It could hardly have gone worse for the Yankees. Two days after losing Sabathia and Pettitte to the DL, one day after blowing a 2-run 9th-inning lead to end a 5-game losing streak, they tried minor-league starter Adam Warren, staked him to a 4-0 lead after one inning, and saw him leave after 2 1/3 (read full post)

The Nats scored double-digits for the third straight (!) day. Unfortunately they lost to the Rockies 11-10 in a wild affair. The Yankees took a 3-1 lead into the ninth inning against the White Sox. Unfortunately, they tried to win without Soriano or Robertson, and by the time Robertson DID come in a hit and (read full post)

I have recently been commenting on some trends I noticed in the performance of various teams. The Yankees tend to fall behind early and  to score late, and they mostly win if they ever lead. The Pirates and Nats win despite woeful offenses. The Royals are scoring a lot of runs lately. The Dodgers aren’t (read full post)

The Royals have now scored 8 runs in three straight games – juggernaut here we come. And the opposition was not exactly chopped liver: the World Champion Cardinals and the ever-dangerous Tampa Bay Rays, the latter earning its lofty perch on the basis of (are you ready?) pitching and defense. Go, Royals! Of course, this (read full post)

One nice thing about the smaller run context of recent years: more close games. When teams are scoring 4.6-4.7 runs per game, there are a lot more blowouts, whereas when it is 4.2-4.3 the games are frequently closer. You wouldn’t think 1/2 run per game per team would make that much difference, but it does: (read full post)

After two days of disorientation, MLB returned to its standard shape, with the AL winning 11 of 15 games (one doubleheader), ending the interleague season with the final tally: AL 142 NL 110 which is a .563 winning percentage. If a team played .563 ball all year, they would win 91 games, so this is (read full post)

It was typical, it was atypical. You can’t predict baseball, I guess. The Yankees broke their 3-game losing streak in classic 2012 NY fashion: trailing 3-0 they scored 4 in the seventh, and got 3 1/3 innings of relief pitching that looked like this: 1 hit, 2 BB, 7 K, 0 runs, to win 4-3. (read full post)

It turns out the jinx I was expecting once I wrote about how well the Yankees were playing, despite my not paying attention, DID hit as predicted, just one day later than anticipated. They have now lost 3 straight (2 the the Braves, 1 to the Mets) and looked bad doing it. Still in first (read full post)

The Yankees played an unusual game last night, though the pattern was not unfamiliar. They gave up 3 runs with 2 outs in the first, then several solo homers, as Atlanta built a 6-1 lead. Several homers of their own made it 6-4 in the seventh, with runners on the corners and one out, and (read full post)