Barry Zito took the mound for the San Francisco Giants Tuesday night with a winning streak on the line. Dating back August 7, 2012, the Giants had won 13 consecutive regular-season games started by Zito. When you add in the 2012 postseason, the streak stretched to 16. Impressive, but still a ways off the franchise record, held by Carl Hubbell, who pitched the New York Giants to 22 consecutive regular-season victories between July 1936 and May 1937.
Zito’s streak ended in flames at Miller Park. He pitched only 2 2/3 innings and gave up nine earned runs. The Giants clawed back from a 9-3 early deficit, but fell short. The Brewers won the game by the score of 10-8.
Still, the Giants’ winning streak with Zito on the hill was notable because, well, it was Barry Zito — the $126 million starter who’d failed to live up to his contract since joining the Giants in 2007. Heading into the 2012 season, the Giants were 65-76 in games started by Zito. He’d pitched so poorly in 2010 that Giants manager Bruce Bochy left him off the postseason roster, as the team romped to their first World Series victory since moving to San Francisco.
But something changed in 2012, particularly in the second half. Zito’s strikeouts-per-nine rose from 5.02 in the first half to 6.20 after the All-Star break. His walks-per-nine dropped in half, leading to a second-half 2.68 K/BB. That also dropped his WHIP. On the other hand, batters hit .272 off Zito from mid-July through the end of the season, compared to .244 early on. His BABIP was higher and his left-on-base percentage was lower. And his velocity? The highs and lows varied from game to game, but Zito experienced no discernible increase in velocity as the season wore on, as shown on the velocity charts on FanGraphs.
So how did he do it? How did Zito propel the Giants to 11 consecutive victories to end the 2012 season?
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