Thursday, January 10, 2013

2012 Chachi #65 Strikeout Leaders - Cole Hamels & Cliff Lee


Presented here is the final team leader card from the 2012 Chachi set.  This year's leaders cards weren't as fun to create or present as in prior years since the totals in all offensive and pitching categories were largely underwhelming.  However, the strikeout leaders should be celebrated for doing something that has only been accomplished three other times in team history.

Cole Hamels set a career high with 216 strikeouts, crossing the 200-K threshold for the second time in his career.  He first did it back in 2010 when he struck out 211.  This was also the second 200-K season for Cliff Lee, but he wasn't close to his team leading 238 from 2011.

Hamels and Lee became the fourth duo in franchise history to both hit the 200 strikeout mark in the same season.  They join:

1965 - Jim Bunning (268) and Chris Short (237)
2010 - Roy Halladay (219) and Hamels (211)
2011 - Lee (238) and Halladay (220)

Here's the team's top ten from the soon to be forgotten 2012 season:

1.  Cole Hamels - 216
2.  Cliff Lee - 207
3.  Roy Halladay - 132
4.  Kyle Kendrick - 116
5.  Joe Blanton - 115
6.  Vance Worley - 107
7.  Jonathan Papelbon - 92
8.  Antonio Bastardo - 81
9.  Jeremy Horst - 40
10.  Michael Schwimer - 36

No comments: