All star snubs Kevin Millwood and Jared Weaver, will face off in a crucial division matchup in Los Angeles tonight. Millwood of the Texas Rangers, and Weaver of the Los Angeles Dodgers, will face off for the second time this season, the Rangers winning the first meeting 9-7 on July 1st.
Millwood has been even more fantastic of late for the Rangers going 4-1 in his last six starts. He has allowed only nine earned runs in forty one- innings while striking out thirty one, during this current hot streak. In all six starts Millwood has pitched at least six innings.
Weaver looks to get hot again after being roughed up by the Rangers on July 1st, for seven earned runs on eight hits in 5.1 innings of work. Weaver after winning four consecutive starts has been hit hard in his last three games. He has given up sixteen earned runs in 16.2 innings of work while going 1-1.
The feeling around Arlington among the sports writers and fans was that Millwood certainly deserved to be an All-Stars. Despite the 8-5 record, his 2.80 ERA ranks fifth in the American League. Millwood ranks third in innings pitched with 119.0 while his WHIP is a stingy 1.24.
Lets first talk about Millwood's ERA in comparison to the rest of the All Star Starting Pitchers. Millwood is fifth in the league, with only Zach Greinke, Edwin Jackson, Felix Hernandez, and Roy Halladay having better records. All of which made the team. Jared Weaver ranks eighth.
In the innings pitched category Millwood is third behind Greinke and Cliff Lee. Mark Buehrle, Josh Beckett, and Tim Wakefield are not even in the top ten in the American league. Weaver ranks 14th.
Millwood ranks 13th in opponents batting average, against at .242. He is tied with Zach Greinke in this category who is almost unanamously the first half CY Young award winner. Only five All Stars rank ahead of him in this category. Jared Weaver ranks third in this category at a stifling .223.
The only category that I think hurts Millwood and Weaver is wins. Millwood and Weaver with only eight wins a piece rank sixth in the AL, tied with All Stars Felix Hernandez, Mark Buehrle and Justin Verlander.
If the All Star game is based on who are the best statistical players then why are Tim Wakefield and Josh Beckett in the game? Yes, everybody loves the Boston Red Sox but neither of these guys stats matches up with Millwood or Weaver.
Wakefield with a 4.30 ERA, 102.2 innings pitched, and an opponents batting average of .259. Beckett has a 3.67 ERA, in 105.1 innings, and an opponents batting average of .232. Wakefield and Beckett do have ten and nine wins respectively. If wins is the only category that matters then why do we keep the rest of these statistics?
I did not even mention the intangibles. Millwood held a shaky Rangers team together through a rough stretch in June that could have cost them more than just a few games in the standings. Weaver has been the Angels best starter holding that pitching staff together while ace John Lackey and stud Ervin Santana missed significant time. Plus, the bullpen for the Angels has been horrendous this year with an ERA of over five.
There is going to be a great pitching matchup tonight in L.A. I really wish that Joe Maddon had taken a closer look at the statstics so that we could watch an All Star pitching matchup.
Whatever the outcome tonight both of these guys have worked extremely hard to keep their respective teams in what is turning out to be a great division race. I hope that next year such performance will be rewarded and not forgotten behind a mirage of wins.
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