Justin Verlander has turned around his 2011 in a pretty astounding way. He started off pitching pretty rough until the no-hitter on May 7th, carrying an ERA 3.75 and a 2-3 record into that game. While those aren't terrible numbers, you'd want a little better out of your number one pitcher.
However, starting at the no-hitter through the start last night (6/14) he's posted an ERA of 1.84 and rattled off 6 wins over 8 decisions. Further, if you remove the 6 earned in 6 innings nightmare on May 24th, which Detroit still won 7-6, his ERA drops to an astounding 1.09 over those 7 starts.
Beyond this hot-streak he's also carrying a sub-one WHIP (.089) and has posted 105 strikeouts in 114 innings of work this season. The strikeout numbers are a shade lower than last season, but you really can't argue with the results of what he's done this year. He's now up to 3 nine inning games (two shutouts) and 8 appearances (of 15) where he's gone 8 innings or more and allowed three runs or less. It will be fun to watch him pitch over the rest of the year and hopefully he doesn't suffer a fate similar to Ubaldo Jimenez in 2010 (hot start, poor finish).
Source: www.ESPN.com
