Inspired by CC Sabathia’s effort/success this season…and this October…

Where would you rank CC, in terms of best SP imports, in the Steinbrenner Era?

You know, more times than not, Andy Pettitte has come through pitching for the Yankees in the post-season on three-days rest. Just something to think about, should the need come up during this year’s play-offs…

Dig it.

You can read all about it here. So, which side of the fence are you on?

And, here are my points in this one – just to be clear:

1. If someone want to say that A-Rod only has big days in games that the Yankees lose, well, we now know that’s not true.

2. In 63% of these games where the Yankees won and Alex Rodriguez had a big day with the stick, the Yankees won the game by 6 runs or more. And, in 43% of these games where the Yankees won and Alex Rodriguez had a big day with the stick, the Yankees won the game by 8 runs or more. These are stats and facts. Whatever conclusions you draw from these are probably subjective.

The 2009 Yankees currently have 7 players with 400+ PA and an OPS+ >=120. If New York can keep this up, they will become only the third team in baseball history to have 7 players with 400+PA and an OPS+ >=120. The others to do it were the 1993 Tigers and 1978 Brewers.

Click here for all the statistics on this study.

Of course, the 1993 Tigers had no pitching and the 1978 Brewers had the Yankees and Red Sox to deal with in the A.L. East that season.

But, wait, there’s more! Jorge Posada doesn’t have 400 PA yet this season – but, he will soon. So, that would give the 2009 Yankees 8 players with 400 PA and an OPS+ >=120. So, does that make the 2009 Yankees the most dangerous and deepest starting line-up of all-time? What do you think?

Yup. Read all about it.

How wild? Click here to see the answer.

Click here to read a very interesting item on former Yankee Marcus Thames over at B-R Blog & Stat of the Day.

According to this report over at SOTD, when the Yankees – over the last 5 years prior to this season – face a strong opponent, they have not been able to win as often as they lose. And, if you believe in Pythagorean Winning Percentage, the Yankees have actually under-performed in these situations – posting a W% of .395 compared to a pythW-L% of .454 (in the 38 games where they faced a strong team).

Now, sure, some will say “When you play a team with a winning percentage of .600 or better, you’re not going to do well.”

O.K., sure, but…then…

…explain why the Yankees have a W% of .395 (from 2004 through 2008) in these spots whereas the Angels have a W% of .536, the Red Sox have a W% of .447, the Twins have a W% of .421, the White Sox have a W% of .448? Should not the Yankees, with all their stars, be able to at least play .400 in these situations?

After all, a team with a winning percentage of .600 is going to lose 40% of the time, anyway, right? How could the Yankees then not be able to crack a W% of 40% in these spots? It will be interesting, at the end of the season, to see how the 2009 Yankees do in this situation.

Can “The Holly Hill Hot Rod” better Miguel Dilone’s “record“? I sure hope so…as that would be neat.

Just playing around with Baseball-Reference.com’s Play Index Batting Game Finder, I asked it to show me, since 1956 (of course) who had the most games with:  TOB>=3, XBH>=3, R>=3, and RBI>=3

I was very surprised to see Joe Carter on the top of this list. 

Next, I decided to filter it down to just “Yankees.”  Those with more two or more such games can be found below.  I was very surprised to see that more Yankees didn’t have these types of “big days” more often.  And, only 5 Yankees have done it more than twice for the team since 1956.  Very interesting…

                   Games Link to Individual Games
 -----------------+-----+-------------------------
 Alex Rodriguez        4 Ind. Games
 Tino Martinez         4 Ind. Games
 Mickey Mantle         4 Ind. Games
 Dave Winfield         3 Ind. Games
 Bobby Murcer          3 Ind. Games
 Bernie Williams       2 Ind. Games
 Tom Tresh             2 Ind. Games
 Darryl Strawberry     2 Ind. Games
 Bill Skowron          2 Ind. Games
 Jorge Posada          2 Ind. Games
 Paul O'Neill          2 Ind. Games
 Jerry Mumphrey        2 Ind. Games
 Don Mattingly         2 Ind. Games
 Roger Maris           2 Ind. Games
 Tony Clark            2 Ind. Games
 Robinson Cano         2 Ind. Games                

Just what is it about Yankees pitchers whose last name starts with a “W” and October, anyway?

Javy, Ellis, Barry and the Babe. Who would have thunk it?

I was a bit surprised to see these stats:

[There have been] only 13 seasons where a pitcher has made 25+ starts for the Yankees, where they were age 39 or older. And, it never happened before 1980.

Kevin Brown almost made the list – he had 22 starts at age 39 for the Yankees in 2004.

David Wells, Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson and Kevin Brown were all under Brian Cashman’s watch. Mike Mussina too. It’s Brian’s version of the American Association of (near) Retired Pitchers, I guess.

So, what do you think, does this study suggest that the Yankees pen was in the middle of the pack last year?

Maybe Yankees fans should root for Jim Rice to make the Hall – so that Bernie Williams has a case too?

Well, reading this, how do you think Jason Giambi will do for the New York Yankees in 2008?

What do you think, will Mo, someday, stand alone on this list?

O.K., show of hands, how many people are not shocked by seeing the Yankees so far down at the bottom of this list?

Here’s the count for the Yankees pitchers who did “it” last year:

Chien-Ming Wang: 27 times
Andy Pettitte: 25 times
Mike Mussina: 14 times
Roger Clemens: 12 times
Philip Hughes: 7 times
Ian Kennedy: 2 times
Matt DeSalvo: 2 times
Kei Igawa: 2 times
Carl Pavano: 1 time
Tyler Clippard: 1 time

Just in case you haven’t had enough Johan Santana talk this week, so far.

To tack on to the above link here, something via the Complete Baseball Encyclopedia:

AMERICAN LEAGUE, 2000-2007, LEFT HANDED PITCHERS

RSAA                           RSAA
1    Johan Santana               190
2    Mark Buehrle                155
3    Barry Zito                  146
4    C.C. Sabathia                97
T5   Kenny Rogers                 68
T5   Jarrod Washburn              68

Buehrle is not that far behind Santana here either – about an average of 4 RSAA per season.

Would Rock make this trade? What do you think?

Just a little shout-out to Andy Pettitte.

Let’s go Yankees – make sure Andy’s coming back in 2008!

Click here for the details.

Here’s the details. Now, just imagine if they meet each other in the World Series this year!

Come and knock on our door…..
We’ve been waiting for you……

Three’s company too.

Louie ‘Bleeping’ Gonzalez.

Derek does Boston. More than just a few times.

If you don’t believe me, click here. How loud would it be at the Stadium if the Yankees could get Bernie Williams to throw out the first pitch of the first ALDS game played in the Bronx this year?

Anyone else watch Game 5 of the 1976 ALCS on YES tonight? I think I was just as nervous watching it this evening as I was when I watched it as a 13-year old back when it was actually played.

It was a lot of fun to view this one again. And, I learned something too.

Those Yankees-Royals post-season games from 1976-78 were something special. Tense, hard-nosed, old-school baseball at its best. I’d like to see a boxed DVD set of just those 14 games – but, I doubt they would sell that well in Kansas City. You’d probably have to throw in the three games from the 1980 ALCS as well to make it fair to Royals fans.

Thou shalt not pass A-Rod?

Why not? Are teams that afraid of Godzilla?