Baseball Reference Blog

Baseball-Reference.com's Play Index Team Inning Summary for the Yankees, so far, this year, shows us the following - in terms of how the Yankees are allowing runs this season, per inning:

Inning   #    0  Any    1    2    3    4   ≥5  Most Total  Avg Avg/9inn   

+------+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+-----+----+   

    1     77   58   19   11    4    4    0    0    3   31  0.40 3.62   

    2     77   57   20   11    6    1    2    0    4   34  0.44 3.97   

    3     77   51   26   15    9    1    1    0    4   40  0.52 4.68   

    4     77   47   30   17    9    3    1    0    4   48  0.62 5.61   

    5     77   55   22    9    7    3    1    2    8   49  0.64 5.73   

    6     77   62   15    7    5    1    2    0    4   28  0.36 3.27   

    7     77   48   29   14    3    7    4    1    5   62  0.81 7.25   

    8     77   57   20   12    4    1    1    2    7   39  0.51 4.56   

    9     56   45   11    7    2    1    1    0    4   18  0.33 2.95   

   10      4    4    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0  0.00 0.00   

   11      3    2    1    1    0    0    0    0    1    1  0.43 3.86   

   12      2    2    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0  0.00 0.00   

   13      2    1    1    1    0    0    0    0    1    1  0.60 5.40   

+------+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+-----+----+   

         683  489  194  105   49   22   13    5    8  351  0.52 4.64

It's pretty clear that the worst innings for the Yankees, this season to date, in terms of allowing runs are the 7th, 5th, and 4th innings.

If you look at Brian Bruney 2007 Pitching Splits you'll see that he's pitched in the 7th inning 18 times for the Yankees so far this year - and allowed batters to reach base 37% of the time.  Scott Proctor? 23 times and 37.2%.  Mike Myers?  18 times and 38.2%.  Kyle Farnsworth almost never pitches the 7th - so, he's out of this one.  (Maybe the numbers would be worse in the 7th for New York if Farnsie did throw more in that frame?)   Luis Vizcaino? 14 times and 40%. 

As you can see, it's been a team effort in terms of getting torched in the 7th for New York this season:  Proctor, Myers, Vizcaino, and Bruney have all chipped in.

Since Yankees starters (read: Mussina, Clemens and Igawa) rarely make it through seven, the Yankees need to find someone to cover that frame for them - if they're going to start winning ballgames.

Maybe Edwar Ramirez is the answer?

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