Fools Gold?

After struggling pitching out of the bullpen the Los Angeles Dodgers decided to convert Guo back into a starter at AAA. Guo made his first start of the season for the Dodgers on September 8th and made four more starts during the stretch run, plus one start in the playoffs against the Mets. Guo's numbers as a starter in that short period of time were outstanding. Here is a look at Guo's numbers and a few other noteable pitchers during their best 5 game stretch. This sets the bar very high for Guo as other pitchers are able to cherry-pick their best 5 game stretches. No pitcher beats Guo in K/9, K/BB and HR/9, although there were some remarkable stretches as shown by Johan Santana's best numbers. When compared to hot free agent Barry Zito's best five game stretch, Guo's numbers are much better. Guo will fly under the radar of the casual baseball fan, and even many of the more serious fans but if he is able to put up anywhere close to these numbers again, he will most certainly be considered one of the elite pitchers in the major leagues. vr, Xei

Pitcher	IP	K/9	K/BB	HR/9	5 Game Period
Guo	29 1/3	10.74	5.0	0.31	9/8 - 9/29
J.Santana	37	12.65	13	0.97	4/27 - 5/17
Webb	40 1/3	7.36	8.25	0.00	9/3 - 9/26
Carpenter	38 1/3	8.22	5.0	0.23	8/26 - 9/16
Liriano	37	11.19	6.57	0.97	6/16 - 7/8
Jer.Weaver	33 1/3	8.37	6.2	0.54	5/27 - 7/3
C.Zambrano	34	10.85	2.28	0.53	4/24 - 5/16
Peavy	27 2/3	14.31	8.8	1.95	5/11 - 6/6
Bonderman	35 2/3	11.10	4.4	0.25	6/3 - 6/25
Zito	36 1/3	8.17	2.36	0.99	5/27 - 6/16