Bill Center, longtime sportswriter for U-T San Diego, is an employee of the Padres.
There is a debate going on in the SABRmetrics circle of baseball about pitching wins being the most useless statistic in the game.
My first thought . . . tell Greg Maddux that his 355 wins are meaningless.
But it is true that many pitchers pick up wins by being in the right place at the right time.
Case in point, Padres right-hander Craig Stammen, who picked up wins in back-to-back relief appearances Sunday and Tuesday to give him eight wins on the season. The eight wins, by the way, are the most among Padres pitchers this season.
Stammen was the pitcher of record the past two games when the Padres scored -- giving him the win . . . and supporting the "wins are useless" argument.
Since the All-Star break, Stammen is 4-1. He has been scored upon in only two of 24 outings -- allowing five runs on 16 hits and six walks with 30 strikeouts in 26 1/3 innings for a 1.71 earned run average. Since the All-Star break, Stammen has lowered his ERA from 3.05 to 2.55.
And over his last 12 appearances, Stammen has allowed one run on six hits and three walks with 11 strikeouts in 11 2/3 innings.
Incidentally, the Padres' record for wins by a pure relief pitcher is 11 by closers Butch Metzger (1975) and Rollie Fingers (1980). Stammen's total is the highest since Dan Miceli won 10 games during the Padres 1998 National League pennant season.
NOTEBOOK:
-- RHP Bryan Mitchell has allowed two runs on six hits and five walks with four strikeouts in 11 innings since returning from the disabled list after an absence of 67 games. Mitchell had a 7.08 earned run average before going on the disabled list. He has a 1.64 ERA since his return.
-- 1B Eric Hosmer extended his hitting streak to five straight games (7-for-20) Tuesday night in Seattle, although his streak of homering in three straight games ended. Meanwhile, Austin Hedges' eight-game hitting streak ended as he went 0-for-4 as the designated hitter.
-- RHP Kirby Yates has three saves while making six straight scoreless and hitless appearances. He has issued one walk with eight strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings, lowering his ERA from 2.16 to 1.94.
-- 3B William Myers, who drove in the winning run in the top of the ninth Tuesday night in Seattle, is 5-for-14 over his last four starts with two doubles and two RBIs.