The Last of the 300 Game Winners?
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by JMoffat
On Sunday night, Tom Glavine earned his 300th victory over my beloved Cubs. I was happy to see him do it, because I like Tom Glavine(who doesn't), but I wish it could have came against someone else, like the Brewers.
Anyways....the argument has now begun on whether or not Tom Glavine will be the last 300th game winner. The answer to this question:Absolutely not.
Many argue that in today's game, the hitter is bigger, faster, stronger, and more apt to hit the ball out of the park. I am not arguing against that. Many say that pitchers are disabled quicker, and won't be able to throw like that used to in order to get to 300 wins. I'm not arguing against that either.
Let's just say......Jake Peavy wins 6 more games this year. That would be 75 wins in his career. He's only 26, so let's say he picthes for 17 more years. That sounds like a long time, but it's about as long as some people in the pros now. In these 17 years, he only has to average about 15 wins a season to get to 300. A long shot, I know, but we have all seen that Jake Peavy is VERY capable of taking down today's "power hitters".
Now let's go for a real prediction. Tim Lincecum or Cole Hamels. We don't know a lot about Cole Hamels now, since he is just coming out, but we do know that with a 12-5 record, a 3.50 E.R.A, a 1.15 WHIP, and 148 K's in 153+ innings, who's to say he can't win 300 games? Who's to say that as Hamels continues to grow, mature, and learn about major league hitters, that he doesn't overpower, oversmart, and overpitch these talented sluggers? Also, don't forget the run support Cole Hamels will get for years and years to come in the shape of Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, and the HIGHLY under appreciated Shane Victorino.
We may also be able to make the same argument for Tim Lincecum, the talented young righty from the lowly San Francisco Giants. Lincecum's numbers are a little skewed for this season, with the late call up and crappy run support. Lincecum has the velocity and breaking ball to get himself a butt load of wins in his career. He also isn't phased by "pitch counts". In his 17 starts this year, Lincecum averages 102 pitches per start. He has went over 100 pitches 11 out of 17 starts, 110 pitches 4 out of those 11, and his high was 116 pitches. His fastball is sharp and quick, and his breaking ball offsets his fastball greatly, which is likely to put a lot of "HR Hitters" on their toes on possibly back on the bench in the dugout.
All I'm trying to say is let's be open here. Saying something will never happen is a hard thing to say when 23 other people have done it already. Plus, how many people thought Hank Aaron's record was going to be broken when it happened?
I'm just saying.....
