Clutch Pitching

Josh Levin had an interesting article in Slate a few days ago extolling the clutchness of New York Mets lefthander Tom Glavine. The 40 year old southpaw certainly doesn't conjure the image most of us have when we think of playoff aces--in part because his playoff record is still below .500 and isn't nearly as compelling as his pursuit of 300 career wins (it's quite possible that Glavine will be the last member of that elite club). Additionally, most baseball fans debate clutch hitting, not pitching. Why?

"Bill James, the freelance researcher turned Red Sox executive, says there's a simple reason why everyone wonders about clutch hitters and no one talks about clutch pitchers. "For the same reason that there is more speculation about Bigfoot than there is about lizards," James says. "We know we have lizards."

Last night Glavine did indeed come up big for the Mets. He threw 7 shutout innings as New York took Game 1 of the NLCS by a score of 2-0. Of course, the two runs came courtesy of a Carlos Beltran home run--a player has garnered his own reputation for clutchness.