Guidry's Extraordinary "Big Game" Record
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
, Posted by Gator Guy at 3:58 AM
Guidry did a season's worth of pitching in his five September pennant races in his prime - 245.2 innings. He won 26 and lost 4 in 30 starts. He struck out 181 and walked 60. His ERA was 2.67. All but 6 of these 30 starts came with the Yankees leading or trailing by 5.5 games or less. All but one of these 30 starts came before the Yankees had clinched or been eliminated (Guidry's last start of 1983 came after elimination). Every start but one during the '77 and '78 pennant races - when Guidry was as at his most dominant - came when the difference was 3.5 games or less. He pitched five shutouts and had two other 7 inning starts in which he didn't surrender a run.
And as if all that weren't enough, Guidry pitched six September games against the other contenders in these five pennant races and his line reads 6-0, 50.1 innings, 1.97 ERA.
Is there really anything else to be said? I could recount the back-to-back two-hit shutouts of the Red Sox in '78. I could of course do an entire post on Guidry's victory in the one-game playoff at Fenway in '78, which many consider the greatest game ever played. I could discuss Guidry's streaks of winning 7 straight Aug/Sept starts in '77 and 6 straight Aug/Sept starts in '83, or the fact that he came within one out of completing all six of his wins in the '83 streak.
Or I could mention that during Guidry's last hurrah in September of '85, four of his six Sept. wins were one-run games, a fifth was a two-run game, and though the Yankees won the sixth game by three runs, Guidry left with a 1-0 lead after seven innings. The deal with Guidry in September was very clear: if you were going to beat him you'd better knock him out early, because if you didn't he was going to beat you.
And of course the post-season meant more of the same from Guidry: 5-2 with a 3.02 ERA in ten starts (eight of which the Yankees won). In the World Series Guidry was even better: 3-1 in four starts with a 1.69 ERA. Of his four WS starts, two were complete games. He pitched seven innings or more in each start and surrendered two runs or less in each.
We'll compare Guidry's extraordinary September and October success with some of the other great pitchers of the last 50 years, including certain pitchers with "big game" reputations who experienced considerable difficulties in September in the midst of pennant races.
And of course the post-season meant more of the same from Guidry: 5-2 with a 3.02 ERA in ten starts (eight of which the Yankees won). In the World Series Guidry was even better: 3-1 in four starts with a 1.69 ERA. Of his four WS starts, two were complete games. He pitched seven innings or more in each start and surrendered two runs or less in each.
We'll compare Guidry's extraordinary September and October success with some of the other great pitchers of the last 50 years, including certain pitchers with "big game" reputations who experienced considerable difficulties in September in the midst of pennant races.
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