Hitting .208 with runners in scoring position; needing home runs to win games. This doesn't necessarily sound like the recipe for a long winning streak in baseball but that is indeed what the New York Yankees did over the past 9 games--win them all.
Stats can be misleading and incomplete. Despite not taking advantage of scoring opportunities, the Yanks still rampaged through the NL East due to outstanding starting pitching and opportune power hitting.
With an ERA of 1.82 during the winning streak and 15 home runs, the 16-77 stat with RISP is much more meaningless.
In years past, a sweep of 3 teams in the NL East might have been thought of as something a bit less impressive. This year however, the NL East is one of the strongest divisions in baseball and the Yanks beat the Mets, Braves, and Nationals, all teams with winning records. According to Elias Sports Bureau, it is the first time in franchise history that Yanks had a winning streak of this length against teams with winning records.
The Yanks are definitely on fire and now head back to New York looking to make it a clear 12 and 0 against the NL East when they face the Braves tonight. And who better to take the mound than ace CC Sabathia.
The scary thing about how the Yanks are playing is that if they actually hit with runners in scoring position they would be many times better and absolutely crushing opponents. New York is playing extremely well and you can't argue with 9 in a row but if they can fire on all cylinders, they could run away with the division.
Monday, June 18, 2012
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Yankees May Review: Can I Get A Hit?
Once again, about a half month late on this and I have been absent from posting since last month but I hope I can change that over the summer. A look at the Yankees in May...
Record: 14-14
Offensive Stats:
Batting Average: .261 (6th in AL)
Slugging Percentage: .445 (3rd in AL)
Home Runs: 39 (3rd in AL)
RBI: 108 (11th in AL)
Runs: 112 (11th in AL)
Hits: 246 (9th in AL)
My Grade Average: 2.50 (~B-)
Thoughts: It was a rough month for the offense and my B- average might be a bit generous. Although they were 14-14 they still have yet to win a game where they haven't hit a home run. As has been well documented across the media, hitting with RISP has been atrocious and even worse has been hitting with the bases loaded (still a sub-.200 average). The good news is that the home runs keep coming. Brett Gardner is still out and looks to be for a long time so the Yanks have to find other ways to produce runs. Cano has started to hit and A-Rod and Tex showed some signs of life although they haven't been as good as they should be. Overall a mediocre month for the bats.
Pitching Stats:
ERA: 3.97 (6th in AL)
Hits Allowed: 252 (6th most in AL)
Earned Runs Allowed: 108 (10th most in AL)
Home Runs: 38 (2nd most in AL)
Walks: 79 (12th most in AL)
Strikeouts: 210 (7th in AL)
My Starting Pitching Grade Average: 3.02 (~B)
My Bullpen Grade Average: 3.20 (~B+)
Thoughts: The pitching was on the upswing for the Yanks in May, much improved from their quite dismal April start. The return of Andy Pettitte added a nice spark to the rotation and he has been a solid number 2 starter. The stat categories listed above showed much improvement from April and the ERA has dropped significantly to a much more acceptable level (it has been even better in June so far).
Pitcher Breakdown (# of starts); Starter Grade/Offensive Support Grade/Bullpen Support Grade
Sabathia (5): 3.60/3.07/3.33 (Yankees were 3-2 in his starts)
Kuroda (5): 2.73/1.60/3.07 (Yankees were 2-3 in his starts)
Hughes (6): 2.95/2.83/2.89 (Yankees were 3-3 in his starts)
Nova (6): 2.89/2.72/3.78 (Yankees were 4-2 in his starts)
Pettitte (4): 3.42/2.50/3.17 (Yankees were 2-2 in his starts)
Phelps (2): 2.17/1.67/2.50 (Yankees were 0-2 in his starts)
Thoughts: A fairly blah month for starting pitching as a whole. Phelps provided a quality bridge to Pettitte despite the 2 losses in his starts. The Yanks won 4 of 6 starts by Nova who continues to get run support and good bullpen relief (highest for the team). Sabathia was fairly consistent although had a sub-par outing or two. Kuroda was hit or miss but seemed to find himself late in the month. The enigma that is Phil Hughes continued but fortunately June seems like a much better month for the right-hander.
Record: 14-14
Offensive Stats:
Batting Average: .261 (6th in AL)
Slugging Percentage: .445 (3rd in AL)
Home Runs: 39 (3rd in AL)
RBI: 108 (11th in AL)
Runs: 112 (11th in AL)
Hits: 246 (9th in AL)
My Grade Average: 2.50 (~B-)
Thoughts: It was a rough month for the offense and my B- average might be a bit generous. Although they were 14-14 they still have yet to win a game where they haven't hit a home run. As has been well documented across the media, hitting with RISP has been atrocious and even worse has been hitting with the bases loaded (still a sub-.200 average). The good news is that the home runs keep coming. Brett Gardner is still out and looks to be for a long time so the Yanks have to find other ways to produce runs. Cano has started to hit and A-Rod and Tex showed some signs of life although they haven't been as good as they should be. Overall a mediocre month for the bats.
Pitching Stats:
ERA: 3.97 (6th in AL)
Hits Allowed: 252 (6th most in AL)
Earned Runs Allowed: 108 (10th most in AL)
Home Runs: 38 (2nd most in AL)
Walks: 79 (12th most in AL)
Strikeouts: 210 (7th in AL)
My Starting Pitching Grade Average: 3.02 (~B)
My Bullpen Grade Average: 3.20 (~B+)
Thoughts: The pitching was on the upswing for the Yanks in May, much improved from their quite dismal April start. The return of Andy Pettitte added a nice spark to the rotation and he has been a solid number 2 starter. The stat categories listed above showed much improvement from April and the ERA has dropped significantly to a much more acceptable level (it has been even better in June so far).
Pitcher Breakdown (# of starts); Starter Grade/Offensive Support Grade/Bullpen Support Grade
Sabathia (5): 3.60/3.07/3.33 (Yankees were 3-2 in his starts)
Kuroda (5): 2.73/1.60/3.07 (Yankees were 2-3 in his starts)
Hughes (6): 2.95/2.83/2.89 (Yankees were 3-3 in his starts)
Nova (6): 2.89/2.72/3.78 (Yankees were 4-2 in his starts)
Pettitte (4): 3.42/2.50/3.17 (Yankees were 2-2 in his starts)
Phelps (2): 2.17/1.67/2.50 (Yankees were 0-2 in his starts)
Thoughts: A fairly blah month for starting pitching as a whole. Phelps provided a quality bridge to Pettitte despite the 2 losses in his starts. The Yanks won 4 of 6 starts by Nova who continues to get run support and good bullpen relief (highest for the team). Sabathia was fairly consistent although had a sub-par outing or two. Kuroda was hit or miss but seemed to find himself late in the month. The enigma that is Phil Hughes continued but fortunately June seems like a much better month for the right-hander.
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