ESPN - Rockies vs. Diamondbacks - Recap - May 15, 2008

Brandon Webb - nine starts, nine wins

This marks the best start of a season since 1985 when Andy Hawkins won his first ten starts.

Andy who?

Hawkins had a weird career. After his 10-0 start he finished the season 18-8, so he had nothing unusual the rest of the year, nor did he show anything in the surrounding years. In the year before the streak, his ERA was 4.68 and he finished 8-9. His ERAs were 4.30 and 5.05 in the two years following the streak, and his cumulative record for the two years was 13-18.

The streak wasn't the only oddity of his career. In 1990 he pitched a no-hitter - and lost the game 4-0. He allowed all four runs in the same inning. One guy reached on an error, then two walks loaded the bases. In extreme sun and wind conditions, the next better hit a fly ball to Jim Leyritz, a third baseman filling in the the outfield. Leyritz misjudged it and the runners had been going at the crack of the bat since there were two outs, so all three baserunners scored. The next guy hit another fly ball which was lost in the sun and wind, allowing yet another run to score!

Of course, that game was probably the highlight of a year which finished 5-12 with an ERA over 5.00.

Excluding his 10-0 streak, Hawkins finished his career 74-91 and nobody, least of all Andy, ever figured out what he was doing different at the beginning of 1985.