Koji Uehara had another clean ninth inning tonight to finish the Sox' victory over KC. Rudy Pemberton asked if any Sox reliever has had a better season in the game thread. I checked Uehara against 2006 Papelbon, and it's a pretty close race -- though Uehara still has a number of chances to return to the ordinary, of course:
Papelbon in 2006: 68.1 IP, 40 H, 15 BB, 75 K, 3 HR, 0.776 WHIP, ERA+ 517
Uehara in 2013: 52.1 IP, 28 H, 11 BB, 74 K, 5 HR, 0.707 WHIP, ERA+ 307
(not counting tonight)
That line looks so good, we might compare it to another really good season of relief: Eckersley in 1990:
Eckersley in 1990: 73.1 IP, 41 H, 5 BB, 73 K, 2 HR, 0.614 WHIP, ERA+ 603
Well, I'd say that Uehara can't match _that_ record, but I'm still mightily impressed with his work so far. Is it possible that he might make the top 20 relief seasons of all time? Please show us some of your candidates for top performances by a reliever. It might make sense to break the entries into "end-of-game-one-inning" and "several-innings-at-a-time" categories.
Papelbon in 2006: 68.1 IP, 40 H, 15 BB, 75 K, 3 HR, 0.776 WHIP, ERA+ 517
Uehara in 2013: 52.1 IP, 28 H, 11 BB, 74 K, 5 HR, 0.707 WHIP, ERA+ 307
(not counting tonight)
That line looks so good, we might compare it to another really good season of relief: Eckersley in 1990:
Eckersley in 1990: 73.1 IP, 41 H, 5 BB, 73 K, 2 HR, 0.614 WHIP, ERA+ 603
Well, I'd say that Uehara can't match _that_ record, but I'm still mightily impressed with his work so far. Is it possible that he might make the top 20 relief seasons of all time? Please show us some of your candidates for top performances by a reliever. It might make sense to break the entries into "end-of-game-one-inning" and "several-innings-at-a-time" categories.