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A pitcher's job is not to strike people out and throw no hitters? That's the same logic that Arthur Anderson used, it's not our job to make sure you are doing it right, just to make the numbers look right.
That's just nonsense. A pitcher's job is to keep the other team from scoring. I would say that no-hitters accomplish that in a big way and striking people out also helps accomplish this, unless you've seen a lot of sacrifice strikeouts. Trust me, Boston fans would have loved to have seen a strikeout in game 6 instead of a dribbler to first. More strikeouts mean less balls in play, which means less chance for errors.
Let's compare:
Ryan - 324 wins
Maddux - 279 wins
Maddux - .636 winning %
Ryan - .526 winning %
Ryan - 222 complete games
Maddux - 102 complete games
Maddux - 2.89 ERA
Ryan - 3.19 ERS
Ryan - 2.89 Component ERA - Bill James Stat
Maddux - 3.06 Component ERA - Bill James Stat
Ryan - 61 shutouts (does that fall into not a pitchers job as well)
Maddux - 34 shutouts
Ryan - 6.56 hits per 9 innings
Maddux - 8.21 hits per 9 innings
Ryan - 5714 strikeouts
Maddux - 2710 strikeouts
Ryan - most complete games in a season 26
Maddux - most in a season 10
Ryan - most shutouts in a season 9
Maddux - most sutouts in a season 5
Ryan - opponents average .204
Maddux - opponents average .243
Put Ryan in his prime on the Braves during this same stretch and he'll have over 400 wins for his career. Give him the 4 foot wide strike zone given to Maddux and you'll see 7000 strikeouts. He pitched in a time when the strike zone was pinched more than ever.
If you want Maddux, I will be more than willing to start a team with Ryan anytime.
Don't even bother getting into Pete Rose. He played every damn position and played it at the top of it's game. He had to be classified somewhere. Yeah, there are better people at every position, but we're talking all-around ball player here.
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