Complete Games

Complete nine-inning games by baseball pitchers used to be common until the 1970s, when relievers, closers and the like overtook the sport. So it's refreshing that someone still can accomplish the task, like Livan Hernandez did last evening. Washington's Hernandez Goes the Distance in L.A. [WashingtonPost.com].

All that's left is for the anal-compulsive baseball stat freaks to tell us how far the percentage of complete games has dropped in the past four decades. (MLB Powerhouse reports that the last of the top 5 career leaders in complete games, Walter Johnson, retired from the old Washington Senators in 1927. And Baseball Reference says that Hernandez led the majors last year with nine complete games, while Steve Carlton and Fergie Jenkins led in 1971-72 with 30 each season.) Anyone?

 Posted by glenn