Shelby Miller loses again, can't buy a win this season

For the better part of the past decade, Seattle Mariners ace Felix Hernandez has been the poster boy for the relative irrelevance of a pitcher's win-loss record.

This season, Shelby Miller of the Atlanta Braves can make a good case that he's now baseball's most hard-luck loser.

[Yahoo Sports Fantasy Football: Sign up and join a league today!]

Miller had pitched six scoreless innings Wednesday night against the Colorado Rockies and entered the seventh with a 3-0 lead.

All of a sudden, the Rockies figured out the Braves right-hander, scoring four runs off him in that inning and going on to win the game 6-3.

It's just been that kind of year for Miller.

Over his last 18 starts, Miller has been saddled with the loss 10 times. The other eight outings have been no-decisions. His ERA over that span? 3.24. On the season his 2.62 ERA has only been good for a 5-11 record. His last win came May 17. AL rookie of the year favorite Carlos Correa was still over two weeks away from playing his first major-league game the last time Miller ended up with a W.

[Check out Big League Stew on Tumblr for even more baseball awesomeness.]

We know major-league teams are less beholden by W-L record when evaluating a pitcher's performance than they were in the past. Earlier this month, the Toronto Blue Jays sent starter Drew Hutchison and his ERA over five down to Triple-A despite his sterling 12-2 record.

Even with his shoddy record, Miller was recognized as an All-Star this season. It shows how far we've come in understanding that a pitcher doesn't have total control over his individual wins and losses. Next time a fellow fan uses W-L record to assess a starting pitcher, all you have to do is point to Shelby Miller.

More MLB coverage from Yahoo Sports:

- - - - - - -

Israel Fehr is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at israelfehr@yahoo.ca or follow him on Twitter. Follow @israelfehr