Possible Story Behind Yanks Road Record Vs. LH Starters
Posted by Steve Lombardi on July 30, 2007
I've read that the Yankees are 2-13 this season against left-handed starters on the road. That's a big reason why their overall W-L record this season is not great. But, I was curious as to what happened in those 13 losses. So, I turned to Baseball-Reference.com's Play Index Game Log Finder and set it for "For 2007, Against NYY, Throws LH, Team Won, At Home, as Starter" and this is what I found - sorting the results by Game Score for the starter facing New York:
Cnt Player Date Tm Opp GmReslt App,Dec IP H R ER BB SO HR Pit Str **GmSc** IR IS BF AB 2B 3B IBB HBP SH SF GDP SB CS Pk BK WP ERA +----+-----------------+-------------+---+----+-------+---------+----+--+--+--+--+--+--+---+---+--------+--+--+--+--+--+--+---+---+--+--+---+--+--+--+--+--+------+ 1 Erik Bedard 2007-06-27 BAL NYY W 4-0 GS-7 ,W 7 2 0 0 1 8 0 108 62 80 24 23 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 2 Jarrod Washburn 2007-05-11 SEA NYY W 3-0 GS-8 ,W 8 6 0 0 1 6 0 109 69 75 32 31 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 3 Jeff Francis 2007-06-20 COL NYY W 6-1 GS-7 ,W 7 5 1 1 1 9 0 100 59 71 26 25 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1.29 4 Scott Kazmir 2007-07-13 TBD NYY W 6-4 GS-6 ,W 6 4 1 0 4 7 0 117 71 65 25 21 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 5 Brian Burres 2007-07-28 BAL NYY W 7-5 GS-6 ,W 6 4 1 1 3 7 1 98 58 64 24 20 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 2 1 0 0 0 1.50 6 Oliver Perez 2007-05-18 NYM NYY W 3-2 GS-8 ,W 7.2 5 2 2 2 5 1 111 67 64 28 26 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 2.35 7 Jorge de la Rosa 2007-07-26 KCR NYY W 7-0 GS-6 ,W 5.1 6 0 0 2 5 0 96 56 59 26 23 2 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.00 8 Horacio Ramirez 2007-05-13 SEA NYY W 2-1 GS-7 ,W 6.1 5 1 1 1 1 0 82 50 59 25 24 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1.42 9 Scott Kazmir 2007-04-24 TBD NYY W 6-4 GS-7 6.2 5 3 1 2 5 1 108 59 59 28 25 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1.35 10 Noah Lowry 2007-06-24 SFG NYY W 7-2 GS-6 ,W 5.2 2 1 1 5 2 0 91 52 58 22 17 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 1.59 11 John Danks 2007-05-16(1) CHW NYY W 5-3 GS-7 ,W 6.1 7 2 2 2 7 1 88 56 56 28 26 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2.84 12 Tom Glavine 2007-05-19 NYM NYY W 10-7 GS-6 ,W 6 9 3 3 2 2 1 101 58 42 26 24 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 4.50 13 Casey Fossum 2007-04-23 TBD NYY W 10-8 GS-6 ,W 5.2 10 6 6 1 2 2 82 51 26 26 21 3 0 0 1 1 2 3 0 0 0 0 0 9.53
In the top 6 games listed here, you could say that the Yankees just ran into a pitcher who shut them down - period. And, in the last 2 games listed here, you could say that the Yankees pitching staff was more to blame for the loss than New York's hitters.
The five games in the middle are the really interesting group. Four of the five games here were situations where it was the Yankees' "last game of the series and the day to leave town." (These dates being 4/24, 5/13, 6/24, and 7/26.) Could the issue here be that the Yankees just checked out of a series mentally before it was actually over - and that's the reason for their poor performance in these losses? It's possible. There have been reports this year that the Yankees lack focus at times.
So, take the bottom two games listed here in the list of thirteen (where the Yankees pitchers were to blame) and make them wins (instead of losses). And, then take two of the four "mental checkout" losses and make them wins. This makes the 2-13 record "against lefties on the road" read to be more like 6-9...which is not great...but, it's a lot better than 2-13. And, with a 6-9 mark, it does not paint the "Can't beat lefties on the road" pitcture like the 2-13 record would suggest here.
The Yankees' 2-13 record in these may have more to do with the Yanks' pitching and their ability to focus than it does with which hand the other team is using to throw and where the games are being played. I stress "may" - still, it's something to consider here.