Comments on: Previewing Weaver at Yankee Stadium

By: KW

KW — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 04:41:49 +0000

A lot of yankees lefties are very good at hitting lefties. The main advantage of using a lefty would making Tex hit as a righty. Other than that tho, their lefties’ BA vs lefty pitching is almost even with them hitting right handed pitching

By: SteveP

SteveP — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 18:05:17 +0000

Kazmir being a lefty would only neutralize Damon. Matsui and Cano, the other two Yankee regulars that bat lefty, both have higher SLGs vs lefties than they do vs righties. Damon slugs lefites at a pretty decent clip too, though not as well as he handles righties. Of course the small sample size exception applies, but it does appear that Saunders ground ball tendencies would be the best attack to neutralize them.

By: Dave Allen

Dave Allen — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 17:29:51 +0000

Opps. Good catch, thanks I changed it.

By: Gilbert

Gilbert — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:36:15 +0000

“Surprisingly, this is case for Weaver’s.”

Did you mean to say “this is NOT the case for Weaver’s”? The graphs seem to line up.

By: Dave Allen

Dave Allen — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:40:59 +0000

Against a LHP those switch hitters will bat as RHBs and it is harder to hit HRs at Yankee Stadium as a RHB. When they are batting as LHBs they can pull fly balls into the short porch in right. As RHBs they would have to go the opposite way, which is harder, to get the short porch. I think this is why it would be better to have a lefty throwing in Yankee Stadium.

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 12:46:39 +0000

but is there any “platoon advantage” against the Yankees? the Yankees hammer lefties. this is the most underrated aspect of Cashman’s offseason maneuvers, replacing the lefties Abreu and Giambi with switch hitters in Swisher and Teixeira. yeah, i know, it’s not exactly rocket science to sign Mark Teixeira, but nonetheless this is what you’re left with if you’re a LHP:

Jeter – R
Damon – L
Teixeira – R
A-Rod – R
Matsui – L, but hits LHP extremely well
Posada – R
Cano – L
Swisher – R
Cabrera – R

there’s not much of an advantage there.

By: ineedanap

ineedanap — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 08:45:05 +0000

Yeah, Kaz’s slider really wasn’t working against the Sox. But he should be ok for the series.

So it looks like the two GB guys, Lackey and Saunders, will start in HR friendly Yankee stadium. While the two FB guys, Kazmir and Weaver, will start marine layered (depending on start time) Angels stadium.

By: John F.

John F. — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 23:19:24 +0000

Hm. Perhaps we’ll see a lower GIDP out of Jeter?

By: Daniel

Daniel — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 23:09:07 +0000

Looks like Saunders is probable for game 2, which is the right decision, IMO.

http://anaheim.angels.mlb.com/news/probable_pitchers.jsp?c_id=ana

Saunders is a lefty, a decent groundball pitcher, and has been very good since his return from the DL. Kazmir definitely looked off against the Sox, enough to make me wonder whether there are lingering arm problems. Yes, Weaver is a better pitcher than Saunders overall, but the platoon advantage and GB/FB tendencies are probably enough to make it a worthwhile switch.

By: Kevin S.

Kevin S. — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 20:52:34 +0000

If you start Kazmir in Game Two and Weaver in Game Three, you get Weaver again in either Game Six or Game Seven, depending on whether they got to a four-man rotation or not. Either way, he doesn’t dodge NYS.