Run Support Sure Helps

I thought it would be fun to look at the qualifying pitchers with the best run support in 2005. Here are the top 20:

                 TM    RS  Record    ERA
David Wells     Bos  7.97  15 - 7   4.45
Chris Young     Tex  7.32  12 - 7   4.26
Matt Clement    Bos  6.88  13 - 6   4.57
Cliff Lee       Cle  6.46  18 - 5   3.79 
Jeff Francis    Col  6.37  14 - 12  5.68
Matt Morris     StL  6.26  14 - 10  4.11 
Gustavo Chacin  Tor  6.21  13 - 9   3.72 
Kenny Rogers    Tex  6.17  14 - 8   3.46
Bartolo Colon   LAA  6.02  21 - 8   3.48
Freddy Garcia   CWS  5.96  14 - 8   3.87 
M. Hendrickson   TB  5.96  11 - 8   5.90 
Danny Haren     Oak  5.93  14 - 12  3.73
Mike Mussina    NYY  5.91  13 - 8   4.41
Josh Beckett    Fla  5.89  15 - 8   3.38 
J. Bonderman    Det  5.67  14 - 13  4.57 
C.C. Sabathia   Cle  5.63  15 - 10  4.03
Jamie Moyer     Sea  5.63  13 - 7   4.20
Randy Johnson   NYY  5.62  17 - 8   3.79 
B. Claussen     Cin  5.62  10 - 11  4.21
Kris Benson     NYM  5.58  10 - 8   4.13

The relationship between run support and win/loss record is quite evident by this list. That or Francis and Hendrickson are just "winners"?

Let's look at the bottom of this list:

                 TM    RS  Record    ERA
Kip Wells       Pit  3.07   8 - 18  5.09
Mark Redman     Pit  3.23   5 - 15  4.90
Ryan Franklin   Sea  3.30   8 - 15  5.10
Zack Greinke     KC  3.39   5 - 17  5.80
Javier Vazquez  Ari  3.51  11 - 15  4.42
Roger Clemens   Hou  3.58  13 - 8   1.87
Nate Robertson  Det  3.66   7 - 16  4.48
Kyle Lohse      Min  3.68   9 - 13  4.18
Brian Lawrence   SD  3.68   7 - 15  4.83
Josh Fogg       Pit  3.77   6 - 11  5.05
Jarrod Washburn LAA  3.81   8 - 8   3.20
John Patterson  Was  3.86   9 - 7   3.13
Esteban Loaiza  Was  3.90  12 - 10  3.77
Joe Blanton     Oak  3.93  12 - 12  3.53
Kevin Millwood  Cle  3.98   9 - 11  2.86
Mark Buehrle    CWS  4.15  16 - 8   3.12
Brett Tomko      SF  4.20   8 - 15  4.48
Livan Hernandez Was  4.24  15 - 10  3.98
Brandon Webb    Ari  4.24  14 - 12  3.50
Carlos Silva    Min  4.25   9 - 8   3.44

There are some really nice pitchers on that list. How many wins would Clemens have had on the Yankees? How bad was it to be a starting pitcher for the Pirates last year?

Finally, the Brewer pitchers, with their ranks (if they qualified):

RNK                  RS   Record    ERA   
--  Gary Glover    7.79    5 - 4   5.57
27  Chris Capuano  5.47   18 - 12  3.99
28  Tomo Ohka      5.44    7 - 6   4.35
65  Doug Davis     4.57   11 - 11  3.84
--  Ben Sheets Mil 3.73   10 - 9   3.33

One of these years, the Brewers are going to score some runs for Ben Sheets.