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March 21, 2008
When Was The Last Time The Yanks Had 2 Effective Lefties In their Pen?
To answer the above question, I used Baseball-Reference.com's Play Index and I set the controls for:
Yankees, LHP seasons, 1957 to 2007
where Inherited Runners % =<.5 and
WHIP<=1.3 and
at least 80% games came in relief, and
at least 45 Innings Pitched.
and, this is the result of that query:
1959 Bobby Shantz
1960 Bobby Shantz
1961 Luis Arroyo
1962 Bud Daley
1963 Steve Hamilton
1965 Steve Hamilton
1966 Steve Hamilton
1967 Steve Hamilton
1968 Steve Hamilton
1969 Steve Hamilton
1970 Steve Hamilton
1972 Sparky Lyle
1973 Sparky Lyle
1974 Sparky Lyle
1976 Sparky Lyle & Grant Jackson
1977 Sparky Lyle
1981 Dave LaRoche
1982 Rudy May & Dave LaRoche
1984 Dave Righetti
1985 Bob Shirley
1986 Dave Righetti
1989 Lee Guetterman
1990 Lee Guetterman
1991 Steve Howe
1997 Mike Stanton
1998 Mike Stanton
2001 Randy Choate
2002 Mike Stanton
2003 Chris Hammond
Based on this, it's not a reach to say that, since 1957, the Yankees have only had two seasons, 1976 and 1982, where they had two effective left-handed relief pitchers in their pen.
That's an amazing stat - just twice since 1957. Or, so I thought...
...until I looked at the same sort for all big league teams, and this is what I found, in terms of teams with two or more effective lefties in the same season:
2006 NL N.Y. Mets Wagner / Feliciano / Oliver 3 2003 AL Tx. Rangers Shouse / Mahay / Erasmo Ramirez 3 1998 NL Pittsburgh Pirates Christiansen / Rincon / Tabaka 3 1997 AL Baltimore Orioles Orosco / Myers / Arthur Rhodes 3 1983 NL New York Mets Orosco / C. Diaz / Tom Gorman 3 2007 AL Seattle Mariners G. Sherrill / Eric O'Flaherty 2 2007 AL Toronto Blue Jays Scott Downs / Brian Tallet 2 2005 NL Philadelphia Phillies Billy Wagner / Aaron Fultz 2 2004 NL Philadelphia Phillies Rheal Cormier / Billy Wagner 2 2004 NL St. Louis Cardinals Ray King / Steve Kline 2 2003 NL Colorado Rockies Brian Fuentes / Javier Lopez 2 2002 NL Atlanta Braves Mike Remlinger / Chris Hammond 2 2002 AL Minnesota Twins J.C. Romero / Eddie Guardado 2 2002 NL Montreal Expos Scott Stewart / Joey Eischen 2 2001 AL Seattle Mariners Arthur Rhodes / Norm Charlton 2 2001 NL St. Louis Cardinals Steve Kline / Mike Matthews 2 2001 AL Toronto Blue Jays Pedro Borbon / Dan Plesac 2 2000 NL Colorado Rockies Mike Myers / Gabe White 2 1999 NL Atlanta Braves John Rocker / Mike Remlinger 2 1998 NL Houston Astros Billy Wagner / C.J. Nitkowski 2 1998 NL New York Mets Dennis Cook / Brian Bohanon 2 1997 NL Houston Astros Billy Wagner / Mike Magnante 2 1993 AL Milwaukee Brewers Jesse Orosco / Graeme Lloyd 2 1992 NL Atlanta Braves Mike Stanton / Kent Mercker 2 1991 NL Chicago Cubs Paul Assenmacher / C. McElroy 2 1991 AL Chicago White Sox Scott Radinsky / Ken Patterson 2 1990 NL Pittsburgh Pirates Bob Patterson / Bob Kipper 2 1989 AL Milwaukee Brewers Dan Plesac / Tony Fossas 2 1989 NL St. Louis Cardinals Ken Dayley / Frank DiPino 2 1988 NL Cincinnati Reds Rob Murphy / John Franco 2 1988 AL Detroit Tigers Willie Hernandez / Paul Gibson 2 1988 AL Milwaukee Brewers Dan Plesac / Paul Mirabella 2 1988 NL San Diego Padres Mark Davis / Dave Leiper 2 1987 NL Cincinnati Reds Rob Murphy / John Franco 2 1986 NL Atlanta Braves Paul Assenmacher / Ed Olwine 2 1986 AL Detroit Tigers W. Hernandez / Mark Thurmond 2 1986 NL Montreal Expos Bob McClure / Dan Schatzeder 2 1984 NL New York Mets Jesse Orosco / Tom Gorman 2 1983 NL Philadelphia Phillies Al Holland / Willie Hernandez 2 1982 NL Los Angeles Dodgers Steve Howe / Terry Forster 2 1982 AL New York Yankees Rudy May / Dave LaRoche 2 1982 NL San Francisco Giants Gary Lavelle / Al Holland 2 1981 NL San Francisco Giants Al Holland / Gary Lavelle 2 1980 AL California Angels Dave LaRoche / Andy Hassler 2 1978 AL Kansas City Royals Al Hrabosky / Steve Mingori 2 1978 NL Los Angeles Dodgers Terry Forster / Lance Rautzhan 2 1977 AL Kansas City Royals Larry Gura / Steve Mingori 2 1976 AL Kansas City Royals Steve Mingori / Larry Gura 2 1976 AL New York Yankees Sparky Lyle / Grant Jackson 2 1975 NL Philadelphia Phillies Tug McGraw / Tom Hilgendorf 2 1974 AL Baltimore Orioles Grant Jackson / Don Hood 2 1973 NL Los Angeles Dodgers Jim Brewer / Pete Richert 2 1972 NL Los Angeles Dodgers Jim Brewer / Pete Richert 2 1971 AL Oakland Athletics Darold Knowles / Jim Roland 2 1971 AL Washington Senators Joe Grzenda / Paul Lindblad 2 1970 AL Detroit Tigers Fred Scherman / John Hiller 2 1968 AL Boston Red Sox Sparky Lyle / Bill Landis 2 1967 AL Washington Senators Darold Knowles / Dick Lines 2 1966 NL Cincinnati Reds Billy McCool / Ted Davidson 2 1966 NL St. Louis Cardinals Hal Woodeshick / Joe Hoerner 2 1965 NL Milwaukee Braves Billy O'Dell / Dick Kelley 2 1965 NL Los Angeles Dodgers Ron Perranoski / Jim Brewer 2 1964 NL Cincinnati Reds Billy McCool / Bill Henry 2
That's just 63 times since 1957 - in all of baseball. Just goes to show, it's hard enough to find one good lefty for your pen...and, if you have two, you've got something special.
Posted by WW Staff at March 21, 2008 11:59 AM
Comments
How many of those teams won the division/pennant/WS?
Posted by: Mike A. ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.waswatching.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at March 21, 2008 01:37 PM