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Brian Walton's news and commentary on the St. Louis Cardinals (TM) and their minor league system

Jaime Garcia tidbits from Wednesday’s wreckage

A handful of factoids relating to St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Jaime Garcia.

Jaime Garcia (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)In the midst of the wreckage of the St. Louis Cardinals’ Wednesday night’s home loss to Florida by a 5-1 score, researcher Tom Orf pulled some factoids relating to tough-luck starter Jaime Garcia.

From the first inning on, Garcia’s pitch count was elevated due to shaky defense behind him. Yet he worked around baserunners put on after fielding misses by both Skip Schumaker and Felipe Lopez to strike out the side in the initial frame.

It tied Garcia with ace Chris Carpenter for the most such innings this season at three. One quarter of the way into the season, the 2010 club is on pace to have more “strike out the side” innings in any year since at least 2000, when Rick Ankiel led the way with a dozen on his own.

Striking out the side, Cardinals (2000-current)

Year Team Leader #
2010 9 Carpenter/Garcia 3
2009 20 Wainwright 4
2008 24 Wellemeyer 4
2007 20 Wainwright 6
2006 24 Carpenter 7
2005 26 Carpenter 9
2004 24 Carpenter/Marquis 4
2003 19 Williams 3
2002 20 Finley 5
2001 26 Hermanson/Ankiel/Morris 4
2000 35 Ankiel 12

Garcia stranded nine runners in five innings and was pulled after throwing 96 pitches on Wednesday. As a result, the rookie’s quality start streak ended as did his run to start the season with six or more inning performances allowing two or fewer runs at seven.

Season-opening streak of 6+IP and 2 ER allowed or less, MLB (1920-39, 1952-current)

Rk Tm Strk Start End G W L GS CG SHO GF IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
1 Randy Johnson ARI 4/4/2000 5/16/2000 9 7 1 9 5 2 0 74.1 44 12 8 14 100 5 0.97
1 Lefty Gomez NYY 4/20/1937 5/30/1937 9 6 3 9 0 0 8 78 72 17 11 29 48 2 1.27
3 Ubaldo Jimenez COL 4/5/2010 5/15/2010 8 7 1 8 1 1 0 56.1 35 7 7 21 54 1 1.12
3 Pedro Martinez BOS 4/4/2000 5/17/2000 8 7 1 8 2 1 0 60.1 33 7 6 11 88 2 0.9
3 Kirk McCaskill CAL 4/7/1989 5/16/1989 8 5 1 8 1 1 0 59.2 43 7 7 18 27 1 1.06
3 Atlee Hammaker SFG 4/13/1983 5/22/1983 8 4 2 8 3 2 0 58.2 41 12 7 8 40 1 1.07
3 Fernando Valenzuela LAD 4/9/1981 5/14/1981 8 8 0 8 7 5 0 72 43 4 4 17 68 2 0.5
3 Joe McIntosh SDP 4/12/1975 5/21/1975 8 5 2 8 3 1 0 63.2 47 13 10 12 29 2 1.41
9 Jaime Garcia STL 4/10/2010 5/14/2010 7 4 2 7 0 0 0 44.1 31 9 7 16 36 1 1.42
13 with 7

Streak of 6+IP and 2 ER allowed or less, Cardinals (1920-39, 1952-current)

Rk Tm Strk Start End G W L GS CG SHO GF IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
1 Adam Wainwright STL 6/26/2009 8/30/2009 13 8 3 13 1 0 0 95 81 15 14 21 80 3 1.33
2 Bob Gibson STL 6/6/1968 7/30/1968 11 11 0 11 11 8 0 99 56 3 3 13 83 0 0.27
3 Matt Morris STL 4/11/2001 5/17/2001 8 6 1 8 1 1 0 59 43 11 10 13 47 3 1.53
3 John Tudor STL 5/17/1988 6/23/1988 8 3 2 8 2 1 0 59.2 49 9 7 14 20 1 1.06
3 John Tudor STL 6/8/1985 7/11/1985 8 8 0 8 5 4 0 69 42 6 6 8 38 3 0.78
6 Jaime Garcia STL 4/10/2010 5/14/2010 7 4 2 7 0 0 0 44.1 31 9 7 16 36 1 1.42
6 Chris Carpenter STL 6/14/2005 7/22/2005 7 6 0 7 3 3 0 59.2 28 3 3 9 57 2 0.45
6 Rick Ankiel STL 8/23/2000 9/27/2000 7 4 0 7 0 0 0 45.2 31 13 10 16 54 4 1.97
6 Bob Tewksbury STL 4/28/1992 5/30/1992 7 4 1 7 2 0 0 54 48 11 11 5 20 4 1.83
6 Joe Magrane STL 6/27/1988 8/2/1988 7 0 3 7 0 0 0 51.1 41 14 9 16 33 0 1.58
6 John Tudor STL 5/23/1986 6/23/1986 7 3 0 7 2 0 0 60.2 30 13 10 13 28 4 1.48
6 John Tudor STL 9/26/1985 4/22/1986 7 5 0 7 3 1 0 60 39 8 7 11 31 1 1.05
6 Bob Gibson STL 5/20/1972 6/26/1972 7 6 0 7 5 2 0 60 39 10 9 12 49 1 1.35
6 Nelson Briles STL 7/16/1968 8/15/1968 7 6 1 7 5 1 0 60.2 49 8 7 14 30 1 1.04
6 Curt Simmons STL 7/31/1960 9/4/1960 7 4 2 7 2 1 0 55.2 52 13 8 12 24 1 1.29
6 Jesse Haines STL 8/24/1928 9/23/1928 7 7 0 7 7 1 0 63 41 13 8 17 21 3 1.14
6 Jesse Haines STL 5/16/1927 6/15/1927 7 5 2 7 6 1 0 61 48 15 10 12 18 0 1.48

A final factoid. In this era of pitch count awareness and relief specialization, a five inning, no run appearance has become increasingly common on the Cardinals. Garcia’s outing is the first this decade after it happened 21 times from 2000-09, or more than twice per season.

Cardinals starting pitchers going only five innings and allowing no runs (since 1952)

Decade #
2010 1
2000 21
1990 11
1980 6
1970 4
1960 1
1950 0
Player Date Opp Rslt App,Dec IP H R BB SO Pit Str
Chris Carpenter 10/1/2009 CIN W 13-0 GS-5 ,W 5 3 0 1 6 90 57
John Smoltz 8/23/2009 SDP W 5-2 GS-5 ,W 5 3 0 0 9 75 53
Chris Carpenter 5/20/2009 CHC W 2-1 GS-5 ,W 5 3 0 2 4 67 41
Adam Wainwright 4/11/2009 HOU W 11-2 GS-5 ,W 5 4 0 3 4 102 61
Chris Carpenter 8/5/2008 LAD W 6-4 GS-5 5 3 0 0 2 51 33
Todd Wellemeyer 6/26/2008 DET L 2-3 GS-5 5 4 0 0 3 76 50
Kyle Lohse 4/1/2008 COL L 1-2 GS-5 5 3 0 3 3 74 42
Todd Wellemeyer 9/23/2007 HOU W 4-3 GS-5 5 1 0 1 5 71 43
Todd Wellemeyer 7/8/2007 SFG W 7-0 GS-5 ,W 5 2 0 4 2 80 50
Anthony Reyes 8/10/2006 CIN W 6-1 GS-5 ,W 5 2 0 2 5 81 47
Jeff Suppan 8/31/2005 FLA W 10-5 GS-5 ,W 5 3 0 2 4 91 61
Andy Benes 9/29/2002 MIL W 4-0 GS-5 5 3 0 3 2 77 47
Garrett Stephenson 9/25/2002 ARI W 6-1 GS-5 ,W 5 1 0 5 2 96 51
Woody Williams 9/9/2002 MIL W 3-0 GS-5 ,W 5 3 0 1 4 66 42
Luther Hackman 2002-08-31 (1) CHC W 8-1 GS-5 ,W 5 4 0 1 3 81 51
Bud Smith 6/27/2002 MIL L 2-7 GS-5 5 5 0 4 2 88 52
Darryl Kile 10/2/2001 MIL W 5-1 GS-5 ,W 5 3 0 3 6 84 48
Mike Matthews 5/18/2001 PHI L 4-5 GS-5 5 1 0 1 3 69 44
Pat Hentgen 7/9/2000 SFG W 8-7 GS-5 ,W 5 2 0 3 2 84 48
Pat Hentgen 6/28/2000 CIN L 3-7 GS-5 5 2 0 2 2 81 52
Rick Ankiel 4/20/2000 SDP W 14-1 GS-5 ,W 5 2 0 7 4 110 59
Kent Mercker 7/3/1999 ARI W 2-1 GS-5 5 2 0 2 4 82 51
Juan Acevedo 6/21/1998 ARI W 5-4 GS-5 5 3 0 1 3 79 47
Mark Petkovsek 6/14/1998 ARI W 2-0 GS-5 ,W 5 2 0 2 5 67 42
Kent Bottenfield 6/10/1998 CHW L 8-10 GS-5 5 1 0 3 2 83 49
Mark Petkovsek 9/10/1996 SFG W 1-0 GS-5 ,W 5 2 0 3 3 64 34
Allen Watson 6/18/1994 PIT W 9-0 GS-5 5 1 0 3 4
Bryan Eversgerd 5/20/1994 FLA W 3-2 GS-5 ,W 5 4 0 0 4 70 47
Paul Kilgus 9/25/1993 FLA L 1-2 GS-5 5 2 0 2 4 76 49
Jose DeLeon 1991-09-23 (2) MON L 1-5 GS-5 5 2 0 2 3 55 34
Joe Magrane 9/4/1990 NYM W 1-0 GS-5 ,W 5 3 0 2 2 84 46
Greg Mathews 5/13/1990 ATL L 1-3 GS-5 5 2 0 4 3 74 41
Scott Terry 8/11/1988 PHI L 0-1 GS-5 5 2 0 2 2 51 35
Bob Forsch 7/18/1988 LAD L 0-1 GS-5 5 2 0 3 0 62 31
Jose DeLeon 5/18/1988 CHC W 4-1 GS-5 5 5 0 2 5 71 47
Joaquin Andujar 5/30/1985 ATL W 6-0 GS-5 ,W 5 5 0 1 3
Bob Forsch 5/31/1984 NYM W 5-2 GS-5 ,W 5 3 0 1 2
Joaquin Andujar 9/11/1982 NYM W 6-3 GS-5 ,W 5 3 0 2 6
Rob Dressler 9/15/1978 CHC W 6-2 GS-5 5 3 0 2 2
Bob Forsch 5/15/1978 SDP L 3-4 GS-5 5 3 0 1 1
Bob Forsch 7/26/1977 ATL W 4-2 GS-5 ,W 5 2 0 1 4
Eric Rasmussen 7/11/1976 LAD L 6-9 GS-5 5 2 0 2 3
Steve Carlton 9/28/1968 HOU L 2-3 GS-5 5 6 0 0 1

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15 Responses to “Jaime Garcia tidbits from Wednesday’s wreckage”

  1. RCWarrior1 says:

    I would have liked to see Jaime pitch the sixth inning even though his pitch count was nearing 100. 110 pitches would have been a nice round number and he could have finished right at that number if he went out for the 6th. Jaime has really been excellent even when he doesn’t have his best stuff.

  2. blingboy says:

    We see Piniero tomorrow. That’ll be fun. Hope he’s gotten worse.

    Albert is on pace for 30 HR and 100+ RBI, but he sure is missing a lot of chances lately. MH doing a good job of getting on ahead of him.

    Just by reading about the game its hard to tell how Brendan did. I see he walked, singled, scored and didn’t make any errors.

  3. CariocaCardinal says:

    “Just by reading about the game its hard to tell how Brendan did. I see he walked, singled, scored and didn’t make any errors.” Do you need to know more – progress is progress no matter how small.

  4. blingboy says:

    Good point CC.

  5. WestCoastbirdWatcher says:

    He seemed more focused BB. Controlled swings, nothing flashy attempted defensively. He was just calmer…………………..Ritalin? Somebody stepped on his tail?

  6. WestCoastbirdWatcher says:

    Penny bare hands a ball. I’m thinking ..watch this next pitch…….. He almost bounces it in, all arm. Conclusion…….it smarted a little. He’s okay though.

  7. WestCoastbirdWatcher says:

    I’m disappointed about the walk to AP. He had noticeably pushed his hands back and was turning away allot more ate the waist. I think he starting to get the point.

    Both Angel color men commented on Colby’s hands being unusual…..and looking allot like Rick Ankiel……………. Joel leaves it up and Colby wails on it………he can hit that pitch anyway.

  8. WestCoastbirdWatcher says:

    Hunter runs right in Colby s face. The tag up on Wednesday night. It will happen repeatedly now. All coming from scouting………….He made a fair throw but he is going to have to start gunning them down or there’s going to be trouble.

  9. WestCoastbirdWatcher says:

    slug fest………

  10. WestCoastbirdWatcher says:

    Welcome home Joel………………………………

  11. WestCoastbirdWatcher says:

    Holiday is trying to cover the hole at his hands……… three straight ground balls over there. He doesn’t have any moves to release from there. A guy like Mike Piazza would have just set you up for that pitch…….then step down the 3rd base line and cleaned your clock. Because of his high leg kick, he would need to rotate on his back foot………. he doesn’t seem to be interested in that gambit for some reason……………he will eventually.

    Penny is out???????? This should be interesting.

  12. WestCoastbirdWatcher says:

    Albert had a much better swing……just a bad hit selection……….. I’m encouraged. Freese takes that nice measured swing to left again.

  13. blingboy says:

    Motte has the straightest fastball I’ve ever seen. I guess when you’re a catcher you don’t want your throws tailing or diving. Still, you’d think Yadi could stick a little mud in the seam or something.

    Hopefully Penny’s OK, but if not, we might see Walters.

  14. blingboy says:

    The guy ran right in front of Holiday, too. We seem to have a reputation for bad arms.

  15. WestCoastbirdWatcher says:

    I like the way the Angels do the payback………………….. Luddy the speedster……the Angels color men are ragging on him.

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