Greinke and Kershaw: An Historic Duo

The Los Angeles Dodgers clinched the NL West last night, behind a one-hit shutout by Clayton Kershaw. This caps what has been a simply incredible season for the Dodgers pitching duo of Kershaw and Zack Greinke. These two pitchers are the first pair of qualifying starters to post a 170 ERA+ for the same team since Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte on the 2005 Houston Astros, and just the eighth to do so since 1893 (including the 1907 Chicago Cubs, who had three pitchers accomplish this feat). They are also the first pair with 7+ WAR apiece since Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee for the 2011 Philadelphia Phillies, and the 18th since 1920. The last pair of Dodgers starters to do this was Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax in 1964. Even more impressively, they are the only pair in the modern era to ever post WHIPs of less than 0.900 (Henry Boyle and Charlie Sweeney of the 1884 St. Louis Maroons are the only others to pull this trick). 

Best Pitchers' Duels of the 1980s, Part 1

Here is a list of the best pitchers' duels of the early 1980s, one for each year:

April 10th, 1980: The aces of their respective teams, former Cy Young winner Ron Guidry of the Yankees and Jon Matlack of the Rangers hooked up for a great early-season match-up. Both pitched 9 shutout innings, with Guidry giving up just 2 hits to Matlack's 3. Neither allowed a walk, although neither struck out a lot of batters either (Guidry - 5, Matlack - 4). The game remained scoreless until the bottom of the 12th, when closer Goose Gossage of New York uncorked a wild pitch to score ex-Yankee Mickey Rivers from third base.

September 21, 1981: In a game I've already chronicled, Steve Carlton of the Philadelphia Phillies failed to pick up a victory despite 10 shutout innings against Ray Burris and the Expos. The game ended on a 17th inning walk-off single by Andre Dawson.

October 1, 1982: Both John Denny of the Phillies and Terry Leach of the Mets allowed just 1 hit, but Leach went 10 to pick up a shutout victory. Leach did walk 6, although the only hit was a Luis Aguayo triple in the 5th inning. Hubie Brooks's sac fly off reliever Porfi Altamirano in the 10th would be all the Mets would need in this one.

July 31, 1983: Both Mike Torrez of the Mets and Jose DeLeon of the Pirates pitched the games of their lives in this one, but ultimately it would be decided by the bullpens. DeLeon allowed just 1 hit and 3 walks against 11 strikeouts, pitching 9 innings of shutout ball. He carried a no-hitter into the bottom of the 9th before it was broken up by Hubie Brooks. Torrez, on the other hand, kept bending but did not break, allowing 8 hits, and getting out of jams in the 4th, 5th, 7th, 9th and 10th. He went 11 shutout innings. The turning point of the game may have come in the 7th, when Tony Pena of the Pirates was caught stealing home with two outs. George Foster drove home the winning run from second in the 12th inning off of Manny Sarmiento.

What's Up Doc?

Earlier today, Roy Halladay made his season debut against the Braves. Halladay struggled last year, posting an ERA of 4.49 in just 25 starts, missing several due to injury. Tonight, he went just 3.1 innings, allowing 5 earned runs but striking out 9. This made Halladay just the 3rd known pitcher to strike out 9 in less than 4 innings while allowing 5 or more earned runs. Here are the other two:

Rk	Player	Date	Tm	Opp	Rslt	App,Dec	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	GSc
1	David Cone	1990-04-25	NYM	ATL	W 8-5	GS-4	3.2	8	5	5	3	9	1	31
2	Jim Beattie	1982-08-09	SEA	OAK	L 4-9	GS-4 ,L	3.2	7	6	6	3	9	2	29

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used

Generated 4/4/2013.

This also marks the third game in the last two seasons in which Halladay failed to make it out of the fourth inning; he had done so just once in the previous four seasons:

Rk	Date ▾	Tm	Opp	Rslt	App,Dec	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	Pit	Str	GSc
2	2012-09-22	PHI	ATL	L 2-8	GS-2 ,L	1.2	5	7	7	3	3	1	51	33	17
3	2012-05-27	PHI	STL	L 3-8	GS-2 ,L	2.0	4	4	4	1	0	1	36	23	31
4	2009-06-12	TOR	FLA	L 3-7	GS-3	3.0	5	1	1	0	0	0	41	29	45
5	2007-06-05	TOR	TBD	W 12-11	GS-4	3.1	12	8	7	1	1	2	77	48	6
6	2006-09-20	TOR	NYY	W 3-2	GS-4	3.1	3	1	1	1	1	0	42	28	50
7	2006-09-10	TOR	LAA	L 3-4	GS-1	0.2	2	0	0	0	0	0	16	10	48
8	2005-07-08	TOR	TEX	L 6-7	GS-3	2.2	6	3	2	0	4	2	48	36	40
9	2004-09-27	TOR	BAL	W 4-1	GS-3	3.0	4	1	1	2	2	1	70	44	47
10	2003-08-17	TOR	OAK	L 3-7	GS-3 ,L	3.0	10	7	5	1	3	0	72	47	17
11	2000-09-23	TOR	TBD	W 7-6	GS-3	3.0	6	6	6	1	3	2	65	38	25
12	2000-07-21	TOR	BAL	L 5-9	GS-4 ,L	3.1	8	5	5	1	2	2	73	47	25
13	2000-06-30	TOR	BAL	L 3-8	GS-3 ,L	2.2	4	7	7	4	1	1	79	41	19
14	2000-05-05	TOR	CLE	W 11-10	GS-4	3.2	9	8	8	6	4	1	103	56	9
15	1999-05-09	TOR	TEX	L 6-11	GS-2	2.0	8	4	4	3	1	0	51	27	22
16	1999-04-29	TOR	ANA	L 1-17	GS-3 ,L	2.1	9	11	11	3	1	2	68	35	-7

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 4/4/2013.