It was once a widely held axiom that if you could play .500 ball on the
road and kick butt at home, you'd keep playing ball in October.
Despite the highly irritating way they lost some of the games on the last road trip, the Jays sport a 17-19 record on the road. Only one team has more road victories. That would be the very weird Disneyland Angels, who play mediocre ball at home, but take no prisoners when they hit the road.
But the Jays 16-13 record at home is pretty dismal. They're a better home team than Seattle and Kansas City, but whoop-dee-dam-doo. Seattle and Kansas City are bad baseball teams. They're also a better home team than Detroit and Cleveland, but when you look up "Disappointment" in any modern dictionary, you see those team logos.
Why is this? Is there something about how this team is constructed that doesn't mesh with the peculiarities of their home park? And the RC is gradually becoming one of the game's more peculiar park. Fake turf and indoor baseball have, for the most part, passed from the scene. (That's right - the Rogers Centre is a throwback!) And normally, the more unusual a ballpark is, the more that helps the guys who play half their games there.
I've always thought the Dome was somewhat unkind to LH pitchers, while giving a helpful assist to RH batters with some pop. This year's Blue Jays do carry four southpaws, but none of them actually pitches a lot of innings. It is true that the Blue Jays released a RH batter with some pop earlier this season. But it's also true that Frank Thomas never did hit very well in the Rogers Centre anyway. The only batter who is really scuffling at home this season is Matt Stairs, and that's an early season small-sample fluke. He's always hit very well at the Dome.
Should the pitching be better at home? Well, with the exception of A.J. Burnett (who has allowed 45 hits and 27 ER in 27 IP at the RC this season), it has been. Burnett has basically had no home-road split since moving to the AL, so this is almost certainly just random. And Burnett's home struggles are neatly balanced by Dustin McGowan's mirroring performance (dominant at home, scuffling on the road) anyway.
David Eckstein is not my idea of a turf shortstop, and neither is Marco Scutaro. Scutatro can handle all the positions in the infield, but the only one he's actually good at is the one he's playing right now. But the turf they play on now hardly resembles the old carpet, anyway.
The White Sox have what I tend to think of as a normal home-road split for a first place team. They've played .500 ball (17-17) on the road, and a very impressive .679 (19-9) at home. They scored 143 runs on the road, while allowing 123 - this is about what you'd expect. (You need to outscore the home team to break even) But at home, they've scored 155 runs while allowing just 107. What changes? US Cellular is a hitter's park. The White Sox allow 3.61 runs per game on the road; they allow 3.80 runs at home. But while they score 4.21 runs per game on the road, their hitters go absolutely berserk at home, and plate 5.54 runs per game.
The Jays don't have much of an offensive split. They have scored 145 runs on the road (4.02 per game), 126 runs at home (4.34 per game). They have no defensive split - they've allowed 109 runs at home (3.76 per game), and 137 on the road (3.80 per game.) You'd think something would be different...
Now if you want some weird home-road splits... consider the Red Sox. At home they score 5.81 runs per game, while scoring just 4.29 on the road. Hey, they have some great hitters and Fenway's a great place to hit, right? But on the road they allow 4.73 runs per game; they only give up 3.65 per game at Fenway. And this is why they're 26-6 at home, and just 14-20 on the road.
Atlanta is similar - the Braves give up about the same number of runs wherever they play: 3.94 at home, 4.00 on the road. But at Turner Field, they're scoring 5.38 per game, compared to just 3.71 on the road.
And the Angels - what's going on there? They don't hit very well at home. They've scored 4.13 at home and 4.30 on the road. But it's their pitchers who really like to get out of town. They've allowed 4.52 at home, and just 3.67 on the road.
Despite the highly irritating way they lost some of the games on the last road trip, the Jays sport a 17-19 record on the road. Only one team has more road victories. That would be the very weird Disneyland Angels, who play mediocre ball at home, but take no prisoners when they hit the road.
But the Jays 16-13 record at home is pretty dismal. They're a better home team than Seattle and Kansas City, but whoop-dee-dam-doo. Seattle and Kansas City are bad baseball teams. They're also a better home team than Detroit and Cleveland, but when you look up "Disappointment" in any modern dictionary, you see those team logos.
Why is this? Is there something about how this team is constructed that doesn't mesh with the peculiarities of their home park? And the RC is gradually becoming one of the game's more peculiar park. Fake turf and indoor baseball have, for the most part, passed from the scene. (That's right - the Rogers Centre is a throwback!) And normally, the more unusual a ballpark is, the more that helps the guys who play half their games there.
I've always thought the Dome was somewhat unkind to LH pitchers, while giving a helpful assist to RH batters with some pop. This year's Blue Jays do carry four southpaws, but none of them actually pitches a lot of innings. It is true that the Blue Jays released a RH batter with some pop earlier this season. But it's also true that Frank Thomas never did hit very well in the Rogers Centre anyway. The only batter who is really scuffling at home this season is Matt Stairs, and that's an early season small-sample fluke. He's always hit very well at the Dome.
Should the pitching be better at home? Well, with the exception of A.J. Burnett (who has allowed 45 hits and 27 ER in 27 IP at the RC this season), it has been. Burnett has basically had no home-road split since moving to the AL, so this is almost certainly just random. And Burnett's home struggles are neatly balanced by Dustin McGowan's mirroring performance (dominant at home, scuffling on the road) anyway.
David Eckstein is not my idea of a turf shortstop, and neither is Marco Scutaro. Scutatro can handle all the positions in the infield, but the only one he's actually good at is the one he's playing right now. But the turf they play on now hardly resembles the old carpet, anyway.
The White Sox have what I tend to think of as a normal home-road split for a first place team. They've played .500 ball (17-17) on the road, and a very impressive .679 (19-9) at home. They scored 143 runs on the road, while allowing 123 - this is about what you'd expect. (You need to outscore the home team to break even) But at home, they've scored 155 runs while allowing just 107. What changes? US Cellular is a hitter's park. The White Sox allow 3.61 runs per game on the road; they allow 3.80 runs at home. But while they score 4.21 runs per game on the road, their hitters go absolutely berserk at home, and plate 5.54 runs per game.
The Jays don't have much of an offensive split. They have scored 145 runs on the road (4.02 per game), 126 runs at home (4.34 per game). They have no defensive split - they've allowed 109 runs at home (3.76 per game), and 137 on the road (3.80 per game.) You'd think something would be different...
Now if you want some weird home-road splits... consider the Red Sox. At home they score 5.81 runs per game, while scoring just 4.29 on the road. Hey, they have some great hitters and Fenway's a great place to hit, right? But on the road they allow 4.73 runs per game; they only give up 3.65 per game at Fenway. And this is why they're 26-6 at home, and just 14-20 on the road.
Atlanta is similar - the Braves give up about the same number of runs wherever they play: 3.94 at home, 4.00 on the road. But at Turner Field, they're scoring 5.38 per game, compared to just 3.71 on the road.
And the Angels - what's going on there? They don't hit very well at home. They've scored 4.13 at home and 4.30 on the road. But it's their pitchers who really like to get out of town. They've allowed 4.52 at home, and just 3.67 on the road.
