• Yanks Rotation Going Deep In ’09?

    Posted by on September 1st, 2009 · Comments (4)

    This is an interesting stat. So far, this season, a Yankees starting pitcher has thrown 7+ innings in his start 45 times. Via Baseball-Reference.com, here’s how the Yankees have done in this type of slice since 1996:

    Year	Games
----    -----
2003	87
1998	81
2002	79
1997	77
1999	69
2000	67
2001	64
2005	56
1996	54
2004	53
2009	45
2007	44
2006	44
2008	33

    If you would have asked me “Are the Yankees starters going deeper into games this season – more often than recent seasons?” – without looking – I would have guessed “yes” (based on the conventional wisdom that Sabathia, Burnett and Pettitte are giving them innings each time out).

    Well, maybe CC, A.J. and Andy are giving them innings – and the rest of the crew (Joba, Wang, Mitre, et al) are not – at least not like the 1997-1999 and 2002-2003 Yankees got from their starters…

    That could be it…

    Look at those 1998 and 2003 Yankeees. Every other game, their starting pitcher went 7+ innings in a start – on average. (And, the 1997 and 2002 Yanks were not far off from this too.) Now, that will save a pen, huh?

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    Comments on Yanks Rotation Going Deep In ’09?

    1. MJ
      September 1st, 2009 | 4:20 pm

      That ’03 team was really great. It’s a shame David Wells and Jeff Weaver were both on the club and it’s also a shame that Aaron Boone and Alfonso Soriano had no plate discipline and couldn’t get runners home from 3rd with less than 2 outs…
    2. Steve Lombardi
      September 1st, 2009 | 4:25 pm

      Yanks should have won that series:
      http://www.netshrine.com/20031027.html
    3. MJ
      September 1st, 2009 | 4:37 pm

      Steve Lombardi wrote:

      Yanks should have won that series:

      I know. That’s what I meant by my comment about Wells/Weaver/Soriano/Boone all collectively sucking it up in the ’03 WS.

      Totally deflating to have lost that WS against an inferior opponent (annoying Josh Beckett hero-worship notwithstanding).
    4. Evan3457
      September 2nd, 2009 | 1:58 am

      I assume the other seasons are complete seasons as opposed to this one, which still has 32 games left, or 1/5 of the season.

      At the same rate, this team winds up with the same 56 games they 2005 teams had, which is higher than 2004, 2006, 2007, and 2008.

      So this team will have fewer 7 inning starts than the vintage 1996-2003 teams of “5 aces”, but it will, in fact have as many or more of them than the all the “recent” seasons, except, possibly, 2005

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