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Pitching Concerns for the New York Yankees

Posted by Seth Walder | Posted in MLB | Posted on 11-06-2009

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I wouldn’t expect the Yankees to be particularly concerned with the fact that they are 0-7 against the Red Sox. Head-to-head records mean virtually nothing, and New York is just a game out of first place in the toughest division in baseball, which is remarkable considering their slow start. But besides maybe the Sox just being lucky, why have they had so much success against the Yanks? Well, the answer is actually pretty simple, take a look at the chart below showing the Yankees starters’ performance in the seven games they’ve played against the Sox.

picture-1 As you can see, the Yankees rotation has been far from successful against their rivals from Boston. Combined, the starters have combined for an ERA of 7.47 against the Red Sox, which is not exactly ideal. What makes it worse is the number of innings they’ve pitched, averaging just under four and half innings pitched each start. These problems aren’t necessarily that bad when the Yankees are playing mediocre ballclubs, because they have such tremendous hitting. The Yankees have the best OBP of any major league club, and the second most runs scored next to Tampa Bay. The problem is that when the Yankees face the Red Sox they’re facing a team that’s above average in pitching quality, and