Pettitte has sustained some seriously odd splits this year. Lefties are hitting .319/.375/.514 off him, while righties are hitting a thoroughly unimpressive .278/.325/.370. He's been hit harder at home - .300/.354/.437 in notorious lefty pitchers' haven Yankee Stadium - than on the road, .277/.327/.377. His career splits show that he's been 12 points of OPS tougher on righties than lefties, a difference that's nowhere near as pronounced as it is in the single-season splits.
Pettitte has a frustrating, sliderish cutter in the mid-80s that breaks substantially and shatters poor righty hitters' bats, eliciting looks of heartfelt concern from the poor lefties who know that's the fate that awaits them in the 9th if they don't get to Pettitte before it's too late. Unlike some cutter artists, who prefer to jam hitters up high, Pettitte likes to pound his cutter down in the zone relatively often, leading to a high groundball rate. He's also got a 90ish fastball which is an effective strikeout pitch because it isn't the cutter, as well as a curve and a changeup. He hides everything well. He can get in trouble when he pitches exclusively off the cutter and fastball.
One way to destroy Pettitte is knowing when the cutter's coming and not swinging at it. The '01 Diamondbacks obliterated him in World Series Game 6 when they discovered he was tipping his cutter. If you can't steal signs, beating him fair and square is a challenge. The Jays have only managed four runs, two earned, off Pettitte this year, and one of them came on a straight steal of home...
Frank Thomas, Troy Glaus and Vernon Wells have thrashed Pettitte over their careers. Thomas is 17-45 with 11 walks to 5 strikeouts. Glaus is 10-34 with 7 walks to 9 strikeouts and a .676 slugging percentage. Wells is 11-26 with 3 walks, 3 K and a homer. Lyle Overbay is 1-15 with no walks; Matt Stairs is 0-6. Nobody else has any noteworthy success to speak of. These splits make no sense at all.
Tomorrow, it's the 45-year-old Roger Clemens, two days removed from his birthday. Happy birthday, Roger Clemens! He has reason to be glad he isn't the 44-year-old Roger Clemens anymore, 'cause that guy got shellacked for eight runs by the White Sox (the White Sox (the White Sox)) and got booed off the Yankee Stadium mound in the second inning. Incredibly, the Yankees got him off the hook in the bottom of that same inning.
Thursday, it's Chien-Ming Wang. I have nothing to add about Wang that isn't already common knowledge except that he's durable and consistent. In 20 starts, he has only failed to make it out of the sixth inning once. That's startling. He's good.
The Yankee offense is en fuego. They're averaging about 10 runs a game over the last week while powering the team to five wins in six games against the AL Central's weakest links. New York is 18-7 after the all-star break. Robinson Cano's turnaround has been important: he's hitting .428 post-ASB as opposed to not so well in the first half.
Breaking news, as Joba Chamberlain (stats + video!) will join the team in Toronto. He'll be activated, either just before today's game or just after, in Mike Myers' spot, where he will work as a reliever. Joe Torre has never met the guy, but I think he'll come to like him pretty quickly.
A-Rod hit a milestone homer over the weekend but his wife wasn't there - she was just pulling into the parking lot. Gasp! See, nobody would know or care if he played for the Jays...
And 36-year-old Jason Giambi, who loves the city of Oakland and playing with his brother, will be in Toronto today. He'll almost certainly be activated no later than tomorrow, at which point he'll enter the lineup and create a huge logjam of powerful lefties who should really all be DHing. My guess is that big Shelley Duncan will be sent to Scranton when that happens.
The Credit Section: All offensive stats, pitches per PA for pitchers and league average stats are from the Hardball Times. Pitchers' stats and leverage indices are from Fangraphs. Minor-league stats are from Minor League Splits and First Inning. K% and BB% are strikeouts and walks as a percentage of plate appearances; GB% + LD% + FB% = 100.
