Ryan Lamb of the Houston Cavaliers is one of the unlikeliest heroes of the 1977 season thus far.
Granted he was a 1st round (supplemental) draft pick in 1970 (by the Philadelphia Mud Hens). But he had an undistinguished minor league career, which included being traded from Philly to Brooklyn for veteran lefty Chris Pollack in January of 1971 and then he was picked off the Brooklyn roster by the Chicago Fire in the expansion draft of November 1974. He did get off to a good start in 1976 and was named to the All-Star game to represent the Fire as the lone player from the team to be named.
But what he's doing this year couldn't have been predicted. Along with rookie Sandy Morales at the top of the Houston starting rotation, he is helping the team achieve respectability. It does help, of course, that the Cavaliers play their home games in one of the best pitching parks in the league, a field which especially depresses the long ball. Still, with his sub-par stuff and poor control, it is hard to imagine Lamb keeping up his current pace. (And certainly his .219 BABIP is a good sign that rougher times may be on the way.)
But you would be hard pressed to find anyone in the league who has had a better month-long stretch of starts than Lamb, and that is with 4 of the 7 games started being on the road. From May 7th to June 7th: 7 games started, 7 wins, 7 consecutive quality starts.
