Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Koufax And Drysdale: A Most Dominating Twosome!

The Dodgers were on their way out west after the 1957 season. But that year Don Drysdale had his breakout. Sandy Koufax was also there that season, and Jackie Robinson was retired. Sandy didn't quite emerge until 1961, but what Brooklyn / Los Angeles had were two pitchers who showed up in a lot of important top tens.

Stat Set 1


Year Pitcher GS Wins K CG SHO IP
1957 Drysdale 17 (4) 148 (5) 4 (2) 221.0 (10)
Koufax 122 (9)
1958 Drysdale 131 (6) 211.2 (9)
Koufax 131 (6)
1959 Drysdale 36 (4) 17 (7) 242 (1) 15 (8) 4 (1) 270.2 (4)
Koufax 173 (3)
1960 Drysdale 36 (T3) 246 (1) 15 (6) 5 (2) 269.0 (5)
Koufax 197 (2)
1961 Drysdale 37 (2) 182 (3) 3 (3) 244.0 (9)
Koufax 35 (4) 18 (4) 269 (1) 15 (2) 255.2 (4)
1962 Drysdale 41 (1) 25 (1) 232 (1) 19 (4) 2 (10) 314.1 (1)
Koufax 2 (10)
1963 Drysdale 42 (1) 19 (6) 251 (3) 17 (5) 315.1 (2)
Koufax 40(3) 25 (1) 306 (1) 20 (2) 11 (1) 311 (3)
1964 Drysdale 40 (1) 18 (8) 237 (3) 21 (2) 5 (2) 321.1 (1)
Koufax 19 (4) 233 (4) 15 (6) 7 (1)
1965 Drysdale 42 (1) 23 (3) 210 (9) 20 (3) 7 (3) 308.1 (2)
Koufax 41 (2) 26 (1) 382 (1) 27 (1) 8 (2) 335.2 (1)
1966 Drysdale 40 (3) 177 (10) 11 (9) 273.2 (5)
Koufax 41 (1) 27 (1) 317 (1) 27 (1) 5 (1) 323.0 (1)
Year Pitcher GS Wins K CG SHO IP

Stat Set 2


Year Pitcher ERA WHIP H/9 K/9 K/BB OBA
1957 Drysdale 2.69 (2) 1.167 (3) 8.0 (7) 6.0 (6) 2.43 (5) .236 (4)
Koufax
1958 Drysdale 5.6 (8)
Koufax 7.5 (2) 7.4 (2) .220 (1)
1959 Drysdale 7.9 (4) 8.0 (1) 2.60 (5) .233 (3)
Koufax
1960 Drysdale 2.84 (3) 1.063 (1) 7.2 (4) 8.2 (2) 3.42 (3) .215 (4)
Koufax 6.8 (2) 10.1 (1) .207 (1)
1961 Drysdale 3.69 (9) 6.7 (4) 2.19 (10
Koufax 3.52 (7) 1.205 (4) 7.5 (1) 9.5 (1) 2.80 (1) .222 (1)
1962 Drysdale 2.83 (4) 1.113 (3) 7.8 (4) 6.6 (7) 2.97 (4) .230 (4)
Koufax 2.54 (1) 1.036 (1) 6.5 (1) 10.5 (1) 3.79 (2) .197 (1)
1963 Drysdale 2.63 (9) 1.091 (10) 7.2 (7) 4.40 (2)
Koufax 1.88 (1) 0.875 (1) 6.2 (1) 8.9 (2) 5.28 (1) .189 (1)
1964 Drysdale 2.18 (2) 0.965 (2) 6.8 (2) 3.49 (8) .207 (2)
Koufax 1.74 (1) 0.928 (1) 6.2 (1) 9.0 (1) 4.21 (2) .191 (1)
1965 Drysdale 2.77 (8) 1.090 (5) 3.18 (6) .233 (9)
Koufax 2.04 (1) 0.855 (1) 5.8 (1) 10.2 (1) 5.38 (1) .179 (1)
1966 Drysdale 3.93 (6)
Koufax 1.73 (1) 0.985 (2) 6.7 (2) 8.8 (1) 4.12 (4) .205 (2)
Year Pitcher ERA WHIP H/9 K/9 K/BB OBA

Amazingly, it could have been better, too. Koufax actually fanned 122 batters in just 104 1/3 innings in 1957, so he might have made an appearance in the top ten in K/9. In 1959, opponents batted just .235 against him, which would have been good enough for about sixth spot. But because he didn't pitch 156 innings that year (Los Angeles won a best two-of-three playoff vs. Milwaukee and Sandy threw just 153.1 innings), he did not qualify for that. Nor did his 10.2 K/9 qualify.


References

Baseball Reference (Baseball-Reference.com) http://www.baseball-reference.com/

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