Twins 4 - Blue Jays 3

Sunday, May 29 2005 @ 10:30 AM EDT

Contributed by: Pepper Moffatt

I don't want this
remember that
I'll never forget where your at
don't let the days go by

With the loss David Bush remains winless on the season, with his record falling to 0-5. Or as Spencer Fordin describes it:

    Where's the breaking point? Dave Bush's first win remained elusive Saturday, when he sunk the Blue Jays to an early deficit and an eventual 4-3 loss against Minnesota.

    "I'm frustrated, but I think everybody is. It's not just me," he said after the game. "If I pitch well, I'll get wins. They're not coming for me at all right now, but the best thing I can do is keep the same routine and keep going out there. If I could have a pitch back today, it might've been a different game. That's kind of the way it's been going."

    Bush remains the only winless pitcher in Toronto's rotation, and he has more than twice as many no-decisions (five) as the next nearest pitcher. The troubling statistics don't end there. After completing five innings in five of his first six outings, the right-hander has been unable to make it that far in three of his last four starts.

I wanted to dig deeper into Bush's stats, to see how other pitchers with similar statistics have fared. Here are Bush's important stats as they relate to DIPS:

Dave Bush

10GS 53.1IP 10HR 10BB 26K

It's going to be tough to find a pitcher who has struck out only 26 in batters in 50+ innings this year - those numbers are positively Rueteresque. Here's as close as I could come:

Ten Starters Who Haven't Been Striking Out Many Batters

 1. Kenny Rogers   - 10GS 69.1IP  1HR 22BB 23K 6-2
 2. Ryan Franklin  -  9GS 62.2IP 11HR 24BB 26K 2-6
 3. Brian Lawrence - 10GS 61.2IP  6HR 14BB 29K 3-5
 4. Ryan Drese     - 10GS 60.2IP  4HR 23BB 16K 4-4
 5. Carlos Silva   -  8GS 60.0IP  5HR  2BB 21K 3-2
 6. Aaron Sele     - 10GS 57.1IP  5HR 25BB 25K 4-4
 7. Jose Lima      - 11GS 55.1IP 15HR 25BB 25K 0-4
 8. Russ Ortiz     - 10GS 55.1IP  8HR 31BB 23K 4-3
 9. Mike Hampton   -  8GS 55.0IP  4HR 15BB 21K 4-1
10. Joe Mays       -  8GS 53.1IP  9HR 12BB 18K 3-1
AVERAGE            -  9GS 59.1IP  7HR 19BB 23K 3-3
Bush               - 10GS 53.1IP 10HR 10BB 26K 0-5
I probably should have tried to find guys who had pitched about the same number of innings as Bush, but no matter. Anyhow, it's clear that Bush is pitch at about the same level as these guys, with more strikeouts and less walks, but also a little more prone to the longball. Also, Bush hasn't been lasting as long into games as our group of 10, but that's likely because Bush's arm is being protected by the club somewhat. Anyhow, the average pitcher in these group is currently 3-3 on the season, whereas Bush is 0-5. I don't think it's very controversial to suggest that Bush has been somewhat unlucky.

Questions of the Day

1. If Bush was 3-3 instead of 0-5, would anybody be calling for him to be sent down the minors, as was suggested yesterday?

2. If you sent Bush to the minors, who would you bring up in his place?

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