For decades, wins and losses have been universally accepted as the sole and complete determinant of a pitcher’s worth. The logic is quite simple: it is good when a team wins, and it is good when a pitcher wins; therefore, pitchers with the most wins are the best pitchers.
Pirates Vs. Cubs: Paul Maholm Tosses Complete-Game Shutout Despite Losingest Record In League
On Saturday afternoon, however, we bore witness to an anomalous occurrence that threatens to turn everything we know on its side. The Pirates’ Paul Maholm entered his start against the Cubs with a National League-worst 1-7 record, and yet, he threw a complete-game shutout to emerge as the winning pitcher.
It was the third complete-game shutout of the left-handed Maholm’s career. He surrendered three hits and no walks, and carried a perfect game into the fifth. Two of the three hits were infield singles, and a third, an Alfonso Soriano blast into the ivy, was the sort of ball one would expect Pirates outfielder Andrew McCutchen to catch half the time.
Offensively, four Pirates (Ronny Cedeno, Lyle Overbay, Chris Snyder, and McCutchen) sent four promptly-returned balls into the bleachers at Wrigley. Cubs starter Randy Wells looked sharp in the early going before coughing up five runs in the fourth, and his bullpen was beaten up just as badly.
I’ll be candid with you, friend: I am terrified. Wins and losses are an objective predictor of value. I am positive of this because if they weren’t, they wouldn’t be shown on graphics in television broadcasts, and they wouldn’t be scrutinized by so many Hall of Fame voters. Now the pillars of logic upon which our collective sanity rests are beginning to creak and sway in the breeze. Thanks a lot, Paul Maholm.
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