Tonight's game was a dustup between the Canaries and the Resolutes, with Kid Nichols and John Clarkson on the mound for their respective teams. Clarkson, of course, made history during his last start when he took the Haymakers' Mickey Welch deep to become the first pitcher in league history to hit a home run. Well, he just did it again! With one out and nobody on in the bottom of the seventh, Clarkson came to bat against Nichols and blasted another one out of the park. That blow increased the Resolutes' lead to 4-2, giving Clarkson a bit of insurance as he cruised toward his fourth victory of the season.
This win evens Clarkson's line at 4-4 in 10 starts. That record doesn't seem very impressive until you consider that Clarkson sports a 1.91 ERA, sandwiching him between the Haymakers' dynamic duo, Mickey Welch (1.83) and Cy Young (2.47), in the race for the league's ERA title. Welch (5-2) and Young (7-1) have the gaudy win-loss records, too, but Clarkson has pitched just as well as either of them.
My favorite stat for Clarkson, however, is the sheer number of innings he's logged. With 10 starts, and assuming no extra-innings games, he would have a theoretical maximum of 90 innings pitched. His actual total? 85! That's a staggering body of work, even in a league where pitchers tend to finish their starts far more often than today. As of this writing, he's pitched a dozen more innings than the next-highest hurlers (Cy Young and Pud Galvin at 73 apiece). Clarkson is out there throwing quality innings game after game, giving the Resolutes an excellent chance to win every time he takes the mound. There's still a lot of baseball yet to be played, but I think we're looking at this year's Pitcher MVP -- even without those two home runs!
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