My college pitching coach always told us the same thing, over and over:
Pitch the same way whether you're up by ten or down by ten.
I'll say the same thing here that I told him at that time: That's easier said than done. Depending on run support, or lack thereof, a pitcher's entire game plan goes out the window. It is simply human nature to pitch differently when you have a team on the ropes. My father actually pointed something out to me that jumped off the page like a screaming monkey on fire: My K/9 during my senior year was vastly different in games where the run differential was 2 or 3 versus 5+. We only lost twice my senior year. We had a handful of 2 run wins and a handful of 5+. My K/9 became very unappealing in the 5+. I didn't attack, I nibbled. I think you'll find a lot of pitchers today do the same. How many games do you see in MLB that start 7-0 in the 3rd inning and wind up being an 11-9 slug fest? If you start a game 7-0 the team should win 99.999% of the time. Doesn't always work that way out of simple human nature from one position: The pitcher.
Win / loss is tough in today's baseball, especially with the advent of specialized bullpens and the limitation of innings pitched. My average start during my senior year in college was 8 and a third. The average start of today's major league pitcher is just over six innings. How many games are decided in the 7th, 8th and 9th innings? A lot. Which is why I think OPS against and WHIP are 1-2 in importance with ERA a distance third.
You mentioned two pitchers in particular, those two are very good examples of something else that is important: Ballparks. David Wells pitched the majority of his career in the AL East. Matt Cain in the NL West. Toronto, Boston, Baltimore, Tampa, New York...all hitters ball parks. San Diego, L.A., San Fran...all pitchers ballparks. I look at Cain's WHIP last year of 1.08, ERA of 3.14 and 11 losses and automatically think this: That guy left a ton of games that were tied. Plain and simple. BUT, all that said, he's pitching in PITCHER ballparks. He is SUPPOSED to have that type of ERA / OPS, etc.
So what does that say about his 11 losses? You look at a guy like Cliff Lee and he has similar numbers and, yet, more wins. Cain? He's never won more than 14 in a season and, yet, sports a lifetime 3.45 ERA. All of that in bull parks where no one scores a lot of runs. Yet, to your example a guy like Wells averaged something like 5.07 runs support per six innings at one time in his career. So the question is this: Is that ballpark driven or something else?
So much goes into the offensive output of a game, including the output of the pitcher. So yes, in my opinion, a pitcher is somewhat responsible for the offensive output. How many "three and outs" does he manufacture? How often is the offense put into a position of playing from behind? What types of balls is the pitcher putting into play? So many intangibles.
As much as things creep into a pitcher's mental makeup during games, batters "grip" under certain conditions as well. You see your guy go out in the 1st inning and give up four base hits, two walks and a run and you are more likely to swing at bad pitches trying to manufacture something.
So, long winded, my answer: YES, to a point. Do my nonsensical rambles make any sense at all?
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