The improbable comeback of Bartolo Colon took another step forward yesterday when the 38-year old righty spun a complete game, four-hit, six-strikeout, no-walk shutout against the Oakland A’s. It’s Colon’s first shutout since 2006 and only his second since 2002.
Once upon a time, Bartolo Colon threw shutouts fairly regularly. Between 1998 and 2002, Colon threw seven shutouts (six for the Indians and one for the Expos). That tied him for the sixth most in all of baseball over that span, with Curt Schilling, Pedro Martinez, and Tom Glavine. The only pitchers with more shutouts in those seasons were David Wells, Aaron Sele, Mike Mussina (those three had eight), Greg Maddux (11), and Randy Johnson (a ridiculous 17, which is why Johnson won the NL Cy Young four times in those five years). That put Colon in pretty good company to that point in his career, but that was pretty much the end of his shutout-throwing days.
In 2003, Colon finished nine games with the White Sox but not one of them was a shutout. He didn’t throw any shutouts in 2004 or 2005, either, even though he won the Cy Young in 2005. Colon’s last shutout was his only win in the 2006 season. After that, Colon didn’t do much of anything at all between; he only made 37 starts between 2007 and 2009, throwing 200 2/3 innings before spending all of last year out of baseball.
Colon’s shutout yesterday afternoon wasn’t just any shutout, either, it was one of the best performances of his entire career. His four-hitter earned a gamescore of 85, which is the third best of his career behind his 10-strikeout four-hitter against the Angels on April 4, 1998 (gamescore: 87) and the two-hitter he threw for the Expos against the Padres on August 19, 2002 (gamescore: 86). For a bit more context, pitchers Colon’s age (he turned 38 just last week) or older have only thrown 93 complete-game shutouts with the same or better gamescore than his 85 yesterday.
In summation: Bartolo Colon used to throw a lot of shutouts a decade ago, but he stopped regularly throwing shutouts nine years ago, he stopped pitching well six years ago, he didn’t pitch at all last year, and then yesterday afternoon he spun one of the best games of his entire career, throwing the sort of game that most pitchers his age only dream about.
There have been a lot of surprises in 2011, but Bartolo Colon’s re-emergence is by far the most baffling for me.
Also yesterday: Jo-Jo Reyes finally won a game, Joakim Soria blew another save, the Diamondbacks crushed the Marlins to stay in first place in the NL West, and the Twins blew a lead and lost again. Click here for all of yesterday’s results.
Tonight’s action: Ryan Vogelsong, who may be the only pitcher in the league with a more improbable resurgence than Colon this year, starts for the Giants against Chris Carpenter and the Cardinals. Zack Greinke looks to get his ERA (5.79) more in line with his xFIP (1.58) against the Reds. Anibal Sanchez and Ian Kennedy face off in Arizona . For a full list of tonight’s games and pitching matchups, click here.
