Tagged: Sabathia
Power Propells Pinstripers: Bring Out the Brooms
Jeez’m Lord Mercy I have a lot to talk about today!
How about the Yankees these first three days?
In game one, A.J. Burnett and the Yankees defeated the Tigers by the score of 5-3, thanks to the clutch homer deep into the night off the bat of Mark Teixeira in the bottom of the 7th inning.
On the second game against the Tigers following the All Star break, the Yankees were again victorious, as 7 great innings by big lefty CC Sabathia and a longball into right field from Alex Rodriguez propelled the Bombers to a 2-1 win.
Today was the third game of the series with the Tigers, and the New York Yankees were looking for a sweep. On the mound for the Yankees was struggling young righty Joba Chamberlain. On the mound for Detroit was first time All-Star and flamethrower, Edwin Jackson.
It ended nicely from the standpoint of a Yankee fan.
Today, we had, yet again, a 2-1 victory thanks to sheer power.
Power on the mound, power at the plate. You can always depend on power from the Yankees.
I know you’re thinking, 2-1? I can see power on the mound, but power at the plate?
Well, you’re fairly right. There wasn’t power all around for the Yankee offense on today, July the 19th.
But there was enough power.
We scored both of our runs on solo homers by the 3 and 4 batters in the order, Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez, both of them not cheapies by any stretch of the imagination. Tex’s came on a pitch below the zone, A-Rod’s came on a pitch down and in. And they were both hit extremely well.
So with this offensive contribution by the two main components of the Yanks’ offense, Joba Chamberlain and the Yankee bullpen took the Tigers offense to town.
Joba Chamberlain scuffled with his command at the beginning, but trust me– he bounced back. He pitched like an absolute ace today: he had ace stuff, first and foremost, with a mid-90s fastball, a sharp, devastating slide piece, a hard curve and a very strong change-up. But he had command of that ace stuff, too. Although he hit a batter and walked 3 guys, that does Joba no justice. As he went deeper into his outing, he was sharp as a needle. He threw pitches in tough locations, and when you have the velocity and break that he had on his pitches, it’s practically illegal.
Joba Chamberlain, your stuff is in violation.
If he can do this consistently when he goes out there, I will love him forever.
And ever.
Now on the mound tomorrow, we got the Yanks’ worst starter. It’s the veteran left hander Andy Pettitte.
Andy Pettitte has some nice outings, and occasionally a great outing, but he hasn’t been that good. His ERA is 4.80, which is not very pretty, and he’s coming off a bad start. Granted, Andy Pettitte has been known to come alive during the 2nd half, but it was actually kind of the opposite in 2008, as he wore down as the season went on and his final numbers were not very impressive. He’s going to be facing rookie right hander David Hernandez.
Now, you guys know what the deal is with Andy Pettitte, ’cause you’re mainly Yanks fans, so I don’t really need to tell you anything. I do have to let you know what we’ll be up against in Hernandez, the starter for Baltimore.
So here’s the deal on him.
I looked at his first MLB outing, where he went 5.2 innings and gave up 1 run, striking out 3. Here’s the deal on his stuff: it’s very good. And I mean, it’s good.
I can’t tell you if Hernandez has a tough breaking ball, I know he has a fastball that gets up there as hard as 95 or 96 miles per hour. and it has tough, late life and movement on it. I know that he has a slider and a change to compliment his fastball, I can’t say whether either of those are particularly tough pitches. Hernandez had 79 strikeouts in 57.1 innings in AAA Norfolk, so he was a tough cookie down there. Up here, he’s 2-2 with a 3.94 ERA. He’s inconsistent with his outings, sometimes he’s pretty good and sometimes he’s pretty bad, usually not either extreme. Although his SO numbers down in the farm system were really solid, his career high for K’s in a ballgame is 4 in the Major Leagues, and he tends to be… too hittable, I guess, for MLB batters. In 32 innings pitched, hitters have collected 38 hits off him. He doesn’t walk many batters from what I can tell from his minor league numbers and his MLB sample combined.
In other words, it could be a nice day or a tough day. We’ll see if the Yanks can get some runs off him, enough for Pettitte anyways.
Song of the Day is Linkin Park – Given Up.
Stay positive, Yankee fans!
-EJ the Kid From New York
A Good Ol’ Fashioned Whoopin’.
As Bob Dylan so eloquently put it in Like A Rolling Stone:
“How does it feel?”
It was a terrific game, wasn’t it?
Cano came through with the bases fulla Yankees and broke out of his RISP slump, CC Sabathia dominated the Twins, and everything else was perfect, too. I have no regrets about this 10-2 ballgame.
Tonight’s ballgame looks like it’ll be equally fun, considering we’re facing Glen Perkins, a soft tossing lefty who has always struggled against the Bombers, and we’ve got the red hot AJ Burnett on the mound. In his last outing, he won against the Blue Jays, going 7 innings and K’ing 7 while only giving up two runs.
In the previous outing, he destroyed the Mets, allowing only 1 hit on no runs and striking out 10 hitters in seven innings of work. Needless to say, he got the victory in that ballgame, too.
So look for a win in that game, and hopefully Boston will be able to lose a game. That way, we will be in a tie for first place with the Sox, which would be pure awesomeness in a bucket.
By the way, before I go, allow me to discuss the decision by the Yankees to make Alfredo Aceves the starting pitcher who will replace Chien-Ming Wang while he’s trying to recover from his most recent disabled list stint.
There are two sides to this decision. First off, you could be against it because Alfredo Aceves has been so unbelievably great out of the ‘pen, and you don’t want to take a good, effective arm out of the bullpen, and I think I’m on that side. You know, we have such good chemistry and effectiveness in that bullpen that it’s a little dangerous to mess with it. Plus, we have starting pitchers in the minor leagues: Sergio Mitre, George Kontos(although he’s on the 7 day DL), Ivan Nova… On the other hand, people in favor of this say that Aceves was great in his starts last year and that this way, we could bring Albaladejo back into the bullpen and have Aceves, who was a longman in the pen anyway, start games. I hear that. I’m not saying this isn’t going to work, and I’m not saying that I mind the Yankees making this move, I just would prefer the former argument.
Song of the Day is Away by Breaking Benjamin.
That’s it for today.
Stay positive, Yankee fans.
-EJ, the Kid From New York
Sucesivamente: Dominicans Go Deep, Yanks Win Again
The Yankees are once again victors, as thanks to homers by my fellow Dominicans Melky Cabrera and Alex Rodriguez, and one by the gringo Johnny Damon, too, we beat the Mariners 4-2. Andy Pettitte, the veteran lefty, pitched 7 strong innings, holdng the Mariners to only those two runs and picking up his 8th win of the year.
Mo Rivera got another save.
But there’s also a very startling statistic which I heard after the game. The Yankees have not trailed in a ballgame since the 6th inning of last Wednesday, in Atlanta. Then Joe G got ejected, Cervelli served one, and the rest be history, yo.
And we’re only 2.5 games out of first place, though the chances of us catching up to them Red Sox are pretty slim. There Julia, does that satisfy you?
Jeez.
My Song of the Day today is known for being Evan Longoria of the Tampa Bay Rays’ entrance music. The song is called Down and Out by Tantric.
CC Sabathia, the ace of the Yanks, is up against Jason Vargas of the Seattle Mariners, who’s having a pretty good season statistically. I wouldn’t underestimate the abilities of Vargas, but clearly the matchup favors Sabathia, who, even though he’s not been his usual overpowering self, is coming off a terrific performance in the Subway Series and has much, much more ability than Jason Vargas does. That’s pretty clear.
And what a pleasure it is to have Sabathia out there pitching for you. You look at his last 10 ballgames, and aside from his start against the Marlins down in Miami where he got taken out for some minor(from what we know now) biceps injury in the 2nd inning, he hasn’t pitched any less than 7 innings. He’s a fantastic help to this ballclub and this bullpen that has been so good recently partially because of good performances by our starting pitchers.
It’s looking to be a really nice year in the Bronx.
Stay positive, Yankee fans.
-EJ the Kid From New York
Despite AJ’s Efforts, Marlins Beat Yankees
The Yankees unfortunately lost 2-1 to Florida yesterday thanks to an inability to hit off of Marlins ace Josh Johnson and a sloppy error in left by Johnny Damon. It was a great game, but a frustrating one.
And look, this is one of those losses that I won’t blame the Yankees completely for, even though if Damon hadn’t dropped a somewhat routine fly ball the game would have been tied and we might’ve even won. But let’s face it, Josh Johnson is a dominant starting pitcher and he showed that once again last night. Coming into the ballgame, I knew it would’ve been very difficult for the Yanks to get anything off of Johnson, and I was exactly right. He was locating fastballs with very good velocity and throwing solid breaking balls. His location, his eceonomy. He was nearly unhittable, and we were lucky to get one run off him.
This Yankees team is very frustrating though. They show you promise, they look like they’re about to come back and use that Yankee magic to win again, and then they completely blow their chances. That error by JD was absolutely devastating, and I don’t think any Yankee fan or baseball fan who was able to see that game will argue with me on that. Damon put us in a position where we not only had to score one run against the overpowering Josh Johnson, but we had to score two. That seemed impossible.
I just wanted the Bombers to get Johnson out of the game. When they took him out, that was our best shot, even though the Marlins’ bullpen has been really good this season. I was relieved.
Unfortunately we were unable to capitalize on the exit of Johnson, as a game ending double play by Robinson Cano (sounds familiar) just killed all hopes of beating this damn under .500 team.
So, of course, that loss was completely frustrating but I guess understandable.
By the way, I’d like it for JD to sit today’s game. Put Melky in left and Gardner in center, because Gardy’s ready to go after that collision. I can understand not letting Gardner play so quickly after the accident(even though he pinch ran yesterday), but Johnny’s clearly being set back by eye problems. He’s not hitting well at all, first of all, and now that drop? Jeez man. Gardner really should play today.
We’re facing the tall sinker-baller Chris Volstad today. Volstad is one of my favorite pitchers, and he can really dominate at times, but you can see the numbers aren’t very dazzling.
4-7, 4.75 ERA.
But the numbers are really skewed by his performance so far this month, which is definitely encouraging for the Yanks. In June, Chris Volstad(who is now no. 41 rather than 71, as it was in that picture) is 0-3 with a 9 ERA. Now, those numbers are a little misleading: his first loss was a cheap one, as he had a quality start(2 runs in 6 innings) but the Marlins weren’t able to score against San Fran. In his second start, he was much worse, giving up 6 runs in 5.2 innings with 10 base knocks allowed. His third start was the one where he blew up, surrendering an ugly 8 runs on 9 hits and 2 walks in 3.2 innings. So he’s coming off a terrible start against Boston.
But Volstad is a very good pitcher, don’t be fooled by those numbers. He has a hard sinker that is his main out pitch, so he uses his height to his advantage with that pitch. That sinker could tear apart this Yankees lineup, clearly, since we have a couple hitters who are very prone to a double play (Posada, Jeter, Cano, Swisher, sometimes Alex).
So don’t think that the Yankees automatically are going to beat up Volstad, because when you combine the double play-prone Yankees and their inconsistency regarding hitting pitchers they’ve never seen before, and you have a potentially un-promising mix.
But don’t worry too much, because we have our ace, CC Sabathia on the mound, and he has a 3.35 Earned Run Average on the road, much better than his home ERA. Sabathia has pitched well of late, so hopefully he can tear through this Marlins lineup and we can give him some run support.
Song of the Day is Just Like You by Three Days Grace.
Stay positive, Yankee fans.
-EJ the Kid From New York
Welcome Back Alex!
Who didn’t see this coming? Honestly?
I mean, as soon as I found out A-Rod would come back on Friday, I literally thought to myself, “Watch him hit a home run in his first at bat.”
Welp, it turns out it wasn’t just his first at bat, it was his first pitch back from the disabled list that traveled into the left field stands for a 3-run jimmy jack. How fitting!
I didn’t get to watch this game and this at bat because I was at a dance as I stated in my blog yesterday, and I’m upset over that obviously. But it was a great game, I’m glad that that happened rather than another Yankee loss. Also, CC Sabathia, how about that? Complete game shutout for the big man, his second complete game of the year, he threw one on the road against the Tigers and lost, so this was his first real complete game. 4 hits, 8 strikeouts, 1 walk. The southpaw was on, and hopefully we can get some of that from our other starting pitchers.
And again, I have to turn it over to a comment I got from Julia on my last blog arguing over Dustin Pedroia and his MVP status. Let’s find out what she had to say as I proved her wrong on Pedroia being chosen as Most Valuable Player of the American League over Joe Mauer.
“EJ – the baseball powers to be have spoken. And a second baseman who can stop the ball from going into the outfield, take away hits, turn doubles into singles – I’ll take it. Those actions that can’t have a number assigned to them also matter when looking at a person who is an overall MVP. And face it – we Boston fans have a place in our hearts for the “little guy” – just look at Dom DiMaggio. It’s a new year – and anything can happen!”
Julia, Julia…
Look, I get that turning doubles into singles and taking away hits(even though he didn’t really take away that many hits, his range was average), stopping balls from going into the outfield(again, average range) is valuable. I get the value of those intangibles, it’s not like I’m trying to shut down the little things.
But honestly, do you think if Ian Kinsler and Dustin Pedroia switched places, and Pedroia was on the Rangers and Kinsler was on the Red Sox, that Pedroia would still have won MVP? Do you think that just having Dustin Pedroia would make a difference than having Ian Kinsler would give the Rangers more success, and that the Red Sox would have had less success all of a sudden? Of course not. You guys had a terrific team last year and it wasn’t Dustin Pedroia who was the main cog.
The fact of the matter is that you guys put too much value over things that, yes, are valuable, but definitely not quite as valuable as you think. Last year, I think a lot of people would have rather had Joe Mauer on their team over Dustin Pedroia, and that’s what value is. Value is not who did more underrated things(and don’t tell me what Dustin Pedroia did last year was underrated). It is about who is more valuable. And the person who you would rather have is more valuable. That’s just all there is to it in my opinion.
So, Julia, you take Dustin Pedroia who does whatever intangibles you think he does and hits pretty well, and I will take Ian Kinsler or Joe Mauer, who I can prove is better and more valuable, and we’ll see what happens.
Also, on a funny note, if Ian Kinsler was on the Red Sox and Pedroia was on the Rangers last year, Ian Kinsler probably would’ve been in the top 5 voting for MVP because he was a Red Sox and he had all these intangibles and he’s so underrated. Ai ai ai.
Stay positive, Yankee fans.
-EJ the Kid From New York
Not the Most Fun Game…
…but I’ll tell you what, we’re still in April, and so there should not be any cause for concern. I know a guy online who said he’s lost all hope in the phrase “Go Yankees”. All of it. Why? Because we’re frigging 5-5. This guy is not an idiot, he’s a pretty good guy, but he’s ridiculously naive baseball-wise. Before, his screen name was “CC Sucks”. He then changed it to “Chien-ming sucks” which is stupid, especially since nobody calls him Chien-Ming except Flash Flaherty.
Again, it’s no big deal. We’re not going to be .500 for the whole year, it’s only April. We’ll get things going eventually. Do not lose hope. I highly question your intelligence if you’ve already given up on the Yankees. We’ve proven time and time again that you can not count us out and you can not give up on us. We’ll prove you wrong.
In other news, Yankees have called up Juanito Miranda for insurance(his name is Juan, I like calling him Juanito… just kidding, I really don’t, I’m just bored).
Now what kind of insurance would we need from Juan Miranda? Welp, it says in the article that the Yankees, still somewhat concerned about the health of Hideki Matsui and Mark Teixeira, made this move prior to today’s game. Now I don’t know if he’ll be in the lineup, I doubt that. However, it should be interesting to see what Miranda could do.
Miranda, once considered by me to be the Yankees’ future first baseman, earned International League Player of the Week in the first minor league week of the season. He was redhot down at AAA, hitting .361 with three big flies and three RBI.
Can Joba get the Joba done? He did well in his first start against the Royals. We’ll see if the hard throwing right hander, who definitely should be in the rotation, can take down a Cleveland Indians lineup that beat up the bullpen yesterday.
Stay positive, Yankee fans.
-EJ the Kid From New York
A Short Edition
Last night’s game was awesome.
Now let me watch this game.
Stay positive, Yankee fans!
-EJ the Kid From New York
Yankees Victorious Again– A Message to CC Haters
The catchphrase for the 2009 New York Yankees right now is “Ohhhh yeah.”
There are a ton of moments in which that phrase would be so very fitting. CC throws a fastball at 95 miles per hour on the inside corner for a strikeout? Ohhhh yeah. Nick Swisher blasts a ball into the night sky in left field? Ohhh yeah.
Come on. If that picture doesn’t scream “Ohhhhh yeah.”, then I don’t know what it screams. Maybe “DARN TOOTIN'” or something. I dunno.
All I know is that the Yankees have been absolutely marvelous. Their offense is great: we’re getting hits in RBI situations from almost everywhere in the lineup(except one player, he’s not hitting. He bats 8th, used to be a journeyman minor league infielder, filling in for a slugger, playing third base, could be gone soon. Here, I’ll give you one more hint. HIS NAME IS CODY RANSOM)
Our hitters are getting on base. They are patient enough to walk, but also swing at hittable strikes. They drive drivable pitches. They capitalize on mistakes. I mean, it sounds like it’s so easy and it’s no big deal, but this wasn’t happening for a LOT of last season.
Now I have to get something off my chest, excuse me.
A Message to Stupid CC Haters
Look. There are a lot of haters out there, and those haters are some of the most annoying things in the world. Haters are like a very irritating itch. They seem to never go away, but scratching it only makes it itchier and makes it stay longer. The only way they go away is either if you rip the skin off or just wait for it to go away.
CC Sabathia gets a truckload of haters, and you could understand why. Look at all the money he makes. He’s so awesome, you know?
However, some people really hate this guy and they make extremely stupid insults to CC. “Oh look at him. He’s so fat.” I could understand why you think he’s fat. I mean, look at that picture of him. The guy is huge. However, these people don’t get something. Some people are just big. Some people have big bodies and they can not change that. You would think that the fact that CC’s body type is very large would be obvious to some people, because MLB players work extremely hard on their body, so since CC is an MLB player and the ace of the New York Yankees, you would think people would actually connect the dots and think “Ohhh, this guy is working out hard but he’s still like this. Maybe it’s his body.”
But oh no, these dumb… people think he’s a sloth. Ignorant fans are obsessed with his weight. “CC, go lift some weights or something. You’re so fat.” Oh yes, because obviously all CC does is just sit around the house watching his flat screen TV and eating barbecue potato chips and ice cream. And then when it’s his turn to start a game, he goes 7 quality innings and throws mid-90s fastballs and sharp sliders. Yes, that totally makes sense.
In a huge ironic twist, the people who say these ridiculous nonsensical comments about Sabathia are the same people who are struggling with their weight because they’re too frigging lazy to get off their… butts and lift a couple weights. The same people who stink at playing baseball pick on one of the most successful players in the game, for his weight. The same people who make these hilariously stupid smears on Sabathia for his weight and accused laziness type those insults in the comfort of their large bed while snacking on Cheetos and Pepsi Cola.
And I bet a small percentage of those people get offended when you call them names like “pig” or “fatty”. Unbelievable.
On that subject. I bet you find it really funny that people are overweight. Oh, that cracks you up, doesn’t it? I bet it makes you giggle that people out there are dealing with obesity and weight problems and diabetes. Their misfortunes make you crack up, don’t they?
Also, if CC Sabathia can sit around on his fat butt all day snacking on chips and watching The Simpsons, and then be able to throw high 90s heaters and strike out major league baseball hitters while you do the same things and you can’t do dog poo, well. Wouldn’t that mean that CC Sabathia is better than you? That would mean you would be insulting a guy out of jealousy! Gasp!
But you know it’s about jealousy. You know that these people are so upset that he makes the most money of any pitcher in the history of the game, and they cover this insecurity by pretending they are better than him. Well, if you’re so much better than CC, then why don’t you strike out David DeJesus with a 96 mile per hour fastball? Better yet, I’d like to see you take on Mr. Sabathia in a fight, mano y mano. Oho! I’d pay money to see that.
You CC haters are all such humongous buffoons.
I would take Julia’s advice to talk about my first game and how I became a Yankee fan, but since she was so outrageously mean to me, I’ve decided to just forget the idea. I’m so hurt.
So if anybody wants to make any nice suggestions, feel free to do that. I’m always here.
Stay positive, Yankee fans.
-EJ the Kid From New York
Not the Most Fun Opening Day…
Unless, of course, you’re an Orioles fan.
Losing on Opening Day stinks. Losing a game 10-5 stinks. Losing a game where your ace stunk and didn’t have good stuff at all also stinks. Put it all together, and you have one of the more depressing games in recent memory. Hey, how often is a game like today going to happen anyways?
…I’ll cross my fingers. Let’s go Wang, Yanks try again against Baltimore tonight.
Stay positive, Yankee fans!
-EJ the Kid From New York
P.S. Yes, the Giants will win the NL West. Don’t pretend like they won’t, Neal.
Lackey’s Stiff Forearm: Is EJ Happy?
So Angels ace John Lackey is revealed to have a strain and inflammation in his right forearm. According to Lackey, the team told him to “shut it down for a week” to see if his forearm can heal and let him begin throwing again. What does this mean? It means he won’t be able to take the mound on opening day for the LA Angels of Anaheim. And I might be happy.
Now hold on a second, why would I be happy?
Well, mainly because I don’t like John Lackey. I might actually dislike him. I certainly don’t hate him, but he is definitely one of my least favorite players. Why don’t I like him? Well, he pitches for the Angels, who always kill us Yanks and always fall to the Red Sox. He’s quite ugly; ever since I watched his heavy breathing in that 07 Clemens-Lackey showdown, I have never liked seeing him. I’ll make it clear as day: Lackey is hooomely.
But would that justify me being happy about him being injured? No, of course not. I don’t want people to get hurt, That’s just low. However, the truth is, I am just a liiiiittle bit happy. I mean, just a little. I know, I know, I’m the bad guy, as Cenk Uygur would say, I am totally wrong and I denounce and reject myself. But there’s a little part of me inside that’s like, “Oooo, Lackey’s injured, ehhh?” You know what I mean? I am so awful.
The only person who I’ll openly and honestly be pretty joyful if he were injured is Josh Beckett. Speaking of the Red Sox hurler(who is very overrated), he will get the Opening Day start for the Red Sox, which will just make him a little bit more overrated. You know that there are gonna be biased Sox fans out there saying “Well look at that! He’s going to start Opening Day for the Red Sox, and they have Matsuzaka and Lester! Beckett is so awesome, almost as much as Pedroia, who is the best hitter ever and is so awesome and makes me **** in my pants!” etc. etc.
Let’s have a little fun now here and do some comparison.
Lester vs. Beckett
Lester: 144 ERA+, 210 innings, 1.274 WHIP
Beckett: 115 ERA+, 174 innings, 1.187 WHIP
Now I know Beckett was more efficient with the K/BB ratio, but Lester was more effective, period. And I’m aware that it was an injury season for Beckett, but Lester was still and maybe is still the better pitcher.
Matsuzaka was slightly worse than Beckett was last year, actually, even though Dice-K was apparently super effective and came in 4th place for the Cy Young. They’re all very close, though.
And now, let’s have even MORE fun, and compare the Yankees rotation with the Red Sox rotation.
Yankees vs. Red Sox: Who Has The Better Rotation?
Due to popular request, I’m going to compare the New York Yankees’ starting rotation with the one of the Boston Red Sox. Let’s have some fun, I guess.
Sabathia vs. Beckett
I would think this part is blatantly obvious, but let’s compare numbers regardless.
ERA+:
Sabathia – 162
Beckett – 115
WHIP
Sabathia – 1.115
Beckett – 1.187
Innings
Sabathia – 253
Beckett – 174
I mean come on now. It’s not even remotely close, other than the WHIP. Sabathia has been the better pitcher since 06, and it has been by a significant amount. Then you factor in that CC is a lefty and Beckett a right-hander… well, not close. Just not close.
Advantage: CC Sabathia
Wang vs. Lester
This is a very interesting comparison because Wang was the better pitcher every year except 08, and in 08 he was injured and missed the entire 2nd half.
ERA+
Lester – 144
Wang – 109
WHIP
Lester – 1.274
Wang – 1.316
Innings
Lester – 210
Wang – 95
It may even be more lopsided than Beckett vs. Sabathia. However, since Wang was significantly better in 06 and 07, the first two years of Jon Lester’s career, I think that the outcome iiiis…
Advantage: tie
Major controversy, no? Give your thoughts on it!
Burnett vs. Matsuzaka
This is another pretty close and tough one.
ERA+
Matsuzaka: 159
Burnett: 105
Ai ai ai…
WHIP
Matsuzaka: 1.324
Burnett: 1.342
Innings pitched
Burnett: 221
Matsuzaka: 167
See, it seems pretty lopsided until you look at the innings pitched. And then, you take into account that Burnett led the league in strikeouts in 2008, and then it’s closer. Matsuzaka still had the advantage in 08, but it’s closer. And then you look at the numbers of the previous year, 07, Dice-K’s first year: Burnett has the slight advantage. However, then there’s the fact that AJ Burnett is a large injury risk. With this in mind, the call for me is:
Advantage: Matsuzaka
Especially since Matsuzaka is in his 3rd year in 2009, and this could be big for him. Hey, I might be wrong. I sure hope I am.
Pettitte vs. Wakefield
Another tough, controversial one.
ERA+
Wakefield – 112
Pettitte – 98
WHIP
Wakefield – 1.182
Pettitte – 1.412
Innings
Pettitte – 204
Wakefield – 181
Wakefield was significantly better, with the most notable statistic being WHIP. Howeeeever, this WAS Pettitte’s worst year, clearly. Since 2008 was the only year in which Wakefield, as a full-time starting pitcher, was more effective than Andy Pettitte…
Advantage: Pettitte
It’s extremely controversial, I know, but I’d rather have Andy than Tim.
Chamberlain vs. Penny
Now this one isn’t close.
ERA+
Chamberlain – 171
Penny – 68
WHIP
Chamberlain – 1.256
Penny – 1.627
Innings
Chamberlain – 100
Penny – 94
Devastatingly significant.
I mean come on, it’s not even close. Chamberlain >>>> Penny. Even though Penny was an all-star in 2007 and 2006, I really doubt he’s going to go back to that form, especially in the AL East, especially since he’s still struggling with injury a bit.
Advantage: Chamberlain
So in total, the score is 2-1-1 in the Yankees’ favor. There you go, go ahead and debate now if you want.
Stay positive, Yankee fans.
-EJ the Kid From New York
The Squad 