ALCS Coverage: The Yankees Weapon

Last night was a continuation of the themes presented throughout the ALCS: Angel blunders in the field and on the basepaths, odd decisions on who should be pitching at certain times, Gary Matthews pinch-hitting for Mike Napoli, and the Yankees being carried by a few pitchers. Last night, it was Pettitte and Rivera doing the bulk of the work in shutting down the Angel offense, as the Yankees continued to lean on a very small core of trusted arms to get them to the World Series.

Over the six games played in the series, Yankee pitchers took the hill for 59 innings. 48 of those 59 innings were thrown by CC Sabathia, AJ Burnett, Andy Pettitte, and Mariano Rivera. The other seven pitchers used by New York combined to throw a total of 10 2/3 innings. 81.4 percent of the series featured one of the Yankees three starters or their relief ace on the hill, a staggeringly high total.

During the regular season, these four combined for 48 percent of all Yankee innings pitched. However, with the advantageous schedule of the ALCS (thanks Fox!), Girardi made the right choice to go with a three man rotation, and the frequent off-days allowed Rivera to pitch any time he was needed. By consolidating the innings into four high quality pitchers, the Yankees went from being a really good team to a juggernaut. The Angels hitters struggled, but given who they were facing 80 percent of the time, it’s surprising that they got any hits at all.

Girardi will have a decision to make regarding whether to try to repeat this strategy against the Phillies. The World Series doesn’t have the same quirky off day between Games Four and Five, so he’d have to be willing to use starters on three days rest in each of Games Four through Seven. He’s almost certainly comfortable with Sabathia pitching on short rest given how well he performed in the ALCS, but will he be willing to take the same risk with Burnett and Pettitte?

I think he should. The upside is really high, while the risk isn’t that significant – if Burnett or Pettitte struggle, you’ll have Chamberlain/Gaudin available out of the pen early, which isn’t that different from just starting them outright.

The three man rotation is a huge boost to the Yankees. It was one of the main reasons they’ve been able to roll through the first two rounds of the playoffs. It won’t be as easy to pull off in the World Series, but it’s still worth trying.