He's all about winning. And I don't care what the radar gun says, I don't care how many strikeouts you get; the bottom line if you're a starter, is win the game.Buck is referring to Tommy Hunter's 13-4 record in 2010 (good for a .765 winning percentage, best in the league), including a 7-0 record at home, where this game takes place. It certainly seems that Hunter, even at the tender age of 24, has what it takes to "know how to win."
But I would argue a bit with Martinez's description of a starting pitcher's duties. Everybody likes to win games, and I'm sure all pitchers like seeing high numbers in that "W" column. But in the big picture, pitchers don't "win the game" as Buck suggests - teams win games. Winning games requires scoring a few runs, a requirement to which AL starting pitchers contribute almost nothing.
Sure a pitcher can compile a lot of wins on their stat sheets, but that shouldn't necessarily be a pitcher's job: a starting pitcher's job is to do whatever he can to help his team win the game.
And I would argue that the evidence has shown that lighting up the radar gun and recording a high number of strikeouts is more valuable to a team's chances of winning games than that arbitrary W.
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