Charge the Mound…

Fourty-four games into the Yankees’ season (23 at home) and, besides the normal A-rod gossip, there biggest story is the number of home runs hit at the New Yankee Stadium.  It is hard to believe that if you essentially move a park 2000 feet to the left, it can change…however, the numbers do not lie.  I still hope that it is just a matter of the Yankees having a powerful offense and awful pitching — but, again, the numbers do not lie (as you will see below).

As of May 24, 2009:

• Yankees 25-19 (14-9 at home and 11-19 on the road).
• Played three home stands and were on the road three times.
• 4/6-4/15 (Away):  9 Games/19 Home Runs (11 by the Yankees)
• 4/16-4/22 (Home):  6 Games/26 Home Runs (14 by the Yankees)
• 4/24-4/29 (Away):  6 Games/14 Home Runs (7 by the Yankees)
• 4/30-5/7 (Home):  7 Games/21 Home Runs (9 by the Yankees)
• 5/8-5/14 (Away):  6 Games/16 Home Runs (10 by the Yankees)
• 5/15-5/24 (Home): 10 Games/40 Home Runs (22 by the Yankees)

Chruching the numbers:

• 87 Home Runs hit at the New Yankee Stadium (in 23 games) = 3.79 per game
• 49 Home Runs hit in Yankee games on the road (in 21 games) = 2.33 per game
• 45 Home Runs by the Yankees at the New Yankee Stadium (in 23 games) = 1.96 per game
• 28 Home Runs by the Yankees on the road (in 21 games) = 1.33 per game

Thus, if this keeps up, there will be about 306 home runs hit at the New Yankee Stadium this year (in the 81 games played there), as compared to a 160 in 2008 and a projected 189 home runs hit in this season’s Yankee road games. 

If there is one consolation, it is that the Yankees have hit 73 of the 136 home runs hit in the 44 Yankees games this season (53.7%)

Sadly and surprisingly, C.C. Sabathia wants to play on the west coast. The Yankees offer is on the table — but, likely, Sabathia is siting and waiting for the Angels-Texeria marriage to end. If it does, we can expect to see him in LA. If it does not, it will be pinstripes. Either way, the American League is only getting stronger and the Yankees will need more than the big lefty to win the pennant. A lot more.

The first pitch of the last opening day at the current Yankee Stadium. It was Chien-Ming Wang delivering a strike to David Eckstein. The Yankees won the game 3-2, Wang beat Roy Halladay and Mariano “Enter Sandman” earned his first save of the 2008 season.

[New York. September 13, 2007.] I have to admit, after years of hearing about how the Yankees “buy” their teams and have no “home grown talent,” I started to believe it. My response was always — what about Jeter and Posada, and Mariano and Pettitte, and now, Cano and Cabrera — and I thought I had a good argument. A good argument indeed!

After looking around the league, I realized very few competitive teams have a lot of Home Grown Talent, otherwise known as ‘HGT’ (not HGH)! In fact, the two largest groups of fans I see day-today (and find myself arguing with) sponsor teams that have a really palty HGT on their current teams. In fact, the Red Sox have only an HGT of 25%, and the Mets have only three really HGT players on their team.

Before I give you my analysis, let me first explain how I came to my results. First, I consider, any “current” player that was either (i) drafted by the team or (ii) played their entire career with only that team. Then, I looked to each teams’ “top twenty” players, eight starting fielders, three other batters (a DH or bench player, an infield and outfield bench player), the five starting pitchers, three top relievers and the closer. If a starting player was recently injured, they remained on this list. The Red Sox, Mets and Yankees top-twenty players and their HGT status are listed below:

Boston Red Sox

C Jason Varitek (HGT)
1B Kevin Youkilis (HGT)
2B Dustin Pedroia (HGT)
3B Mike Lowell
SS Julio Lugo
LF Manny Ramirez
RF Coco Crisp
CF J.D. Drew
DH David Ortiz
IN Alex Cora
OF Eric Hinske

P1 Josh Beckett
P2 Curt Shilling
P3 Daisuke Matsuzaka
P4 Tim Wakefield
P5 Jon Lester (HGT)
RP Mike Timlin
RP Hideki Okajima
RP Eric Gagne
CL Jonathan Papelbon (HGT)

HGT — 5/20 (25%)

The Boston Red Sox have five home grown players of their top twenty players. That is not too impressive. At least the Sox can boast that five of their top-twenty have been on the team for at least seven seasons (Manny, Ortiz, Timlin, Wakefield and Varitek), although, only one of them is an HGT. (Yankees’ fans out there — remind yourself that four of the five current HGT’s were not on the 2004 Red Sox, nor were there any other HGT’s on that team.)

New York Mets

C Paul LoDuca
1B Carlos Delgado
2B Luis Castillo
3B David Wright (HGT)
SS Jose Reyes (HGT)
LF Moises Alou
CF Carlos Beltran
RF Shawn Green
OF Lastings Milledge (HGT)
OF Ruben Gotay
IN Endy Chavez

P1 Tom Glavine
P2 Orlando Hernandez
P3 Pedro Martinez
P4 John Maine
P5 Oliver Perez
RP Jorge Sosa
RP Guillermo Mota
RP Aaron Heilman (HGT)
CL Billy Wagner

HGT — 4/20 (20%)

The Mets offer a only four home grown players in their top twenty. To make matters worse, of these twenty top players, not one of them has been on the Mets for more than three seasons. In fact, their entire top-twenty has turned over since their 2000 World Series appearance. To their credit, they were in need of a rebuild after 2000, but, I wish they would start give time to some minor league youth over the Glavine, Green and Delgados…

New York Yankees

C Jorge Posada (HGT)
1B Jason Giambi
2B Robinson Cano (HGT)
3B Alex Rodriguez
SS Derek Jeter (HGT)
LF Hideki Matsui
CF Melky Cabrera (HGT)
RF Bobby Abreu
DH Johnny Damon
IN Andy Phillips (HGT)
OF Shelley Duncan (HGT)

P1 Chien-Ming Wang (HGT)
P2 Andy Pettitte (HGT)
P3 Roger Clemens
P4 Phil Hughes (HGT)
P5 Ian Kennedy (HGT)
RP Edwar Ramirez (HGT)
RP Luis Vizcaino
RP Joba Chamberlain (HGT)
CL Mariano Rivera (HGT)

HGT — 13/20 (65%)

Remarkably, 65% of the Yankees top twenty are home grown. I still find it amazing that people can insult any team that has so much quality youth — not to mention that half of the veterans are HGT’s (who are being compensated accordingly). Posada, Jeter, Pettitte and Mariano have all played for the Yankees for at least eight seasons and were a large part of the Yankees’ dynasty in the late 1990’s. You could argue that Mussina and Farnsworth belong on this list, but after the last few months — Kennedy and Ramirez appear to have taken their roles.

After crunching the numbers, it looks like the Yanks (with 65%) have more home grown talent than the Mets (20%) and Red Sox (25%) combined! The Sox may have two HGT’s in their rotation, but the Yanks have four (while the Mets offer their fans zero). Obviously, the more HGTs you throw out there, the less likely you are to be successful “today,” but it has to feel pretty good right now to know that during the next few years we will be watching our veterans (who we’ve know for a long time) play with our next generation of Yankees. Of course, it never hurts to bring in a non-HGT MVP. But in all honesty, last year, many fans would have reversed that trade and brought Soriano back to the Bronx. Luckily, Cashman was not listening.

This article was first brought to you by our friends at The Random Politic:
Home Grown Talent — Who Really has it? (2007)

[New York. September 10, 2007.] So, interleague play is long gone and it is time to crunch the numbers — as expected, the American League is the better conference.  The numbers just do not lie.  Although, I have to admit, the American League East surprised me with a total .500 winning percentage against the National League.  I guess it does not help when Tampa Bay and Baltimore could not get out of their own way.

In the end, the American League won 137 of the total 252 interleague games.  That results in a .544 winning percentage –  and this sample is the equivalent of over a season and a half for any one team.  If you pull out the Devil Rays, the Orioles and the White Sox (the bottom of the AL), the rest of the America League played at a .606 pace against the National League.  In fact, taking out those three AL teams and not one of the other AL teams (the other 11 teams) had a losing record in interleague play.  That includes last place Texas (11-7) and a Kansas City (10-8) team that is currently 18 games under .500.

A summary of each teams final interleague record is as follows:

American League [137-115] (.544)

AL East
Boston 12-6
Yankees 10-8
Toronto 10-8
Tampa Bay 7-11
Baltimore 6-12

AL Central
Detroit 14-4
Minnesota 11-7
Cleveland 9-9
Kansas City 10-8
White Sox 4-14

AL West
Los Angeles 14-4
Texas 11-7
Oakland 10-8
Seattle 9-9

National League [115-137] (.456)

NL East
Mets 8-7
Atlanta 8-7
Florida 9-9
Washington 9-9
Philadelphia 4-11

NL Central
Cubs 8-4
Milwaukee 8-7
Houston 9-9
St. Louis 6-9
Cincinnati 7-11
Pittsburgh 5-10

NL West
Colorado 10-8
Arizona 8-7
San Diego 6-9
Los Angeles 5-10
San Francisco 5-10

An interesting fact — if you look at only the current four playoff teams and the top two teams trailing in the wild card standings (as of September 9, 2007), the six such AL teams (Sox, Yanks, Angels, Indians, Tigers and Seattle) finished 68-40 (.630) and the six such NL teams (Mets, Phils, Brewers, ‘Backs, Padres and LA) finished 43-47 (.478) in interleague play. That does not lend towards another NL World Champion, but of course, not of that really matters in a quick seven-game series in late October.

Yankees 2007 — Games 70-142
Tuesday June 19, 2007 – Saturday September 8, 2007
(Record: 35-32 / 80-62)
Most of the League

[New York. September 9, 2007.] Seventy-three games later and the Yankees finally turned their season around. After a season low 37-41 record (about two weeks after I dropped this column), the Yankees heated up in July — did not look back — and are now eighteen games over five-hundred (do you now understand why I dropped the column?)…

Season low — July 1st (37-41)
Season best – September 8th (80-62)

Between July 1st and September 8th — 43-21 (.672)

Three Stars
#3. Andy Pettitte – Basically saved the pitching staff in the second half. You can’t take anything away from Wang — but Andy really was the heart of this turnaround.

#2. Jorge Posada – Even at his age, he never cooled off.

#1. Alex Rodriguez – At last check, 51 home runs and also league highs in runs and RBIs. He even has 20+ stolen bases. Can you say MVP?

Yankees 2007 — Game 69
Sunday June 17, 2007 at 8:05 p.m.
(Record: 35-32)
New York Mets

[New York. June 19, 2007.] The Yankees offense (and Wang) carried the Yanks to a victory in the rubber game of this series against the Mets.  Wang pitched great and the Yankees continued to tee-off against their opposing pitchers – this time it was their old friend El Duque.

Mets      000 000 101 [2 6 0]
Yankees 221 010 02X [8 11 0]

WP: C. Wang (7-4)
LP: O. Hernandez (3-3)

Home Runs:  Alex Rodriguez (27); Johnny Damon (4); Jorge Posada (9)

Three Stars
#3. Johnny Damon - I feel like it has been a while since I called on Johnny for a star.  He deserves this one with his two hits — including two RBIs and a home run. 

#2. Chien-Ming Wang - Another excellent start for the Yankees ground-ball specialist. 

#1. Alex Rodriguez - After Alex’s early home run, it just looked like a win for the Yanks. 

Yankees 2007 — Game 68
Saturday June 16, 2007 at 1:05 p.m.
(Record: 34-32)
New York Mets

[New York. June 19, 2007.] It did not take long for the Yankees to start hiting again.  They pounded Glavine and the other Mets pitchers — scoring 11 runs on 15 hits.

Mets       111 200 012 [8 14 1]
Yankees 022 222 01X [11 15 0]

WP: L. Vizcaino (3-1)
LP: T. Glavine (5-5)

Home Runs:  Ruben Gotay (3); Alex Rodriguez (26); Ramon Castro (4); Derek Jeter (5)

Three Stars
#3. Robinson Cano- Robby appears to be hitting the ball well again.  Two hits tonight and his average is hovering around .275.  He needs to get that back over .300.

#2. Alex Rodriguez - Truly, Alex does not have a problem hitting well in a big game.  Two more hits, another home run and even a stolen base. 

#1. Derek Jeter - Four hits, a home run and two key RBIs.  Jeter carried the Yankees offense in this win over the Mets. 

Yankees 2007 — Game 67
Friday June 15, 2007 at 7:05 p.m.
(Record: 33-32)
New York Mets

[New York. June 19, 2007.] What happened to the Bats?  Roger pitched a great game — allowing only two runs, but the Yankees were shut down by a wild Perez and lost for the first time in a while — 2-0.

Mets      001 010 000 [2 7 0]
Yankees 000 000 000 [0 5 0]

WP: O. Perez (7-5)
LP: R. Clemens (1-1)
S: B. Wagner (15)

Home Runs:  Jose Reyes (3)

Three Stars
#3. Miguel Cairo – Cairo was one of only two Yankees not to strike out in this game.  Yes, he is the third star.

#2. Detek Jeter - Derek was the only Yankee with two hits — and, other than Cairo, was the only Yankee not to strike out.  In a game like this, that’s a second star!

#1. Roger Clemens - Another Yankees pitcher with the number one star.  Too bad this one was in a losing game.  Roger pitched unexpectingly well — striking out 8 in 6 1/3 innings — as he worked through some jams and only allowed two runs to the Mets.  Unfortunately he was out-pitched. 

Yankees 2007 — Game 66
Thursday June 14, 2007 at 1:05 p.m.
(Record: 33-31)
Arizona Diamondbacks

[New York. June 19, 2007.] Pettitte follows Mussina and Wang’s performances with a brilliant outing of his own.  The Yanks beat the Diamondbacks 7-1 this time and have now won nine in a row.  Some may say the Diamondbacks are a weak team — but compared to the other teams in that conference, they were considered the elite.

Arizona  010 000 000 [1 5 3]
Yankees 202 000 30X [7 12 1]

WP: A. Pettitte (4-4)
LP: D. Davis (4-8)

Home Runs: None

Three Stars
#3. Hideki Matsui – Hideki continues to hit and help the Yankees win.  He connected for three hits and three RBIs as the Yankees blew past the Diamondbacks.

#2. Alex Rodriguez - Another monster game for Alex — this time without the long ball.  He had three hits, two runs scored and two RBIs.

#1. Andy Pettitte - Andy brought his ERA down to 2.93 after pitching eight innings and surrendering only 4 hits and 1 run.  He is finally at .500 — with his unfair 4-4 record.