Most serious baseball fans with an eye toward the rich history of the game are well aware of the impact on starting pitchers of the increased specialization and deployment of the bullpen in recent decades. Another factor in the resultant reduction in workload for starters is the relatively-new focus on pitch counts.
Put that together and what results is the increasing rarity of long outings or in its most extreme form, complete games. Going one step further, getting a three-game series of such performances with impressive results is almost unheard-of these days.
Yet that is what happened at Busch Stadium this past weekend.
When St. Louis Cardinals right-handed starting pitcher Kyle McClellan pitched one batter into the ninth inning during Sunday afternoon’s series finale versus Milwaukee, it concluded a weekend trifecta of Cardinals starters having gone at least eight innings each while allowing no more than one run.
Prior to the season, it would have seemed unimaginable for the 2011 Cardinals to accomplish this without either Adam Wainwright or Chris Carpenter contributing. Yet that is exactly what fans witnessed on Friday, Saturday and Sunday in St. Louis.
Along with McClellan, the standout pitchers are Jaime Garcia and Kyle Lohse.
Lohse was a hard-luck loser on Saturday despite yielding just one run over eight innings. He had the misfortune to be matched up against Milwaukee’s Yovani Gallardo’s no-hit bid. The lefty Garcia was arguably the most impressive of all, spinning a two-hit complete game on Friday during which he carried a perfect game one out into the eighth inning.
Fortunately, to help put this into a historical perspective, we have researcher Tom Orf, who painstakingly combed the records for similar series since 1920.
The last time three such games were thrown by Cardinals pitchers was 39 years ago, in 1972. Further, this is just the fifth occurrence in the last 60 years.
Other than a bulge in the 1940’s, a series of three games pitched this well was only a once-or-twice in a decade occurrence – even in the pre-pitch count and pre-closer days.
Three consecutive starts of 8+ IP and 0 or 1 run allowed vs. same team (in series), St. Louis Cardinals, by decade since 1920
| Decade | 2010′s | 2000′s | 1990′s | 1980′s | 1970′s | 1960′s | 1950′s | 1940′s | 1930′s | 1920′s | Total |
| Times | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 18 |
In fact, Bob Gibson participated in just two of these series during his long Hall of Fame career. That is the same number in which Dizzy and Paul Dean contributed. Mort Cooper was a part of five of the eight three-start performances during the wartime 1940′s.
Lohse’s Saturday gem was only the second of the 54 individual contests in which the Cardinals lost. The other was a Nelson Briles start in July 1968.
The complete list of 17 prior three-game occurrences follows.
Three consecutive starts of 8+ IP and 0 or 1 run allowed vs. same team (in series), St. Louis Cardinals, since 1920
| Pitcher | Date | Opp | Rslt | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR |
| Scipio Spinks | 1972-06-25 (1) | NYM | W 7-1 | 9 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 13 | 0 |
| Rick Wise | 1972-06-25 (2) | NYM | W 2-1 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 0 |
| Reggie Cleveland | 6/24/1972 | NYM | W 11-0 | 9 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 0 |
| Bob Gibson | 1968-07-21 (1) | NYM | W 2-0 | 9 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 0 |
| Nelson Briles | 1968-07-21 (2) | NYM | L 0-1 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 0 |
| Ray Washburn | 7/20/1968 | NYM | W 2-0 | 9 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| Bob Gibson | 6/20/1968 | CHC | W 1-0 | 9 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 0 |
| Steve Carlton | 6/19/1968 | CHC | W 4-0 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 |
| Nelson Briles | 6/18/1968 | CHC | W 1-0 | 9 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Luis Arroyo | 5/16/1955 | PIT | W 6-0 | 9 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Gordon Jones | 5/15/1955 | PIT | W 5-1 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 1 |
| Brooks Lawrence | 5/14/1955 | PIT | W 6-0 | 9 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| Howie Pollet | 6/9/1949 | NYG | W 4-1 | 9 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| Gerry Staley | 6/8/1949 | NYG | W 2-0 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| Harry Brecheen | 6/7/1949 | NYG | W 3-0 | 9 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| Red Barrett | 8/26/1945 | CHC | W 5-1 | 9 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Ken Burkhart | 8/25/1945 | CHC | W 3-1 | 9 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| Harry Brecheen | 8/24/1945 | CHC | W 1-0 | 9 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 0 |
| Red Barrett | 6/29/1945 | PHI | W 9-1 | 9 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Ken Burkhart | 6/28/1945 | PHI | W 6-1 | 9 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| Blix Donnelly | 1945-06-27 (2) | PHI | W 6-0 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| Mort Cooper | 1944-07-09 (1) | BSN | W 1-0 | 9 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 0 |
| Harry Brecheen | 1944-07-09 (2) | BSN | W 9-0 | 9 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ted Wilks | 7/8/1944 | BSN | W 4-0 | 9 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 0 |
| Red Munger | 1944-06-11 (1) | CIN | W 3-1 | 9 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Harry Gumbert | 1944-06-11 (2) | CIN | W 4-1 | 9 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Mort Cooper | 6/10/1944 | CIN | W 18-0 | 9 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Max Lanier | 1943-09-18 (1) | CHC | W 2-1 | 9 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 0 |
| Al Brazle | 1943-09-18 (2) | CHC | W 5-0 | 9 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| Mort Cooper | 9/17/1943 | CHC | W 2-1 | 10 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
| Harry Gumbert | 1943-07-11 (1) | BSN | W 3-0 | 9 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Howie Pollet | 7/10/1943 | BSN | W 6-0 | 9 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 0 |
| Mort Cooper | 7/9/1943 | BSN | W 7-0 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| Johnny Beazley | 8/26/1942 | BRO | W 2-1 | 10 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Mort Cooper | 8/25/1942 | BRO | W 2-1 | 14 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
| Max Lanier | 8/24/1942 | BRO | W 7-1 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| Paul Dean | 1935-07-14 (1) | PHI | W 5-1 | 9 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| Bill Walker | 1935-07-14 (2) | PHI | W 10-1 | 9 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 0 |
| Bill Hallahan | 7/13/1935 | PHI | W 4-0 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 0 |
| Dizzy Dean | 9/30/1934 | CIN | W 9-0 | 9 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 0 |
| Paul Dean | 9/29/1934 | CIN | W 6-1 | 9 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 1 |
| Dizzy Dean | 9/28/1934 | CIN | W 4-0 | 9 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| Flint Rhem | 5/4/1932 | CIN | W 7-0 | 9 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 0 |
| Dizzy Dean | 5/3/1932 | CIN | W 9-0 | 9 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 4 | 0 |
| Syl Johnson | 5/2/1932 | CIN | W 2-1 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 0 |
| Pete Alexander | 5/21/1929 | CIN | W 12-1 | 9 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Jesse Haines | 5/20/1929 | CIN | W 5-1 | 9 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| Syl Johnson | 5/19/1929 | CIN | W 2-1 | 11 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Bill Sherdel | 8/26/1928 | PHI | W 6-1 | 9 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 0 |
| Pete Alexander | 8/25/1928 | PHI | W 2-1 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Jesse Haines | 8/24/1928 | PHI | W 1-0 | 9 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 0 |
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Who woulda thunk it after Waino went down? Certainly not the geniuses at ESPN, who predicted the Cardinals demise before the first game of the season. Imagine John Kruk’s and Bobby Valentine’s surprise to find the Cardinals in first place. I don’t have to imagine, because John Kruk expressed his astonishment last night on Baseball Tonight. Ole John better stick to seat hopping in MLB ballparks because he sucks at prognosticating.
On another note, I will be at the Springfield Cardinals game tonight, checking out the future of the Cardinals. I just hope it doesn’t rain.
Tom Orf really does an amazing job. Providing loads of info.
Who does Springfield play tonight crdswmn? Hope you have a great time!
Yes, I second that. Tom does great research. I just package it.
Who cares what ESPN thinks?
Besides, our own mind reader all but guaranteed we’d be in 4th place by May.
Lots of interesting predictions out there. Strauss was on twitter last night dogging the Milwaukee predictors but the lines went quiet after Goold reminded him about his Cubs first place forecast.
FWIW, my original NLC vote went to Cincy. We’ll get a first head-to-head look at that this coming weekend. I read Cueto is lined up for Saturday. Carp would go the next day, Sunday.
In all fairness, not everybody could be expected to predict the dominance of the back of the Cards’ rotation or Berkman’s Lazarus impersonation. Add to that having the best .248 hitter in baseball, the amazing disappearing closer, and four hungry young righties, and the national gurus are befuddled. We, of course, knew it all along.
The most amazing thing about those feats was Dizzy Dean pitching two complete games out of three in 1934 with the second one coming on one day’s rest. It was the last game of the season and clinched the pennant.
He then pitched and won game one of the World Series on two days rest and pitched a CG shutout to win game seven with one day of rest.
You sure know a lot about Dizzy Dean, DD. Thanks for sharing some.
1934 was a season Dean won 30 games. This could explain why he came back on just one day’s rest to go after the 30th.
We’ll never see feats like that again.
Mort Cooper went 14 innings 8/25/42 for the complete game. The box score shows he faced 51 batters.
An example of a feat equalled after many decades
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/1104/mlb.best.single.game.performances/content.3.html
blingboy, I looked it up after seeing his name listed twice in the 1934 group. JS might be right that he was after personal glory in pitching the final game on one days rest. I prefer to think that the team wanted their best guy on the mound to clinch the pennant. The Giants lost their last five games to fall to second place.
Had the Giants won their last game and the Card lost, the two teams would’ve been tied after playing 153 games. The Giants would’ve had to make up a game against the cubs and the Cards a game against the Braves unless rules for making up games were different in those days. I think the Cards were taking no chances.
It is possible both things were true. Probably were.
Puerto Plata. Silver port. A port city on the north shore of the Dominican.
Three players from Puerto Plata in the Cards system:
1. Quad Cities OF Oscar Tavares, signed November 2008. Appalachian League all star last summer, though just 18.
2. DSL OF Amauris Cappelan, signed November 2009, $450,000
3. Memphis reliever Roberto Marte, signed by the KC Royals in 2000. We traded for Marte on 4/13/11 to help replace Sanchez and Salas.
Carlos Martinez, the new Pedro Martinez, got hit around last night for Quad Cities. This is not unexpected. He is just human, after all. Its a huge, huge leap from the Dominican League, skipping over three short season squads, to Quad Cities.
Martinez has a big reputation. Strong arm, given $1.5MM to sign. Dominated the Domincan League last summer. So the Cards have tried to jump him over 3 levels.
Martinez, too, like Taveres, Cappelan, and Marte, is from Puerto Plata.
[...] For more about Cardinals history, see a terrific post about a recent pitching feat that involves Scipio Spinks at The Cardinal Nation Blog. [...]
Scipio!!
I had a great time at the game last night. It went into extra innings, and we had a 2+ hour drive home so we left after the 10th inning, only to discover 30 minutes later that it only lasted another inning. Springfield won 5-4 in the bottom of the 11th.
I got to see Maikel Cleto make his Springfield debut. We were sitting directly behind home plate. His first few pitches were kind of wild but he got better. He hit as high as 99 on the radar. There was a man from Cardinals Player Development sitting right behind me. He was wearing a 2006 WS ring. I have never seen one up close; they are massive.
Matt Adams hit a solo HR and Chris Swauger his a 3 run shot. There was a neat play at home plate, the LFer Jose Garcia made an incredible throw, right on the money to the catcher to get the runner out at the plate. My friend doesn’t even like baseball and he became excited over the play.
Hammons Field is a nice park. We had perfect weather. Good times.
Correction the Swauger HR was 2 runs, not 3.
As it should be…. thanks for the report….
Who did they play?
Arkansas Travelers.
Crdswmn-nice report.What did you think of Matt Adams? He could be the 1Bof the future if AP goes elsewhere.Adams seems to be doing well.What say you or others who have seen him play?
I thought he definitely had potential. He certainly has pop in his bat. Played the field well, though he did muff a ball or two, but no harm.
Crdswmn-nice report.What did you think of Matt Adams? He could be the 1Bof the future if AP goes elsewhere.Adams seems to be doing well.What say you or others who have seen him play?