Month: September 2022

Baseball really values its records. I remember as a kid, following Nolan Ryan’s race to break the strikeout record. I remember Cal Ripken’s streak of consecutive games. ESPN had a daily countdown until it happened. And who can’t forget Barry Bonds chase to beat the single season home run record? It seemed like no matter what game you were watching, they would cut to when Bonds was at the plate.

Now what Framber has done, is extremely difficult. All of the best has an “off day”. Verlander gave up 4 earned runs over 3, just seemed like nothing was working that day. Or Julio Urias, gave up 5 runs over 2 against the lowly Cubs. Consistently going 6 innings alone is hard, not to mention can’t give up more than 3 earned runs. The “hitting equivalent” to the quality start streak may be the consecutive hitting streak. But yet, why do we not care as much. ESPN didn’t have a countdown. It’s been rarely talked about nationally. Heck, breaking this record doesn’t even make him a true cy young contender. Me being honest, as an Astros fan, I care alot and I followed this just as much as anyone. But if I wasn’t an Astro fan, I probably wouldn’t care too much.

If I was given a Cy Young vote, there’s no doubt in my mind I’m voting for Framber. He’s not getting much attention because he doesn’t have the phenomenal sexy stats like strikeouts, WHIP, or even ERA (despite having a good ERA, but it’s not the best in the league). A starting pitcher’s job is to go as long as possible, while giving up as little runs as possible. That’s exactly what Framber is doing, and in record breaking style. Going back to my original question… why do we not care?