Ted Lilly
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Chicago Cubs — No. 30 | |
| Starting pitcher | |
| Born: January 4, 1976 Torrance, California |
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| Bats: Left | Throws: Left |
| Major League Baseball debut | |
| May 14, 1999 for the Montreal Expos | |
| Selected MLB statistics (through 2007) |
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| Win-Loss | 74-66 |
| Earned run average | 4.46 |
| Strikeouts | 973 |
| Teams | |
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| Highlights and awards | |
Theodore Roosevelt "Ted" Lilly (born January 4, 1976 in Torrance, California), is a left-handed starting pitcher for the Chicago Cubs. He bats and throws left-handed. Lilly attended Yosemite High School in Oakhurst, California, and Fresno City College.
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[edit] Professional career
[edit] Early Years
Lilly broke into the majors with the Montreal Expos in 1999, pitching in only nine games that year before being traded to the New York Yankees as part of a trade involving Hideki Irabu. [1] Lilly played two plus years for the Yankees before being dealt to the Oakland Athletics in a three team deal that included pitchers Jeff Weaver heading to New York and Jeremy Bonderman going to the Detroit Tigers. Lilly was in the starting rotation for Oakland, and pitched in the American League Division Series in both 2002 and 2003.
[edit] 2004 Season
Lilly was traded from the Athletics to the Blue Jays for Bobby Kielty.[2] He made the American League All-Star team in 2004 as the Jays' lone representative that year.
The highlight of his career as a Blue Jay was a start on August 23, 2004 against the Boston Red Sox. He pitched a complete-game shutout and struck out 13 batters in a three-hit 3-0 victory.
[edit] 2006 Season
Lilly was 15-13 with a 4.31 ERA and 160 strikeouts in 2006, exceeding his previous career high for wins (12). He also equalled a career high for starts (32) and nearly matched his career highs in strikeouts and innings pitched. This season, he ranked first among the Jays' pitching staff in strikeouts and second only to Roy Halladay in wins (Halladay had a 16-5 record before a recurring elbow injury ended his season in late September).
On August 21, 2006, in a game against the Oakland Athletics, Lilly had a public dispute with Jays manager John Gibbons. When Gibbons came out to the mound to take out Lilly after he gave up 5 runs in one inning (he was later charged with a total of seven after two inherited runners scored), the pitcher verbally challenged Gibbons' decision. When Lilly entered the dugout, he collected his equipment and headed for the clubhouse. According to eye-witnesses, Gibbons followed Lilly into the clubhouse tunnel and a scuffle ensued. [3] After the game, both Gibbons and Lilly claimed the situation had been resolved. Lilly himself was able to shrug off the incident. During Lilly's next start, against the Kansas City Royals on August 27 (an eventual 10-6 Jays' win), there was no sign of animosity between the pitcher and his manager.
Ted Lilly declared for free agency at the end of the 2006 season, and alongside Barry Zito, Jason Schmidt and Jeff Suppan, was one of the most sought-after free agent pitchers, partially due to the thin market for starting pitching. On the morning of December 6, 2006, Ted informed the Blue Jays that he would not be returning to the club, thus rejecting a four year, $40 million deal. He cited a "change in scenery" as his reasoning. Later on that day, Ted agreed to an identical four year, $40 million deal with the Chicago Cubs, officially ending his tenure with the Blue Jays.[4]
[edit] 2007 Season
In his first start for the Cubs, Lilly defeated the Cincinnati Reds in a strong outing, taking a no hitter into the fifth inning, and only yielding one earned run over seven innings.[5] Lilly then was the starting pitcher for the Cubs home opening game at Wrigley Field on April 9, 2007. Lilly gave up three runs in six innings, but did not factor into the decision.[6] Lilly pitched well in April, lasting at least six innings in each of his five starts while never giving up more than three runs in a game posting a 2.18 ERA.[7]
Lilly was prominent in a contentious series in Chicago between the Cubs and the Atlanta Braves. In game one of the series, Alfonso Soriano hit three home runs in his first three at-bats as part of a Cubs 9-1 victory[8]. In the next game, Tim Hudson hit Soriano with a first-pitch fastball triggering home-plate umpire Tim Tschida to issue warnings to both teams[9]. On the final game of the series, Lilly hit Edgar Rentería in the first inning, and was promptly thrown out of the ballgame by Jim Wolf[10]. Lilly was not suspended for his actions in the game, although the Cubs General Manager Jim Hendry was disappointed in the apparent double standard applied to the two teams as Hudson was not ejected from the second game.
Lilly enjoyed his best season to date, mainly due to the fact that he cut his walk rate down significantly. An article created by Yahoo Sports revealed Lilly as one of the best offseason signings for the 2007, and he has pitched much better than Barry Zito, who is earning twice as much as Lilly.[11]
[edit] MLB Stats
current as of October 1, 2007.
| Season | Team | G | GS | CG | SHO | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | SO | W | L | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Montreal Expos | 9 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 23.2 | 30 | 20 | 20 | 7 | 9 | 28 | 0 | 1 | 7.61 |
| 2000 | New York Yankees | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8.0 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 5.63 |
| 2001 | New York Yankees | 26 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 120.2 | 126 | 81 | 72 | 20 | 51 | 112 | 5 | 6 | 5.37 |
| 2002 | New York Yankees | 16 | 11 | 2 | 1 | 76.2 | 57 | 31 | 29 | 10 | 24 | 59 | 3 | 6 | 3.40 |
| 2002 | Oakland Athletics | 6 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 23.1 | 23 | 12 | 12 | 5 | 7 | 18 | 2 | 1 | 4.63 |
| 2003 | Oakland Athletics | 32 | 31 | 0 | 0 | 178.1 | 179 | 92 | 86 | 24 | 58 | 147 | 12 | 10 | 4.34 |
| 2004 | Toronto Blue Jays | 32 | 32 | 2 | 1 | 197.1 | 171 | 92 | 89 | 26 | 89 | 168 | 12 | 10 | 4.06 |
| 2005 | Toronto Blue Jays | 25 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 126.1 | 135 | 79 | 78 | 23 | 58 | 96 | 10 | 11 | 5.56 |
| 2006 | Toronto Blue Jays | 32 | 32 | 0 | 0 | 181.2 | 179 | 98 | 87 | 28 | 81 | 160 | 15 | 13 | 4.31 |
| 2007 | Chicago Cubs | 34 | 34 | 0 | 0 | 207.0 | 181 | 91 | 88 | 28 | 55 | 174 | 15 | 8 | 3.83 |
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Ted Lilly, baseball-reference.com, Retrieved on June 6, 2007.
- ^ Ted Lilly,baseball-reference.com, Retrieved on June 6, 2007.
- ^ Gillies, Rob, Jays' Gibbons, Lilly Get Into Argument,ABC News, Retrieved on June 6, 2007
- ^ [1], Fox Sports, Retrieved on June 6, 2007
- ^ Wittenmyer, Gordon, In complete command,Chicago Sun-Times, Accessed on June 6, 2007
- ^ Gano, Rick, Houston 5, Cubs 3, Yahoo! Sports, Retrieved on June 16, 2007.
- ^ No Author,Ted Lilly Stats, Yahoo! Sports, Retrieved on June 16, 2007.
- ^ Odom, Charles, Chi Cubs 9, Atlanta 1, Yahoo! Sports, Retrieved on June 16, 2007
- ^ Odom, Charles, Altanta 9, Chi Cubs 5, Yahoo! Sports, Retrieved on June 16, 2007
- ^ Henry, George, Atlanta 5, Chi Cubs 4, Yahoo! Sports, Retrieved on June 16, 2007
- ^ Sullivan, Paul, No suspension for Cubs' Lilly, Chicago Tribune, Retrieved on June 16, 2007.
[edit] References
- Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube
