my favorite annual ESPN article - Strange but True Pitching facts from the 2010 season

[charlie and algernon]

• Any team can have a game here or there in which its starting pitcher gives up 10 runs. But those 2010 Brewers had one here, one there, one over there, and also one wayyyy over there. In a terrifying two-week stretch in July, they became the first team since Hod Lisenbee's 1936 Philadelphia A's to have four pitchers give up at least 10 runs in a game in the same month. We don't normally roll out box-score lines in these Strange But True columns, but these have to be seen to be comprehended:

• July 7: Chris Narveson vs. Giants: 3 1/3-9-10-9-2-3
• July 18: Manny Parra vs. Braves: 5 1/3-10-10-10-2-4
• July 20: David Bush vs. Pirates: 4-9-10-5-2-2
• July 21: Randy Wolf vs. Pirates: 5 2/3-13-12-12-2-4

• Felix Hernandez allowed 39 runs in his final 21 starts of the season combined. The Brewers allowed 42 runs just in these four starts.

• The Giants' starters gave up 24 earned runs in the whole postseason. Those three Brewers starters gave up 27 earned runs in four days.

• (Edwin) Jackson entered that no-hitter with a 5.05 ERA after his first 15 starts. So how many other pitchers with that high an ERA that deep into a season have ever thrown a no-hitter? None, says the Elias Sports Bureau -- not since the invention of earned runs, anyway.

• CC Sabathia, Ubaldo Jimenez, Josh Johnson, Felix Hernandez, Cliff Lee and Josh Beckett have never struck out 14 hitters in any game in their careers. Strasburg did it in the first game of his career.

• Scott Kazmir, who once led the American League in strikeouts, didn't have a game with more than seven strikeouts all season. In the first big league game of his life, Strasburg ran off seven strikeouts in a row. :wow:

• Before his elbow went kaboom, Strasburg piled up 92 strikeouts in only 12 starts. His team's Opening Day starter, John Lannan, has racked up 93 strikeouts in his past 33 starts.

• Finally, my favorite Elias Sports Bureau tidbit on Strasburg was this one: Nolan Ryan had one game in his entire career with at least 14 strikeouts and zero walks -- and it came in his 698th start! And Strasburg had a game like that in his first start. Beautiful.

• Mark Buehrle threw a 95-pitch complete game -- and a game in which it took him 95 pitches to get through three innings.

• Dan Haren gave up four home runs at Coors Field in one start (May 27) -- while facing 29 hitters. Ubaldo Jimenez gave up four home runs at Coors all season -- while facing 416 hitters. And what did the last 238 hitters Ubaldo faced at Coors have in common? None of them got to work on his home run trot.

• Too bad Johan Santana and Jaime Garcia don't get paid by the hour. They got matched up in two starts this year -- and the two games lasted a combined 11½ hours. The first one was a 6-hour, 53-minute 20-inning game. The second turned into a 4-hour, 32-minute 13-inning game. Uncle!

• How strange is this? Cliff Lee against the Royals and Orioles: 1-2, 6.41 ERA, 37 hits and 8 HR in 26 2/3 IP. Cliff Lee against the Yankees and Red Sox: 3-0, 2.23 ERA, 26 hits and 2 HR in 40 1/3 IP.

Much much more here: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=stark_jayson&id=5943764