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Showing posts from November 22, 2009

Ovation Worthy

I was watching the end of Game 2 of the 1969 World Series on MLB Network a day or so ago, and was intrigued by something that happened right at the end of the game. When Jerry Koosman departed after 8 2/3 innings, pitching the Mets to within an out of victory, the Orioles fans IN BALTIMORE gave him a very loud and sincere ovation. Perhaps they were happy because he was pulled from the game (Koosman allowed only one run and two hits), but it seemed to be more than that. Greg of Faith and Fear tells me that it was a custom of that time that the road pitcher would get cheered if he did well, and I have a vague recollection of that being so from my early days as a fan. Anyway, I just thought it made for a cool moment, and it also got me to look up the most ovation-worthy Mets pitching performances. But let's go one further on the criteria and limit it strictly to ROAD GAMES. In 1988, Bill James invented a stat called Game Score that evaluates starting pitching performance. An average