Different Levels of Atrocious-ness

The ongoing misery that is defining this season of Mets baseball is personified better by Oliver Perez than anyone else.

-3 years

-36 million dollars

-3 wins

-6.82 ERA

-1.92 WHIP

-Not pretty.

Today’s performance definitely marks a new low.  8 (and a half) batters faced: 2 outs, 4 walks, one single, one double, 2 three-run homers allowed.

Remarkably, Perez’ Game Score comes in at 18 – which isn’t even his worst of the season – that came on April 26th against Washington – when his 9 hits, 3 walks, and 7 runs in 4 1/3 innings was good for a Game Score of 17.  Either way, I would like to label today’s effort by Perez, and all starts with a Game Score <=20, to be “Atrocious Starts.” 

Ultimately, Perez’ game score was saved from reaching rock bottom by Jerry Manuel, who lifted him with a 3-0 count on Pedro Martinez and saved him from further damage.  To really drive your game score down (and it can go below zero), you need to give up double digits in runs and hits. Perez avoided that by being lifted when he was.

But this got me thinking about the worst a pitcher can do – and specifically, the worst pitching performances by a Met – both in 2009 and throughout their history.

Using Baseball-Reference.com’s Play Index, I found the six lowest game scores by a Met this season, all with game scores <=10:

• Bobby Parnell 8/18/09 vs. ATL -- 4
• Livan Hernandez 7/9/09 vs. LAD -– 6
• Johan Santana 7/14/09 @ NYY –- 6
• Mike Pelfrey 6/4/09 @ PIT –- 8
• Livan Hernandez 7/3/09 @ PHI -– 9
• Nelson Figueroa 8/3/2009 vs. ARI -- 10

I would label a start where the pitcher’s game score is <=10 to be “Truly Atrocious.” While the Mets have registered 6 Truly Atrocious starts this year, its only happened 65 times overall in Major League Baseball in 2009.  The Mets, therefore account for 1/11 of all of the Truly Atrocious starts in 2009 – which is a lot considering that there are 30 MLB teams.

Also interestingly, the Mets registered only 23 Truly Atrocious starts from their inception in 1962 through 2000.  Since 2001, they’ve registered 22 such starts.

Now, here are the four worst starts in Mets history, all with a Game Score actually less than or equal to 0 (which I would term a “Really, Really Atrocious” start):

• Orlando Hernandez 8/15/06 @ PHI -- -1
• Dave Williams 9/11/06 @ FLA -– 0
• Al Leiter 5/15/03 @ SF –- 0
• Jack Fisher 6/3/67 @ SF -– 0

And finally, the one Atrocious postseason start in Mets’ History:

• Steve Trachsel 10/14/06 @ STL -- 19

To summarize, I would like to coin the following terms:

• Atrocious Start: Game Score <=20, but >10
• Truly Atrocious Start: Game Score <=10, but >0
• Really, Really Atrocious Start: Game Score <=0

Shockingly, Oliver Perez is yet to descend to the levels of Truly Atrocious or Really, Really Atrocious this season. Thankfully, he has more than two years left on his contract to make it there.