most dominate pitching performances of all time

[DrewDevil]

First of all, it's dominant, not "dominate." Dominate is a verb.

Ron Luciano was the home plate umpire for Nolan Ryan's 1973 no-hitter against the Tigers. Luciano said it was the most dominant pitching performance he has ever seen. None of the Tigers even came close to hitting Ryan that day. He had his 101 mph fastball, of course, but that day his curveball was breaking off from the batter's head into the dirt. The Tigers were applauding themselves on foul tips and laughing as they went back to the dugout after striking out. Norm Cash came to the plate carrying one of those inflatable toy bats before Luciano, laughing, made him get a real one. Ryan struck out 17 and no one was remotely close to getting a base hit.

For sustained dominance, my vote is for Orel Hershiser in 1988. Basically, he gave up no runs for the last 3 months of the season (including the playoffs and World Series).

[Kneel B4 Zod]

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20 strikeout games are impressive, but I think a perfect game is much more dominant.

Randy Johnson's perfecto in 2004 was pretty fantastic. He killed a good hitting Braves team. That to me is more impressive than striking out 20. Allowing no one to reach base is a sign of utter dominance. (he also struck out 13)

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clearly the results matter, but a lot of this will come down to subjectively how 'good' the pitcher looked that day. I mean Derek Lowe threw a no-hitter once, but I'm positive that Pedro was more dominant a # of times in games he gave up more than 1 hit. like the Yankees game I referenced above , in which he even gave up a run. But many Sox fans will tell you that he was never better than he was that day, and this was during the best 3 season stretch in baseball history.

[astroglide]

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For true pitching domination, I think you need to go back to the 1960s when the mound was higher. Gibson's 1.12 ERA in 1968 meant he dominated the entire season, which is one of the reasons they lowered the mound. A 1.12 is unfathomable today, although the duel between Gooden (1.53) and Tudor (1.93) in 1985 came close.

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His earned run average in 1968 was 1.12, which is a Live Ball Era record. He threw 13 shutouts, and allowed only two earned runs in 92 straight innings of pitching. He also won the National League MVP. In Game One of the 1968 World Series, he struck out 17 Detroit Tigers to set a World Series record for strikeouts in one game, which still stands today. His season was so successful that his performance is widely cited in Major League Baseball's decision to lower the pitcher's mound by five inches in 1969. The change had only a slight effect on him; he went 20-13 that year, with a 2.18 ERA. Some say that his 13 shutout season may never be repeated by anyone again given the heavier emphasis on pitch counts and relief pitching today.

[Kneel B4 Zod]

his ERA doubled, but I guess it was only a slight change [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

[THAY3R]

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For true pitching domination, I think you need to go back to the 1960s when the mound was higher. Gibson's 1.12 ERA in 1968 meant he dominated the entire season, which is one of the reasons they lowered the mound. A 1.12 is unfathomable today, although the duel between Gooden (1.53) and Tudor (1.93) in 1985 came close.


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Pedro's 2000 season was better than Gibson's 1968.

[THAY3R]

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20 strikeout games are impressive, but I think a perfect game is much more dominant.

Randy Johnson's perfecto in 2004 was pretty fantastic. He killed a good hitting Braves team. That to me is more impressive than striking out 20. Allowing no one to reach base is a sign of utter dominance. (he also struck out 13)

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It's more of a sign of utter luck. You can be perfectly on your game and still allow a fluke blooper. Strikeouts is THE sign of utter dominance.

Though Obviously Pedro's 17k game against NYY was much more dominant than Randy's 19k game where he allowed 100 hits.

[silentbob]

Orel Hershiser towards the end of 1988, if you consider inducing one weak groundball after another just as "dominant" as blowing away the hitter with a strikeout.

[splashpot]

Pedro, 1999 All Star game has to be one of the most dominant 2 innings, haha. Struck out Barry Larkin, Larry Walker, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, and Jeff Bagwell.

[Your Mom]

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Given the time of year that it is, I was hoping this was going to be about playoff performances, not often meaningless regular season games witnessed live by very few people (case in point, IIRC the Wood 20K game was in the middle of a weekday).



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Oh, so if it was on Sunday night, that somehow would make it a better game?

[Pudge714]

Obviously not the most dominating of all time, but most dominating performance I have ever seen live.
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/boxscore?gid=250529114
Halladay gave up an infield singe which took a weird hop off home plate, and a bunt single.