Hey, I’m not saying that the Yankees sluggers, Alex and Jason, can’t slug – because their homer totals, etc., show that they can.

I’m just saying that THE STATS SHOW that they are not slugging near their career norms – or near what their teammates are slugging…IN HIGH LEVERAGE SITUATIONS.

And, that RP theory doesn’t fly. High Leverage spots can happen anywhere in a game. It doesn’t have to be late in a game with a RP on the mound. It could happen in the 3rd inning too. Each game, and case, is different as to when the High Leverage situation occurs…it depends on the inning, the score, runners on base, the outs…lots of things.

Basically, Steve, whenever you start a post, “I thought I’d take a look at …,” you should stop yourself and think about whether you’re fully evaluating the sitation.

For example, you do not need to post that you’ve observed that Mike Mussina is unhittable in the 8th inning, and conclude that the Yankees should do whatever they can to work with Mussina to minimize his pitch counts so that he can get to the 8th inning, where he is statistically unhittable.

While this is (I hope) a silly example, you generally draw similar conclusions from small sample sizes, and you wind up missing the bigger picture. I can remember reading some ridiculous post of yours last season or the season before where you had identified that Wang had a particularly bad ERA in the 4th inning, or something like that, and that if we could just get Want through the 4th inning …. (complete nonsense!)

Moose isn’t unhittable in the 8th inning because Moose is unhittable in the 8th inning. Moose is unhittable in the 8th inning because he NEVER GETS TO the 8th inning, and on those rare occasions when Moose does reach the 8th inning, it’s in games in which he is really dealing. So, of course he seems unhittable in the 8th inning.

If the opposing teams bring in their best relief pitchers against the Yankees’ acclaimed sluggers, and our sluggers only manage singles instead of doubles and HRs against these great pitchers, I’m not going to conclude that our sluggers can’t slug.

Are these numbers significantly different from last year’s team performance? Are these numbers significantly off these players’ career norms? What’s a “good” slugging percentage in a high leverage situation? What’s an average slugging percentage? Is it just the Yankees who slug better when “nothing is one [sic] the line,” or is it all teams? Isn’t it *good* that the Yankees slug better in *high* leverage situations than *medium* leverage situation?

~~You know what the Yankees are slugging in ALL situations? .413, which is EXACTLY what they would be expected to hit in high-leverage situations, in low-leverage situations, and in every single possible situation you can come up with. ~~

It’s not .413 in all situations. It’s .413 overall.

In High Leverage spots it’s .413
In Medium Leverage spots it’s .388
In Low Leverage spots it’s .438

To me, this suggests that the Yankees slug better when nothing is one the line, no?

~~Clown~~

ieddyi – how am I supposed to respect your opinion when you call me names?

Sheesh Corey, at least spell the guy’s name right on the day he died. MURCER! My favorite player as a kid, one heck of a good guy according to everyone associated with the game. He will be missed.

sad day today , bobby murser RIP

Steve, can you help Peter Abraham out and put together an article about how often managers change their lineups? Maybe make some points about the problems Girardi has faced with all the injuries too.

Since he deletes any posts questioning this subject from his blog I’m hoping that maybe, just maybe, one of his peers can show him why these criticisms are so obtuse. At the very least his loyal readers will benefit from intelligent baseball analysis.

Thank you
Bologma!

And now a HR

Your timing is impeccable, LOL

So, I guess the 2 run single he just hit doesnt count according to you, huh

Another reminder why I don’t read this site on a regular basis ( linked by Baseball Think Factory- a real baseball site )

Clown