On June 12, 2007, a crowd of 33,555 packed in to Comerica Park expecting to see a well played major league baseball game. What they got instead was a look to the future of a 24 year old pitcher who's number he borrowed from a slugging first baseman he grew up idolizing.
It's true. Frank Thomas was big time when Justin Verlander was growing up. And as a little leaguer in Manakin Sabot, VA, he picked number 35 out of a box of uniforms, just for Mr. Thomas . How fitting. One of this centuries hardest throwers paying homage to one of last centuries biggest boppers.
But back to that night in 2007. In an inter-league match up against a team with the second most home runs in the majors at that point in the year, Verlander became the first pitcher since Nolan Ryan on July 15, 1973 to throw a no-hitter in Detroit, this against the Milwaukee Brewers. He walked four, but struck out a then career high twelve in his bid for history. It was the first no-no thrown at Comerica, which held its first baseball game on April 11, 2000. It is still the only one thrown there to this day.
-- A funny note about the Brewers home stadium, Miller Park. There has also been just one no-hitter thrown there in its brief history (it opened in 2001). Except the Milwaukee Brewers did not participate in that game. Carlos Zambrano of the Cubs no-hit the Houston Astros on September 14, 2008. It was officially a home game for Houston, as Minute Maid Park had taken on a bit of damage from a tropical storm earlier in the week --
Since that night, Verlander has matured into one of the most dominant pitchers in the game. His 2.38 ERA ranks him fifth in all of baseball among starters, and he's second in strikeouts with 124. Justin also leads the majors in innings pitched, and has completed two of his last three games.
In his only rough outing on the year, Verlander gave up six earned runs over six innings at home against the Tampa Bay Rays, a game in which the Tigers would rally back and win, 7-6, on consecutive home runs by catcher Alex Avila in the 6th and 8th innings. Every other start this season has been what is called a "quality start". That is, at least 6.0 innings pitched and no more than 3 earned runs. To me, that's not a quality start. A 4.50 ERA is less than quality, but hey, I don't come up with the stats, I just use them. That's 16 official quality starts out of 17 games started. Quite impressive.
Since the 6 run outing on May 24 (anyone notice I keep mentioning May 24??) he has given up four runs in 49.2 innings. That equates to a minute 0.72 ERA over the last calendar month, to go along with 51 K's.
Just ask the Cleveland Indians and Arizona Diamondbacks how good Justin Verlander is. The combined score for those two games he pitched in the last week and a half were 10-0, with the 6 foot 5 righty tossing 17 innings of shutout baseball, giving up just six hits, with 2 walks and 26 strikeouts.
Or hey, you can even ask the Toronto Blue Jays how much they love facing him. They probably know best just how good he is.
The game in Toronto against the Blue Jays on May 7, 2011 was the greatest pitching performance of Verlander's professional career to this point, and his second career no-hitter. He only struck out four hitters, but had just one man reach base all night. That was a walk to catcher J.P. Arencibia in the 8th, and got Edwin Encarnacion to ground into an inning-ending double play three pitches later.
Verlander is one of 3 active SP with multiple no-hit performances. Roy Halladay and Mark Buehrle are the other two, and he is significantly younger than they are. At the time of his second no-hitter, Justin was 28 years old. In comparison, Buehrle was 30 years old when he tossed his second on July 23 of 2009, while Halladay was 33 (Oct. 6, 2010). If anyone is counting, Nolan Ryan had four such games when he was 28.
I don't think there's anyone out there in the sports world who believes that Justin Verlander -- or any other man -- will toss 7 no-hitters as Ryan did in his career. But then, for as many strikeouts and hit-less baseball games that The Ryan Express racked up, there were many games in which there were a lot of men on the base paths. He averaged 120 BB per season, and is the all time leader in free passes, at nearly 2800. Verlander averages 71 BB per, substantially less.
He is, however, a historically slow starter when we talk about monthly performances. In March, April, and May, his career ERA is 3.62, with a 4.75 ERA in April. His middle months are his best (we're seeing that this season, as well), as his June and July combined ERA is 3.16. He struggles the most, it seems, in August and September. A 4.23 ERA is not adequate if he wants to be the best in the game.
Though, to his credit, he's been improving in the final two months of the season for the past two years. Another sign that he is maturing as a pitcher, and perhaps not becoming as intimidated by late-season high pressure games with the division on the line.
Bottom line is this. Justin Verlander is the best pitcher in the league right now. And any team that has the misfortune of facing him in the next few months is going to lose sleep wondering how to solve his 100mph fastball, 87mph change up, and his 79mph curve. All of which he is able to put anywhere he wants to at any time he wants to. In the mean time, his career 3.65 ERA continues to drop slowly, and the fear he puts into hitters every five days is growing rapidly.
Good luck with that, AL Central hitters, I do not envy you.
