The Master of Disaster

Here is your ultimate fantasy pitching disaster:

1/3 IP, 9 hits, 8 earned runs

Anything after that doesn't matter. It doesn't matter that Madison Bumgarner didn't walk anyone. And he did get a strikeout along the way, though it was the strikeout of an AL non-hitting pitcher, but only after the first 8 guys had gotten hits, which is some kind of gigantic first measured by the "live ball era."

If you remember, we now analyze Bullingers based on Bill James' game scores, a method of evaluating pitching performances. Anything valued at 11 or less (Jim Bullinger's most horrible game for he Pickled Pecklers back in 1997) is officially a Bullinger.

On the surface, you've got to figure Mad Bum's game yesterday has got to qualify, and it does:

Start with 50 points - total +50

Add 1 point for each out - plus 1, total +51

Add 2 points for each inning completed over 4 - plus 0, total +51

Add 1 point for each strikeout - plus 1, total +52

Subtract 2 points for each hit - minus 18, total +34

Subtract 4 points for each earned run - minus 32, total +2

Subtract 2 points for each unearned run - minus 0, total +2

Subtract 1 point for each walk - minus 0, total +2

Nasty.

And as Larry Dot Net and his buddy Wix and Stix suggest, the performance is deserving of it's own name. So from here on out, any Bullinger accomplished by a starting pitcher who does not completed the first inning will be referred to as a "Bumdinger."