Blake Snell strikes out fifteen across six shutout innings.

[stevenash]

In case you missed it earlier late last night Blake Snell struck out 15 Rockies in six innings.

It was one of the most dominating pitching performances I've seen in a couple of years, and that includes Dylan Cease's no hitter from last week if that's possible.

Snell was lights out electric.
Think about it, 18 outs, 15 of them were strikeouts, that's insane.

6 IP
15 K
2 BB
2 H
0 ER


Giants 4-1 Rockies (Jul 27, 2024) Box Score - ESPN

Take it from me, lefties are lethal when they bring their 'A' game, especially Cy Young lefties.
Lefties with real live arms are hard to come by, Cy Young lefties are rare as unicorns.

I was curious so I looked up, the only pitchers ever to strike out 15 in six innings are:

David Cone
Roger Clemens
Randy Johnson

That's it.

[str]

Gotta love a left hander that is on his game that outing.

Their pitches move all over the place. Difficult for a lot of them to throw it straight.

[DrunkHorseplayer]

Not that big of a deal in this day and age, strikeouts are through the roof.

[JAKEPEAVY21]

Damn shame that he rarely can go more than 5-6 innings.

[stevenash]

Damn shame that he rarely can go more than 5-6 innings.

Yeah, he's like the two in Seattle, Castillo and Kirby.
High octane strikeout artists that need 100 pitches just to make it to the seventh inning.

Snell needed 102 pitches to complete six innings.
Greg Maddux used to pitch nine inning complete games striking out ten on just 90 pitches.

Maddux was the most efficient pitcher I've seen in my lifetime.

[JAKEPEAVY21]

Yeah, he's like the two in Seattle, Castillo and Kirby.
High octane strikeout artists that need 100 pitches just to make it to the seventh inning.

Snell needed 102 pitches to complete six innings.
Greg Maddux used to pitch nine inning complete games striking out ten on just 90 pitches.

Maddux was the most efficient pitcher I've seen in my lifetime.

Many times, he can't even make it to the 6th inning.

[stevenash]

Not that big of a deal in this day and age, strikeouts are through the roof.

Actually, they are not.
I thought strikeouts were up as well, but I had to check it out.

Year	SO		SO9		WHIP
2024	8.37		8.5		1.268
2023	8.61		8.7		1.315
2022	8.4		8.5		1.266
2021	8.68		8.9		1.297
2020	8.68		9.1		1.327
2019	8.81		8.9		1.334

[Mr KLC]

That can help his stock before the trade deadline. Giants are rumored to be in the "seller" category.

[JAKEPEAVY21]

My Padres seem to be in the mix for him but after watching him pitch for years and knowing what he will cost, I'd rather look elsewhere.

The guy is not consistent enough for my taste.

[stevenash]

^
Anytime you can get that Cy Young back into your rotation, you jump on it.
WTF is happening with Tatis, is that injury serious or SD is being safe with him?

[franklee168]

I thought he would be back in form after his first 5 starts. Boy was I wrong.

Happy he is pitching well his last 3 but it is a little too late to get excited about it now.

[mjsuax13]

He will probably get shelled the next 3 starts. I don’t know about this guy. Very up and down

[asiagambler]

Greg Maddux used to pitch nine inning complete games striking out ten on just 90 pitches.

Maddux was the most efficient pitcher I've seen in my lifetime.

With some cooperation from the other starter, games with Maddux pitching would sometimes go under 2 hours

Crazy to think about given this was before all the rule changes to speed the game up

[stevenash]

With some cooperation from the other starter, games with Maddux pitching would sometimes go under 2 hours

Crazy to think about given this was before all the rule changes to speed the game up

I had some serious down time at work a couple of months ago, so I tried to figure out which pitcher had the superior career.
Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, or Greg Maddux.

For three hours or so I crunched every relevant pitching metric (I'm a geek from way back, this is what geeks do)
My conclusion after all that?
It was what we geeks call a statistical dead heat.
No edge between the three.

[Headsterx]

He will probably get shelled the next 3 starts. I don’t know about this guy. Very up and down

Lol... I hope you're wrong but this sounds about right.

[DrunkHorseplayer]

Actually, they are not.
I thought strikeouts were up as well, but I had to check it out.

Year	SO		SO9		WHIP
2024	8.37		8.5		1.268
2023	8.61		8.7		1.315
2022	8.4		8.5		1.266
2021	8.68		8.9		1.297
2020	8.68		9.1		1.327
2019	8.81		8.9		1.334

Go back another 20-30 years, this is the strikeout era.

[asiagambler]

More like the 3 true outcomes era

[stevenash]

Go back another 20-30 years, this is the strikeout era.

Yes, the strikeout era began in 2012, now we're starting to see a little regression.
The main reason the K:9 IP ratio began soaring was just almost every team loaded up their bullpens with 100 mph strikeout flame throwers.
Starters don't have to seven innings plus anymore; most starters now just go out and throw as hard as they can for as long as they can.

Case in point: These pitchers have come exclusively out of the bullpen this season.
Insane strike out ratios

Name	Tm	G▼	SV	IP	SO	SO9
Mason Miller	OAK	34	15	40.2	70	15.5
Aroldis Chapman*	PIT	43	4	37.2	60	14.3
Fernando Cruz	CIN	50	0	42.1	66	14
Josh Hader*	HOU	45	20	45	70	14
Jeremiah Estrada	SDP	36	1	38.1	59	13.9
Reed Garrett	NYM	36	4	42	63	13.5
Craig Kimbrel	BAL	42	23	38	56	13.3
David Robertson	TEX	41	2	44.2	66	13.3
Mark Leiter Jr.	CHC	38	0	35	51	13.1
Danny Young*	NYM	19	0	18	26	13
Keegan Thompson	CHC	13	1	18	26	13
Yimi García	TOT	30	5	31	44	12.8
Bryan Abreu	HOU	51	1	51	72	12.7
Jake Cousins	NYY	14	0	16.1	23	12.7
Cade Smith	CLE	47	1	48	67	12.6
Robert Garcia*	WSN	45	0	36.2	51	12.5
Kirby Yates	TEX	38	18	37.1	52	12.5

[DrunkHorseplayer]

More like the 3 true outcomes era

Correct, except I call it the three garbage outcomes era.

[stevenash]

Rockies Set Painful Record for Most Whiffs in a Game

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The Rockies swung and missed 64 times today.<br><br>That&#39;s the most whiffs by any MLB team on a single day since pitches were first tracked in 1988.</p>&mdash; OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) <a href="https://twitter.com/OptaSTATS/status/1817426958537363708?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" >July 28, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[JAKEPEAVY21]

Nasher, bottom line with Snell is you never know which guy is going to show up. His floor is much lower than most other "top" starters. When he is on, his ceiling is high but when struggling the floor is very low with not many innings and ballooned pitch counts.

[stevenash]

Nasher, bottom line with Snell is you never know which guy is going to show up. His floor is much lower than most other "top" starters. When he is on, his ceiling is high but when struggling the floor is very low with not many innings and ballooned pitch counts.

That's a great point you make there.

My opinion, and a lot of the baseball media seem to think so as well that Snell's groin injury wasn't fully healed when he came back in June.

You can't pitch effective ball with that type of injury, that's probably the explanation for Snell's shaky starts.
Who knows? I'm not a doctor, and I don't play one on TV.

Personally, I like him, the dude is a Dirt Dog.

Greg Maddux was the Bull Dog.
Dustin Pedroia was the Dirt Dog.
Pedroia played the game like Snell does.
Chris Bosio was a Dirt Dog too.

The Mets also are interested in Snell, but they don't have the pitching prospects to offer Zaiti and ownership.
Snell's a Washington State native, I can't see him going back to the East Coast again to pitch.
Snell either stays put in SF, or goes back to SD is just my opinion, that not a fact.

Snell is on record saying he's not leaving SF if the Giants are in contention for the playoffs.
SF has ripped off four straight wins and are in the wild card mix now.
They're still outsiders looking in, but October baseball is obtainable.


Watch what happens in the NL Central.
I think the Brewers will come back to earth hard, keep an eye on Pittsburgh and Cincinatti to both close like freight trains.
St. Louis has been winning with smoke and mirrors so far, I have nothing bad to say about that organization, but I think they've frauds this season, they'll fade too.

Not for nothing, did you see that game Bobby Witt Jr. had last night?

Royals 8-5 White Sox (Jul 29, 2024) Box Score - ESPN
Sems like he's having games like last night twice a week.
Judge will win the AL MVP in landslide fashion, and rightfully so, but Witt leads the AL in hits, average, tied for the league lead in runs scored, second in the league in triples, hit his 19th homer last night, and has 23 stolen bases thus far to boot.

Witt plays elite level short stop on defense, Gold Glove caliber.
Judge is a power machine, puts up startling home runs numbers on a yearly basis, drives in boat loads of runs.
Witt is that five-star unicorn player, runs the bases better than almost all of them, plays Gold Glove caliber defense, hits for average and hits for power as well, not Judge power, still, Witt will be a .300 hitter 30 HR/30 SB easily by seasons end.

[JAKEPEAVY21]

Nasher, in no way, shape or form do I see Snell as a "dirt dog"...I don't see it pal, to each their own.

[DrunkHorseplayer]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The Rockies swung and missed 64 times today.<br><br>That&#39;s the most whiffs by any MLB team on a single day since pitches were first tracked in 1988.</p>&mdash; OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) <a rel="nofollow" href="https://twitter.com/OptaSTATS/status/1817426958537363708?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" >July 28, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

64 whiffs on 144 pitches, a 44.4% rate. To their credit, they "only" struck out 11 times.

[franklee168]

I thought he would be back in form after his first 5 starts. Boy was I wrong.

Happy he is pitching well his last 3 but it is a little too late to get excited about it now.

I stand corrected.

[Headsterx]

And now with a no-hitter!

[mjsuax13]

And now with a no-hitter!

Wow. He will get shelled next game! lol

[Headsterx]

Wow. He will get shelled next game! lol

If he’s traded to the White Sox. 🤣

[mjsuax13]

If he’s traded to the White Sox. 🤣

They suck!

[Headsterx]

Most no-hitters by team:

Dodgers 26
White Sox 20

🤣🤣🤣

[JAKEPEAVY21]

Welp, my commentary didn't age well but I stand by it...high ceiling, low floor.

[stevenash]

He came back down to earth tonight.
Giants still won.

Padres playing good ball too.

[JAKEPEAVY21]

He came back down to earth tonight.
Giants still won.

Padres playing good ball too.

That's quite an understatement, nasher...probably their best 2-3 week stretch in a few years from what I can remember.

Winning in all kinds of ways.. close games, extra innings, comebacks, blowouts

[stevenash]

^
Yes, they are, I watched that odd game last night.
I love the way they're playing Ned Yost station to station ball.
Bleed the other team to death, love it.

BTW, 'you know who' hit another granny last night.

[JAKEPEAVY21]

^
Yes, they are, I watched that odd game last night.
I love the way they're playing Ned Yost station to station ball.
Bleed the other team to death, love it.

BTW, 'you know who' hit another granny last night.

Your boy is making a strong case for MVP alright...