Posted By Jeff Fletcher on September 14, 2009 11:57 am

Did a little research yesterday on teams that have very good pitching and very bad hitting. Turns out it’s a pretty rare combo. Right now the Giants are scoring 3.97 runs per game and they are allowing 3.76.

The only other team since 1993 to finish a season averaging fewer than four runs scored and allowed was the 2003 Dodgers. Kevin Brown, odalis Perez, Hideo Nomo and Eric Gagne were the studs of that pitching staff, while the lineup was led by Shawn Green and Adrian Beltre.

They finished 85-77.

The Giants are on pace to go 87-65.

There are a lot more teams that have good hitting and bad pitching, and those teams don’t tend to do as well (see the Texas Rangers, 2000-2008). The moral of the story is if you are going to be a one-dimensional team, it’s better if that one dimension is pitching. However, you still aren’t going to the playoffs. You gotta score runs.