I think not only did our team need it, our bullpen needed it. For me personally, it’s an achievement I can always look back on. Obviously, it’s not a no-hitter, but I gave up only three hits in a nine-inning shutout. That’s pretty good, I’d say.

– Braden Looper

Who would’ve thought back in the spring of 2007 that one day — let alone only a year-and-half later — career reliever Braden Looper would pitch a complete game? His shutout Wednesday night in Cincinnati represents a culmination of sorts in Looper’s transformation as a pitcher.

While Looper’s shutout is the team’s only one to-date, it wasn’t the team’s most dominantly-pitched game this season, nor was it even Looper’s — he accomplished that in his previous start:

Not to take anything away from Looper, of course; as he said himself, it’s pretty good. It was perhaps fitting that Looper tossed his gem on the same night that another reliever-conversion project asserted himself likewise as a success story. The Athletics’ Justin Duchscherer pitched in 189 games in relief without starting (he started five games before that streak) doesn’t have near the relief bona fides that Looper had, but he too is showing that a thirty-something career reliever can offer more value as a starter, and that the difference between a reliever and starter is more of a continuum than conventionally believed.

Today our starter was really, really good. And that’s great because it sets the pen up. We’ve got four more games this week.

– TLR

People talk about "innings-eaters," and with 83 IP this year, Looper has had the second-best appetite on the team (behind Wainwright’s 91 2/3). More importantly (or more accurately), Looper is also second in total batters faced and in batters faced per start:

So if the bullpen is rested, TLR usually has Wainwright, Looper or Wellemeyer to thank.

It’s enabled me to get on top of the ball and keep all my pitches consistently down. All my pitches were down for the most part today.

–Looper

His seemingly self-inconsistent statement (was he saying that all of his pitches were mostly down?) notwithstanding, let’s compare Looper’s pitch charts from that 5/27 game against Houston and Wednesday’s performance:

Looper was indeed lower in the zone Wednesday, particularly with his fastball and sinker (or at least what MLB Gameday identifies as a sinker), which he featured less than he did two weeks ago. Give Looper credit: He’s worked hard to become — and remain — a starter, and it sounds like it’s because he listens to good advice on how to improve. It’s an example that the team’s influx of rookie pitchers will do well to heed.

This entry was posted by Pip on Thursday, June 12th, 2008 at 8:13 pm and is filed under quotebook. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.