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March 31, 2005


2005 RLYW Staff predictions
by SG

Predictions

Comments
Sean
Injuries fell Boston's rotation as Schilling never really gets going and Wells is average in the ballpark he once wanted burned down. Wade Miller doesn't throw a pitch in anger this season and Matt Clement is the de facto ace.

The Yanks finally post that 1000 run season that Gammons talked about last season. Mussina wins 20, along with Johnson and Kevin Brown throws 180 innings. Wright and Pavano are both slightly above average.

In the Central, Minnesota and Cleveland feast on the weak sisters in the division -Chicago and Kansas City-and both win over 90 games.

Out West, the Angels break out to a Mickey Mantle dream season: Jump out to a big lead, come out of the all-star break and win 10 or 15 in a row and coast home.

In the playoffs, Johan Santana dominates the Angels, winning three games - 1, 4 and 5 in relief. But the Yanks steamroll the Twinkies in the ALCS after Minnesota just runs outta gas.

Atlanta and Florida provide a great pennant race, finishing 1-2 in the league in wins. San Diego wins a watered-down and Barryless NL West. St. Louis is never really challenged.

In the playoffs, Florida's pitching quiets the Cards lineup and San Diego wins three games in Atlanta to beat the Braves. Florida's three aces of Burnett, Beckett and Willis dominate the Pads, who only win Peavy's two starts.

In the World Series, the Yankees exact revenge for 2003 and erase a painful 2004 with a drubbing of Florida in the Fall Classic.

TVerik
AL East: Boston. I feel it in my bones. Their pitching holds up, ours
doesn't.
AL Central: Cleveland. I don't see Santana extending his pitching from
great to historic by keeping this up.
AL West: Anaheim. I want to, but I can't pick any of the other
"contenders".
AL Wild Card: New York. I see the Twins and the White Sox actually
challenging for this.

AL Playoffs: Boston beats Anaheim, New York beats Cleveland. Yanks over
Sox in 6 games.

NL East: Atlanta. I've been wrong too many times before.
NL Central: Chicago. They have some pitching injuries, but it's enough
to push St. Louis back.
NL West: I see San Diego winning the thing. That would be back-to-back
good years from that franchise; first time since the Eighties.
NL Wild Card: St. Louis. There won't be much doubt about this unless
the Mets are better than I think they are.

NL Playoffs: Atlanta beats St. Louis, Chicago beats San Diego. Chicago
beats Atlanta in five.

World Series: Yankees beat Chicago in six.

sjohnny
Arod hits 800 in world series, yet still "not a real yankee"

SG
The Yankees storm out of the gate by sweeping Boston in the first series of the season, and go wire-to-wire to win the AL East by five games, winning 102 games in the process. Alex Rodriguez hits fifty homers and wins a Gold Glove, and gets several hits with runners in scoring position in winning the MVP. Randy Johnson wins 20 games and breaks Ron Guidry's Yankee strikeout record of 248. Boston gets the Wild Card with 97 wins.

In the AL Central, something clicks for Jose Contreras, and he and El Duque combine for 35 wins. The Sox ride their starting pitching to an upset win in the AL Central, as Johan Santana regresses a bit and the Twins defense struggles after the losses of Koskie and Guzman.

In the AL West, Oakland's young pitchers struggle to acclimate to the majors, and Los Angeles of Anaheim rides Vladimir Guerrero and Bartolo Colon's bounceback season to a fairly easy divisional title.

In the playoffs, the Yankees lose to Contreras and El Duque but beat Mark Buehrle twice and Freddy Garcia once to advance to the ALCS. The Angels sweep the Red Sox, who don't have the hunger to win after their victory last season.

In the ALCS, the Yankees lose the first two games of the ALCS, then storm back to win the next four.

In the NL East, Tim Hudson and John Smoltz key another Braves division title. The Mets finish below .500, as Victor Zambrano and Kaz Ishii combine for 300 walks, and Carlos Beltran keeps his low batting average from last year but loses the power that he had (steroids?). Larry Bowa's departure and Jim Thome's monster season propel the Phillies into the wild card.

The Cardinals romp through the NL Central, as the Cubs suffer injury after injury to their starters, and their tattered bullpen completely collapses.

The Dodgers hold off the Padres in the NL West, as JD Drew stays healthy and makes up for the loss of Beltre.

In the NLDS, the Braves leverage their starting pitching advantage to beat the Dodgers, and the Cardinals pound the Phillies pitchers to advance. In the NLCS, the Cardinals are too strong for Atlanta.

In the World Series, Pujols and Rolen are too much for Randy Johnson, and the Cardinals beat the Yankees in six games.


March 28, 2005


One week to go
by SG

Make sure you scroll down and read Fabian's posts on Christian Garcia and Eric Abreu. Garcia in particular looks like a stud in the making.

As spring training winds down, I figured it'd be a good time to look at what's been happening down in Tampa. The only job that is up for grabs right now is the spot of 25th man on the roster, whose primary job will be backing up Bernie Williams in CF. I grabbed the Yankees spring training statistics from USA Today to see how people are performing. Spring training statistics are largely meaningless, because of the dilution of competition as well as the small sample size, but they are often given significant weight by baseball management in the case of players "on the bubble".


BATTERS BA SLG OBA G AB R H TB 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS E

Womack .463 .648 .492 18 54 10 25 35 1 3 1 9 4 4 7 2 3
Sheffield .381 .524 .458 14 42 4 16 22 3 0 1 10 6 3 0 0 0
Jeter .378 .533 .440 15 45 5 17 24 4 0 1 13 5 6 0 2 3
Matsui .360 .740 .418 17 50 12 18 37 4 0 5 15 5 6 1 0 0
A. Rodriguez .357 .536 .429 18 56 10 20 30 7 0 1 8 7 13 0 1 1
Crosby .341 .568 .383 18 44 8 15 25 2 1 2 8 2 7 1 0 0
Phillips .333 .788 .421 19 33 11 11 26 1 1 4 12 4 7 1 0 0
Posada .324 .459 .457 14 37 7 12 17 2 0 1 2 8 5 0 0 0
Flaherty .323 .419 .364 14 31 4 10 13 0 0 1 6 2 6 0 0 0
Parrish .313 .563 .313 10 16 3 5 9 1 0 1 4 0 4 0 0 0
Porter .304 .435 .385 16 23 4 7 10 0 0 1 4 3 7 0 1 0
Cano .286 .371 .306 18 35 6 10 13 0 0 1 5 1 3 0 1 1
Giambi .275 .575 .434 16 40 9 11 23 1 1 3 5 11 9 0 0 0
Ru. Johnson .250 .321 .333 18 28 7 7 9 2 0 0 3 4 5 1 0 1
R. Sierra .250 .400 .304 9 20 4 5 8 0 0 1 5 2 3 0 0 0
Martinez .222 .467 .321 17 45 8 10 21 2 0 3 10 7 4 0 0 1
Escalona .174 .348 .208 17 23 2 4 8 1 0 1 1 0 4 0 0 3
Sanchez .167 .194 .184 14 36 4 6 7 1 0 0 2 1 3 0 0 1
Rolls .100 .100 .229 20 40 4 4 4 0 0 0 2 7 12 2 0 0
Williams .091 .152 .139 11 33 1 3 5 2 0 0 2 2 5 0 0 0

PITCHERS W- L ERA BA G GS CG GF SH SV IP H R ER HR BB SO

Groom 0- 0 0.00 .240 6 0 0 0 0 0 7.0 6 0 0 0 0 2
Rivera 0- 0 0.00 .067 5 0 0 2 0 1 5.0 1 0 0 0 1 2
Wright 2- 0 0.00 .205 3 3 0 0 0 0 11.0 8 0 0 0 4 6
Sturtze 0- 0 0.75 .186 6 1 0 0 0 0 12.0 8 1 1 0 2 10
Wang 3- 0 1.00 .207 3 2 0 0 0 0 9.0 6 1 1 0 3 6
Proctor 0- 1 1.50 .292 6 0 0 4 0 1 6.0 7 1 1 0 2 9
De Paula 1- 0 1.59 .190 4 0 0 0 0 0 5.2 4 1 1 1 2 4
Pavano 1- 0 1.89 .260 5 4 0 0 0 0 19.0 19 4 4 2 2 13
Ra. Johnson 1- 2 3.38 .207 4 4 0 0 0 0 16.0 12 6 6 2 4 15
Small 0- 0 4.15 .314 5 1 0 0 0 0 8.2 11 4 4 0 1 3
Mussina 2- 1 4.74 .325 5 5 0 0 0 0 19.0 26 12 10 1 3 8
Stanton 0- 0 5.63 .290 8 0 0 3 0 1 8.0 9 5 5 1 2 5
Bean 0- 1 5.79 .188 5 0 0 1 0 0 4.2 3 3 3 1 3 6
Ramirez 0- 0 6.23 .421 2 0 0 0 0 0 4.1 8 3 3 0 2 3
Brown 1- 1 6.48 .282 4 4 0 0 0 0 16.2 20 12 12 4 7 18
Graman 0- 0 6.55 .304 6 0 0 1 0 0 11.0 14 9 8 4 7 7
Gordon 0- 2 7.00 .300 9 0 0 6 0 0 9.0 12 8 7 0 2 12
F. Rodriguez 0- 1 7.56 .294 8 0 0 2 0 0 8.1 10 7 7 2 5 3
Prinz 0- 0 8.44 .385 5 0 0 2 0 1 5.1 10 5 5 3 5 6
Quantrill 0- 0 8.53 .424 6 0 0 0 0 0 6.1 14 6 6 1 0 3
Karsay 0- 1 9.00 .378 8 0 0 0 0 0 9.0 14 9 9 1 4 1


Tony Womack has been doing a fine impression of Enrique Wilson, but it doesn't appear to have swayed Joe Torre's thought process as far as moving him to leadoff. I'd like to think this is because Torre understands small sample size and the importance of past performance when making decisions, but it's more likely that he just likes keeping Alex Rodriguez in the second spot and doesn't want to move Jeter down. I guess it doesn't matter as long as the right decision gets made.

The best news for me so far on the offensive side has been Jason Giambi. He appears to healthy, is getting significant playing time, and has shown enough power to make me think he will be a force this season. He's even gotten into the field for a few games, although at this point the best Yankee lineup would have him as the DH and Tino Martinez (who is struggling) at first base. This is because Ruben Sierra should not be getting significant starting time, and also because I fear that Giambi at first will be pulled from close games in late innings for Tino's defense, which would be problematic.

The "exciting" battle for 25th man appears to have come down to Bubba Crosby, Damian Rolls, Russ Johnson, and dark horse Colin Porter. Crosby has been the best hitter so far, but Torre seems to be infatuated with Rolls's and Johnson's ability to play the infield. With Rodriguez and Jeter expected to start every game if healthy, and Rey Sanchez already on the team, I don't see that this matters much, but Torre loves versatile defensive players who can't hit for crap. This is a complication of the foolish idea of going with 12 pitchers.

Bernie Williams has been hampered again by injuries in spring training, and is really starting to show his age. I love Bernie, he has been one of my favorite players as a bridge from the Yankees of Mel Hall and Bob Geren to today's perennial AL East champion, but I am very concerned about him this year. Aside from his well-documented defensive issues, his health is a big concern. If he misses any significant time, the Yankees can move Matsui into CF, but then they have to choose from Ruben Sierra or the 25th man as the full-time LF, an even scarier proposition than Bernie costing 50 runs in CF. I hope Bernie can stay healthy and go out with a bang. He is 36 this year, the same age that Joe Dimaggio and Mickey Mantle played their final games for the Yankees.

To avoid turning this into a full-fledged season preview, I'll go over to the pitching side now.

All indications are that Randy Johnson's knee is a non-issue, and he appears to be gaining strength. In addition, newcomers Carl Pavano and Jaret Wright have been quite impressive so far. I was lukewarm on the Pavano signing, but everything I'm reading about him encourages me. He is apparently quite a student of the game, and is seeking guidance from Mike Mussina and Jorge Posada, and appears to be a very cerebral-type pitcher who studies opposing hitters extensively. I realize the numbers in his past history are cause for concern, but I am cautiously optimistic.

Jaret Wright has been dominant so far in spring training. He appears to have matured quite a bit from his days in Cleveland. I still think he was a very risky signing, but he's making just a little more than Sterling Hitchcock did from 2002-2003 for a total of 80 innings of a 5+ ERA. If he can stay healthy, I think he can provide 180-200 league average innings, which will be an asset. I've only seen him pitch two innings this spring, but was very impressed with his command and poise.

Kevin Brown's results have been mixed, but he appears to have his back problems worked out and has gotten some velocity back. Last year he was in the 88-90 mph range with his fastball, but this spring he has been clocked as high as 94. I still doubt he makes 30 starts this year, but have a good feeling that he will be solid when he takes the hill. I got to watch him earlier today, and outside of a shaky first inning he looked pretty good.

And what about Tanyon Sturtze? I still am skeptical, but he has been very good since September of last year, with much better command, and with the new cutter that Mariano Rivera showed him. He's still a wild card, but as a spot starter and long man I think he will be decent. Sturtze and Tiger Wang look to be the best bets to take any starts that come up when one of the other starters get hurt, and Wang also acquitted himself decently in the spring, and looks to be fully recovered from his surgery a few years back. I don't know if Buddy Groom will take a spot in Columbus until an opportunity arises in the majors, but if so he may be a viable left-handed option if the need arises during the season.

One thing that strikes me is how inflexible the Yankee roster is right now. The Yankees will likely carry no one with options with the possible exception of Bubba Crosby, so they won't be able to do much in-season manipulation unless injuries occur. I still hope that Andy Phillips, Colter Bean and Robinson Cano get to see some time this year. The Yankees are also trying to find takers for Alex Graman and Bret Prinz, who are both out of options. I don't think they'll get much for them, but some catching depth to stick at Columbus would be nice. As it stands now, the Yankees are very thin at catcher.

We'll see what happens when the games start to count in a week, but the key thing right now is that the team looks healthy and ready to start the season at full strength. How long they'll stay there is an another issue.


March 25, 2005


One season out of 1000
by SG

A few days ago, I posted the results of 1000 Diamond Mind Sims with a couple of different projection disks. With what looks like another close race looming in the AL East, I figured I'd look in depth at one of the Diamond Mind simulations that had a nice tight divisional race to see what kind of story played out.

April
At the end of the April, the Red Sox had stormed out of the gate, winning 16 of 24 games and opening up a big 7 game lead on the Yankees, who struggled in losing 15 of their first 26 games. The Yankee offense was lousy, putting up a cumulative batting line of .244/.342/.406. Alex Rodriguez in particular put up the putrid line of .191/.303/.287. The pitching staff did not help either, putting up a 5.19 ERA, with Mussina and Pavano getting pounded. Moose went 1-1, but posted a 6.67 ERA. Pavano went 0-4, with a 6.67 ERA. Could the Yankees recover from this dreadful start?

May
May went much better, as the Yankees rebounded to win 17 of 27 games. Unfortunately for them, they lost 1.5 games in the standings, as Boston continued to play well, winning 19 of their 28 games. At this point, the Yankees were looking at an 8.5 game deficit. The Yankee offense improved slightly in May, hitting .264/.343/.440. Jason Giambi clubbed 7 HRs, and Derek Jeter hit .364/.442/.586, scoring 26 runs in the process. On the pitching side, Mussina rebounded to go 3-1 with a 2.89 ERA, as the staff went 17-10 with a 4.27 ERA. Joe Torre overused Mariano Rivera, as he pitched in 14 of the 27 games, notching 5 saves, 2 wins, and posting a 2.35 ERA.

June
Things began to turn in June, as the Yankees picked up 5 games on Boston by going a whopping 20-7. The team hit a cumulative .259/.348/.445. Hideki Matsui had a monstrous(get it?) month, hitting .363/.449/.706, clubbing 10! HRs and driving in 31 runs. Jorge Posada did quite well himself, chipping in a .327/.393/.618 line. In this month, it was the pitchng staff which keyed the resurgence, chief amongst them Jaret Wright, who went 4-0 with a stellar 2.23 ERA.

through the All Star Break
With the All Star Break beginning after games of July 10, here's how the AL standings were shaping up:

Regular season -- through 7/11/2005

Year Team W L Pct GB L10 RF RA
East
2005 Boston 54 33 .621 - 5-5 510 408
2005 Baltimore 51 37 .580 3 1/2 7-3 513 434
2005 New York (A) 50 37 .575 4 4-6 461 394
2005 Toronto 49 39 .557 5 1/2 7-3 507 454
2005 Tampa Bay 36 53 .404 19 6-4 366 455

Central
2005 Minnesota 50 37 .575 - 7-3 456 422
2005 Chicago (A) 44 43 .506 6 4-6 446 441
2005 Cleveland 41 47 .466 9 1/2 6-4 469 490
2005 Detroit 36 51 .414 14 2-8 413 464
2005 Kansas City 29 58 .333 21 1-9 383 531

West
2005 Los Angeles (A) 44 44 .500 - 5-5 L1 403
2005 Oakland 43 44 .494 1/2 4-6 W3 445
2005 Texas 42 45 .483 1 1/2 5-5 W1 448
2005 Seattle 38 49 .437 5 1/2 7-3 W1 413

The team's statistics at the All Star Break:

For the offense:

Regular season through 7/11/2005

Name P AVG OBP SPC G AB H 2B 3B HR R RBI BB K HBP IW SB CS
Escalona, F 2b .429 .600 .714 10 7 3 2 0 0 0 0 3 1 0 0 0 0
Posada, J# c .320 .395 .574 71 244 78 21 1 13 41 47 31 55 2 0 0 0
Matsui, H* lf .299 .377 .528 68 254 76 9 2 15 40 56 30 45 3 1 0 0
Jeter, D ss .292 .362 .491 85 342 100 26 0 14 66 49 32 56 7 0 19 3
Sheffield, G rf .291 .405 .481 76 285 83 18 0 12 60 45 47 40 8 4 5 0
Phillips, A 3b .274 .378 .468 26 62 17 1 1 3 8 9 11 8 0 0 0 0
Womack, T* 2b .272 .318 .316 84 272 74 6 0 2 32 20 14 27 5 0 15 0
Flaherty, J c .266 .286 .447 28 94 25 5 0 4 10 20 2 17 1 0 0 0
Rodriguez, A 3b .242 .332 .442 85 339 82 13 2 17 72 53 45 88 3 1 19 3
Porter, C* cf .235 .316 .294 7 17 4 1 0 0 4 1 2 6 0 0 2 0
Martinez, T* 1b .229 .293 .329 70 240 55 10 1 4 31 30 20 33 4 0 1 0
Williams, B# cf .223 .343 .388 77 260 58 9 2 10 37 39 44 49 4 3 2 0
Giambi, J* dh .221 .380 .430 80 258 57 6 0 16 34 42 61 75 6 0 1 0
Rolls, D 3b .200 .200 .400 8 5 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 0
Sierra, R# lf .192 .277 .392 41 125 24 7 0 6 15 22 15 22 0 0 0 0
Sanchez, R 2b .171 .216 .257 21 35 6 0 0 1 3 5 1 2 1 0 0 0
Sprowl, J* c .167 .286 .167 7 6 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0
Crosby, B* cf .132 .154 .184 17 38 5 0 1 0 4 4 1 9 0 0 1 0
Pitchers .038 .074 .038 87 26 1 0 0 0 3 2 0 11 1 0 0 0
Total .258 .346 .432 87 2909 750 135 10 117 461 444 360 546 45 9 67 6

For the pitching:
Regular season through 7/11/2005

Name P ERA W L S G GS CG SHO INN H R ER BB K HR GDP BF
Rivera, M cl 1.37 3 2 20 35 0 0 0 39.1 22 6 6 8 31 0 3 146
Gordon, T mr 2.86 2 2 0 24 0 0 0 34.2 37 13 11 10 39 2 1 153
Karsay, S mr 2.87 0 1 0 10 0 0 0 15.2 10 6 5 6 10 3 2 60
Brown, K sp 3.06 5 3 0 13 13 1 0 85.1 66 31 29 31 67 5 11 345
Sturtze, T sp 3.25 3 1 0 4 4 1 0 27.2 22 10 10 11 14 0 4 110
Johnson, R* sp 3.79 10 5 0 18 18 1 0 123.1 114 55 52 27 142 14 5 508
Rodriguez, F mr 4.10 1 1 1 25 0 0 0 26.1 28 12 12 11 16 5 3 116
Mussina, M sp 4.26 8 4 0 18 18 2 0 120.1 127 60 57 27 120 15 12 503
Wright, J sp 4.85 9 4 0 17 17 1 0 98.1 109 58 53 41 76 5 14 433
Groom, B* mr 4.97 0 1 0 15 0 0 0 25.1 28 14 14 4 14 4 3 106
Pavano, C sp 5.77 5 9 0 17 17 4 1 110.2 143 79 71 20 64 18 11 496
Stanton, M* mr 5.82 1 4 2 17 0 0 0 21.2 25 16 14 9 17 4 0 100
Quantrill, P mr 6.03 2 0 0 19 0 0 0 31.1 40 23 21 4 17 2 1 139
DePaula, J mr 6.91 1 0 0 8 0 0 0 14.1 15 11 11 5 8 6 1 62
Total 4.25 50 37 23 87 87 10 6 774.1 786 394 366 214 635 83 71 3277


Post All Star Break July
The Yankees began the All Star Break at Fenway Park against the hated Red Sox. In the first game, Carl Pavano tried to recover from a terrible beginning to his Yankee career vs. Matt Clement whom many felt would've been a better signing, and who had begun the season 9-3 for Boston.

7/14/2005, NYA05-Bos05, Fenway Park

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP
2005 New York (A) 2 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 5 11 1 14 1
2005 Boston 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 6 1 4 0

New York (A) AB R H BI AVG Boston AB R H BI AVG
Jeter ss 6 0 2 0 .293 Damon cf 4 0 1 0 .269
Rodriguez,A 3b 5 2 1 0 .241 Vazquez 2b 4 1 2 0 .254
Sheffield rf 4 2 3 0 .298 Ortiz dh 4 1 1 2 .291
Matsui lf 5 1 1 1 .297 Ramirez,M lf 4 0 0 0 .326
Posada c 4 0 3 2 .327 Nixon rf 4 0 2 0 .329
Giambi dh 2 0 0 1 .219 Millar 1b 4 0 0 0 .333
Williams cf 1 0 0 0 .222 Mueller 3b 3 0 0 0 .280
Crosby pr 3 0 0 0 .122 Mirabelli c 3 0 0 0 .232
Martinez 1b 3 0 1 1 .230 Renteria ss 3 0 0 0 .260
Womack 2b 4 0 0 0 .268 33 2 6 2
37 5 11 5

New York (A) INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Pavano W 6-9 8.0 5 2 2 0 8 109 74 5.54
Rivera S 21 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 10 7 1.34
9.0 6 2 2 0 8 119 81

Boston INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Clement L 9-4 4.0 7 4 4 4 4 81 44 3.77
Halama 2.0 3 1 1 1 2 40 23 4.94
Kim 3.0 1 0 0 1 5 41 28 3.32
9.0 11 5 5 6 11 162 95

Pavano's masterful game pulled the Yankees within 3 games of Boston.

The excitement was building as the Yankees tried to continue their momentum as Jaret Wright faced off against Wade Miller in the second game of the series.

7/15/2005, NYA05-Bos05, Fenway Park

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP
2005 New York (A) 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 6 1 5 3
2005 Boston 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 0 6 1

New York (A) AB R H BI AVG Boston AB R H BI AVG
Jeter ss 4 0 2 0 .295 Damon cf 4 1 2 0 .272
Rodriguez,A 3b 4 0 0 0 .239 Bellhorn 2b 2 0 1 0 .250
Sheffield rf 4 1 1 0 .297 Ortiz dh 3 0 0 0 .288
Matsui lf 2 1 0 0 .295 Ramirez,M lf 4 0 0 1 .322
Posada c 3 1 1 1 .327 Nixon rf 4 0 1 0 .327
Giambi dh 4 0 1 1 .220 Mueller 3b 3 0 0 0 .276
Martinez 1b 4 0 0 1 .227 Petagine 1b 3 0 0 0 .250
Crosby cf 4 0 1 0 .133 Vazquez ph 1 0 0 0 .252
Womack 2b 3 0 0 0 .265 Mirabelli c 2 0 0 0 .226
32 3 6 3 Renteria ss 3 0 0 0 .256
29 1 4 1

New York (A) INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Wright W 10-4 7.0 4 1 0 5 5 103 62 4.53
Gordon H 7 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 14 9 2.78
Rivera S 22 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 11 8 1.31
9.0 4 1 0 5 7 128 79

Boston INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Miller L 3-4 8.0 6 3 3 3 6 113 70 5.54
Embree 1.0 0 0 0 0 2 14 10 4.00
9.0 6 3 3 3 8 127 80

Another fine performance by the Yankees' starter, as Wright pulled the Yankees within 2 games.

In the third game of the series, the much-maligned Kevin Brown tried to continue a great run of pitching by the Yankees.

7/16/2005, NYA05-Bos05, Fenway Park

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP
2005 New York (A) 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 6 2 10 1
2005 Boston 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 1 4 0

New York (A) AB R H BI AVG Boston AB R H BI AVG
Giambi dh 3 1 1 1 .221 Damon cf 4 0 0 0 .269
Rodriguez,A 3b 5 0 0 0 .235 Bellhorn 2b 4 0 1 0 .250
Sheffield rf 3 0 0 0 .294 Ortiz dh 4 0 1 0 .288
Matsui lf 4 0 2 0 .298 Stern pr 0 0 0 0 .286
Posada c 3 0 1 0 .327 Ramirez,M lf 4 0 0 0 .318
Martinez 1b 4 0 1 0 .227 Nixon rf 3 0 1 0 .327
Crosby cf 4 0 0 0 .122 Millar 1b 2 0 1 0 .335
Womack 2b 4 0 0 0 .261 Varitek c 3 0 0 0 .216
Escalona ss 0 0 0 0 .429 Mueller 3b 3 0 0 0 .273
Sanchez ss 4 0 1 0 .179 Vazquez ss 2 0 0 0 .248
34 1 6 1 29 0 4 0

New York (A) INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Brown W 6-3 7.2 3 0 0 2 8 107 67 2.81
Rivera S 23 1.1 1 0 0 0 2 18 11 1.27
9.0 4 0 0 2 10 125 78

Boston INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Wakefield L 5-7 6.2 6 1 1 1 3 106 72 4.33
Timlin 2.0 0 0 0 3 0 32 14 3.78
Kim 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 3.30
9.0 6 1 1 4 3 139 87

Giambi's third inning HR was all the offense Brown needed, as he and Rivera combined on a four-hit shutout to blank the Red Sox 1-0.

Could this be the Boston Massacre part 2? With the Yankees sweeping the first three games of the series to pull within one game of Boston, the two teams sent their aces to the mound. Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling faced off in a much-hyped matchup that turned out to be a blowout.

7/17/2005, NYA05-Bos05, Fenway Park

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP
2005 New York (A) 0 0 3 0 0 2 0 2 0 7 11 0 6 0
2005 Boston 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 6 2 9 2

New York (A) AB R H BI AVG Boston AB R H BI AVG
Jeter ss 5 1 1 0 .294 Damon cf 4 0 0 0 .266
Rodriguez,A 3b 4 1 2 3 .238 Bellhorn 2b 4 0 1 0 .250
Giambi dh 4 0 1 0 .221 Ortiz dh 4 0 0 0 .284
Matsui lf 4 0 1 0 .297 Ramirez,M lf 4 0 2 0 .320
Sierra rf 4 0 0 0 .186 Renteria ss 3 0 0 0 .252
Martinez 1b 4 1 1 0 .227 Varitek c 3 0 0 0 .214
Crosby cf 4 1 2 1 .151 Millar 1b 4 1 1 0 .333
Womack 2b 4 0 1 0 .261 Mueller 3b 3 0 1 0 .274
Flaherty c 4 3 2 3 .276 Payton rf 2 0 1 0 .327
37 7 11 7 Nixon ph 2 0 0 1 .324
33 1 6 1

New York (A) INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Johnson,Ra W 11-5 5.1 4 0 0 2 9 105 66 3.64
Quantrill H 1 1.2 1 0 0 1 0 28 18 5.73
Rodriguez,F 2.0 1 1 1 0 2 20 15 4.13
9.0 6 1 1 3 11 153 99

Boston INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Schilling L 6-5 7.0 9 5 4 2 4 106 72 3.63
Halama 1.0 2 2 2 0 1 17 11 5.16
Tomori 1.0 0 0 0 1 0 11 5 8.74
9.0 11 7 6 3 5 134 88

Johnson pitched well, but Boston worked his pitch count enough to get him out of the game after a little more than five innings. Luckily Felix Rodriguez and Paul Quantrill were able to close out the game as the Yankee offense managed to pound seven runs off of Schilling and his replacement, John Halama. It is not known if this game caused Schilling to start crying.

July ended with the Yankees and Boston tied for the division with identical 62-42 records.

August
August saw the Yankees and Boston basically hold even, the Yankees falling 1/2 game behind Boston by going 18-11 to Boston's 18-10.

Jason Giambi and Alex Rodriguez paced the offense, as Giambi went .305/.445/621 with 8 HR and 23 RBI, and Rodriguez hitting .339/415/.559 with 6 HR ans 22 RBI. Randy Johnson, Carl Pavano, Mike Mussina, and Mariano Rivera each went 3-1. Rivera went through WWWMW™(What's wrong with Mariano Week) in August, with a 7.30 ERA, blowing 3 of 4 save opportunities, and allowing 6 of his 8 inherited runners to score.

September
With 1/2 game separating Boston and New York, it all came down to September. Boston began the month by winning their first 4 games, with the Yankees winning 3 of 4 games. Heading into a three game series at home with Boston on September 9, the Yankees still trailed by 1.5 games. Luckily, the Yankees were able to throw RJ vs. Wakefield in the first game,
 
9/9/2005, Bos05-NYA05, Yankee Stadium

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP
2005 Boston 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 6 0 6 1
2005 New York (A) 2 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 x 6 8 0 6 0

Boston AB R H BI AVG New York (A) AB R H BI AVG
Damon cf 4 0 1 1 .250 Jeter ss 3 1 1 0 .268
Bellhorn 2b 4 0 0 0 .239 Rodriguez,A 3b 3 1 1 2 .256
Ortiz dh 4 0 0 0 .287 Sheffield rf 3 1 0 0 .299
Ramirez,M lf 4 0 0 0 .324 Matsui lf 3 2 2 2 .290
Renteria ss 4 0 2 0 .288 Giambi dh 3 0 1 0 .254
Varitek c 4 0 1 0 .235 Williams cf 4 1 2 1 .240
Millar 1b 4 0 1 0 .300 Flaherty c 4 0 1 0 .228
Mueller 3b 3 0 0 0 .262 Martinez 1b 3 0 0 1 .247
Payton rf 2 1 1 0 .319 Womack 2b 4 0 0 0 .270
33 1 6 1 30 6 8 6

Boston INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Wakefield L 7-12 6.2 8 6 6 3 4 101 61 4.23
Tomori 1.1 0 0 0 0 3 22 16 6.75
8.0 8 6 6 3 7 123 77

New York (A) INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Johnson,Ra W 16-8 7.0 5 1 1 1 10 110 70 3.39
Groom 2.0 1 0 0 0 1 32 21 4.10
9.0 6 1 1 1 11 142 91

Now facing a slim 1/2 game deficit, the Yankees sent Mike Mussina to the mound to try and give the Yankees their first sole divisional lead of the season, against noted Republican and loudmouth Curt Schilling.

9/10/2005, Bos05-NYA05, Yankee Stadium

2005 Boston 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 4 14 0 15 1
2005 New York (A) 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 5 14 0 12 0

Boston AB R H BI AVG New York (A) AB R H BI AVG
Damon cf 4 1 3 1 .254 Jeter ss 6 1 3 1 .270
Bellhorn 2b 4 1 0 0 .237 Rodriguez,A 3b 4 2 2 0 .257
Petagine ph 1 0 0 0 .268 Sheffield rf 5 0 3 2 .303
Hummel 2b 0 0 0 0 .667 Matsui lf 5 0 1 0 .289
Ortiz dh 6 1 2 2 .287 Posada c 6 1 3 1 .307
Ramirez,M lf 5 0 2 1 .324 Giambi dh 4 0 0 0 .252
Payton rf 1 0 1 0 .322 Williams cf 5 1 2 0 .242
Nixon rf 5 0 1 0 .303 Martinez 1b 4 0 0 0 .244
Stern lf 1 0 1 0 .381 Womack 2b 5 0 0 0 .268
Millar 1b 6 0 1 0 .298 Sanchez 2b 0 0 0 0 .216
Varitek c 6 0 0 0 .232 44 5 14 4
Mueller 3b 5 1 1 0 .261
Renteria ss 2 0 1 0 .289
Vazquez ph 3 0 1 0 .246
49 4 14 4

Boston INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Schilling 4.1 9 2 2 2 2 85 53 3.16
Halama 0.2 0 0 0 1 1 13 6 5.09
Mantei 1.0 1 0 0 0 2 11 8 5.63
Embree H 10 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 11 8 3.25
Kershner H 3 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 11 7 7.18
Foulke BS 7 1.0 2 2 2 1 2 33 17 3.07
Timlin L 4-3 2.0 2 1 1 1 0 21 12 3.36
11.0 14 5 5 5 8 185 111

New York (A) INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Mussina 6.0 4 1 1 5 6 120 77 3.76
Gordon BS 6 1.0 3 2 2 0 0 20 13 3.18
Rodriguez,F 2.0 3 1 1 1 2 46 29 3.40
Rivera W 8-3 3.0 4 0 0 0 6 52 35 2.38
12.0 14 4 4 6 14 238 154


After six solid innings by Mussina, the Yankees turned a 2-1 lead over to Flash Gordon. However, a Johnny Damon single was followed by a Mark Bellhorn groundout, bringing up the dangerous David Ortiz. Ortiz cranked a homer into the short porch in right, giving Boston a 3-2 lead. Gordon got out of the inning, but the damage was done.

Alan Embree cruised through Matsui, Posada, and Giambi in the bottom of the seventh.

In the top of the eighth, Felix Rodriguez attempted to hold Boston. A single by Mueller, a walk by Ramon Vazquez, and a double by Johnny Damon got Boston a big insurance run. September callup Jason Kershner retired Bernie, Tino, and Womack 1-2-3 in the bottom of the eighth.

Boston failed to score in the top of the ninth, giving the Yankees the daunting task of scoring two runs off Keith Foulke in one inning. Derek Jeter led off the inning with a double down the third base line (he is clutch after all). Foulke then threw a wild pitch moving Jeter to third. A flustered Foulke walked Alex Rodriguez on a 3-1 pitch, bringing up Gary Sheffield. Another wild pitch scored Jeter and moved Rodriguez to second. Sheffield then followed with another double, putting the winning run on second with no outs, and Matsui, Posada and Giambi coming up. However, Foulke sacked up, fanning Matsui and Posada, then inducing a popup to short from Giambi. On to extra innings.

It was Mariano time for the Yankees, as Joe Torre brought him in to keep Boston scoreless. Boston asked Mike Timlin to do the same. Rivera pitched three shutout innings, and Timlin matched him in the 10th and 11th. Then, in a scene eerily reminiscent of Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS, Jorge Posada led of the bottom of the 12th with a game winning HR, putting the Yankees into sole possession of first place for the first time.

That lasted for one day, as Boston managed to come back the following day.

9/11/2005, Bos05-NYA05, Yankee Stadium

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP
2005 Boston 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 8 12 0 10 1
2005 New York (A) 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 4 6 2 5 0

Boston AB R H BI AVG New York (A) AB R H BI AVG
Damon cf 4 1 1 0 .254 Jeter ss 4 1 1 0 .270
Bellhorn 2b 3 1 1 2 .238 Rodriguez,A 3b 3 1 0 0 .256
Ortiz dh 5 2 2 1 .288 Sheffield rf 4 1 2 4 .304
Ramirez,M lf 4 0 1 1 .324 Matsui lf 3 0 2 0 .291
Stern lf 0 0 0 0 .381 Posada c 4 0 1 0 .306
Millar 1b 5 1 1 0 .296 Williams cf 4 0 0 0 .239
Payton rf 5 1 1 0 .320 Giambi dh 4 0 0 0 .249
Mirabelli c 4 1 2 4 .240 Martinez 1b 3 0 0 0 .243
Youkilis 3b 4 0 1 0 .214 Womack 2b 3 1 0 0 .266
Renteria ss 5 1 2 0 .290 32 4 6 4
39 8 12 8

Boston INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Wells 5.0 4 4 4 2 6 75 46 3.97
Mantei 2.0 1 0 0 1 3 30 17 5.36
Timlin W 5-3 2.0 1 0 0 1 0 17 10 3.24
9.0 6 4 4 4 9 122 73

New York (A) INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Pavano 7.0 6 2 2 2 2 121 81 5.16
Stanton H 4, L 1-6 1.1 4 3 2 0 1 31 20 6.23
Groom BS 1 0.1 2 3 0 1 0 13 6 4.07
DePaula 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 7.04
9.0 12 8 4 3 3 166 108

An exhausted Yankee bullpen had to try and use Mike Stanton and Buddy Groom to preserve a two run lead.

The Yankees fell another half game behind Boston heading into the final series of the season, and trailed Boston by one game heading into Fenway for a three game set.

The Yankees managed to pull even with Boston in the first game of the series thanks to Kevin Brown's 10th win of the season.

9/30/2005, NYA05-Bos05, Fenway Park

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP
2005 New York (A) 0 0 1 4 1 1 2 1 0 10 12 0 7 0
2005 Boston 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 9 3 7 2

New York (A) AB R H BI AVG Boston AB R H BI AVG
Jeter ss 5 0 0 1 .264 Damon cf 5 0 0 0 .250
Giambi dh 4 0 0 0 .250 Bellhorn 2b 4 0 0 0 .236
Sheffield rf 5 2 2 2 .296 Ortiz dh 4 0 1 0 .287
Matsui lf 4 2 2 0 .289 Millar 1b 3 1 1 0 .278
Posada c 3 2 0 0 .296 Nixon rf 4 1 2 1 .299
Martinez 1b 4 1 1 0 .247 Mueller 3b 4 1 2 2 .264
Phillips 3b 5 2 3 3 .314 Payton lf 4 0 0 0 .296
Crosby cf 5 1 2 2 .189 Mirabelli c 3 0 2 0 .238
Womack 2b 4 0 2 2 .269 Renteria ss 4 0 1 0 .302
39 10 12 10 35 3 9 3

New York (A) INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Brown W 10-7 7.0 6 1 1 2 6 95 61 3.64
Groom 2.0 3 2 2 0 0 34 20 4.02
9.0 9 3 3 2 6 129 81

Boston INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Wakefield L 8-15 4.1 4 6 1 3 0 72 38 4.43
Kershner 2.0 3 2 2 0 1 38 27 6.40
Tomori 1.1 4 2 2 1 0 27 16 6.53
Kim 1.1 1 0 0 0 1 16 11 3.36
9.0 12 10 5 4 2 153 92


In Game 2, another Johnson vs. Schilling matchup led to another Yankee win.

10/1/2005, NYA05-Bos05, Fenway Park

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP
2005 New York (A) 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 3 7 0 5 1
2005 Boston 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 4 0 4 0

New York (A) AB R H BI AVG Boston AB R H BI AVG
Jeter ss 4 0 2 1 .266 Damon cf 4 0 0 0 .248
Rodriguez,A 3b 3 0 1 0 .262 Bellhorn 2b 4 0 1 0 .236
Sheffield rf 4 0 0 0 .293 Ortiz dh 4 0 1 0 .286
Giambi dh 4 0 0 0 .248 Ramirez,M lf 4 0 0 0 .326
Posada c 4 0 0 0 .294 Renteria ss 2 1 0 0 .300
Sierra lf 4 0 0 0 .211 Varitek c 3 0 0 0 .228
Williams cf 4 1 2 0 .250 Millar 1b 2 0 1 1 .279
Martinez 1b 4 1 1 1 .247 Mueller 3b 3 0 1 0 .264
Womack 2b 3 1 1 1 .269 Payton rf 3 0 0 0 .293
34 3 7 3 29 1 4 1

New York (A) INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Johnson,Ra W 19-9 8.1 4 1 1 3 7 113 64 3.07
Gordon S 3 0.2 0 0 0 0 0 4 2 2.95
9.0 4 1 1 3 7 117 66

Boston INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Schilling L 15-8 6.2 6 3 3 1 5 115 75 2.98
Timlin 2.1 1 0 0 0 2 31 20 3.12
9.0 7 3 3 1 7 146 95

The final game of the season came down to Mike Mussina vs. former Yankee David Wells, going for his 20th victory. A win by Boston would force a tie in the AL East.

10/2/2005, NYA05-Bos05, Fenway Park

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP
2005 New York (A) 0 2 0 0 4 0 2 1 0 9 14 0 4 0
2005 Boston 1 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 4 10 0 7 0

New York (A) AB R H BI AVG Boston AB R H BI AVG
Jeter ss 5 2 2 0 .267 Damon cf 5 2 2 0 .250
Rodriguez,A 3b 5 1 1 0 .261 Vazquez 2b 3 0 0 0 .238
Sheffield rf 5 2 2 5 .294 Petagine ph 1 0 1 0 .244
Matsui lf 5 1 1 0 .288 Hummel ss 1 0 0 0 .500
Posada c 4 2 2 0 .295 Ortiz dh 2 0 1 2 .287
Williams cf 4 0 1 0 .250 Ramirez,M lf 4 0 1 0 .325
Giambi dh 4 0 1 1 .248 Nixon rf 2 1 1 0 .300
Martinez 1b 4 1 2 1 .249 Payton ph 1 0 0 0 .292
Womack 2b 4 0 2 2 .271 Millar 1b 3 0 1 0 .279
40 9 14 9 Varitek c 4 0 1 1 .228
Mueller 3b 4 1 1 0 .264
Renteria ss 3 0 1 1 .300
Bellhorn 2b 1 0 0 0 .236
34 4 10 4

New York (A) INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Mussina W 15-6 6.1 9 4 3 1 6 103 70 3.86
Stanton 2.2 1 0 0 1 0 39 24 5.52
9.0 10 4 3 2 6 142 94

Boston INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA
Wells L 19-8 4.1 9 6 6 0 4 80 55 4.25
Halama 0.2 0 0 0 0 1 10 6 4.93
Mantei 2.0 2 2 2 0 1 29 18 4.86
Kim 2.0 3 1 1 0 3 27 18 3.39
9.0 14 9 9 0 9 146 97

And with that game, the Yankees clinch the AL East by two games.


Team W L Pct GB RF RA
American League
East
New York (A) 99 63 .611 - 884 702
Boston 97 65 .599 2 910 733
Baltimore 88 74 .543 11 901 819
Toronto 85 77 .525 14 907 828
Tampa Bay 74 88 .457 25 702 815


The Yankee hitters' final season line:

S Name P AVG OBP SPC G AB H 2B 3B HR R RBI BB K HBP IW SB CS
Escalona 2b .316 .409 .421 23 19 6 2 0 0 1 1 3 3 0 0 0 0
Phillips 3b .314 .394 .523 35 86 27 4 1 4 14 16 12 15 0 0 0 0
Posada# c .295 .396 .525 124 440 130 30 1 23 76 72 71 88 5 2 3 1
Sheffield rf .294 .401 .522 147 557 164 28 0 33 112 100 88 72 13 7 7 3
Matsui* lf .288 .371 .485 138 534 154 29 2 24 83 94 67 91 5 1 1 1
Rolls 3b .286 .375 .429 14 7 2 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 2 0
Womack* 2b .271 .310 .306 159 539 146 13 0 2 56 47 27 62 5 0 30 3
Jeter ss .267 .334 .434 158 645 172 38 2 22 114 82 55 112 13 0 34 4
Rodriguez,A 3b .261 .344 .468 156 643 168 33 2 32 130 105 79 142 5 2 31 6
Williams# cf .250 .373 .406 132 448 112 18 2 16 77 64 84 77 5 3 3 0
Martinez* 1b .249 .313 .359 145 518 129 22 1 11 62 77 43 72 10 0 1 0
Giambi* dh .248 .393 .483 151 516 128 20 1 33 84 89 116 146 8 0 1 2
Flaherty c .235 .265 .413 54 179 42 8 0 8 20 30 6 29 2 0 0 0
Sanchez 2b .228 .279 .351 32 57 13 1 0 2 8 9 3 5 1 0 0 0
Sierra# lf .211 .282 .443 62 194 41 9 0 12 26 38 20 31 0 0 3 0
Porter* cf .192 .276 .269 14 26 5 2 0 0 4 4 3 9 0 0 2 0
Crosby* cf .189 .225 .287 43 122 23 1 1 3 12 11 5 20 1 0 2 0
Sprowl* c .182 .250 .182 13 11 2 0 0 0 2 0 1 3 0 0 0 0
Pitchers .038 .074 .038 162 26 1 0 0 0 3 2 0 11 1 0 0 0
Total .263 .349 .436 162 5567 1465 259 13 225 884 842 684 989 74 15 120 20

And, for the pitchers:


S Name P ERA W L S G GS CG SHO INN H R ER BB K HR GDP BF
Sturtze sp 2.81 4 1 0 6 6 1 0 41.2 32 13 13 14 21 2 5 167
Rivera cl 2.86 9 4 30 59 0 0 0 72.1 60 23 23 21 67 4 6 290
Gordon mr 2.95 5 2 3 44 0 0 0 64.0 64 25 21 18 75 5 2 279
Johnson,Ra* sp 3.07 19 9 0 33 33 5 2 234.1 190 86 80 45 281 21 6 940
Rodriguez,F mr 3.15 2 1 2 37 0 0 0 45.2 47 16 16 18 39 5 6 198
Karsay mr 3.33 0 2 0 16 0 0 0 24.1 18 10 9 7 15 4 3 94
Brown sp 3.64 10 7 0 28 28 3 0 185.2 171 79 75 51 140 17 17 768
Mussina sp 3.86 15 6 0 31 31 4 1 205.0 200 96 88 48 197 25 15 848
Groom* mr 4.02 1 2 3 29 0 0 0 47.0 52 24 21 6 28 9 5 198
Quantrill mr 4.20 4 1 0 36 0 0 0 64.1 80 33 30 7 33 2 8 274
Wright sp 4.88 16 8 0 32 32 2 0 193.2 223 113 105 68 160 13 29 844
Pavano sp 5.16 11 13 0 32 32 9 1 219.2 256 136 126 35 122 32 17 951
Stanton* mr 5.52 2 7 3 33 0 0 0 44.0 49 30 27 18 37 7 1 199
DePaula mr 7.04 1 0 0 16 0 0 0 23.0 25 18 18 7 18 9 1 100
Total 4.01 99 63 41 162 162 24 10 1464.2 1467 702 652 363 1233 155 121 6150


There are some weird numbers in there on both sides. Sturtze didn't get any relief appearances for some reason, I'll have to see why that is. Also, Rodriguez had a lousy season by his standards, a bit surprising to me. Pavano was horrendous. I find this very encouraging actually, The Yankees won the division despite some pretty bad performances.

I don't know if anyone else will find this interesting, but I figured I'd throw it up here for the hell of it.

Update: I made a site using Diamond Mind's web report generation feature if anyone wants to see how other teams/players did.


March 20, 2005


More Diamond Mind Sims - What do two different projection systems say?
by SG

This post is bumping two of Fabian's prospect posts down, so make sure you scroll down and read his writeups on Sean Henn and Estee Harris.

A couple of months ago, I posted the results of 100 Diamond Mind simulations that I ran with Dan Szymborski's ZiPS projection disk for Diamond Mind baseball, which can be found at Baseball Think Factory.

Since then, there have been some roster changes, so I set up my computer to re-run 1000 more with the latest build of ZiPS. Here were the *results for those 1000 seasons.


ZiPS
High Low
Team W L RF RA DIV WC W W
American League

East
Boston Red Sox 96 66 933 762 678.7 210.0 117 79
New York Yankees 91 71 867 772 275.7 379.5 115 71
Baltimore Orioles 82 80 838 829 26.3 90.0 103 59
Toronto Blue Jays 81 81 788 782 18.3 77.0 98 63
Tampa Bay Devil Rays 72 90 707 805 1.0 7.8 90 53

Central
Minnesota Twins 81 81 784 787 378.5 6.3 99 58
Chicago White Sox 79 83 783 809 257.8 6.0 101 60
Cleveland Indians 79 83 803 818 255.5 4.5 100 58
Detroit Tigers 75 87 788 835 99.7 2.8 94 54
Kansas City Royals 68 94 750 894 8.5 2.0 91 48

West
Oakland Athletics 88 74 829 749 450.5 77.3 107 67
Los Angeles Angels 88 74 831 774 417.5 82.0 106 68
Seattle Mariners 81 81 796 794 110.0 46.2 100 62
Texas Rangers 75 87 825 896 22.0 8.5 96 54

National League
East
Philadelphia Phillies 90 72 773 689 453.7 137.8 110 60
New York Mets 88 74 759 699 315.7 162.3 109 67
Atlanta Braves 82 80 758 749 118.8 88.3 105 62
Florida Marlins 81 81 713 703 65.5 75.8 99 62
Washington Nationals 80 82 689 697 46.3 34.8 101 58

Central
St. Louis Cardinals 98 64 786 634 929.5 34.5 116 81
Chicago Cubs 84 78 742 699 63.0 207.6 102 58
Milwaukee Brewers 76 86 705 751 2.5 31.2 96 58
Houston Astros 73 89 704 788 3.0 10.0 94 55
Cincinnati Reds 73 89 748 819 2.0 8.0 92 52
Pittsburgh Pirates 68 94 671 794 0.0 2.0 89 41

West
Los Angeles Dodgers 94 68 756 655 841.8 29.2 113 75
San Diego Padres 83 79 745 718 112.0 122.8 103 66
Colorado Rockies 77 85 819 861 27.0 28.8 97 56
San Francisco Giants 75 87 751 807 11.3 17.3 92 55
Arizona Diamondbacks 74 88 728 801 7.8 9.8 94 50


ZiPS likes Boston in the AL East, hates the whole AL Central, sees a dogfight in the AL West, and the AL East runner-up as the wild card. It also likes Philadelphia and the Mets in the NL East, LOVES the Cardinals(which it did last year as well), really likes the Dodgers, and sees the Cubs as the most likely wild card.

The Yankee projection was a bit troubling to me, as they missed the postseason 35% of the time. Of course, a healthy Jason Giambi could make most of that difference up.

In addition to running these with ZiPS, I ran another 1000 with Diamond Mind's own projection disk. Here's some background information about Diamond Mind's projection system. The *results for those sims were:


Diamond Mind
High Low
Team W L RF RA DIV WC W W
American League

East
New York Yankees 97 65 893 735 573.8 315.5 119 75
Boston Red Sox 95 67 920 765 407.3 451.0 118 77
Baltimore Orioles 82 80 834 829 17.3 68.7 103 62
Toronto Blue Jays 75 87 800 859 1.5 17.0 95 56
Tampa Bay Devil Rays 68 94 736 860 0.0 2.0 93 49

Central
Minnesota Twins 88 74 846 779 699.5 5.5 108 62
Chicago White Sox 79 83 811 836 116.0 13.5 97 61
Cleveland Indians 79 83 808 820 106.0 11.5 98 59
Detroit Tigers 76 86 813 859 67.0 9.5 94 58
Kansas City Royals 68 94 764 888 11.5 1.0 90 44

West
Oakland Athletics 86 76 867 809 425.5 36.8 108 66
Seattle Mariners 83 79 785 773 238.7 24.7 103 63
Los Angeles Angels 83 79 780 775 226.0 31.0 102 65
Texas Rangers 80 82 854 875 109.8 12.3 98 61

National League
East
Philadelphia Phillies 89 73 855 784 484.8 92.0 107 61
Atlanta Braves 86 76 785 734 276.8 97.6 107 64
Florida Marlins 81 81 752 747 103.0 54.6 98 60
New York Mets 81 81 777 773 97.7 47.6 102 61
Washington Nationals 78 84 747 784 37.7 24.8 96 59

Central
St. Louis Cardinals 103 59 879 670 981.0 10.0 121 83
Chicago Cubs 84 78 786 771 17.5 187.4 103 64
Houston Astros 77 85 760 813 0.0 25.8 94 55
Cincinnati Reds 72 90 776 853 1.5 6.3 91 53
Pittsburgh Pirates 71 91 720 804 0.0 5.0 92 49
Milwaukee Brewers 70 92 716 818 0.0 2.0 88 51

West
Los Angeles Dodgers 90 72 807 726 450.8 172.5 109 71
San Francisco Giants 90 72 863 772 445.8 173.8 109 71
San Diego Padres 83 79 786 762 101.3 97.0 109 59
Arizona Diamondbacks 69 93 792 909 1.0 2.0 91 50
Colorado Rockies 69 93 845 978 1.0 1.5 91 50


In the only league that really matters, the Yankees were about 6 wins better on average, and made the postseason 89% of the time. Minnesota projected as a stronger favorite in the Central, Oakland projected as better than Los Angeles of Anaheim of Orange County of California of the United States of North America, but worse overall. Again the AL East runner-up looks like the most likely wild card.

In the inferior league, Philadelphis still projected as the favorite, although Atlanta improved and the Mets plummeted by about eight wins. So Mets fans can take their ZiPS-induced delusions of grandeur with a big grain of salt. San Francisco improved the most of any team, and looks about even with Los Angeles according to Diamond Mind's projection disk. Again the Cubs look like the team with the best chance for the wild card.

*For both sets of runs, W = average wins, L = average losses, RF = average Runs For, RA = average Runs Allowed, Div = division titles won, WC = wild cards won, and High and low W are self-explanatory. I kept ties in there, giving partial credit, which is why those numbers are not all integers.

Upon noticing the divergent results for several teams, I compared the two sets of data.


ZiPS - DMB Combined
Avg Avg Total Total High Low
Team W RF RA W L DIV WC Wins Wins

American League
East
Baltimore Orioles 0 4 0 82 80 43.6 158.7 103 59
Boston Red Sox 1 13 -3 96 66 1086.0 661.0 118 77
New York Yankees -6 -26 37 94 68 849.5 695.0 119 71
Tampa Bay Devil Rays 4 -29 -55 70 92 1.0 9.8 93 49
Toronto Blue Jays 6 -12 -77 78 84 19.8 94.0 98 56

Central
Chicago White Sox 0 -28 -27 79 83 373.8 19.5 101 60
Cleveland Indians 0 -5 -2 79 83 361.5 16.0 100 58
Detroit Tigers -1 -25 -24 76 86 166.7 12.3 94 54
Kansas City Royals 0 -14 6 68 94 20.0 3.0 91 44
Minnesota Twins -7 -62 8 84 78 1078.0 11.8 108 58

West
Los Angeles Angels 5 51 -1 85 77 643.5 113.0 106 65
Oakland Athletics 2 -38 -60 87 75 876.0 114.1 108 66
Seattle Mariners -2 11 21 82 80 348.7 70.9 103 62
Texas Rangers -5 -29 21 77 85 131.8 20.8 98 54

National League
East
Atlanta Braves -4 -27 15 84 78 395.6 185.9 107 62
Florida Marlins 0 -39 -44 81 81 168.5 130.4 99 60
New York Mets 7 -18 -74 85 77 413.4 209.9 109 61
Philadelphia Phillies 1 -82 -95 89 73 938.5 229.8 110 60
Washington Nationals 2 -58 -87 79 83 84.0 59.6 101 58

Central
Chicago Cubs 0 -44 -72 84 78 80.5 395.0 103 58
Cincinnati Reds 1 -28 -34 73 89 3.5 14.3 92 52
Houston Astros -4 -56 -25 75 87 3.0 35.8 94 55
Milwaukee Brewers 6 -11 -67 73 89 2.5 33.2 96 51
Pittsburgh Pirates -3 -49 -10 69 93 0.0 7.0 92 41
St. Louis Cardinals -5 -93 -36 100 62 1910.5 44.5 121 81

West
Arizona Diamondbacks 5 -64 -108 72 90 8.8 11.8 94 50
Colorado Rockies 8 -26 -117 73 89 28.0 30.3 97 50
Los Angeles Dodgers 4 -51 -71 92 70 1292.6 201.7 113 71
San Diego Padres 0 -41 -44 83 79 213.3 219.8 109 59
San Francisco Giants -15 -112 35 83 79 457.1 191.1 109 55


Here, W, RF, and RA are the difference between what ZiPS projected and what Diamond Mind projected, The last six columns are the combined totals of the 2000 runs. Obviously, the most striking difference was in San Francisco's projection. I also noticed that Diamond Mind was far more favorable to the Yankees. If you look at the differences in RF and RA, that will give you some insight into why teams performed differently in the two runs.

For example, the Yankees projected to score 26 more runs in Diamond Mind, and allow 37 fewer, an overall run differential improvement of 63. Statistically, 10 runs is roughly equivalent to a win, so the Yankees 6 win improvement from ZiPS to Diamond Mind is due to Diamond Mind having a more favorable projection for both their offense and defense(including pitching).

One of the biggest differences that I am aware of between the two projection systems is that ZiPS uses Voros McCracken's controversial DIPS theory when projecting pitchers. DIPS basically focuses on a pitcher's strikeouts, walks, and home runs allowed, and assumes that their control of hits on balls in play(non-homer hits and outs) is minimal. Tom Tippet of Diamond Mind did his own research on this theory, and concluded that pitchers "have more influence over in-play hit rates than McCracken suggested", so he uses a pitcher's hits allowed totals in his projections.

ZiPS also uses comparisons with similar players in building its projections, whereas Diamond Mind uses a Marcel type projection system which only focuses on what a player himself has done. I am also pretty sure that ZiPS is harsher to older players than Diamond Mind, which would be another reason why San Francisco and the Yankees would project better in the system. I would tend to give Diamond Mind a little more faith because they know the intricacies of their game when they are building projections, not to take anything away from Dan Szymborski, because he does a great service by building his disk and providing it for free.

I always caution about reading too much into projections. Projection systems can only use available data to calculate what a player will do going forward. These are still athletes playing games, and their true talent level can always change. A pitcher can learn a new pitch, or just find themselves (look at Jason Schmidt prior to joining San Francisco for example). Also, injuries always turns out to be a big factor, and Diamond Mind uses a random injury system which would even that out over a large number of sims. I just like running these to get a baseline feel for how the season would play out if teams and players do what they're supposed to do, which never happens in baseball.

I think the more data you have the better, so I'd look at the combination of what the two systems project.

Anyway, in a couple of weeks, none of these things will really matter all that much. Of course, to me that's one of the many great things about the game. First pitch in two weeks.


March 11, 2005


The Inexplicable Cult of "Anything but Moneyball"
by Larry Mahnken

In last week's sophomorically written column, Toronto Star write Richard Griffin praised the Blue Jays for apparently moving away from the "Moneyball" philoposhy of the A's and towards the more traditional philosophy of the Twins. "It seems the Jays are finally headed in the right direction," Griffin wrote.

There's a really obvious problem with this reasoning: the A's are a more successful organization than the Twins.

Since 2002, the Twins have won 276 games, the A's have won 290 games. The A's have done this while playing in what is pretty much universally considered a far tougher division than the one the Twins play in. The Twins have, of course, won a postseason series (in 2002), which the A's have not done, and that series was against the A's. But the A's actually have a better postseason record than the Twins since 2000: 8-12 to 6-12. The A's may have lost every series they played, but they always took the series to five games, while the Twins have been crushed in the three series' they've played since squeaking past Oakland in 2002. So while Minnesota may have had more postseason success than Oakland, that's hardly indisputable, and would be by only the smallest margin if true.

So why does Griffin prefer the Twins?

Because they're not the A's. Griffin simply doesn't like the way the A's play baseball, he prefers teams that hit-and-run, steal bases, sacrifice bunt. Griffin, like Buster Olney, remains convinced that this is how baseball games are won, despite not only not having any evidence that this is the case, but mountains of evidence that exactly the opposite is true.

The Boston Red Sox were dead-last in all of baseball in "Productive Out Percentage". They laid down a total of twelve sacrifice bunts all season, they stole only 68 bases. But they were second in the league in walks, hit 222 home runs, and led MLB in OBP and SLG. They were the epitome of a "Moneyball" team. And they won the World Series.

And along the way, they swept the Anaheim Angels and St. Louis Cardinals, teams whose offensive strategies prominently featured bunts, hit-and-runs and steals. They didn't just beat them, the beat the crap out of them, by the combined score of 49-24 (an average score of about 7-3). The only team to challenge them? The Yankees, who hit more home runs and drew more walks than them, and were the second-worst POP team in the playoffs.

You'd think that this would at least put the so-called "Moneyball" strategy on an even respectability level with the traditional strategy, but of course not. The Red Sox had scored the tying run in Game Four of the ALCS after Dave Roberts stole second, then scored on a single.

Never mind that Roberts was on base because Kevin Millar had walked, the fact that Roberts stole a base, and that it made a huge difference, does not refute the "Moneyball" philosophy.

Whaaaaa?

Sabermetrics does not espouse sitting around waiting for the three-run home run. Earl Weaver espouses that. Sabermetrics does not say that you shouldn't steal bases. Earl Weaver says that (you remember Earl, little guy, won four pennants).

Sabermetrics says that you win by getting guys on base and bring them home, and conversely, keeping your opponents off base, and making sure the ones that get on don't get home. You win by scoring more than your oppponent, and that's how you score more than your opponent.

So what's wrong with stealing bases? Nothing, a stolen base is a great thing, it moves a player up a base and brings him closer to scoring. The problem isn't stolen bases, it's when you get caught trying to steal a base. Moving up a base improves your chances of scoring, but getting thrown out -- losing both an out and the baserunner -- decreases your chances of scoring by about twice as much.

But that doesn't mean don't try to steal, it means that if you're going to steal bases, do it with guys that will usually get there safely.

Like, say, Dave Roberts, who has stolen bases at an 81% clip in his career. In the situation the Red Sox were in, stealing second wasn't just an acceptable call, it was the right call. That's not revisionist history, that's what the numbers say, and they didn't change since the playoffs.

See, the problem is that guys like Richard Griffin hate sabermetrics, but they don't understand it. It's not about sitting around waiting for home runs, it's about getting on base and hitting for power. This isn't a new fangled idea, it's how baseball games have always been won. Moving guys up with the hit and run and stolen base can help if excuted succesfully the vast majority of the time, but not as much as a couple of home runs will help (In 2003, the Twins were 94/138 stealing, creating about 1.5 runs, while the A's were 48/62, creating about 6.5 runs). If you can do these with a high rate of success, then there's no reason not to, but you shouldn't choose a player who can do this over a player who can't, but gets on base more and hits for more power. The latter player will help you win more games.

The sacrifice bunt, on the other hand, is the most overrated play in baseball. It's beloved because it's a "selfless" play, and people want something selfless to be valuable, but it simply isn't. There are very few scenarios where you're better off trading an out for a base. By choosing players who can bunt over those who can't, but get on base more and hit for more power, you'll be successful more often when those few scenarios come up, but you'll win fewer games.

The Twins don't win because they hit-and-run, sac bunt, or steal bases. They win because they have good hitters, very good starters, and outstanding relievers. They win because they have the players, not because of how they deploy them.

And the same is true of the A's. They win because they have good players. If they started bunting, stealing, hitting and running, they'd probably win fewer games, because they don't have the kinds of player that can do that, but they'd still be a good team, because they have good players.

The problem with the Blue Jays has never been that they sit around and wait for a homer, it's that they haven't had enough good players. Playing "Minnyball" wouldn't have helped the Blue Jays a damned bit last year, or the year before, and it won't help them this year. What will help them is when they start bringing in good players.

Which, incidentally, is what the Baseball Prospectus authors Griffin rips at the start of his column were critcizing the Blue Jays about. Griffin writes:
The inexplicable "cult of J.P." appears dead. Baseball Prospectus, the Bible of stats seamheads, has come down hard on the Blue Jays in its sophomorically written 2005 edition.

The honeymoon is over. The Jays front office is accused of abandoning its reverence for the three-run blast. GM J.P. Ricciardi's own stats geek, Keith Law, a former Prospectus contributor, is viewed as a traitor.
At no point in BPro's Blue Jays preview is Keith Law ripped or even called a traitor. At no point do they rip the Jays for changing their offensive philosophy. Their criticism of Toronto is:
  • Overpaying for unexceptional talent
  • Not recognizing their prospects for competing in 2005 were poor
  • Blocking young, cheap talent with older, expensive players who aren't really any better
  • Wasting draft picks
  • Not putting enough effort into choosing a manager
Nothing about homers, or about steals, hitting and running, or sacrifices. They're not criticizing them for losing the faith, they're criticizing them for not running their team well, the same as they criticize every other poorly-run team.

Emulating the Twins is not a bad idea, they're an organization that's developed good talent, and has been successful with a small budget. You could write a wonderful column on the merits of following Minnesota's example. You can do it without taking a crap on Oakland, you can do it without misrepresenting the views of proponents of a different way of running a team, and you can do it without being petty and myopic.

Or you could do it like Richard Griffin.