Shutout
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In team sports, a shutout (a clean sheet in soccer) refers to a game in which one team wins without allowing the opposing team to score. While always theoretically possible, in some sports, such as basketball, they are practically impossible.
They are seen as a result of effective defensive play even though a weak opposing offense may be as much to blame. Some sports credit individual players, particularly goalkeepers and starting pitchers, with shutouts and keep track of them as statistics; others do not.
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[edit] Baseball
If the starting pitcher can pitch the entire game without giving up a run he earns a complete game shutout. The currect record holder for most career shutouts is Walter Johnson with 110; the current active leader is Roger Clemens with 48 (tied with Kid Nichols for 25th all-time).
Though less than half of Johnson's record, Clemens' total is not likely to be reached by anyone else for some time, if at all, as pitchers rarely earn more than 1 or 2 shutouts per season today with the heavy emphasis on pitch counts and relief pitching. In today's game pitchers are frequently taken out of the game in the 7th or 8th inning even if the opposing team hasn't scored a run. A pitcher getting a complete game shutout today usually entails one of the following circumstances: getting through the game while throwing an unusually low number of pitches; having one's own team score a large number of runs (allowing the pitcher a "run cushion" to complete the game without relief); or the team has a need that day to keep an unusually overworked bullpen rested if possible. An example of the rarity of the complete game shutout is with young pitcher Chien-Ming Wang of the New York Yankees. On August 2, 2006 against the Toronto Blue Jays he had a very good chance at achieving a shutout in two consecutive starts, an extremely rare feat today. However, despite a commanding 7-0 lead, he was taken out after 8 innings due to a combination of a high pitch count and unusually hot weather during the game.
The term can also be used, however, to describe periods of time longer or shorter than one game. For instance, the efforts of a relief pitcher could be described as "three shutout innings" or a pitcher may have pitched a shutout over the "past 22 innings" (slightly over two full games.) See also: no-hitter and perfect game.
[edit] Ice hockey
In ice hockey, a shutout is given to a team whose goaltender successfully prevents the other team from scoring and plays the entire game. The current record holder for most regular season career shutouts is Terry Sawchuk with 103 (See All-Time Regular Season Shutouts).
[edit] NHL Complications
For the 2005/2006 National Hockey League regular season the NHL adopted NHL Rule 89(b) shoot out format. If the game remains tied after 60 minutes regulation time have elapsed (a condition often referred to as a regulation tie), a short five minute sudden death overtime (OT) is played four-on-four (with one fewer skater on each side, which opens up the ice and promotes scoring). If the five minute OT does not determine a winner, the game goes into shoot out (SO). While the shoot out has been widely adopted in European leagues and International Hockey it was long resisted by conservative voices in Canada and America as an inferior method to end a hockey game.
In the first round of the shoot-out, each team is granted three shooters. The shooters alternate between teams. Like baseball, the game ends as soon as the outcome is certain. For example, if one team scores with both of their first shots and the other team is denied (does not score) on both of their first two shots, the game will end immediately because the outcome is certain, without the third shooters on either team getting a shot. If the shoot-out remains tied after the first three shooters on each team, the shoot-out enters a sudden-death format, with each round granting each team one more shooter.
Once the shoot-out is decided, the winning team is awarded a goal as part of their score. However, this goal does not count against the goaltender losing the shoot-out.
A shut-out shared between two goaltenders on the same team is credited to neither - the shut-out is only credited as a team shut-out. This happened in the NHL as recently as 1982-1983 when the Washington Capitals Al Jensen and Pat Riggin shared a shutout. In the 2006-2007 season, the Nashville Predators Tomas Vokoun and Chris Mason turned the trick on November 23, when Vokoun left the game with an injury.
In the exceptionally rare circumstance that a game ends in a regulation tie with a score of 0-0 (a double regulation shut-out), the shoot-out will result in the opposing goaltenders being awarded a shutout in a scoreless game decided in the shootout. This is true even if the winning goaltender allowed shoot-out goals. Such a case happened for the first time December 6 when the Calgary Flames and Philadelphia Flyers were scoreless through regulation and overtime. Mike Richards scored on Miikka Kiprusoff in the shoot-out, but both Kiprusoff and Philadelphia goaltender Antero Niittymäki were credited with shut-outs. Niittymäki did not allow a shoot-out goal.
Interestingly, a combination of the two scenarios is possible. In rare cases, teams send out their backup goaltender to face the shoot-out. Believing that rookie goaltender Mike Morrison 5-0 record in shoot-outs indicated he would be more effective than starter Ty Conklin, Craig MacTavish sent Morrison in off the bench for Conklin March 6 2006 to face the Dallas Stars. However, the Stars scored on both attempts and the Oilers were blanked on both their attempts. Dallas won the game 4-3. However, this was not a shut-out game for Conklin, and Morrison was credited with the regulation tie despite not having played a minute in regulation time.
Only the NHL head office knows for certain whether the goaltender who achieved the shut-out in regulation would be officially awarded a shut-out if his team's back-up goaltender enters the game and wins the shoot-out.
[edit] Soccer
In soccer, this is known as a clean sheet. In association football in Great Britain, a "clean sheet" is attributed to a team (or their goalkeeper) when they play an entire match without conceding a goal.
The term first appeared in the 1930s and it derived from sports reporting in which the reporter would use separate pieces of paper to record different events of the game. If one team does not let in a goal, then that team's "details of goals conceded" column would appear blank, hence leaving a clean sheet. For example, two teams are playing (Team A and Team B), Team A win 4-0, they keep the clean sheet whereas Team B have conceded 4 goals, they do not.
[edit] Football
A shutout in (American) football is a fairly uncommon occurrence, happening about several times a season. In the 2005 season, the New York Jets suffered a 0-27 loss to the Denver Broncos.[1] The following season, the Jets also suffered two shutouts, 0-41 to the Jacksonville Jaguars, and then 0-10 to the Chicago Bears. Several gambling associations which allow people to place bets on football games offer the promise that, if your team is shutout, your money will be refunded despite the fact that they were not victorious.
[edit] Rugby football
Shutouts are not common in either form of rugby football, but they do happen. In fact the 2005 Gillette Tri-Nations final was the first time the Kangaroos had been shutout since 1981.
