good. His ERA was a staggering 5.50, he only had three quality starts by game score in his first 12 outings, and he was an unimpressive 2-4. He flat out hadn’t been good. But, something must have clicked, because from that day forward, this is his line:
Starts: 22
Record: 18-2
ERA: 1.36 (Dropped every game except for one)
Innings: 159.1 (7.24 IP per start)
Hits Allowed: 80 (4.52 H/9, wow!)
Walks: 31
Strikeouts: 204 (11.52 K/9)
Quality Starts by Game Store: 100% (22/22, only failed to reach a score of 60 one time)
GSIP: 3.847 (off the charts, read previous entries for this)
Batting Average Against: .146
Baseball-Reference Link
These numbers would instantly take you back to Ubaldo Jimenez’s amazing start this season when he had a 1.15 ERA over his first 14 starts … for the Rockies! But, his strikeout numbers weren’t even close to this good, the peripheral numbers weren’t as good, and it just didn’t last as long. Now let’s not get ahead of ourselves, this is like comparing Mount Everest to K2, they’re both really impressive, but the point is to show just how good Santana was in this stretch. Heck, he’s three innings away from qualifying for a season-long ERA title on the strength of these starts!
Another thought about these numbers: If you ever needed proof that we will never see another 30 game winner, imagine this. These stats prorated over a 162-game season would come out to just under 28 wins. It’s hard to imagine a pitcher on a better run than this, and that wouldn’t even get him to 30. The other numbers outside of the H/9 number might be sustainable by an elite pitcher.
Twins fans should feel very blessed they got to watch this player during this peak time. He’s good now, but I don’t know if anyone can be this good.
