Can it be almost a half-century since the Baltimore Orioles had four twenty games winners who accounted for 81 Wins and 70 Complete Games? Mark this as one of the most Unbreakable records, like Paul Krause's 81 Career Interceptions in the NFL, Robert Parish playing 1,611 games in the NBA, The Detroit Red Wings making the playoffs for 25 straight years, Wayne Gresham scoring almost 900 goals in the NHL, Joe DiMaggio's 56 game Hitting streak, or Cy Young's 511 Pitching Wins.
The game of baseball has evolved with the introduction of the Pitch Count being of supreme importance thereby nearly eliminating the Complete Games statistic. This year there were two twenty game winners in he major leagues (Houston's Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole) and in some recent years no one has reached 20 Wins.
The Orioles went 101-57 in 1971 (It's sort of a modern day record that they had plenty of rainouts that year and 4 games were never made up). The era of the four man pitching rotation would soon draw to a close, but not before the 1971 Orioles pitching staff would leave their mark. Here's some of their stats:
LHP - Dave McNally 21-5 2.89 earned run average. He reached his 20th win on reached on September 21 and added a 21st win on September 28, the next-to-last day of the season.
LHP - Mike Cuellar 20-9 3.08 E.R.A. Got his 20th win in the first game of a September 24 double header.
RHP - Pat Dobson 20-8 2.90 E.R.A. Got his 20th win in the second game of the September 24 double header.
(Possibly another record for the Orioles with two of their pitchers reaching the 20 Wins milestone on the same day).
RHP - Jim Palmer 20-9 2.68 E.R.A. He Reached the 20 Wins mark in his last regular season start on September 25.
Relievers: The bullpen accounted for only 20 wins and 22 Saves, with Eddie Watt being the pitcher most frequently used by the Orioles as their Closer:
Eddie Watt 11 Saves (3-1); Pete Richert 4 Saves (3-5); Tom Dukes 4 Saves (1-5); Grant Jackson 1 Save (4-3); Dick Hall 1 Save (6-6); Dave Leonard 1 Save (2-3); Dave Boswell 0 Saves,(1-2); Jim Hardin 0 Saves (0-0); Orlando Pena 0 Saves (0-1)
The Orioles lost the '71 World Series to the Pittsburgh Pirates in seven exciting games. I will always remember it as the Battle of two superstars, the Pirates' Roberto Clemente versus the Orioles' Frank Robinson, with both having outstanding series at the plate. Game seven was decided by one run, with the Orioles having the tying run on third base when the final out was made on a slow roller (actually better described as a swinging bunt,. with the batter out at first by half a step. Had he been safe the score would have been tied, with the Orioles having a chance to win it in the bottom of the ninth or the game going into extra innings.
Unfortunately, three of the starting pitchers are now deceased. with Jim Palmer, age 74, the only survivor.
Here are the starting pitchers lifetime records:
Jim Palmer 268-152. Palmer was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York in 1990 after spending his entire career as an Oriole.
Mike Cuellar 185-130
Dave McNally 184-119
Pat Dobson 122-129.
The game of baseball has evolved with the introduction of the Pitch Count being of supreme importance thereby nearly eliminating the Complete Games statistic. This year there were two twenty game winners in he major leagues (Houston's Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole) and in some recent years no one has reached 20 Wins.
The Orioles went 101-57 in 1971 (It's sort of a modern day record that they had plenty of rainouts that year and 4 games were never made up). The era of the four man pitching rotation would soon draw to a close, but not before the 1971 Orioles pitching staff would leave their mark. Here's some of their stats:
LHP - Dave McNally 21-5 2.89 earned run average. He reached his 20th win on reached on September 21 and added a 21st win on September 28, the next-to-last day of the season.
LHP - Mike Cuellar 20-9 3.08 E.R.A. Got his 20th win in the first game of a September 24 double header.
RHP - Pat Dobson 20-8 2.90 E.R.A. Got his 20th win in the second game of the September 24 double header.
(Possibly another record for the Orioles with two of their pitchers reaching the 20 Wins milestone on the same day).
RHP - Jim Palmer 20-9 2.68 E.R.A. He Reached the 20 Wins mark in his last regular season start on September 25.
Relievers: The bullpen accounted for only 20 wins and 22 Saves, with Eddie Watt being the pitcher most frequently used by the Orioles as their Closer:
Eddie Watt 11 Saves (3-1); Pete Richert 4 Saves (3-5); Tom Dukes 4 Saves (1-5); Grant Jackson 1 Save (4-3); Dick Hall 1 Save (6-6); Dave Leonard 1 Save (2-3); Dave Boswell 0 Saves,(1-2); Jim Hardin 0 Saves (0-0); Orlando Pena 0 Saves (0-1)
The Orioles lost the '71 World Series to the Pittsburgh Pirates in seven exciting games. I will always remember it as the Battle of two superstars, the Pirates' Roberto Clemente versus the Orioles' Frank Robinson, with both having outstanding series at the plate. Game seven was decided by one run, with the Orioles having the tying run on third base when the final out was made on a slow roller (actually better described as a swinging bunt,. with the batter out at first by half a step. Had he been safe the score would have been tied, with the Orioles having a chance to win it in the bottom of the ninth or the game going into extra innings.
Unfortunately, three of the starting pitchers are now deceased. with Jim Palmer, age 74, the only survivor.
Here are the starting pitchers lifetime records:
Jim Palmer 268-152. Palmer was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York in 1990 after spending his entire career as an Oriole.
Mike Cuellar 185-130
Dave McNally 184-119
Pat Dobson 122-129.
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