David Hernandez recorded his fifth quality start in his last seven outings on Tuesday to lead the Orioles to a 3-2 victory over the A's. It was the 42nd quality start of the season for the Birds, who are last in the A.L. East in that category.
Toronto leads the division with 60 quality starts followed by Boston (56), New York (52), Tampa Bay (51), and the Orioles.
Roy Halladay and Josh Beckett are the individual division leaders in quality starts - each has 16 such starts in 22 games pitched. Jon Lester and A.J. Burnett have 15 quality starts while teammates Matt Garza and James Shields each have 14.
The Orioles are led in quality starts by T-shirt Tuesday Brag Bergesen. Bergesen has posted 13 quality starts in 19 games to outperform the majority of the Yankees rotation - C.C. Sabathia (12 in 24), Andy Pettitte (12 in 23), Joba Chamberlain (11 in 22) - and for all intents and purposes match Blue Jays rookie sensation Ricky Romero (12 in 18) in the category.
Bergesen and Romero make for an interesting comparison given the similarities in their numbers.
Romero strikes out more batters than does Bergesen (see Heath's commentary at Dempsey's Army on the need for more strikeouts from Bergesen), but he also walks more batters, leaving the rookie hurlers with nearly identical K/BB ratios.
Romero
10-5, 3.66 ERA, 115.2 IP, 114 H, 13 HR, 44 BB, 90 K's, 1.366 WHIP, 7 K's/9, 2.05 K's/BB
Bergesen
7-5, 3.43 ERA, 123.1 IP, 126 H, 11 HR, 32 BB, 65 K's, 1.281 WHIP, 4.7 K's/9, 2.03 K's/BB
Romero is very much in the Rookie of the Year conversation (see, for example, here and here). Bergesen has been in the discussion at times, but Romero and White Sox third baseman Gordon Beckham seem to be getting the most chatter right now.
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