August 19, 2007 in Sports

Webb zeros in on Hershiser

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ATLANTA – Brandon Webb was 9 years old – and not much of a ballplayer – when Orel Hershiser threw more scoreless innings in a row than anyone in baseball history.

“That was my first year in Little League,” Webb recalled. “I was probably sitting out there in right field, because I was awful.”

Awful? Really?

“Oh, yeah. I was terrible,” Webb replied. “I was getting in the minimum innings I had to play in the game, two or something, and getting my one minimum at-bat, then going to sit down on the bench for the rest of the game.”

He took up pitching the following year.

Now, he’s closing in on Hershiser.

The Arizona Diamondbacks ace tossed a two-hitter Friday night for his third straight shutout and stretched his scoreless streak to 42 innings, the 12th-longest in baseball history.

After beating the Atlanta Braves 4-0, Webb finds himself 18 innings away – two more shutouts exactly – from breaking Hershiser’s record of 59 straight scoreless innings in 1988.

“Just two more shutouts? Oh, I should have that no problem,” Webb said facetiously, rolling his eyes. “It’s in the back pocket.”

It will be if he keeps pitching like this. The Braves came into the game with the N.L.’s best average (.278) and third in the league in runs scored (4.96 per game), but they never had a chance against last year’s N.L. Cy Young winner.

Webb faced two hitters above the minimum, got ahead in the count 21 of 29 times and went to three balls on just two batters.

Chris Young, who homered twice for the Diamondbacks, had more fun watching Webb pitch from center field.

“I’d much rather be on his team than facing him,” Young said. “You see the way his ball moves, and now he’s got his off-speed pitches working better than ever. As a hitter, you just don’t know what to think up there.”

Webb (13-8) isn’t one of those guys who claims ignorance of his stats. He knows how many scoreless innings he’s thrown already, and how many it will take to catch Hershiser.

“I know where I’m at,” Webb said. “It’s going to be real tough to do, but I’m going to go out there and try to throw up zeros as much as I can.”

He became the first pitcher since Hershiser to go at least 40 innings without giving up a run and just the 21st pitcher in baseball history to reach that level of stinginess.

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