Once upon a time, back in the dark ages of 1963, Juan Marichal of the San Francisco Giants hooked up with the Braves Warren Spahn in one of baseball’s most storied pitching duels. San Francisco finally won it, 1-0, on a Willie Mays homer in the bottom of the 16th.

What gave the game historical value was that nobody other than Marichal or Spahn threw a pitch. Marichal allowed eight hits, walked four and struck out 10 in his 16 innings. Spahn, who was 42-years-old at the time, was touched for nine hits and the lone run, while walking one and striking out only two.

Such a pitching marathon, of course, would never occur with today’s supposedly fitter, better trained athletes. Pitch counts, middle relievers, set-up men and closers, along with any number of outside forces that include agents and greed, have reduced starters going beyond the seventh inning to a feat nearly akin to walking on water.

The complete game, meanwhile, has become as extinct as the spotted owl. The Cincinnati Reds, in fact, have not managed a single one this season. The Astros have just one, that coming two weeks ago from Roy Oswalt. Ten National League teams own two or less.

Matter of fact, not a single team in the NL can match the five complete games CC Sabathia has worked in the two months since the Brewers acquired him from Cleveland. Throw in Sabathia’s three distance-going performances with Cleveland, and his eight overall are more than any team in baseball other than Toronto (10) and the Indians (9).

Warren Spahn must be spinning in his grave. Bob Gibson, who completed 28 of 34 starts when he posted a 1.12 ERA in 1968, is surely scowling. Marichal, the NL leader in compete games in 1968 with 30, is probably dumbfounded.

And how about former Oakland ace Rick Langford? What must he be thinking? Langford completed 20 consecutive starts during the 1980 season on the way to going the distance in 28 games. That was also about the time baseball’s pitching philosophy began to evolve, and not necessarily for the best.

Only twice since 1980 — Bert Blyleven’s 24 in 1985 and Fernando Valenzuela’s 20 in 1986 — has anybody thrown 20 complete games in a season. It’s been eight years since anybody in either league — Randy Johnson’s 12 in 1999 — authored double digit complete games.

Both Sabathia and Toronto’s Roy Halladay, with eight each thus far this season, have an outside shot at Johnson’s “feat.” But there is no denying the reality. Baseball’s approach to pitching has changed so drastically most organizations don’t even think in terms of complete games.

They are more into the six-inning “quality start”, holds and the rest of the new lingo that has made millionaires out of guys who work an inning four or five times a week.

Once a starter hits X number of pitches, no matter how well he’s throwing, a call usually goes out to the bullpen. Especially frustrating from a fan standpoint is to see a guy pitching well and looking strong replaced for no good reason other than it’s what the book now dictates.

Things, though, really gets sticky when the relief pitcher promptly comes in and blows the starter’s hard-earned lead.

Lamar University baseball coach Jim Gilligan, who knows as much about pitching as many of those making decisions in professional baseball, said it’s all about the modern mindset. Gilligan doesn’t necessarily agree with the mindset, particularly when it comes to taking it easy on pitchers from one start to the next. But he understands what’s going on.

“Personally, I think pitchers are being babied,” he said. “I don’t think they throw enough between starts. There’s never been an exercise to help velocity like throwing a baseball. No weight exercise can duplicate that, but now you have different schools of thought.”

Gilligan noted that before the days of agents, pitch counts and radar guns, major league teams operated with four-man starting rotations instead of five. Over the course of a season, a pitcher in a four-man rotation might make as many as 10 more starts than a pitcher today.