John Danks and longest winless streaks to start a season

Posted by Andy on May 30, 2011

John Danks got crushed yesterday and moved to 0-8 on the season in his 11 starts.

Since 2001 here are the longest streaks to start a season where the pitcher did not register a win:

Rk		Strk Start	End	Games	W	L	GS	CG	SHO	GF	SV	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA	HBP	WP	BK	Tm
1	Scott Elarton	2004-04-09	2004-07-23	16	0	8	16	0	0	0	0	77.2	89	71	68	41	51	16	7.88	2	5	0	COL-CLE

2	Dan Wright	2003-05-09	2003-09-25	15	0	7	15	0	0	0	0	69.2	78	57	53	41	42	14	6.85	2	5	0	CHW
3	Tanyon Sturtze	2002-04-02	2002-06-20	15	0	8	15	0	0	0	0	97.1	124	61	55	43	60	9	5.09	2	1	1	TBD

4	Kenshin Kawakami	2010-04-11	2010-06-20	14	0	9	14	0	0	0	0	75.1	85	47	40	25	51	9	4.78	1	2	0	ATL
5	Kevin Millwood	2010-04-06	2010-06-13	14	0	8	14	1	0	0	0	90.2	108	57	52	27	73	19	5.16	3	3	1	BAL

6	Edwin Jackson	2007-04-09	2007-06-18	13	0	8	13	0	0	0	0	57.1	75	58	50	37	52	9	7.85	3	2	1	TBD
7	Jose Lima	2005-04-04	2005-06-09	13	0	5	13	0	0	0	0	64.0	82	64	58	27	32	17	8.16	4	1	0	KCR
8	Darrell May	2003-04-13	2003-06-21	13	0	4	13	0	0	0	0	78.1	85	42	39	20	43	10	4.48	1	4	0	KCR
9	Bryan Rekar	2001-04-05	2001-06-07	13	0	7	13	0	0	0	0	77.2	90	57	46	23	48	7	5.33	3	4	0	TBD

10	Ross Detwiler	2009-05-18	2009-09-23	12	0	6	12	1	0	0	0	62.2	79	42	41	26	39	3	5.89	2	2	0	WSN
11	Anthony Reyes	2007-04-07	2007-06-27	12	0	10	12	1	0	0	0	64.2	68	47	46	24	46	8	6.40	5	1	1	STL
12	Bruce Chen	2006-04-08	2006-08-04	12	0	5	12	0	0	0	0	58.1	84	52	48	18	40	19	7.41	0	1	0	BAL
13	Todd Ritchie	2001-04-03	2001-06-06	12	0	8	12	1	0	0	0	71.2	74	49	41	23	42	11	5.15	3	3	0	PIT

14	John Danks	2011-04-03	2011-05-29	11	0	8	11	1	0	0	0	70.1	81	42	41	25	46	11	5.25	3	4	0	CHW
15	Ross Ohlendorf	2010-04-07	2010-06-27	11	0	6	11	0	0	0	0	60.2	63	36	33	29	37	7	4.90	2	0	0	PIT
16	Ryan Rowland-Smith	2010-04-07	2010-06-15	11	0	6	11	0	0	0	0	53.2	73	48	41	23	22	13	6.88	3	2	0	SEA
17	Russ Ortiz	2006-04-07	2006-08-07	11	0	8	11	0	0	0	0	37.2	61	46	43	32	25	10	10.27	2	1	0	ARI-BAL
18	Orlando Hernandez	2001-04-07	2001-08-26	11	0	6	11	0	0	0	0	60.0	69	40	40	27	50	17	6.00	4	0	0	NYY

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 5/30/2011.

Danks has been pretty unlucky compared to the rest of this group. He's pitched to a better ERA than most but ended up with more losses than most (on a per-start basis, at least.)

Yesterday's blowout was the worst start of Danks' career by most measures, including Game Score:

Rk	Date	Tm	Opp	Rslt	App,Dec	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	Pit	Str	GSc
1	2011-05-29	CHW	TOR	L 4-13	GS-4 ,L	4.0	9	9	9	1	1	3	96	61	8

2	2010-05-29	CHW	TBR	L 5-8	GS-5 ,L	4.0	8	8	8	3	2	1	102	62	13

3	2008-04-09	CHW	MIN	L 5-12	GS-3 ,L	2.1	7	7	7	3	2	0	69	39	14
4	2007-05-29	CHW	MIN	L 2-9	GS-4 ,L	3.1	9	6	6	4	0	2	83	44	14

5	2009-05-15	CHW	TOR	L 3-8	GS-4 ,L	3.0	9	7	7	1	3	1	62	40	15

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 5/30/2011.

Incidentally, Jo-Jo Reyes has a 10-game winless streak to start the season, and his streak goes all the way back to 2008.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 30th, 2011 at 8:44 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

10 Responses to “John Danks and longest winless streaks to start a season”

Raphy Says:
May 30th, 2011 at 9:53 am

#2 Dan Wright had more wins (1) in his 5 relief appearances than he did in his 15 starts that season (0).

Among pitchers who finished the season with 0 wins, #12 Chen is first on the list above. Chen is tied with 3 others for the second most (3rd if you count the 1800s) starts in a season in which they recorded no wins. Vida Blue in 1983 is the record holder with 14 starts.

Rk	Player	GS	Year	Age	Tm	Lg	G	CG	GF	L	W-L%	SV	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA	ERA+	HR	BF	AB	2B	3B	IBB	HBP	SH	SF	GDP	SB	CS	PO	BK	WP	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+	Pit	Str
1	Vida Blue	14	1983	33	KCR	AL	19	1	4	5	.000	0	85.1	96	62	57	35	53	6.01	68	12	382	336	16	4	0	2	4	5	8	12	5	0	2	6	.286	.352	.464	.816
2	Stump Wiedman	13	1880	19	BUF	NL	17	9	4	9	.000	0	113.2	141	77	43	9	25	3.40	72	1	493													9
3	Bruce Chen	12	2006	29	BAL	AL	40	0	16	7	.000	0	98.2	137	81	76	35	70	6.93	66	28	453	410	20	1	3	0	3	5	6	9	6	3	0	1	.334	.382	.593	.975		1825	1158
4	Vladimir Nunez	12	2000	25	FLA	NL	17	0	3	6	.000	0	68.1	88	63	60	34	45	7.90	56	12	322	276	19	1	2	2	5	5	4	12	3	3	0	5	.319	.391	.525	.917		1202	712
5	Steve Gerkin	12	1945	32	PHA	AL	21	3	7	12	.000	0	102.0	112	49	41	27	25	3.62	94	4	433					3							0	0
6	Russ Miller	12	1928	28	PHI	NL	33	1	13	12	.000	1	108.0	137	79	65	34	19	5.42	81	14	485					0							0	1
7	John Danks	11	2011	26	CHW	AL	11	1	0	8	.000	0	70.1	81	42	41	25	46	5.25	77	11	309	276	11	4	5	3	2	3	6	4	3	3	0	4	.293	.355	.482	.837	129	1157	755
8	Russ Ortiz	11	2006	32	TOT	ML	26	0	5	8	.000	0	63.0	86	60	57	40	44	8.14	57	18	303	258	23	3	1	3	1	1	7	4	5	2	0	2	.333	.427	.655	1.082		1204	690
9	Neil Allen	11	1987	29	TOT	AL	23	0	6	8	.000	0	74.1	97	52	49	36	42	5.93	77	8	342	298	15	3	1	2	4	2	9	5	5	0	0	1	.326	.399	.477	.876
10	Steve Crawford	11	1981	23	BOS	AL	14	0	2	5	.000	0	57.2	69	38	32	18	29	4.99	78	10	257	229	16	1	0	3	3	4	6	2	2	2	0	2	.301	.354	.511	.865
11	Red Witt	11	1959	25	PIT	NL	15	0	2	7	.000	0	50.2	58	43	39	32	30	6.93	56	7	234	197	9	1	2	1	4	0	6	7	2	0	1	0	.294	.396	.457	.853
12	Ron Kline	11	1952	20	PIT	NL	27	0	5	7	.000	0	78.2	74	55	48	66	27	5.49	73	3	368	292	9	3		6	4	0	8	2	0	1	3	4	.253	.401	.336	.737
13	Bill Stearns	11	1872	19	NAT	NA	11	11	0	11	.000	0	99.0	193	190	68	3	2	6.18	84	2	572												0	2

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 5/30/2011.

Bob Hulsey Says:
May 30th, 2011 at 10:58 am
Does winless include a string of no-decisions? I recall Shawn Chacon setting a record for consecutive no-decisions to start the season with Houston in 2008 - something like 10 in a row. Went on for two months.
Bob Hulsey Says:
May 30th, 2011 at 11:02 am
Edit: Chacon had nine straight NDs to start 2008 before he beat the Cubs in late May.
Andy R Says:
May 30th, 2011 at 11:59 am
Looks like Danks should consider not pitching on May 29...
Ben Says:
May 30th, 2011 at 3:50 pm
@4 Now that's just weird. Danks has been in the league 5 years and he's pitched on May 29th 4 times, getting shelled thrice.

His numbers on 5/29: 1-3, 17.1 IP, 24 ER, and 6 HR with an average Game Score of 24.5

Factoring each May 29th out of his career numbers drops his career ERA from 4.07 down to 3.89 (if my calculations are correct).
Rich Says:
May 30th, 2011 at 5:07 pm
He yelled at Bautista yesterday for no reason, too.
John Autin Says:
May 30th, 2011 at 9:46 pm
We can cross Jo-Jo off the list!
http://scores.espn.go.com/mlb/boxscore?gameId=310530114
Neil L. Says:
May 30th, 2011 at 10:27 pm
@6
Rich, interesting that Danks would cross swords with Bautista. All Jose did was slam his bat after missing a hittable 3-2 pitch.

It wasn't a knock on Danks, Jose was upset with himself.

When Bautista ran off back across the diamond I thought they were going to go at it.

Video has been deleted from MLB.com for some reason? Any one know why?
Neil L. Says:
May 30th, 2011 at 10:29 pm
@7

JA, with run support of 11 runs Jo Jo pitched a complete game. His WHIP is still below major league averages though.
John Autin Says:
May 31st, 2011 at 1:17 am
@9, Neil L. -- "WHIP? We're talkin' about WHIP?!?" Come on, buddy! You suffered through Jo-Jo's last 28 starts; why not revel in this one, even if just for a day?

Today, he is Jo-Jo "Winning Pitcher" Reyes, owner of as many complete games this year as Tim Lincecum, CC Sabathia, Cliff Lee, Chris Carpenter, Tim Hudson, or Dan Haren!

If I may quote Hog Durham from my favorite baseball novel, "The Dixie Association":

"When you beat them, you laugh."

http://www.amazon.com/Dixie-Association-Voices-South/product-reviews/0807122262

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