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By Juan C. Rodriguez, Sun Sentinel
6:52 PM EST, February 26, 2011
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JUPITER During a 10-year span from 2000-09, Javier Vazquez averaged over a dozen wins, 216 innings and 200 strikeouts. He didn't come close to matching those number as a member of the Yankees last season, but Vazquez remains in elite company when it comes to consistency.
A season of double-digit wins with at least 157 innings and 120 strikeouts would be Vazquez's 12th in a row. Only 12 modern era pitchers — Steve Carlton (18), Gaylord Perry and Don Sutton (15), Bob Gibson, Phil Niekro and Greg Maddux (14), Tom Seaver (13), and Christy Mathewson, Walter Johnson, Don Drysdale, Mickey Lolich and Mike Mussina (12) — have achieved those thresholds in that many consecutive seasons.
Sunday, Vazquez will take another step toward becoming the 13th member of that group. He'll make his Florida Marlins debut in the 1:05 p.m. exhibition opener against the University of Miami at Roger Dean Stadium. Vazquez, like the rest of his fellow starters in the coming days, will be limited to two innings.
"It's always different when you come to a new team," said Vazquez, who signed a one-year, $7 million free-agent deal. "You want to start with your right foot forward, but I understand it's the first game and the reason we're pitching is to get ready for the season."
Of the aforementioned 12 pitchers, Carlton (1967-84), Maddux (1988-01) and Mussina (1995-06) are the only ones whose streak encompassed any seasons this side of 1980. How hard is it to consistently reach those numbers nowadays? C.C. Sabathia (10), Johan Santana and John Lackey (8), and Dan Haren (6) are the lone pitchers who have active runs of at least six 10-win, 120-strikeout, 150-inning seasons.
"I feel blessed that I've had the opportunity to play so many years and be healthy," Vazquez said. "Those are things I take a lot of pride in and I work hard to maintain that. I've always said I've been blessed by God to have the ability and the health. It can't be luck. I don't believe in luck."
Already the game's all-time winningest Puerto Rican pitcher (152), Vazquez needs 43 strikeouts to eclipse Luis Tiant for second among Latin pitchers. Dominican-born Pedro Martinez with 3,154 is atop that list with 780 more than Vazquez.
He is No. 40 on the all-time strikeout list. Should he match his 157 of a year ago, Vazquez would ascend to No. 29, passing Hall of Famers Sandy Koufax, Dennis Eckersley, Don Drysdale and Mathewson along the way. With 210 strikeouts in 2011, he'd lap three more Hall of Famers — Tim Keefe, Bob Feller and Warren Spahn and sit at No. 25 all-time.
Said manager Edwin Rodriguez: "From what we've seen in spring training and the shape he's in, the condition of his arm, I think he has everything he needs to [reach those numbers] again."
6:52 PM EST, February 26, 2011
advertisement
JUPITER During a 10-year span from 2000-09, Javier Vazquez averaged over a dozen wins, 216 innings and 200 strikeouts. He didn't come close to matching those number as a member of the Yankees last season, but Vazquez remains in elite company when it comes to consistency.
A season of double-digit wins with at least 157 innings and 120 strikeouts would be Vazquez's 12th in a row. Only 12 modern era pitchers — Steve Carlton (18), Gaylord Perry and Don Sutton (15), Bob Gibson, Phil Niekro and Greg Maddux (14), Tom Seaver (13), and Christy Mathewson, Walter Johnson, Don Drysdale, Mickey Lolich and Mike Mussina (12) — have achieved those thresholds in that many consecutive seasons.
Sunday, Vazquez will take another step toward becoming the 13th member of that group. He'll make his Florida Marlins debut in the 1:05 p.m. exhibition opener against the University of Miami at Roger Dean Stadium. Vazquez, like the rest of his fellow starters in the coming days, will be limited to two innings.
"It's always different when you come to a new team," said Vazquez, who signed a one-year, $7 million free-agent deal. "You want to start with your right foot forward, but I understand it's the first game and the reason we're pitching is to get ready for the season."
Of the aforementioned 12 pitchers, Carlton (1967-84), Maddux (1988-01) and Mussina (1995-06) are the only ones whose streak encompassed any seasons this side of 1980. How hard is it to consistently reach those numbers nowadays? C.C. Sabathia (10), Johan Santana and John Lackey (8), and Dan Haren (6) are the lone pitchers who have active runs of at least six 10-win, 120-strikeout, 150-inning seasons.
"I feel blessed that I've had the opportunity to play so many years and be healthy," Vazquez said. "Those are things I take a lot of pride in and I work hard to maintain that. I've always said I've been blessed by God to have the ability and the health. It can't be luck. I don't believe in luck."
Already the game's all-time winningest Puerto Rican pitcher (152), Vazquez needs 43 strikeouts to eclipse Luis Tiant for second among Latin pitchers. Dominican-born Pedro Martinez with 3,154 is atop that list with 780 more than Vazquez.
He is No. 40 on the all-time strikeout list. Should he match his 157 of a year ago, Vazquez would ascend to No. 29, passing Hall of Famers Sandy Koufax, Dennis Eckersley, Don Drysdale and Mathewson along the way. With 210 strikeouts in 2011, he'd lap three more Hall of Famers — Tim Keefe, Bob Feller and Warren Spahn and sit at No. 25 all-time.
Said manager Edwin Rodriguez: "From what we've seen in spring training and the shape he's in, the condition of his arm, I think he has everything he needs to [reach those numbers] again."
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