My family moved to Philadelphia in 1972, and while I was too young to remember it at the time, I got to see many great seasons by Steve Carlton. To this day, I have a bobble head of him. This connection made my ears perk way up when two of my friends in the last 24 hours cited Lefty's amazing 1972 campaign as evidence that Felix surely could be a winning pitcher. If Carlton could go 27-10 on a team that won only 59 games, the argument goes...
So I was all fired up to research Lefty's actual run support when he pitched vs. Felix's support. I was ready to point out that Lefty went 13-20 in 1973, apparently forgetting "how to win." I was fired up to point out that Lefty got to hit, and wasn't half bad himself! ;-)
The Platoon Advantage beat me to it with a great post about Carlton's 1972 and King Felix's 2010. Just a great post. Makes every point I would have, and better. Carlton's 1.97 ERA in 346 IP is a season for the ages. But if you put Felix in an era where teams scored half a run less, pitchers were allow to start 41 games and finish 30 games, and give him Carlton's run support (near league average in 1972 on days he pitched), well...Felix still isn't 1972 Lefty, but he's surprisingly close, and he's much closer than any other pitcher in the Junior Circuit in 2010.
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