| 08 April 2010
Jonathan Papelbon is a one inning pitcher.
Trying to get anything more out of him, just doesn't seem to work. In 2009, Paps was asked to pitch more than one inning only twice and held opponents to 0 runs, 2 hits, 1 walk and 6 Ks in those two outings. But a closer look at Paps effectiveness after his first 15 pitches tells a different story.
As the chart above clearly shows, Papelbon is far less effective after his first 15 pitches and it only gets worse if he's asked to go beyond 30. Last night, he made quick work of Arod, Cano and Posada in the 9th, but coughed up a home run to Granderson in the 10th and the lost all control after that, walking Brett Gardner and Jeter after spending lots of time checking on Gardner at first. Atchison added another run to Papelbon's ERA with an ugly outing of his own, but these stats have me wondering why Francona called Paps back out for the 10th in the first place.
Of course, I know the answer. He made it look easy against the heart of the Yankee lineup and his pitch count was low at the time, but we all know Tito has the same numbers I'm looking at, and my guess is those numbers are why Paps only pitched 1+ innings twice last season.
He also has these numbers:
Granderson vs Papelbon (before last night): 2 for 10 (.200), 1 HR, 3 RBI, 1 SO (now .300, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 1 SO)
Grandseron on the first pitch of an at-bat: 186 AB, .403 BA, 1.122 OPS, 12 HR, 11 2B, 6 3B, 31 RBI, 0 SO
Maybe Tito assumed Paps could handle Granderson, but the guy is a fastball hitting machine and he knows a guy like Paps is going to try and get ahead early with a heater. He did the same thing to Beckett in Game 1 after Beckett gave up the homer to Posada...
Bottom Line: The numbers weren't in our favor and Paps didn't execute. Yankees win.
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