Those brave souls who took the hill at the start of the game for the Jays in 1993, had some troubles.
But they also had a lot of heart.
The Jays were hoping that Jack Morris would be as good as he was in 1992, but it didn't work out that way.
It was Morris that took the hill on the Jays opening till. He was beaten 8-1.
And this trend continued on for a while. Almost the entire year.
Jack lost his first three starts, got blown off the mound in his 4th, before finally winning a game. Morris's numbers for April: 1-3, 11.51 ERA.
Following another loss in his first May start, it was time for some DL time. Morris was gone from May 2nd to May 21st.
When he came off it, things looked a little brighter:
An 11-2 win against his own team, the Twins on May 21st saw Jack give up just 2 earned runs in 7 innings!
A masterful 4-0, complete game, 5-hit shutout of the Twins on June 16th!
Then for a little no-no going magic on day!
One June 27, against the Brew Crew, Morris had a no-hitter for the first 6 innings. The Brewers then got 4 straight hits to knock out Jack. The good news was, Morris won the game to improve his record to 5-7. The bad news is, he ended up giving up 2 earned runs. The way he was pitching, he needed a shutout to drop the ERA.
The ERA at the end of June now 7.68. Jack's best start of the next month was his last July start. It was a fine 5-hitter against the O's, but it was also only 7 innings. Oh and it was a no decision.
He pitched fairly good overall in July, but lost his only 3 decisions to drop his W-L record to 5-10. He would only manage to go 2-2 the rest of the year.
His ERA did drop, in both July and August. 3 of his starts in August saw Jack give up 2 or less runs. His last August start against the same Mariners team that beat him 8-1 was good. Morris tossed 7 innings of shutout ball and gave up just 3 hits, no runs. Again though, it was a no decision.
And after two more starts in September, Morris was done for the year with an ugly 7-12 record and a 6.19 ERA.
It didn't help that the Jays high-octane offence scored only 4.3 runs for Jack Morris in his starts. But with that kind of an ERA, it wasn't going to matter!
And Toronto was just 11-16 in Jack's starts.
Of Morris's 27 starts, only 8 of them were "quality starts". That's a start of 6 or more innings with 3 of less earned runs allowed.
And the opposition batted .302 against Morris. Gee, I bet John Olerud wished he could have hit more against Morris.
He did manage to lead the Jays in compete games with 4, tie for shutouts (with Juan Guzman, Todd Stottlemyre and Al Leiter) with 1. But he gave up 11.1H/9IP. There were some other ugly numbers, too!
He walked almost 4 batters per 9 innings pitched. Only Dave Stewart, with 4, and Juan Guzman with 4.5, average more.
He threw 14 wild pitches, which was second on the staff (and third in the American League) to Guzman's 26.
It just wasn't Morris' year. It was too bad, because the way he pitched in '92, you had to figure it was just a matter of showing up. It seemed age (38) and injuries had caught up to Jack.
But Jack kept a positive attitude all the way. Indeed, it was his plus Dave Stewart's experience and presence that really helped some of the other starters. Most notably, the team's big winner of 1993, Pat Hentgen!
Pat Hentgen
Speaking of which, Hentgen had battled injuries of his own in 1992. But he still managed to go 5-2 with the big league club. There just wasn't any room for him in Toronto, with Morris, Juan Guzman, Todd Stottlemyre, Jimmy Key, Dave Stieb, David Wells, and later David Cone.
But with Morris and Stewart hurt early, Key, Cone, Wells and Stieb gone, the door was open.
I didn't expect much from Hentgen. He started the season in the bullpen despite all that above. But after 2 appearances, he was in the starting rotation for the season. What did the 24 year old kid do?
Despite losing that second relief appearance, all Hentgen did was win his first four starts and drop his ERA to 2.08!
Then, after losing a game in May, he won his next 7 decisions (including a perfect 5-0 June) and was 11-2 by the end of June! His ERA was a little higher, but only 3.02!
But July seemed to be bad. I guess going to the All-Star Game made him feel it was too easy. July was a 1-3 month for Pat, and an ERA of 6.19. I guess Jack Morris and Patty traded spots!
August was 4-2, and September was 3-2. But his ERA slowly climbed. It was 3.78 at the end of July. 3.78 by the end of August. At the end of the year it was 3.87.
Also, he lost his last start on October 2nd. With that, he failed to join Morris as the only pitchers to win 20 games for the Jays, to that point.
But his 19 wins led Toronto and was second in the AL in 1993. Only another Jack, Jack McDowell, won more games (22). Also, Pat finished 6th in Cy Young voting. On the negative side, he was also 6th in the American League in home runs allowed, with 27. More bad news: he was 7th in the AL in wild pitches with 7!
But the Jays actually won 3 other games that Pat started. So the team won a total of 22 games that he started. Only Juan Guzman starts produced more wins. The team was 22-10 in Hentgen's starts and 23-10 in Guzman's starts.
Pat Hentgen was also second to Juan Guzman in "quality starts". Hentgen had 16, Guzman 20.
Another stat that Hentgen was second to Guzman in, was run support per games started. The Jays scored an average of 5.9 runs per start by Pat. Guzman was a little better, 6.3. The league average was 4.7 in the American League, so Hentgen about a run per game more than the average AL hurler.
Opponents did hit him well, it seemed. Opponent's batted .258 against Pat, but it was 9 points less than the league average. And hey, opponents hit .302 against Morris, .292 against Todd Stottlemyre, .284 against Mike Timlin and even .272 against my man Mark Eichhorn!
One thing that surprised me to find missing from Pat Hentgen's 1993 season was a shutout.
But opposing batters didn't walk too much against this particular Toronto hurler. Hentgen walked only 74 batters. That was good enough for an average of only 3.1BB/9IP.
But in a year, where the starting pitchers were anything but a sure thing, it was Hentgen who was the top winner and 2nd on the staff (to Guzman) in W%. Hentgen logged more innings than anyone on the staff except Guzman (216 1/3). No Jays starter posted a lower ERA than Pat's 3.87.
So Pat Hentgen had certainly met and exceeded ERA. The Jays had the "Guy who always gets the W's"
But there was another pitcher with a lot of W's. Wins and wild pitches.
The wild Juan!
But they also had a lot of heart.
Jack Morris
The Jays were hoping that Jack Morris would be as good as he was in 1992, but it didn't work out that way.
It was Morris that took the hill on the Jays opening till. He was beaten 8-1.
And this trend continued on for a while. Almost the entire year.
Jack lost his first three starts, got blown off the mound in his 4th, before finally winning a game. Morris's numbers for April: 1-3, 11.51 ERA.
Following another loss in his first May start, it was time for some DL time. Morris was gone from May 2nd to May 21st.
When he came off it, things looked a little brighter:
An 11-2 win against his own team, the Twins on May 21st saw Jack give up just 2 earned runs in 7 innings!
A masterful 4-0, complete game, 5-hit shutout of the Twins on June 16th!
Then for a little no-no going magic on day!
One June 27, against the Brew Crew, Morris had a no-hitter for the first 6 innings. The Brewers then got 4 straight hits to knock out Jack. The good news was, Morris won the game to improve his record to 5-7. The bad news is, he ended up giving up 2 earned runs. The way he was pitching, he needed a shutout to drop the ERA.
The ERA at the end of June now 7.68. Jack's best start of the next month was his last July start. It was a fine 5-hitter against the O's, but it was also only 7 innings. Oh and it was a no decision.
He pitched fairly good overall in July, but lost his only 3 decisions to drop his W-L record to 5-10. He would only manage to go 2-2 the rest of the year.
His ERA did drop, in both July and August. 3 of his starts in August saw Jack give up 2 or less runs. His last August start against the same Mariners team that beat him 8-1 was good. Morris tossed 7 innings of shutout ball and gave up just 3 hits, no runs. Again though, it was a no decision.
And after two more starts in September, Morris was done for the year with an ugly 7-12 record and a 6.19 ERA.
It didn't help that the Jays high-octane offence scored only 4.3 runs for Jack Morris in his starts. But with that kind of an ERA, it wasn't going to matter!
And Toronto was just 11-16 in Jack's starts.
Of Morris's 27 starts, only 8 of them were "quality starts". That's a start of 6 or more innings with 3 of less earned runs allowed.
And the opposition batted .302 against Morris. Gee, I bet John Olerud wished he could have hit more against Morris.
He did manage to lead the Jays in compete games with 4, tie for shutouts (with Juan Guzman, Todd Stottlemyre and Al Leiter) with 1. But he gave up 11.1H/9IP. There were some other ugly numbers, too!
He walked almost 4 batters per 9 innings pitched. Only Dave Stewart, with 4, and Juan Guzman with 4.5, average more.
He threw 14 wild pitches, which was second on the staff (and third in the American League) to Guzman's 26.
It just wasn't Morris' year. It was too bad, because the way he pitched in '92, you had to figure it was just a matter of showing up. It seemed age (38) and injuries had caught up to Jack.
But Jack kept a positive attitude all the way. Indeed, it was his plus Dave Stewart's experience and presence that really helped some of the other starters. Most notably, the team's big winner of 1993, Pat Hentgen!
Pat Hentgen
Speaking of which, Hentgen had battled injuries of his own in 1992. But he still managed to go 5-2 with the big league club. There just wasn't any room for him in Toronto, with Morris, Juan Guzman, Todd Stottlemyre, Jimmy Key, Dave Stieb, David Wells, and later David Cone.
But with Morris and Stewart hurt early, Key, Cone, Wells and Stieb gone, the door was open.
I didn't expect much from Hentgen. He started the season in the bullpen despite all that above. But after 2 appearances, he was in the starting rotation for the season. What did the 24 year old kid do?
Despite losing that second relief appearance, all Hentgen did was win his first four starts and drop his ERA to 2.08!
Then, after losing a game in May, he won his next 7 decisions (including a perfect 5-0 June) and was 11-2 by the end of June! His ERA was a little higher, but only 3.02!
But July seemed to be bad. I guess going to the All-Star Game made him feel it was too easy. July was a 1-3 month for Pat, and an ERA of 6.19. I guess Jack Morris and Patty traded spots!
August was 4-2, and September was 3-2. But his ERA slowly climbed. It was 3.78 at the end of July. 3.78 by the end of August. At the end of the year it was 3.87.
Also, he lost his last start on October 2nd. With that, he failed to join Morris as the only pitchers to win 20 games for the Jays, to that point.
But his 19 wins led Toronto and was second in the AL in 1993. Only another Jack, Jack McDowell, won more games (22). Also, Pat finished 6th in Cy Young voting. On the negative side, he was also 6th in the American League in home runs allowed, with 27. More bad news: he was 7th in the AL in wild pitches with 7!
But the Jays actually won 3 other games that Pat started. So the team won a total of 22 games that he started. Only Juan Guzman starts produced more wins. The team was 22-10 in Hentgen's starts and 23-10 in Guzman's starts.
Pat Hentgen was also second to Juan Guzman in "quality starts". Hentgen had 16, Guzman 20.
Another stat that Hentgen was second to Guzman in, was run support per games started. The Jays scored an average of 5.9 runs per start by Pat. Guzman was a little better, 6.3. The league average was 4.7 in the American League, so Hentgen about a run per game more than the average AL hurler.
Opponents did hit him well, it seemed. Opponent's batted .258 against Pat, but it was 9 points less than the league average. And hey, opponents hit .302 against Morris, .292 against Todd Stottlemyre, .284 against Mike Timlin and even .272 against my man Mark Eichhorn!
One thing that surprised me to find missing from Pat Hentgen's 1993 season was a shutout.
But opposing batters didn't walk too much against this particular Toronto hurler. Hentgen walked only 74 batters. That was good enough for an average of only 3.1BB/9IP.
But in a year, where the starting pitchers were anything but a sure thing, it was Hentgen who was the top winner and 2nd on the staff (to Guzman) in W%. Hentgen logged more innings than anyone on the staff except Guzman (216 1/3). No Jays starter posted a lower ERA than Pat's 3.87.
So Pat Hentgen had certainly met and exceeded ERA. The Jays had the "Guy who always gets the W's"
But there was another pitcher with a lot of W's. Wins and wild pitches.
The wild Juan!
Juan Guzman
Guzman may have been wild, but he sure was consistent on the mound. Would he be as good as he was in '91 (11-2) and '92 (16-5)? You know, a lot of wins and few losses? Winning percentage!
He got off to a slow start as far as the ERA thing goes, but finished strong.
And as far as the aforementioned wins goes, was Juan and only ever there!
He got hit hard his first 2 starts, but didn't lose any of them. Then he pitched well in his last 3 starts in April. Guzman shutout Kansas on the 29th, having almost blanked the Indians on the 19th.
May was strange. 4 straight no decisions, then a win. Then, another no decision.
But Juan beat Oakland in his first June start, to go 5-0 on the campaign. Guzman K'd a season high 11 batters. He finally lost a game against the Tigers, but here we are, and it's June 10th! He won his next two starts, anyways. Also, he dropped his ERA from 5.18 to 4.69 in this month. Seems odd though, his best start (June 20th, just 2 earned runs in 7 innings) produced a no decision. Guzman is up to 8 of those in three months!
Toronto, though, is now 12-4 in games that Guzman has pitched. He's the guy you need up there, if you are going to win!
That's the thing, isn't it? With Morris and Todd Stottlemyre struggling, Stewart hurt, Al Leiter (hurt a bit, too) and Pat Hentgen iffy, Guzman was winning a lot of key games at this time.
It catches up with you eventually, though. Guzman lost his only 2 decisions in July. So the record drops to 7-3. The ERA also drops from 4.69 to 4.35.
He had pitched well in the second loss of the month (3rd of the season), allowing just 2 earned runs to the White Sox. The Jays lost 2-1. The start before that, a 7-2 Jays win, Guzman got a no decision despite surrendering just 1 earned run in 7 innings. Finally, you had Guzman give up just 1 earned run in 6 1/3 innings in his last July start. Guzman gave up 10 hits, though.
Now, for something incredible: Guzman did not lose another game in the regular season!
In his second August start against the Twins on the 11th, it was just 1 earned run in 8 innings. It was win #8. His next start start against the Indians, it was zero earned runs in 7 innings for win #9. Then is was 3 earned runs for win #10 on the season against the Mariners on the 22nd. In this month, he fanned 10 batters in a game twice!
Guzman was not finished yet.
Against Oakland on the first day of September, it was win #11 for Juan. In this start, he allowed just 3 earned runs in 8 1/3 innings. A week later, in a 2-1 loss to Oakland, it was another no decision. It was also time for zero runs allowed period by Juan in 7 2/3 innings. Juan was so dominating that he allowed just 3 hits.
In Guzman's 12th win on the season, he beat Minny again. This time it was 10-0. Guzman only pitched 8 innings, but you can tell how many runs he gave up. His next start was another win (#14) 7-3 over the Yankees. 2 earned runs in 7 innings pitched.
So Guzman finsished the season on a 7 game-winning streak. He started the season on a 5 game-hitting streak. Just that 2-3 little trip from June 10th to July 20th!
Juan Guzman topped the AL in W% with a .824 mark. He also finished 7th (behind Hentgen) in the Cy Young voting. Jack McDowell won it, but he would see more of Guzman later. And come up second best, twice.
Guzman was 3rd in the AL in K/9IP with 7.9. He led the American League in wild pitches with 26. As for all those no decisions I keep mentioning, Guzman ended 1993 with 16 of them. That topped Toronto starters. But he also had 20 "quality starts". Juan led the Jays in that, too!
Of the 33 games he started, the Jays won 23 of them. Again, it led the Jays staff. Guzman was also received 8.3 run support per start, tops on the Jays.
Of the 33 games he started, the Jays won 23 of them. Again, it led the Jays staff. Guzman was also received 8.3 run support per start, tops on the Jays.
On the Jays staff, Guzman led in K's with 194, walks with 110. He allowed 211 hits, but that was in 221 inning pitched. Only Dave Stewart (8.1) allowed fewer hits per nine innings pitched than Juan Guzman (8.6).
194 walks was enough for an average of 4.5 per nine innings. No Toronto pitcher logged more innings pitched or starts. Guzman was tops on the Blue Jays in batters faced (963) Only Todd Stottlemyre (11) allowed fewer home runs than Guzman did (17).
Guzman was also tied with Mark Eichhorn, Stottlemyre, Morris for fewest batters hit among Jays' pitchers. See, he's not that wild!
Opponent's batted .252 against Guzman (But it was only good enough for 15th place among AL starters). Only Dave Steward (.242) had a lower batting average against among Jays' starters.
Stew, as he was called, came from the A's in the off-season, perhaps as a way to try and stop him from beating the Jays. He was 36 years old in 1993, but had only really been a big winner since 1987. Actually, he won 20 or more games the next 4 years.
Indeed, Stewart had beaten the Jays twice in the ALCS in 1989, tossed a no-hitter against them in 1990, then went 1-0 against them in the 1992 ALCS. Toronto, if you can't beat him, get him!
So now he was a Jay. Smart move, Blue Jays!
I feared this guy. It was that menacing stare of his. Think about Bob Gibson!
In any event, Stewart started the season on the disable list. And Dave would stay on it until May 13th. It was his right forearm. The Jays during this time had lost Jack Morris to a right shoulder problem on May 2nd. The staff just didn't look as good anymore. Wild Todd Stottlemyre was placed on the DL May 21st, 2 days after Morris came back.
So when Stewart came back, you can see he was really needed.
His first start was against Detroit (May 13th), and he lasted 3 2/3 innings. He did not allow a run. I think the Jays removed Stew for precautionary reasons. It was his first start, the Jays didn't want him to go too far. The Jays ended up winning the game 6-5.
Then he got killed by the Red Sox in his next start on May 19th. 7 hits, 5 walks and 10 (earned) runs in 1.2 innings pitched!
But he won his next two starts that month. His ERA was like Morris, high (7.27).
June brought only a 1-2 month despite an ERA of 3.89. Actually, the start in June I remember the most was that win. And it was against Boston on June 19th.
Stewart was owning the Red Sox, 9-0 Toronto into the top of the 9th. But then the Red Sox struck for 2 home runs and a double. Cito took out Stewart and brought in Eichhorn. Another 2 runs scored before the Jays won 9-4. Stewart fanned 9 in 8.2 innings.
He pitched well his next start, allowing just 4 hits and 1 earned run, but he could manage only a no decision.
July had two good starts, but three bad ones. In the three bad ones Stewart gave up a combined 18 runs in only 17 1/3 innings. Nonetheless, he won three games that month and lost two.
Another bad outing was Dave Stewart's first in August. In that game, against the Yankees on the 4th, Stew allowed 6 (earned) runs in only 6.1 innings. Toronto lost, 7-2 and Stewart's record was back to .500 (6-6).
Then he won his next two games. Against the Twins on August 10, Stew surrendered just 3 earned runs in 7 innings. Then, Dave allowed just 1 run on 3 hits in 8 innings pitched against Boston.
But, just as it looked like he was settling in, Seattle beat him twice in two starts. Stewart was scored on 10 times, gave up 10 hits, and allowed 11 walks. All this in only 13 2/3 innings. His record was back to .500 again, 8-8.
He then pitched twice against his old team, Oakland. The two starts (August 31 and September 7). It was a bit of an improvement. In a combined 10 1/3 innings, he gave up 6 runs (5 earned), 8 hits and walked 6. Dave Stewart didn't get a decision in either game. Toronto went 1-1 in them.
So was Dave going to be a win one, lose one pitcher in 1993? Not quite. It suddenly clicked. And really clicked! In September, Toronto saw the real Dave Stewart!
He beat California on the 12th, the Twins on the 18th, the Red Sox on the 23rd and finally, Milwaukee on 28th. In those four starts, his ERA was 1.44. The opposition batted .204 against him during this time, I should add.
So Stewart had brought his record to 12-8. It was actually an improvement from 1992 (12-10) and 1991 (11-11). It wasn't quite as good as it had been from 1987 to 1990, where he won 20 or more games each season.
His ERA was high, 4.44, but only Juan Guzman (3.99) and Pat Hentgen (3.87) were lower. Actually, if you take away his start against Boston on May 19th, his ERA was 3.93 for the '93 regular season.
Opponent's hit just .242 against Stewart. This was tops on Toronto. The league batting average was .267. Stewart's was not good enough for a top 10 finish, as he finished 11th. Randy Johnson led the AL with opponent's hitting just .203 against him.
Stewart received 5.1 run support per start for the 1993 season. That was less than Hentgen, Guzman, and barely more than Todd Stottlemyre (4.9). But on the other hand, Stewart had only 11 quality starts out of 26.
The Jays went 15-11 overall in his 26 starts.
The biggest negative I see against Stewart is the "0" in the shutouts and "0" in the complete games! No other Jay starter failed to register a complete game. Besides Dave Stewart, only Pat Hentgen failed to get a shutout.
But on a team loaded with so much offence and relief pitching, I don't think Stewart needed any of those two things.
Stewart was second to Juan Guzman (4.5) in BB/9IP with 4.0.
His .600 W% was third on the staff, trailing Guzman and Hentgen.
Despite all this, I was glad Dave Stewart was a Jay. When the other starters faltered late in the season, he Juan Guzman, and even Todd Stottlemyre, picked up the slack.
When the postseason came, there was good reason for Stewart and Guzman to be Jays: Stewart was 6-0 in the ALCS lifetime after 1992. Guzman, 3-0 lifetime.
Right guys to have.
But then, there was Todd Stottlemyre...
Todd Stottlemyre
Stottlemyre was someone who you never forget. But what I always forget is, he had been with the big league club since 1988. Yep, he had more experience on the mound for the Jays than anyone around in 1993! Head of the class? Has it come this quickly for Todd?
Todd was 7-7 with a 3.88 ERA in 1989. Two years later, he was 15-8 with a 3.78 ERA.
The problems was, 1990 (13-17) and 1992 (12-11) weren't so good for Todd.
Stottlemyre was talented. It's just, like some starters, he had trouble with control. He sometimes hit a lot of batters. He had this likeable, fiery personality. Yes, it did get him into some troubles. But Todd was always fun to watch!
He didn't walk too many batters, really. But in his last two seasons before 1993, Todd hit a combined 22 batters!
The key for Todd, was consistency. Sometimes, he'd have a great start. Then the next time out, no so good!
He won his first two starts on the 1993 season, including a 5-hitter in his second against the Mariners on April 15th.
He pitched three more times in April, and here's where he had some problems. In two of the starts, he gave up more than 11 hits in each.
The other start was a 1-0 win over Chicago, April 25th. Todd only went 8 innings, but gave up just 7 hits in a scoreless outing.
So he finished April with a winning record, 3-2.
May was not good, as he went 1-2 with an ERA of 5.00. Worse, he was forced to leave his start on May 22nd vs. Minnesota. It was some soreness in his right shoulder. He was on the DL from the next day to June 13th.
He pitched twice in relief in June, and it actually went quite well. Todd gave up just 1 run in 5 innings pitched.
But in Stottlemyre's next start, June 23rd against the Yankees, Todd could only toss 5 innings. 9 hits off him saw Todd out of there. The Yankees won the game 4-3, and Jimmy Key had his 9th win on the season already. Guess the Jays should have kept him, right?
But Todd beat the O's on June 28, so he was back to .500 (5-5). But he gave up more hits (7) than innings pitched (6).
In July, Stottlemyre failed to win a game. But wasn't as if he didn't pitch well. Well, at least sometimes.
Two of his outing saw him give up just 3 earned runs in 7 innings. He also gave up 4 runs twice. Once in 6 2/3 innings and once in 7 1/3 innings. After losing his first two July starts, he finished up with three no decisions in July.
August saw some of the better Todd. In his first start of the month on the 2nd, he beat the Yankees 4-0, but the game was close until the top of the 9th. The Jays, visiting, turned a 1-0 lead into a 4-0 lead on a Joe Carter 3-run home run (That, of course, would not be the only time Carter hit a 3-run shot, now would it?). Stottlemyre was out of the game after 7, but as the Jays were ahead (they scored their first run in the 6th), Todd got the win.
But Todd lost his next 2 starts. In fact, for his next 5 starts in the month, he gave up 7 or more hits. After a no decision on the 18th, he somehow won against Cleveland on the 24th, despite giving up 5 runs in 5 1/3 innings pitched. On August 29th against the Mariners, Stottlemyre gave up just 2 earned runs and 7 hits over 8 innings pitched. With his second straight win, his record was just a game below .500 (8-9).
From August 29th to September 21st, Todd pitched 5 times, won 4 games and posted and ERA of 2.70 ERA. Had Todd finally found the grove? Todd Stottlemyre, Dave Stewart and Juan Guzman were picking it up as Pat Hentgen was starting to fade. Well, isn't it great that when your ace struggles, everyone else wins? I guess I'll take the trade-off!
After a September 4th loss, Stottlemyre pitched like he had on the 29th of August. Again, 8 innings. Again, just 2 earned runs. Again, just 7 hits allowed. The Jays beat the Angels 10-4 on this day.
A win in his next start (though not impressive) brought his record to 10-10. It was time for Todd's finest moment.
Stottlemyre, with his 10-10 record, now had a better record than a pre-steroids Roger Clemens (11-13). Clemens had never had a losing season to this point in his career (9 seasons, 152 wins and only 72 losses). But he was Stottlemyre's mound opponent on September 21st at Skydome.
All Todd did was toss a 3-hit shutout and K'd 10. He retired the first 13 batters he faced. This was his first, and only complete game of the season. He handed Clemens his 14th loss of the 1993 season. That turned out to be the most losses Clemens ever suffered in one season.
Clemens, for his part, kept the score close (if you count 3-0 as close) until the Jays scored twice in the bottom of the eighth. It was also the Jays 9th straight win!
Todd, being Todd, then lost his next two starts to finish 1993 below .500 (11-12).
So what do we make of Todd Stottlemyre's 1993 regular season? It was a high ERA (4.84) that was really a problem. He gave up 10.4 hits per nine innings. Only Jack Morris allowed more.
No other starter also issued more intentional walks than Stottlemyre (5). Actually, only one other Toronto pitcher (Mark Eichhorn) had more (7).
Opposing batters hit .292 against Todd. Only Morris had a higher batting average against among Toronto starters (.302).
On a team that scored an average of 5.3 runs scored per game, Todd found his run support at only 4.9. Al Leiter also averaged 4.9 runs scored for in games started. Morris was the only starter to average less (4.3)
As for quality starts, Todd had only 9, just one more than Morris. Only 4 more than Al Leiter did in only 12 games started!
But on the positive side, Todd walked only 3.5 batters per nine innings. Only Pat Hentgen allowed fewer (3.1). He walked only 69 batters, total. And Toronto actually won 15 of Stottlemyre's starts to tie him with Dave Stewart. That was behind only Juan Guzman and Pat Hentgen (but the Jays only lost 11 of Stewart's starts, compared to 13 of Stottlemyre's).
Stottlemyre was also one of only 4 pitchers on the Jays staff to toss a shutout, joining Guzman, Morris and Leiter.
Todd's 11 home runs allowed was the lowest on the staff. He also tied Guzman and Morris for fewest batters hit, with only 3.
His 176 2/3 innings pitched was third on the staff. The shutout of Boston proved to be his only complete game, however.
194 walks was enough for an average of 4.5 per nine innings. No Toronto pitcher logged more innings pitched or starts. Guzman was tops on the Blue Jays in batters faced (963) Only Todd Stottlemyre (11) allowed fewer home runs than Guzman did (17).
Guzman was also tied with Mark Eichhorn, Stottlemyre, Morris for fewest batters hit among Jays' pitchers. See, he's not that wild!
Opponent's batted .252 against Guzman (But it was only good enough for 15th place among AL starters). Only Dave Steward (.242) had a lower batting average against among Jays' starters.
Dave Stewart
Stew, as he was called, came from the A's in the off-season, perhaps as a way to try and stop him from beating the Jays. He was 36 years old in 1993, but had only really been a big winner since 1987. Actually, he won 20 or more games the next 4 years.
Indeed, Stewart had beaten the Jays twice in the ALCS in 1989, tossed a no-hitter against them in 1990, then went 1-0 against them in the 1992 ALCS. Toronto, if you can't beat him, get him!
So now he was a Jay. Smart move, Blue Jays!
I feared this guy. It was that menacing stare of his. Think about Bob Gibson!
In any event, Stewart started the season on the disable list. And Dave would stay on it until May 13th. It was his right forearm. The Jays during this time had lost Jack Morris to a right shoulder problem on May 2nd. The staff just didn't look as good anymore. Wild Todd Stottlemyre was placed on the DL May 21st, 2 days after Morris came back.
So when Stewart came back, you can see he was really needed.
His first start was against Detroit (May 13th), and he lasted 3 2/3 innings. He did not allow a run. I think the Jays removed Stew for precautionary reasons. It was his first start, the Jays didn't want him to go too far. The Jays ended up winning the game 6-5.
Then he got killed by the Red Sox in his next start on May 19th. 7 hits, 5 walks and 10 (earned) runs in 1.2 innings pitched!
But he won his next two starts that month. His ERA was like Morris, high (7.27).
June brought only a 1-2 month despite an ERA of 3.89. Actually, the start in June I remember the most was that win. And it was against Boston on June 19th.
Stewart was owning the Red Sox, 9-0 Toronto into the top of the 9th. But then the Red Sox struck for 2 home runs and a double. Cito took out Stewart and brought in Eichhorn. Another 2 runs scored before the Jays won 9-4. Stewart fanned 9 in 8.2 innings.
He pitched well his next start, allowing just 4 hits and 1 earned run, but he could manage only a no decision.
July had two good starts, but three bad ones. In the three bad ones Stewart gave up a combined 18 runs in only 17 1/3 innings. Nonetheless, he won three games that month and lost two.
Another bad outing was Dave Stewart's first in August. In that game, against the Yankees on the 4th, Stew allowed 6 (earned) runs in only 6.1 innings. Toronto lost, 7-2 and Stewart's record was back to .500 (6-6).
Then he won his next two games. Against the Twins on August 10, Stew surrendered just 3 earned runs in 7 innings. Then, Dave allowed just 1 run on 3 hits in 8 innings pitched against Boston.
But, just as it looked like he was settling in, Seattle beat him twice in two starts. Stewart was scored on 10 times, gave up 10 hits, and allowed 11 walks. All this in only 13 2/3 innings. His record was back to .500 again, 8-8.
He then pitched twice against his old team, Oakland. The two starts (August 31 and September 7). It was a bit of an improvement. In a combined 10 1/3 innings, he gave up 6 runs (5 earned), 8 hits and walked 6. Dave Stewart didn't get a decision in either game. Toronto went 1-1 in them.
So was Dave going to be a win one, lose one pitcher in 1993? Not quite. It suddenly clicked. And really clicked! In September, Toronto saw the real Dave Stewart!
He beat California on the 12th, the Twins on the 18th, the Red Sox on the 23rd and finally, Milwaukee on 28th. In those four starts, his ERA was 1.44. The opposition batted .204 against him during this time, I should add.
So Stewart had brought his record to 12-8. It was actually an improvement from 1992 (12-10) and 1991 (11-11). It wasn't quite as good as it had been from 1987 to 1990, where he won 20 or more games each season.
His ERA was high, 4.44, but only Juan Guzman (3.99) and Pat Hentgen (3.87) were lower. Actually, if you take away his start against Boston on May 19th, his ERA was 3.93 for the '93 regular season.
Opponent's hit just .242 against Stewart. This was tops on Toronto. The league batting average was .267. Stewart's was not good enough for a top 10 finish, as he finished 11th. Randy Johnson led the AL with opponent's hitting just .203 against him.
Stewart received 5.1 run support per start for the 1993 season. That was less than Hentgen, Guzman, and barely more than Todd Stottlemyre (4.9). But on the other hand, Stewart had only 11 quality starts out of 26.
The Jays went 15-11 overall in his 26 starts.
The biggest negative I see against Stewart is the "0" in the shutouts and "0" in the complete games! No other Jay starter failed to register a complete game. Besides Dave Stewart, only Pat Hentgen failed to get a shutout.
But on a team loaded with so much offence and relief pitching, I don't think Stewart needed any of those two things.
Stewart was second to Juan Guzman (4.5) in BB/9IP with 4.0.
His .600 W% was third on the staff, trailing Guzman and Hentgen.
Despite all this, I was glad Dave Stewart was a Jay. When the other starters faltered late in the season, he Juan Guzman, and even Todd Stottlemyre, picked up the slack.
When the postseason came, there was good reason for Stewart and Guzman to be Jays: Stewart was 6-0 in the ALCS lifetime after 1992. Guzman, 3-0 lifetime.
Right guys to have.
But then, there was Todd Stottlemyre...
Todd Stottlemyre
Stottlemyre was someone who you never forget. But what I always forget is, he had been with the big league club since 1988. Yep, he had more experience on the mound for the Jays than anyone around in 1993! Head of the class? Has it come this quickly for Todd?
Todd was 7-7 with a 3.88 ERA in 1989. Two years later, he was 15-8 with a 3.78 ERA.
The problems was, 1990 (13-17) and 1992 (12-11) weren't so good for Todd.
Stottlemyre was talented. It's just, like some starters, he had trouble with control. He sometimes hit a lot of batters. He had this likeable, fiery personality. Yes, it did get him into some troubles. But Todd was always fun to watch!
He didn't walk too many batters, really. But in his last two seasons before 1993, Todd hit a combined 22 batters!
The key for Todd, was consistency. Sometimes, he'd have a great start. Then the next time out, no so good!
He won his first two starts on the 1993 season, including a 5-hitter in his second against the Mariners on April 15th.
He pitched three more times in April, and here's where he had some problems. In two of the starts, he gave up more than 11 hits in each.
The other start was a 1-0 win over Chicago, April 25th. Todd only went 8 innings, but gave up just 7 hits in a scoreless outing.
So he finished April with a winning record, 3-2.
May was not good, as he went 1-2 with an ERA of 5.00. Worse, he was forced to leave his start on May 22nd vs. Minnesota. It was some soreness in his right shoulder. He was on the DL from the next day to June 13th.
He pitched twice in relief in June, and it actually went quite well. Todd gave up just 1 run in 5 innings pitched.
But in Stottlemyre's next start, June 23rd against the Yankees, Todd could only toss 5 innings. 9 hits off him saw Todd out of there. The Yankees won the game 4-3, and Jimmy Key had his 9th win on the season already. Guess the Jays should have kept him, right?
But Todd beat the O's on June 28, so he was back to .500 (5-5). But he gave up more hits (7) than innings pitched (6).
In July, Stottlemyre failed to win a game. But wasn't as if he didn't pitch well. Well, at least sometimes.
Two of his outing saw him give up just 3 earned runs in 7 innings. He also gave up 4 runs twice. Once in 6 2/3 innings and once in 7 1/3 innings. After losing his first two July starts, he finished up with three no decisions in July.
August saw some of the better Todd. In his first start of the month on the 2nd, he beat the Yankees 4-0, but the game was close until the top of the 9th. The Jays, visiting, turned a 1-0 lead into a 4-0 lead on a Joe Carter 3-run home run (That, of course, would not be the only time Carter hit a 3-run shot, now would it?). Stottlemyre was out of the game after 7, but as the Jays were ahead (they scored their first run in the 6th), Todd got the win.
But Todd lost his next 2 starts. In fact, for his next 5 starts in the month, he gave up 7 or more hits. After a no decision on the 18th, he somehow won against Cleveland on the 24th, despite giving up 5 runs in 5 1/3 innings pitched. On August 29th against the Mariners, Stottlemyre gave up just 2 earned runs and 7 hits over 8 innings pitched. With his second straight win, his record was just a game below .500 (8-9).
From August 29th to September 21st, Todd pitched 5 times, won 4 games and posted and ERA of 2.70 ERA. Had Todd finally found the grove? Todd Stottlemyre, Dave Stewart and Juan Guzman were picking it up as Pat Hentgen was starting to fade. Well, isn't it great that when your ace struggles, everyone else wins? I guess I'll take the trade-off!
After a September 4th loss, Stottlemyre pitched like he had on the 29th of August. Again, 8 innings. Again, just 2 earned runs. Again, just 7 hits allowed. The Jays beat the Angels 10-4 on this day.
A win in his next start (though not impressive) brought his record to 10-10. It was time for Todd's finest moment.
Stottlemyre, with his 10-10 record, now had a better record than a pre-steroids Roger Clemens (11-13). Clemens had never had a losing season to this point in his career (9 seasons, 152 wins and only 72 losses). But he was Stottlemyre's mound opponent on September 21st at Skydome.
All Todd did was toss a 3-hit shutout and K'd 10. He retired the first 13 batters he faced. This was his first, and only complete game of the season. He handed Clemens his 14th loss of the 1993 season. That turned out to be the most losses Clemens ever suffered in one season.
Clemens, for his part, kept the score close (if you count 3-0 as close) until the Jays scored twice in the bottom of the eighth. It was also the Jays 9th straight win!
Todd, being Todd, then lost his next two starts to finish 1993 below .500 (11-12).
So what do we make of Todd Stottlemyre's 1993 regular season? It was a high ERA (4.84) that was really a problem. He gave up 10.4 hits per nine innings. Only Jack Morris allowed more.
No other starter also issued more intentional walks than Stottlemyre (5). Actually, only one other Toronto pitcher (Mark Eichhorn) had more (7).
Opposing batters hit .292 against Todd. Only Morris had a higher batting average against among Toronto starters (.302).
On a team that scored an average of 5.3 runs scored per game, Todd found his run support at only 4.9. Al Leiter also averaged 4.9 runs scored for in games started. Morris was the only starter to average less (4.3)
As for quality starts, Todd had only 9, just one more than Morris. Only 4 more than Al Leiter did in only 12 games started!
But on the positive side, Todd walked only 3.5 batters per nine innings. Only Pat Hentgen allowed fewer (3.1). He walked only 69 batters, total. And Toronto actually won 15 of Stottlemyre's starts to tie him with Dave Stewart. That was behind only Juan Guzman and Pat Hentgen (but the Jays only lost 11 of Stewart's starts, compared to 13 of Stottlemyre's).
Stottlemyre was also one of only 4 pitchers on the Jays staff to toss a shutout, joining Guzman, Morris and Leiter.
Todd's 11 home runs allowed was the lowest on the staff. He also tied Guzman and Morris for fewest batters hit, with only 3.
His 176 2/3 innings pitched was third on the staff. The shutout of Boston proved to be his only complete game, however.
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