(Editor’s Note: Dodger Insider continues its series looking back at the most notable records in franchise history, contextualizing them against the modern game and providing background from various sources, including the Dodger vaults.)
Previous Versions:
Gagne’s consecutive saves
by Cary Osborne
Two hundred and thirty-three wins and 2,696 strikeouts.
It’s been 42 years now. Two of the most hallowed Dodger pitching records have stood the test of time.
In 1979, Don Sutton surpassed Don Drysdale for the Dodgers’ all-time wins and strikeouts records.
The wins accomplishment — regardless of what one thinks of the statistic — is made all that more remarkable placed against today’s era of starting pitching.
First, there’s the longevity. Sutton’s first 15 seasons (1966–1980) were spent with the Dodgers. He ended his 23-season Major League career with a final season in Dodger Blue in 1988.
The number of players in 2021 who had been with the same organization for 15 years was four: St Louis’ Yadier Molina (18 seasons), Adam Wainwright (16), Washington’s Ryan Zimmerman (16) and Cincinnati’s Joey Votto (15).
Just one pitcher — Wainwright. And only two other starting pitchers have at least 12 seasons with the same club — Clayton Kershaw (14) and Stephen Strasburg (12).
Then there’s the added layer that pitcher wins are more difficult to come by in this era. In Sutton’s first 15 seasons with the Dodgers, he averaged 34.5 starts, 27 decisions and 15.3 wins per season. He also averaged 7.15 innings per start. Sutton received a decision in 77.4% of his starts from 1966–1980.
In 2021, Major League starters received a decision in 59.47% of their starts and averaged 5.02 innings per start. Those numbers are not conducive to pitchers achieving victories like they did in Sutton’s era.
The strikeouts, on the other hand, are a different story. The last two Major League seasons are the highest totals of strikeouts-per-nine innings in Major League history — 9.07 in 2020 and 8.90 in 2021.
Only one season in Sutton’s 23-year career did the K/9 climb over six: 6.01 in 1987.
But, longevity again matters. If a pitcher averaged 200 strikeouts per season, it would take them into their 14th season with the Dodgers to surpass 2,696.
Enter Kershaw.
Like Sutton, he is one of the legendary pitchers in organization history. The 14-season veteran has 2,670 career strikeouts as a Dodger — 26 behind Sutton.
But he is a free agent.
Kershaw has 185 career victories. The next closest active Dodger is Walker Buehler with 40.
The Man Behind the Numbers
Thirteen days before Sutton made his Major League debut on April 14, 1966, he sat down and wrote a letter to a young athlete, who was living in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
He offered some advice on how to be a better ballplayer — advice he once received. Sutton wrote:
“First, always be willing to listen to your coach, after all he has been around a little longer.
“Second, whatever position you play: try to be the best.
“Third; never quit or give up. Because a true winner doesn’t quit, he just works harder.
“Fourth, respect and obey your parents.
“Fifth, never get a big head. Always remember that everything we have is a gift from God.”
Twenty-two years later, in Sutton’s final season as a Major Leaguer, one in which he returned to the Dodgers, the right-hander was interviewed for Dodgers Magazine. His words were similar when asked what advice he would give younger pitchers. Sutton, 43 at the time, said:
“The ability to do what we do is really a gift. I think we owe it to our parents, or to God, or to the people who have committed themselves to us to treat it as something special. We should develop it, nurture it, bring it along and use it as long as we can. I think there are a number of ways to do that, but again it goes back to the more information you can have about what you do, the better you can do it.”
Sutton was consistent.
He had double-figure victories in each of his first 15 seasons with the Dodgers and made 27 or more starts in each season (31 or more in 14 of them).
With health and longevity — excellence, too, as he ranked in the NL top 10 in ERA six times — Sutton’s numbers grew to the point where he was closing in on two legends who were in the Dodger starting rotation when he was a rookie in 1966: Sandy Koufax and Drysdale.
The Records
On April 22, 1979, Sutton struck out San Francisco’s Darrell Evans for strikeout 2,397. The Dodgers won the game 9–2 with Sutton going all nine innings and striking out 12. It was the 207th victory of his career, pitting him two behind franchise leader Drysdale.
A month later, on May 20, Sutton opposed Cincinnati’s Tom Seaver at Riverfront Stadium. History now shows that this was a matchup of two Hall of Fame pitchers who are part of the 10-member 300 wins/3,000 strikeout club.
Sutton was the winner that day, going eight innings, allowing three earned runs in a 6–4 victory over the Reds. The bushy gray-haired pitcher from Clio, Alabama, was now the owner of all-time wins mark for the Dodgers: 210 victories.
Later, on Aug. 10, 1979, Sutton struck out San Francisco’s Greg Johnston on three pitches in the top of the eighth inning, passing Drysdale for first place in team history with strikeout №2,487. He allowed one run over eight innings to earn the victory.
Five days later, he shut the Giants out for his 50th career shutout — another franchise record that Drysdale once owned. Sutton also passed him in career innings pitched that season — two records Sutton still owns to this day: now 52 shutouts and 3,816 1/3 innings pitched. (No Major League pitcher in the last 45 years has 50 shutouts.)
On Aug. 15, 1979, Vin Scully capsuled all of them:
There it is. Fiftieth shutout, and look at that. He did it. He passed Don Drysdale. He stands alone now. Most innings pitched, most strikeouts, 50 shutouts — most by a Dodger, 215 victories — most for a Dodger. Magnificent moment in the pitching life of Don Sutton.
Sutton passed away on Jan. 19 this year at the age of 75 after a battle with cancer. For the entire 2021 season, the Dodgers wore a patch with Sutton’s name and number 20 on it, positioned just below a patch for his former manager Tommy Lasorda, who died on Jan. 7.
After he broke the wins record in 1979, Sutton said in a Dodger publication: “I’ve got to say I’m a little embarrassed to have my name mentioned up there with guys like Don (Drysdale) and Sandy (Koufax). It’s hard to believe my accomplishments have been on par with theirs. They were such great pitchers and they both meant so much to this organization.”
So does Don Sutton.
"and" - Google News
December 02, 2021 at 11:41AM
https://ift.tt/3xNcyjL
The Dodgers' hallowed records: Sutton's career wins and strikeouts - mlblogs.com
"and" - Google News
https://ift.tt/35sHtDV
https://ift.tt/2ycZSIP
And
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "The Dodgers' hallowed records: Sutton's career wins and strikeouts - mlblogs.com"
Post a Comment