April's best and worst arms
By MARC LAWRENCE
Ah. The smell is in the air. Hot dogs, peanuts and ice-cold beer are once again being offered up at ballparks across the country. The 2009 Major League Baseball season is underway.
There's no doubt the key to successful baseball handicapping is keeping a pulse on starting pitchers. And because they are human, pitchers develop a tendency to perform at optimum best, or minimum worst, capacities at various stages of the season. Recognizing their 'good month' and 'bad month' tendencies goes a long way in becoming a winning handicapper.
Here's the list of the best and worst pitcher performance records during the month of April over the past three years. The win-Loss figures are team-start records, or the team's record in games started by the denoted pitcher. To qualify, pitchers must have started a minimum of 10 games within the month.
Keep this list handy throughout the opening month of April. You'll soon be beefing up on a diet of lip-smacking baseball delicacies and winning plays. Hey beer man, pour me a cold one, would ya?
April good month pitchers:
Josh Beckett 10-4 Boston, Erik Bedard 11-3 Seattle, Aaron Harang 13-6 Cincinnati, Rich Harden 8-2 Cubs, Mark Hendrickson 7-3 Baltimore, Cliff Lee 9-1 Cleveland, Braden Looper 8-3 St. Louis, John Maine 8-2 NY Mets, Daisuke Matsuzaka 9-2 Boston, Scott Olsen 11-4 Washington, Wandy Rodriguez 9-4 Houston, Adam Wainwright 7-3 St. Louis, Brandon Webb 15-3 Arizona.
April bad month pitchers:
Matt Cain 4-12 San Francisco, Edwin Jackson 3-7 Detroit, Oliver Perez 5-11 NY Mets, Andy Pettitte 5-12 NY Yankees, Barry Zito 3-12 San Francisco.