Baseball Primer Newsblog— The Best News Links from the Baseball Newsstand
Sunday, August 30, 2009
“The heat was hot and the ground was dry
But the air was full of sound”
As you can see, the Yankees, in putting together this run, have beaten up on some sub-.500 teams. As mentioned here before, New York has gotten somewhat fat playing against the Blue Jays, A’s, Orioles, Twins and Mets during this streak – going 21-4 against those weak teams (as the above chart shows).
In fact, I just noticed this morning, looking at the standings over at Baseball-Reference.com, that the Yankees are 33-30 this season, to date, when playing a team with a winning percentage =>.500 and they are 48-18, to date, when playing a team with a winning percentage <.500 (this year).
Now, I know that many like to say, in response to this type of inspection, that "You're supposed to beat the tar out of the weak teams and break even against the tough ones - that's how you end up finishing in first place." And, I get that - I really do get it…
...but, I'm thinking ahead to the post-season, for the Yankees. And, there will be no Blue Jays, A's, Orioles, Twins or Mets for the Yankees to play in October. Most likely, New York will have to deal with Detroit or Texas in the ALDS and then face someone like the Angels, Red Sox or Rays in the ALCS (should the Yankees advance past the ALDS for the first time since 2004). And, that’s a horse of another color, no? Do the Yankees have what it takes to beat a good team in the post-season? What do you think?
Repoz
Posted: August 30, 2009 at 03:39 PM | 33 comment(s)
Login to Bookmark
Tags:
yankees
|
Support BBTF
Thanks to
aleskel
for his generous support.
Bookmarks
You must be logged in to view your Bookmarks.
Hot Topics
Sox Therapy: A Winning Ballclub? (21 - 8:34am, May 26)Last: DarrenNewsblog: Maddon on Red Sox beaning Luke Scott: 'I think it's ridiculous, I think it's absurd, idiotic' (8 - 8:33am, May 26)Last: Der_K is feeling better now.Newsblog: YESNetwork: A look at five Yankees' cases for enshrinement in Monument Park (2 - 8:14am, May 26)Last: Jolly Old St. Neck Wound, Moral IdiotNewsblog: HP: Baseball is leaving the human factor behind (60 - 7:55am, May 26)Last: Designated Sitter (GGC)Newsblog: Wilmoth: Nate McLouth Designated For Assignment (13 - 7:52am, May 26)Last: RussNewsblog: OT: NBA Monthly Thread, May 2012 (1835 - 7:45am, May 26)Last: thokNewsblog: The Hall of Very Good: Former Cards Slugger Critical of "LaRussa's Regime" (6 - 7:16am, May 26)Last: Shooty: Applying to be Fearless LeaderNewsblog: Matschulat: Did I Miss The "Paul Konerko Is So Overrated OMG" Bandwagon? (30 - 7:15am, May 26)Last: baudibNewsblog: CSN to host ‘Phillies at the Beach’ on Memorial Day (19 - 7:11am, May 26)Last: GodNewsblog: T.R. Sullivan: Of Frank Robinson, Milt Pappas and Jim Palmer (10 - 7:09am, May 26)Last: GodNewsblog: Bud Selig -- No need for more MLB replay for now - ESPN (88 - 6:12am, May 26)Last: LassusNewsblog: Himrich’s Top Ten Target Field Foods (8 - 2:43am, May 26)Last: Long John McCaine Mutiny on the Bounty (scott)Newsblog: Boston.com: Curt Schilling’s 38 Studios lays off all staff (119 - 1:28am, May 26)Last: Swedish ChefHall of Merit: Most Meritorious Player: 1973 Discussion (15 - 12:13am, May 26)Last: DanGHall of Merit: Most Meritorious Player: 1972 Ballot (28 - 11:25pm, May 25)Last: lieiam
|
Reader Comments and Retorts
Go to end of page
Statements posted here are those of our readers and do not represent the BaseballThinkFactory. Names are provided by the poster and are not verified. We ask that posters follow our submission policy. Please report any inappropriate comments.
1. ValueArbitrageur Posted: August 30, 2009 at 03:50 PM (#3309100)Which would make the Yankee's record during that streak an anemic 22-12 against the "strong teams".
And the Blue Jay's 3rd order record is 67-60 and Twins 64-64, so the author's definition of "weak teams" is spurious.
You'll read an article talking about how this playoff team is having problems recently against poor teams so they must suck, or how they are winning based upon a greater home record, or that they don't post a winning record against good teams etc.
looking at the stat he looked at record against teams with greater than .500 record, only the Rangers have a better winning percentage in that stat than the yankees. So to use that as a qualifier for predicting they'll win in the playoffs is ridiculous, this thinking pretty much states that the Rangers are the only truly good team in the AL or some other crap like that.
And considering that the Yankees lost 9 games to the Red Sox this year( that 33-30 record against winning teams would be 27-21 if you don't count the Sox which is impressive)
basically since Arod came back to the team the Yankees have beaten up pretty much everyone.
And Teixeira's wrist tendinitis abated. And Tiger Wang got deep-sixed.
I just mentioned Arod because of the Tex for MVP talk, I would imagine that a lot of factors came together, it's not like Tex or Arod added a 'winning' attitude that made them become winners again.
Rodriguez's return was cited by many as the cause for Teixeira taking off (the old "protection" argument), but I think it had a lot more to do with the wrist getting better. Either way, you are correct: the Yankees have been an outstanding team since the second week of may, having been only okay up to that point.
Yep. Steve's not happy unless he's finding problems and criticizing Cashman and this year has made it hard for him. You do have to admire his stubborness.
TIME TO SEND JOBA TO THE PEN AND TRADE CODY RANSOM FOR PUJOLS
The idea seems to be to give him a couple of these short ones and then get him back up around six as September progresses.
Hmmm, a starter planned on going less than 5 innings..so there's no chance of ever getting a win.
Where ever he is...this is probably pissing off Jerome Holtzman and he's coming up with a crapstat for it.
A) Teams are more likely to win when they play against weak opposition, and
B) Teams are more likely to win when they score a lot of runs.
Fascinating!
Do teams tend to score more runs against weak competition? We need a synthetic approach.
And of course, if it hadn't been for the Yankees beating the Twins like they stole something, Minnesota would be over .500.
Maybe we should "BCS" the postseason by weighing the Yankees opponents' record against their opponents?
Worst sentence ever, grammatically: "'Cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain."
I think Mr. Lombardi is just never happy.
Of course they do: THEY'RE THE YANKEES!
26 RINGZ BAAAAAAAAAY-BEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111!!!!!!!lllPWN3D!1
Tm F W L GBPHI F 75 53 --
ATL F 68 62 8.0
FLA F 68 62 8.0
NYM F 59 72 17.5
WSN F 46 85 30.5
Its important that Mets fans remember their place...
...at the bottom of the National League.
Detroit kind of sucks other than Verlander, Cabrera, and some sparkling defense...but Verlander is really ####### good, and Cabrera is really ####### good, and their defense is really ####### good. I could see the Yanks having some problems with Detroit at Comerica...and if Verlander singlehandedly wins Game 1, the Yanks are going to have to beat Detroit in Detroit.
...at the bottom of the National League.
Yeah, there it is.
You must be Registered and Logged In to post comments.
<< Back to main