Jeremy Guthrie pitched a gem last night.
(And by "gem" I mean a game that completely won the Jonathan Sanchez/Guthrie trade for GMDM. Sanchez can pitch forever in Colorado and will never throw eight shutout innings with no walks. No way. Win.)
Anyway, for a great as Guthrie looked, it got me wondering if his start on Wednesday was the best start by a Royal this summer.
So I turned to my ever trusty companion Game Score and discovered that while Guthrie's was really good (relatively speaking for Royal starters) his start wasn't the best.
Top Game Scores for 2012 following the jump...
So here are the starters who have posted a Game Score greater than 70 this year. Only nine times...
| Rk | Player | Date | Tm | Opp | Rslt | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | Pit | Str | GSc |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Luke Hochevar | 2012-06-25 | KCR | TBR | W 8-0 | 9.0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 113 | 73 | 80 |
| 2 | Jeremy Guthrie | 2012-08-08 | KCR | CHW | W 2-1 | 8.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 104 | 74 | 78 |
| 3 | Luke Hochevar | 2012-05-12 | KCR | CHW | W 5-0 | 7.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 101 | 58 | 75 |
| 4 | Bruce Chen | 2012-06-05 | KCR | MIN | W 1-0 | 7.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 88 | 62 | 74 |
| 5 | Felipe Paulino | 2012-05-16 | KCR | BAL | L 3-4 | 7.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 0 | 103 | 67 | 74 |
| 6 | Danny Duffy | 2012-04-10 | KCR | OAK | W 3-0 | 6.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 0 | 103 | 62 | 74 |
| 7 | Luis Mendoza | 2012-06-29 | KCR | MIN | W 4-3 | 8.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 115 | 71 | 73 |
| 8 | Luke Hochevar | 2012-06-19 | KCR | HOU | W 2-0 | 7.2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 93 | 58 | 71 |
| 9 | Bruce Chen | 2012-04-06 | KCR | LAA | L 0-5 | 6.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 75 | 54 | 70 |
One thing that leaps out is that the top nine games have been thrown by six different starters. Normally, that would suggest a balanced attack. Though watching this team for four months, we know that's not the case.
Another thing I learned... Only three teams have yet to have a starter post a Game Score of 81 or higher. Besides the Royals it's the Rockies (ha!) and the Astros.
If pitching is the currency of baseball, Dayton Moore should file for Chapter 11.