If you set out to make a list of the worst pitchers in major league history, eventually you're going to run across Les Sweetland. As a rookie with the Phillies in 1927, he went 2-10 with a 6.16 ERA. He must have showed something, though, because the next year he was back … and went 3-15 with a 6.58 ERA.
But wait! This story does get happier. In 1929, pitching more than ever, Sweetland went 13-11 with a 5.11 ERA … all the more impressive when you discover the National League ERA that season was 4.71, and the Phillies' home ballpark, the Baker Bowl, was notoriously tough on pitchers. In '29, the Phillies hit 153 home runs, tops in the league. They gave up 122 home runs, also tops in the league.
Sweetland had fought and scratched and persevered, and in his third season he'd become a pretty darn good big league pitcher.
Then, 1930. You know about 1968, right? The Year of the Pitcher? Well, 1930 was the Year of the Hitter. At least in the National League. The entire
league batted .303; the third-place Giants batted .319 as a
team. With teams averaging nearly six runs per game, you might guess it was a rough year for the pitchers, and you'd be right.
And nobody got roughed up more than Lester Leo Sweetland. Granted, he had plenty of company; as a group, Phillies pitchers racked up a 6.71 ERA. And Sweetland did win seven games. But he also finished with a 7.71 ERA. And the hits … oh, the hits. In 167 innings, Sweetland gave up
271 hits.
That works out to 14.6 hits per nine innings, the highest figure of the 20th century among pitchers with enough innings to qualify for the ERA crown. No. 2 on the list? Sweetland's teammate
Claude Willoughby, who gave up 14.2 hits per nine innings.
That was a hitters' era, of course. Only six pitchers since the 19th century have given up more than 12.5 hits per nine innings, and all of them pitched from 1929 through 1937.
Until this year. (Yes, we have finally arrived at the point of this little history lesson.)
On Wednesday, pitching against the Red Sox,
Livan Hernandez was touched for 11 hits before getting yanked in the fifth inning. In 120 2/3 innings this season, Hernandez has given up 173 hits. That's 12.9 hits per nine innings, which -- if Hernandez maintains that rate -- would be the highest figure for an ERA qualifier since Ray Benge gave up 12.94 hits per nine innings in 1936. Since World War II, only two pitchers --
LaTroy Hawkins in 1999 and
Carlos Silva in 2006 -- have given up more than 12 hits per nine innings.
Notice a pattern here? Hawkins and Silva were both
Minnesota Twins, like Hernandez. Silva was (and is) an extreme control pitcher, like Hernandez. The problem is that it's very difficult to win if you're giving up a dozen hits per nine innings. Hawkins went 10-14 with a 6.66 ERA; Silva went 11-15 with a 5.94 ERA.
Which makes Hernandez's season all the more remarkable. He's giving up more hits than those guys did, yet even after Wednesday's pasting in Boston he's 9-6 with a 5.44 ERA.
And I'm sorry to keep hammering on this point, but while Hernandez is working his way toward an unflattering distinction,
Francisco Liriano is making monkeys of International League hitters.
Hernandez is earning $5 million this season. The other four members of the Twins' rotation, all put together, are making less than one-fourth of that. So when it's time to bring Liriano up -- which is to say, yesterday at the very latest -- who loses his job? One of the young, ill-paid, but effective starters? Or will it be instead the Les Sweetland of the 21st century?
We can only wait and see.
Rob Neyer
