I don't understand how comparing a starting pitcher to other starting pitchers is arbitrary. They often have different skills sets, and do different things.
I was more talking about my interests, rather than going into those numbers, which are much higher. I used 2007-2010 simply because they're recent, and probably a lot less tainted by power numbers. 2010 was a significant dropoff, but compared to the other recent years, its somewhat of an outlier.
I didn't mean to put you on the defensive, as I said, its definitely something I enjoyed reading about last year. I think that it was simply a good year for pitching. Injuries, an influx of young arms, off years from some players, maybe even weather. Despite the .297 BABIP on the year, I do wonder if it was influenced by a good deal of luck simply from the anecdote of the no-hitters.