Friday, September 18, 2009

Yankee's Wins and Loses Breakdown

I wanted to take a look at how the Yankees have won and loss their games this season since so many people know about the 14walk off wins the Yankees have this season (The Most since 1943). I am going to have 3 categories for both wins and losses asides from total, home, and away: 1. One Run Games 2. Blow out Games 3. Extra Innings.

*Blow outs are by 8 or more runs (8 runs= 2 Grandslams)

Wins
Total: 94
Home: 52
Away: 42
One Run Games: 17
Blow outs: 14
Extra Innings: 7

Loses

Total: 54
Home: 23
Away: 31
One Run Games: 15
Blow outs: 5
Extra Innings:3

SP in Blow outs:
CC Sabathia: W-5 L-1
A.J. Burnett: W-5 L-2
Chin-Ming Wang: L-2
Philip Hughes: W-2
Andy Pettitte: W-1
Sergio Mitre: W-1

Now it could just be coinscidence, but the Yankees do seem to score the most for the pitchers seen as there Ace and #2 guy. Now granted A.J. hasn't been himself of late, but the only start where he seemed to have his stuff, over the last months time, occured in a Yankees blow out of the Rays. So it may be said the Yankee hitters can tell early on when their pitchers are on, and there is a major release of pressure off their backs. Afterall It could just be wild coinscidence, but it's still fun to see that the Yankees have only been blown out 3 times since the early season Wang disaster. Also note since they have 14 games in which they've blown out opponents and have played a total of 147 games they have practically blown out teams in 10% of their games. Hopefully the Yankee bats feel the same confidence and ease in every game come playoff time!

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Matsuzaka Effect


After Boston's Daisuke Matsuzaka's outstanding comeback from the DL last night, 6IP 3 Hits 3BB 5K, I wanted to take a look at how the Yankee's top 5 now compared to Boston's top 5.

1.
NYY: CC Sabathia- 17-7 3.42 ERA 178K 58BB
BOS: Josh Beckett- 15-6 3.82 ERA 180K 51BB
*Post Allstar Break: CC- 9-1 2.75 ERA / Beckett- 4-3 4.60 ERA

2.
NYY: AJ Burnett- 11-9 4.33 ERA 167K 87BB
BOS: Jon Lester- 13-7 3.29 ERA 211K 60BB
*vs. BOS/NYY: AJ- 0-2 8.85 ERA / Lester- 1-0 2.70 ERA

3.
NYY: Andy Pettitte-13-6 4.14 ERA 140K 67BB
BOS: Daisuke Matsuzaka- 2-5 7.02 ERA 39K 21BB (9 starts- DL: all of July/Aug)

4.
NYY: Joba Chamberlain- 8-5 4.39 ERA 122K 68BB
BOS: Tim Wakefield- 11-4 4.22ERA 68K 41BB
*Post Allstar Break: Joba- 4-3 4.61 ERA / Wakefield- 0-1 3.46 ERA (2 starts)

5.
NYY: Sergio Mitre- 3-3 7.63 ERA 27K 12BB
BOS: Clay Buckholz- 5-3 3.66 ERA 49K 30BB
*Both called up in July

Obviously teams don't use 5-man rotations in the playoffs, but those 5th starters often become the playoff longmen when needed. The discrepency between talent in that 5 spot is scary. Now Joba is still a playoff question mark so that is yet to be determined, but come the playoffs if the Yankees are playing Boston in the ALCS the hitting can NOT have what Yankee fans have come to call typical performances. It is very questionable as to whether the Yankees can win a 7 game series if it is decided by the pitching so scoring early will be key!

Fight Night Round 17 of 18


Ok Just Quick Mention of the Posada Carlson Fight here do not want to spend to much time on it, but in the 17th of 18 meetings between the Yanks and Jays Posada and Carlson went toe to toe after Posada had a pitch go past his back. Now this isnt a major surprise since Yankee pitching had been wild all night and last game Josh Towers plunked Ruiz in the face. The only problem I have here was the extensive instigating Carlson did. On the Gardener double to right Jesse should have been backing up the 3rd base side of home plate but instead went to the first base side setting up a face to face run in with Posada which is when the major battle went down. Not being a homer, because I'd rather seen Posada just ignore the ignorance instead of risking injury to himself or another player, but what's done is done. Now we wait to see what the suspension is and just be happy no Yankee was hurt bad.

Full Fight: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAqi4MqoiHI

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

2010 MLB Schedule Released. Wait Really? Really.


Today around 1:00p.m. Eastern time the MLB released the 2010 season schedule for all 30 big league teams. Now unless I am mistaken this is quite early for Bud Selig to already set a schedule for next season; especially since the 2009 season is not yet even in the playoffs. All of the other pro sports leagues release their schedule following the conclusion of the playoffs in that respective league, including little followed leagues such as MLL and NLL (both lacrosse leagues). This is absolutely absurd for the schedule to be put out there so early, BUT since we have it why not take a little look see.


First thing the Yankees open the season @Boston for a 3 game series in Fenway. Another questionable decision by the MLB since it makes more sense to have opening day be games that may not sell out otherwise. Boston/NYY will always sell out, but it does add for extra excitement if your a Yankee or Red Sox fan. The Yankees home opener will be on April 13th vs. the Rangers, and overall in Aprilthe Yankees play 12 games vs. the AL West (6 against LAA). May brings us our first Interleague series @ the NYM from 5/21-5/23. Then comes June which has the Yankees 5 other interleague Series against the Astros, Phillies, Mets, Diamondbacks, and Dodgers (in LA so no NY return for Torre unless its a Dodgers/Yankees World Series). July 12th and 13th brings the 2010 Homerun Derby and Allstar Game, to be held in Angel Stadium, which will mark the 3rd time an Allstar game has been played in Anaheim. August and September should bring some exciting playoff push baseball and the season ends in most likely semi-dramatic fashion in Boston 10/1-10/3. Hopefully come the 2010 playoffs Yankee fans will be watching a World Series defence and run for a 28th title by their NY Yankees.

For a full view of the Yankees 2010 Schedule:
http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/schedule/index.jsp?c_id=nyy&m=10&y=2010

Monday, September 14, 2009

Getting Ready for the Postseason...









So believe it or not Postseason baseball is less than a month away! Currently sitting at 92-52 the Yankees have 18 games remaining, and this is now the time to take a serious look at the lineup and pitching staff going into the Postseason. The hitters Postseason stats are as follows:

1) Derek Jeter- .309 AVG 17 HR 49 RBI
2) Johnny Damon- .278 AVG 7 HR 21 RBI
3) Mark Teixeira- .467 AVG 0 HR 1 RBI (1 Series)
4) Alex Rodriguez- .279 AVG 7 HR 17 RBI
5) Hideki Matsui- .302 AVG 6 HR 26 RBI
6) Jorge Posada- .236 AVG 9 HR 31 RBI
7) Robinso Cano- .245 AVG 2 HR 8 RBI
8) Nick Swisher- .208 0 HR 1 RBI (NOT 1 Series)
9) Melky Cabrera- .158 AVG 1 HR 2 RBI

*NOTE: Yankees four main bench guys (Molina, Hinske, Gardner, and Hairston Jr.) have a combined 12 Postseason ABs.

The top five batters he seem to give the Yankees a great chance of success this Postseason, but everyone knows about A-Rods struggles the past 3 playoff appearences (.136 AVG 1 HR 1 RBI) and for the Yankees to turn it around that must change. Also the bottom four guys in the lineup will need to produce to prolong innings and wear down strong pitchers such as Verlander or Jackson of Detroit.
Next up Pitchers:

1) CC Sabathia- 2-3 W/L 7.92 ERA 24K 22BB
2) AJ Burnett- N/A
3) Andy Pettitte- 14-9 W/L 3.96 ERA 139K 60BB
4) Joba Chamberlain- 3.2 IP 4.91 ERA (2 Games in Relief)

RP: Chad Gaudin- 3.1 IP 0.00 ERA
RP: Alfredo Aceves- N/A
RP: Sergio Mitre- N/A
RP:Brian Bruney- 2.2 IP 3.38 ERA
RP: David Robertson- N/A
RP: Phil Coke- N/A
RP: Philip Hughes- 5.2 IP 1.59 ERA
CL: Mariano Rivera- 0.77 ERA 34 SV

Pitching is quite interesting seeing as it is currently unknown how Joba will be used in the playoffs since they seem to be putting him in the bullpen for the 1st round. Will Joba be able to stretch out outings in the 2nd round? Also the bullpen is young and there is not much experience there. four of the bullpen guys have no playoff experience and besides Mariano the others all have less than 6IP. The starters too are suspect with CC's poor performances in the past and AJ's recent faltures plus lack of playoff experience. The only locks you can find in the Yankees staff are Pettitte and Mariano so hopefully they perform to their usual standards.

The Yankees are looking for a big turn around after the major failures of the past 5 seasons (not counting '01 or '03 where they atleast made it to the World Series) can this be the team to do it?

Friday, September 11, 2009

2,722

CONGRATS DEREK JETER YOU NOW HAVE THE MOST
HITS IN YANKEES HISTORY!

A Deeper Look into the Yankee's Record


All season I have seen the Yankees do a pretty good job at picking eachother up when one guy has a bad day, but just how well have they been able to pick one another up? I decided to take a look at the game log and see what the yankees record was when each player did not recieve a hit in a game they appeared in.

*Note: These stats do NOT exclude games where a player only had one AB in the game.

Yankees common lineup and record when each player did not record a hit:

1) Derek Jeter: 16-13
2) Johnny Damon: 15-23
3) Mark Teixeira: 18-18
4) Alex Rodriguez: 16-14
5) Hideki Matsui: 31-17
6) Jorge Posada: 13-21
7) Robinson Cano: 17-19
8) Nick Swisher: 29-20
9) Melky Cabrera: 36-17


Nothing here is a big shocker. The players who are known to be more valuable to winning are the ones where when they dont hit the Yankee's record is close to .500. It's quite impressive to see Jeter only playing in 29 games where he didn't record a hit since he has appeared in 134 games this season. Maybe the most interesting is the fact the Yankees have the lowest win percentage when Posada and Damon dont record hits. The only evaluation I can give there is Damon is the Yankees leader in runs scored and batting 6th Posada has a lot of ABs with men on base so his bad game tend to be very detrimental to the team. Either way it shows just how many of the starters are extremely valuable to the Yankee's success.