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I did the hitters last week; now here's a look at the leaders in various pitching categories for the (unofficial but numerically pretty) decade from 2000-2009 with some comparisons to leaders of the two previous decades:
Wins: Andy Pettitte, 147.
Will he be hailed as the "winningest pitcher of the '00s," when his turn comes up for the Hall, just like Jack Morris was for the '80s, even though he (like Morris) wasn't close to the best pitcher of the decade? The more interesting thing to me is that Randy Johnson is just four off the decade lead, at 143, and Jamie Moyer is at 140; those two guys were 36 and 37 years old when the decade started. Greg Maddux paced the '90s at 176 (he, Glavine, Clemens and Johnson all would have led this decade with their nineties totals) and Morris, of course, led the eighties with 162.
Losses: Livan Hernandez, 123
It usually takes a pretty good pitcher to pile up a large number of losses over ten seasons. Javier Vazquez is second with 115. Andy Benes had 116 in the '90s, and Jim Clancy had 126 in the '80s (Morris, BTW, was third in losses in that decade).
Innings Pitched: Hernandez, 2185
Not totally coincidence that he and Vazquez are 1-2 in both losses and innings; surprising, though, that Pettitte is just 11th. Maddux led the nineties (2395) and Morris led the eighties (2443). It's pretty surprising to me, with all the complaining you hear about pitch counts and overreliance on bullpens, that the totals haven't dropped by more than that from one decade to the next.
Hit Batsmen: (tie) Tim Wakefield and Jeff Weaver, 106
Huh. Weaver is getting more regular work than Wakefield, so I suppose there's some chance that Weaver plunks somebody and takes the lead. Probably more likely that it ends in a tie. Kevin Brown, just a bit more intimidating than Wake or Weaver, hit 103 batters in the '90s, and Dave Stieb hit 104 in the '80s.
Wild Pitches: Matt Clement, 88
That's a very low number for leading the majors for a decade, but it's still pretty impressive that Clement can take the title having not pitched in the bigs for the last three full seasons. John Smoltz had 109 in the nineties (Clement's total would've had him tied for fifth) and Morris 124 in the eighties. Nolan Ryan tied for the lead in the 1970s, finished one behind Morris in the 1980s and was 139th in the 1990s.
WHIP (min. 1000 innings): Pedro Martinez, 1.034
This just in: if you don't walk anybody or give up any hits, you're a good pitcher. This is pretty much a list of the best pitchers of the decade.Maddux had a 1.055 in the nineties (Pedro was second at 1.074), and Dwight Gooden had a 1.109 in the eighties. Pitching has gotten harder since the '80s, but we've been blessed with a lot more great pitchers these last two decades than we had back then.
K/BB Ratio: Curt Schilling, 6.01
It's not often that a power pitcher comes along with the kind of impeccable control that Schilling had. He led #2 Pedro by 1.37, which is more than the number by which Pedro led #15 Roy Oswalt. Schill was just fifth in the nineties, however; Shane Reynolds (yes, really) led that decade with 4.25), 0.27 ahead of Maddux (but in just over half the innings). Bret Saberhagen's 3.37 was #1 in the 1980s but would have been #16 in the 2000s.
Strike Percentage: Schilling, .694
I just noticed they had this stat available, so I had to check. No surprise there, or that David Wells was right behind him at .686. This stat isn't available before 2000.
Average Game Score: Martinez, 61
Game Score is a Bill James toy for estimating how good a pitcher's single-game performance was. The method is described here. Johan Santana (surprising that this is the first time his name has come up) was just behind Pedro, with an average Game Score of 60. Surprisingly, Maddux didn't lead the '90s; his 61 was one point behind Pedro and Randy. Gooden averaged 62 and Clemens 61 in the '80s.
Walks: Barry Zito, 816
This one isn't even close; Doug Davis would have to have a pretty poor full season (91 walks) to catch Zito (though Zito threw about two full seasons' worth more innings than Davis in the decade). 1990s: wild early Johnson with 910, 1980s: always-wild Ryan, with 894. Nolan also led the 1970s, with...1515??? That hardly seems possible, but it happened.
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I understand the whole "you have to be good to be allowed to be bad for so long" aspect of the "most losses in a decade" record, and I totally understand how someone like Livan Hernandez has been used for the past 10 years (ie, "throw the horse out there and get 7-8 innings out of him even if he gives up 15"). I'm still a little surprised to he and Vazquez at the top of the innings list. I guess I'd've expected to see at least one of the "most wins" guys to be near the top since a) he pitched enough game to get all those wins and b) a good pitcher might be more likely to get the extra innings. I guess even those points aren't enough to counter the sheer uniqueness of Livan Hernandez and his magic arm.