Other Crap

RIP: Jose Lima, former MLB pitcher, only 37 years old

He had a couple of excellent seasons when the Astros still played in the Astrodome, where homers went to die. One year he went 21-10 and finished fourth in the Cy Young balloting. The year the 'Stros moved, Lima's ERA skyrocketed from 3.58 to 6.65 That's not a typo. He started 33 games with an ERA of 6.65. He later posted three annual ERAs worse than that 6.65, although he did get in one good year with the Dodgers in 2004.

By the way, Lima's overnight collapse wasn't the worst in recent memory. In 2003 Hideo Nomo was 16-13 with a sterling 3.09 ERA. The following year he was 4-11 with an 8.25.

In 2005 Lima topped his previous achievement of a 6.65 ERA in 33 starts by carving out a 6.99 in 32 starts. That is the worst ERA in baseball history for any pitcher with 30 or more starts. It's fitting that Lima should own the record for the worst single season ERA, because he also holds the record for the worst lifetime ERA. He's the only guy to pitch 1500 innings or more innings with an ERA over 5.00 (5.26), and only one other guy pitched even as much as 1000 innings with an ERA over 5.00 - Mike Sullivan.

Lima's lifetime ERA in the American League was 6.17 over seven years.

In his final season, Lima's ERA was 9.87 and his WHIP was over two. I actually have better numbers that that this year, pitching in a slow-pitch softball league.

Lima's problem was that he allowed lots of fly balls, which didn't cause too many problems in the Astrodome or Dodger Stadium, but did just about anywhere else. He allowed 267 homers in a career of 89 lifetime wins. (Greg Maddux allowed 353 homers on the way to 355 wins.)

Oh, I am dancing around the issue because the poor guy just died young. If he were still alive I would have immediately gotten to the point - that this guy may have been the worst regular pitcher in the history of major league baseball. Hell, I won two of those "pick any players each night" fantasy leagues just by taking (1) any teams at Coors; (2) any teams with doubleheaders; (3) any teams facing Lima. The most important of those three criteria was the Lima rule. After he left the Astrodome (years 2000-2006), the overall batting average against him was .300, OBP .351, Slugging .525. Those are roughly the same stats Joe DiMaggio put up when he won his 1947 MVP. (.315, .391, .522). In other words, the average player hitting against Lima was roughly equal to Joe DiMaggio in an MVP year. And those stats include his one decent year with the Dodgers! Ouch.

Lima may not have been a great pitcher, but he had the hottest wife in MLB.