Mr. Excitement Lewis turned in the best start -- by a country mile -- by a Rangers starter in 2011 with the complete game shutout of the Chicago White Sox, 4-0.
Lewis, by the numbers:
32.1
Innings pitched in his last four starts. That's eight innings per start. He's not pitched less than seven this month.
4
Home runs allowed in those four starts. He has eight in his first four starts.
4
Walks in those four games. He had 10 walks in the previous four starts.
24
Strikeouts in the last four.
74
Strikes thrown tonight. Out of 110 pitches. Simply assaulted the strike zone whenever he wanted.
3.81
Lewis' ERA as of this second. It was 4.57 at 7:09 p.m.
I think we should also rehash Lewis' story. He was nothing short of a Major League washout. He'd flamed out with three clubs before going to Japan.
No one returns from Japan better. They simply don't. Hell, most Japanese players don't come over and do well, Ichiro being an obvious exception to that rule.
Lewis had no future in the Majors and here he is, pitching complete game shutouts for a first-place club that went to the World Series, largely thanks to him.
It is a remarkable story and I tend to think about it when Lewis is struggling a little bit. A bad stretch of starts is nothing when you've had the dubious opportunity of potentially throwing your last professional pitch on American soil.
