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March 03, 2008
Yanks [Just About] All Left Last Season
Chris Jaffe, over at the Hardball Times, takes a look at 2007’s Most Historic and Impressive Team Splits. Looking at the splits for every team from 1957-2007, Chis found this about the '07 Yanks:
The 2007 Yanks...made the playoffs despite...having [a] historically one-sided offense...
The Yanks set several records for left-handed batting in the years under examination: most plate appearances by southpaw hitters (4059), most hits (1017—the first team to crack the Dee Fondy barrier), most runs (599), most RBIs (573), and most total bases (1622). They also had the second-most doubles (208, one behind the 2001 Twins), and 13th-most walks.
This is pretty interesting - when you consider that Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter combined for over 1,400 PA last season.
Last season, those Yankees batting lefty had some issues against left-handed pitching. Against righties, they posted an OPS of .831 – and their OPS dropped down to .766 when facing lefties. But, those Yankees batting righty did well versus left-handed pitching in 2007 – to the tune of an OPS of .810 on the season. They can thank A-Rod, Jeter and Posada (when batting right) for that one.
Bobby Abreu and Jason Giambi were not effective against lefties last season. Really, that’s been the case for them the last two seasons. While that’s bad news for the Yankees, in one way, it could be good news for Shelley Duncan and/or Morgan Ensberg in terms of their making and helping the team this season.
Posted by WW Staff at March 3, 2008 12:31 PM