Tom Gorzellany

Between 2006 and 2007, Tom Gorzelanny pitched well over 200 innings while maintaining a sub-4.00 ERA. Then, in his 100 2008 innings, Tom ended up with an ERA well above six. What gives? Or, rather, gave? Tom has never struck out a ton of guys; his strikeouts-per-nine-innings rate held roughly constant over the three year period. He allowed a pretty similar number of hits to opposing batters in both '07 and '08, as well. If it's not K's or H's, you gotta look at BB's and HR's (trust me, that's just what you gotta do.) So let's do that for Tom: 2007: 3.03 walks per nine, 0.80 home runs per nine innings2008: 5.98 walks per nine, 1.71 home runs per nine innings There you have it. In 2008, Tom started walking a ton more guys, and gave up a lot more home runs. So, yeah, that's gonna, like, inflate your ERA and stuff. What happened in 2009? Actually, Gorgonzola struck more guys out than he ever had before. And while that trend may or not be sus...