I was stunned when I saw that Kevin Jarvis is starting for the D-Backs tonight.
Jarvis was a bad pitcher back when the World Series was cancelled over a decade ago, and other than one decent season with the Rockies where he posted an ERA+ of 100, he's been a bad pitcher ever since.
In over 750 career innings, he has a career ERA of 6.00, and a career ERA+ of 74.
I was thinking that the Rangers may be facing one of the worst pitchers in major league history, taking into account how bad he has been, for such a long period of time.
And sure enough...according to a recent article in the New York Sun, Jarvis is the third-worst pitcher in MLB history in terms of Runs Saved Above Average, trailing only Jose Lima (who Jarvis may have passed since that article was written) and someone named Herm Weihmeier, who pitched in the 1950s.
Of course, given that I've said that, Jarvis will probably throw 7 shutout innings...