Hard luck pitchers One of these stats that is out there is the run support average where, of course, starting pitchers don't get much run support and that explains their bad record. And it has its moments and I'm sure it does explain a few more losses over a year.
However, I inevitably get stuck on these guys betting them since they're a sharp bet since they're a dog and undervalued, whatever. But you know what? These guys bury you and their teams because they give up early runs and runs in small bunches. The small bunch pitcher is just toxic to a team.
It just completely changes the game especially the small bunch early. You put your team down 2-0 or worse 3-0. You might hold the opposition to 6 innings with those same runs but they've completely changed the development of the game in that they never give their offence to play any small ball, sacrifice any runners for them, steal any bases, etc.
Why don't they have a stat to blame some of these pitchers for how they stick their offense in a situation where they need a big inning or a home run to get back in the game? What is missing from the run support average is some stat that reflects the fact that the offense is less likely to score once down more than one run.
Doug Fister has a really low run support average but it just seems to me he has his team down early in these games even though he sticks around a long time and his overall pitching stats are decent.
I am just theorizing. Maybe these guys are all hard luck. I really think that ERA by inning stat especially early innings is probably something to look at more carefully.
