> While I am, in fact, too young to remember Sandy Koufax, what it sounds like > is a sabermetrician. Not in his wildest dreams was Koufax as good as Pedro. > Don't forget that Koufax pitched in _Dodger Stadium_ off a higher mound. > Despite those advantages, Pedro is better. His ERA relative to the league > in 2000 and 1999 was much, much better than anything Koufax ever put > together. Koufax was good, no mistake, but Pedro was better. It isn't even > close. By any reasonable measure Pedro is vastly better. > See there you go. I want to see Pedro do in a World Series what Kofax did. He was unhitable as was Gibson. Look at the only stat that counts. Wins in big games. Look at how he has fared against the Yankees. They have beaten him (or more precisely his team) whenever it was important. Not by much, but they scratch a run or they wear him down. Kofax didn't need a run. You got zip off him.
Me: This would be the same Pedro Martinez who, with an injured back, threw 6 no-hit innings against the Cleveland offense two years ago in an elimination game in the playoffs? Who then shut down the Yankees - again, still with an injured back - in his starts against them. This is not a pitcher who has problems in big games. Now, he's never pitched in the World Series. But to say that he's responsible for that is absurd. His teams don't hit, and the other pitchers on his team are fallible. But he's done everything that any human being could have done to get them there, and that's the only standard you can measure him by. Wins in big games is not, in any way, the only stat that counts. ERA in big games, maybe. But even that, I'm skeptical. Wins are a product of how many runs your teams scores, period. Look at Clemens and Mussina on the Yankees this year. Two pitchers with virtually the same ERAs, innings pitched, and so on. But Clemens is 20-2 and Mussina is, I think, 15-14. But which has the higher career winning percentage? Mussina. Are you telling me that Mussina mysteriously forgot how to win this season? Of course not. He has been lucky earlier in his career, and this year he was unlucky. But it's just random variance. Gautam
