Without any real drama facing the Red Sox, the man “lovingly” known as Curly Haired Boyfriend decided to create a little drama of his own.
“This should be a joyful time in the long, proud career of Tim Wakefield. He’s a peaceful man, a champion of charity, and a great teammate. He is 45 years old, still pitching in the big leagues for a pennant contender, and he is on the threshold of a cherished plateau. Since the beginning of the 20th century, only 88 major league pitchers have recorded 200 big league victories. Sandy Koufax didn’t do it. Dennis Eckersley didn’t do it. Dizzy Dean didn’t do it.Wakefield is going to do it. But the weight of the wait hangs like Logan fog in the Red Sox clubhouse. Wakefield’s quest for 200 is now officially longer and more torturous than the Yaz Watch (going for hit No. 3,000) of 1979.”
To his credit, as Shaughnessy points out, great pitchers like Sandy Koufax, Dizzy Dean, and Dennis Eckersley didn’t reach the 200-win plateau; yet still made it into the Hall of Fame. Furthermore, of the 110 that did reach the milestone, only 50 have been inducted into the Hall of Fame. (12 pitchers are still waiting eligibility; eight of whom seem to be good bets to get the call.) So while it’s an impressive number, it’s not really that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things. Pitchers don’t get their tickets instantly punched to Cooperstown for reaching the plateau.
Furthermore, in a time where we’ve realized the irrelevancy of a pitcher’s win-loss record, it’s almost silly that we’re celebrating such an event. That’s not to take anything away from Wakefield because he certainly deserves the accolades. He beat the odds, and found a way to become one of the greatest knuckleball pitchers of all-time. That definitely counts for something.
Has the “Wake Watch” become a clubhouse distraction, as Shaughnessy claims? Not quite. With the exeption of this weekend’s series loss to the Mariners, the Red Sox haven’t lost a series since the June 28-30 series against the Philadelphia Phillies. They’ve gone 27-11 during that stretch. That’s not exactly struggling.
How about Wakefield’s performance? Here’s a breakdown of his performance into pre- and post-win number 199.
4/1 – 7/28 – 5.15 ERA, 47/28 K/BB ratio, 15 HR in 92-2/3 innings
7/29 – 8/14 – 4.08 ERA, 19/6 K/BB ratio, 4 HR in 28-2/3 innings
Obviously, standard small sample size caveats apply, but Wake has actually performed better (not worse) since winning game number 199. While there’s likely a little apprehension among those in the clubhouse, it certainly doesn’t seem like enough to warrant claiming it to be a distraction. As per usual, this is nothing but fabricated nonsence drama on the part of the inventor and perpetrator of The Curse.