BASEBALL: NY Yankees at Chicago White Sox
Reports of the Yankees' demise have once again proven premature. Like usual, New York today sits in 1st place in the AL East, 2 games ahead of America's new chic team, the Boston Red Sox. In fact, despite the enthusiasim for the crosstown Mets, the Yanks remain the best team in NY. They'll have to prove it tonight, however, in a tough road game in Chicago that could be a playoff preview. So I'm making it today's one to watch.
Despite a rash of mid-season injuries, the Yankees have rebounded nicely through the steady play of stars Derek Jeter and Jason Giambi and the deep pockets of owner George Steinbrenner. At long last there is again new homegrown talent in the lineup such as 2B Robinson Cano, LF Melki Cabrera, RP Scott Proctor, and tonight's SP Ching Ming Wang. Wang is an impressive 13-4 with a 3.58 ERA. TSL recently took a shot at the Taiwanese import, but Wang's numbers this year compare favorably to Pedro Martinez and Wang is doing it in the AL. Yes, the Yankees appear to have weathered the storm. If Randy Johnson can serve as a decent #3 option (not asking too much), NY will make noise in the playoffs. I just may have to hop back on that Yankee bandwagon since my other 3 teams are likely playoff no-shows this year.
I keep thinking Chicago will overtake Detroit for the AL Central title. But it will take a comeback of historic proportion for the White Sox to overcome the current 10 game deficit. The World Series champion Sox still have a great lineup led by Jim Thome and Paul Konerko. However, their starting pitching has betrayed them this year. Freddy Garcia has 10 wins, but also has 7 losses and a less-than-stellar 4.87 ERA. And he's looked especially poor during the past 6 weeks as the Sox slid further behind the Tigers. The White Sox need a strong finish from Garcia and Mark Buehrle if they are to keep pace with the other contenders in the top-heavy AL.
My pick: Chicago. I'm going to take TSL's word on Wang's "straight as an arrow" fastball. I haven't really seen him pitch. But the White Sox lineup is not one that will let a pitcher get away with many such mistakes.
Today's athlete is a baseball fan herself. It's former soccer star, Mia Hamm, perhaps the reason brittle husband Nomar Garciaparra seems ever anxious to go home to nurse his many injuries.
posted by Jeff Briscoe @ 12:02 AM
5 Comments:
but Wang's numbers this year compare favorably to Pedro Martinez
Wang's having a nice year this year, and his ERA is respectable, but come on. Let's dig a little deeper into the peripherals.
Wang: 1.25 WHIP, a basically 1:1 K/BB ratio, and 48 K's in 156 innings.
Pedro: 1.00 WHIP, 4:1 K/BB ratio, and a K/9 rate over 9.
Pedro's numbers indicate that he's pitching as well as ever. Wang's numbers indicate that he's been good, but lucky. Batters put the ball in play against Wang, and you can only get by on 2 or 3 Ks for so long before getting burned.
Wang has more wins, but wins are a completely useless criteria for evaluating pitchers as its determined by external factors.
Good point about WHIP. Also about K's/9 innings. And I mostly agree about the wins too.
But I would add their ERA's are nearly identical and doing it in the AL counts a lot more for me. In addition to just being the more dominant league overall, the DH spots means pitchers face guys like Giambi, Thome, Thomas, Ortiz, etc. instead of pitchers. I don't like the DH personally, but it's does make a difference in judging pitching. Historically that's good for about a 0.50 ERA difference between the leagues.
Of course, Pedro is the better pitcher. But that Wang's numbers are comparable when Pedro is having a decent year says something.
Good point about the AL-NL different. What I'm really getting at, though, is that Wang's numbers suggest that he's been lucky thus far. Some guys make it an entire season with numbers like his - Carlos Silva in 2005 comes to mind. But, eventually, guys like that are going to get hit hard. See Carlos Siva, 2006. It's probably not fair to ascribe it totally to luck, after all a 3.6 ERA is a 3.6 ERA, and the pitcher deserves credit. But those batted balls are eventually going to find holes more often.
Anyway, here's hoping the Sox put an end to the Yankees run. But I am starting to think we might just see another Subway Series.
I hate the Yankees.
I gotcha. But a 1.25 WHIP isn't horrible, though it is far from dominant. As for the low ratio of K's to BB's, that's more a reflection that he's not a K pitcher. 3 BB's per 9 innings isn't bad. But you could be right with the Silva comparison too. We'll see.
But it does look like it's shaping up towards a subway series to me too - if the Mets hold up their end of the bargain, that is! The Red Sox have a nice "never-say-die" mentality this year and Big Papi is amazing. But the Yankees are a much deeper team, especially with the Abreu addition. And I just don't trust the Tigers come October. So Chicago is still the only team that can stop NYY this year, I think, as of now! :)
As for the Mets, things just keep going their way. The Cards should be better than they are. But their pitching is weak and Jocketty did nothing to improve the team as he is usually active (Larry Walker, Will Clark, McGwire, Rolen etc). Weaver doesn't cut it. Belliard is nice but not Abreu or Soriano. Maybe if the Dodgers get their shit together they can challenge the Mets. Otherwise if the Mets don't get to the WS, even a Mets fan would have to admit it was a choke job. Hence, that's what I'll be rooting for! I've watched several 100+ wins teams lose in the NL playoffs, afterall! ;)
I do agree that if the Mets don't make it to the Series it will be a big disappointment. They're just vastly better than every other team in the NL. Crazy things happen in the post-season, but I can't see another team knocking them off.
My pre-season prediction was Red Sox-Mets, and I'll stick to that. But the Yankees are starting to scare me. The Sox have Schilling and then . . . not much else.
Post a Comment
<< Home