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<\/a>On July 28, in the second game of a doubleheader<\/em>, Phillies\u2019 righty John Buzhardt<\/strong> picked up a victory \u2013 going the distance as the Phillies topped the Giants 4-3 in Philadelphia.\u00a0 Over the next 22 days, the Phillies lost a still-MLB record 23 consecutive ballgames. (Remember single-admission doubleheaders).<\/p>\nThen, on August 20, again in the second game of a doubleheader<\/em>, they broke the losing streak. \u00a0And, again, the winning pitcher was Buzhardt \u2013 who gave up four runs in a nine-inning complete game <\/em>as Philly prevailed 7-4 over the Braves in Milwaukee. So, Buzhardt\u2019s two wins were the bookends holding the 23-game losing streak in the middle.\u00a0 Oh, and what number was Buzhardt wearing? Twenty-three, of course.<\/em><\/p>\n Buzhardt’s August 20th win, not only marked the end of the Phillies’ record losing streak, it also marked the beginning of the 1961 Phillies’ longest winning streak. From August 20-25, the Phillies won four in a row.\u00a0 The last winner in that Phillies 1961-best winning streak?\u00a0 You got it. Once again,\u00a0 John Buzhardt with a 9-4 complete-game victory over the Braves.<\/p>\n Buzhardt, by the way, finished the season as 6-18, 4.49. (Those six victories, however, were second most on the team (Art Mahaffey went 11-19, 4.10).\u00a0 And Buzhardt did take three of the losses in the 23-game streak. \u00a0It was not all his fault, however.<\/p>\n A few points to consider.<\/p>\n That 23-game losing streak \u2013 during which the Phillies were outscored 133-54 – was part of a 47-107 season that saw the Phillies finish in last (eighth) place \u2013 46 games off the pace. \u00a0In the campaign, they scored the NL\u2019s fewest runs (584), and gave up the second most (796) \u2013 versus the league average of 700 in each category. They also had the league\u2019s highest earned run average (4.61 vs. the league average of 4.03) and lowest team batting average (.243 vs. the league average of .262). \u00a0During the 23-game losing streak itself, the Phillies scored two or fewer runs 16 times. \u00a0A few other notables about the streak, it included:<\/p>\n Side note: During the season, the Phillies lost 35 one -run games (19 wins), were shut out 15 times and were held to two runs or less 67 times. <\/em><\/p>\n The Phillies finished the dismal 1961 season with a phlourish. In their final four games, all at home, they were outscored 33-6, but still managed one win \u2013 a 2-1 victory over oaf all pitchers), the Dodgers\u2019 Sandy Koufax. <\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Now, let\u2019s get back to John Buzhardt. \u00a0In his two seasons with the Phillies, the team went 106-202-1. In those two seasons (1960-61, Buzhardt went 11-34, 4.18 (and those 34 losses represented just over 35 percent of his total losses over an 11-season MLB career). Pitching \u201cnot for the Phils,\u201d Buzhardt was 60-62, 3.47. For his career (1958-68 \u2026 White Sox, Phillies, Cubs, Astros, Orioles) Buzhardt he was 71-96, 3.66. Buzhardt\u2019s two best seasons were 1964-65, when he went 10-8, 2.98 and 13-8, 3.01 for the White Sox.<\/p>\n Again, not a particularly earthshaking post, but I do like the fact that victories by number-23 bookended the Phillies\u2019 record 23-game losing streak.<\/p>\n Primary Resource:\u00a0 Basevall-Reference.com<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Baseball Roundtable is also on the Anytime Baseball Supply<\/em> Top 66 Baseball Sites list.\u00a0 For the full list, click here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n
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<\/a><\/a>Baseball Roundtable is on the Feedspot<\/em> list of the Top 100 Baseball Blogs.\u00a0 To see the full list, click\u00a0here.<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nI tweet (on X) baseball @DavidBaseballRT<\/h3>\n