Clemens Has a Lot of Zero-Run Support Games with the Astros; & Maddux's Rise in ERA Corresponds with More Ground Balls Produced

July 19, 2006 by cubsnet

Interesting bit of statistical trivia from STATS LLC today, as published by the WGN Baseball Blog, as Greg Maddux and the Cubs get set to face Roger Clemens and the Astros tonight:

Most Starts With 0 Runs of Support, Since 2005

Kip Wells 14
Roger Clemens 13
Kevin Millwood 12

Roger Clemens has a 1.67 ERA in those 13 games.

So what is the chance that Maddux can make the number of zero-run support games 14? The chance appears slim, given Maddux's 6.43 ERA since April. Here is a chart of Maddux's month-by-month ERA:

Interestingly, Maddux's post-April lack of success has correspondended with a drastic rise in his groundball-to-flyball ratio:

Right now, I don't have an explanation for this. You would have thought that an increase in the number of ground balls that Maddux is producing would have resulted in fewer extra-base hits allowed, and thus fewer runs, all else being equal.

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