How the hell can this happen?

[Dakota]

Originally Posted by IRISHMAFIA

...I think the bigger story here is that a pitcher threw a complete game

I think the pendulum is swinging back just a bit on the pitch count idea.

The decline in complete games from historical norms was dramatic once pitch count took over...

Year Complete Games
1974 1,089
1984 632
1994 255
2004 150

However, this season indicates that maybe the rule of the pitch count is losing steam. It started a few year ago with the Texas Rangers, with Nolan Ryan's influence as team President on how they managed their pitchers.

So far this season, 2 pitchers have 6 complete games (Shields and Halladay) and 7 have 3 complete games, with Lee pitching 3 complete game shutouts in a row. 67 MLB pitchers have at least 1 complete game this season. A total of 104 complete games have been pitched so far, just short of the half-way point (if my quick addition of the MLB stat charts is correct).

It's still not "old school" but at least the tyranny of the pitch count seems to be losing influence over managers.