Thursday, June 09, 2005
Catching Up With the Cutters
After watching the New Haven County Cutters drop to 0-8 last Thursday night, the team proceeded to win two in a row to put a couple of much-needed notches in the “W” column. Since Sunday, however, they’ve dropped three in a row, including two to North Shore this week, the first two games of a six-game road trip. Their season record now stands at 2-11, 5 games back in the South Division of the Can-Am League.
Despite the spotty record, things have gotten better for the Cutters of late, i.e. they are finally starting to get some decent pitching and defensive work. Last night, Tim Keinath started for New Haven and despite giving up a run in the 1st on a solo home run, was very solid.
For a team that started the season in such a big hole, any small victories are a step in the right direction. In their first eight games, the Cutters allowed their opponents to score at an unacceptable 9.1 runs/game. Since then, they’ve given up 19 runs in five games, a 3.8 R/G clip. A large part of this turnaround has been their defense, which started the year on a terrible note. At one point last week, they not only led the league in errors, but had allowed the most hits by a huge margin. Although the infielders and outfielders can’t take the blame for line drives, well-placed hits and dingers, that number of hits allowed is reflective of the team’s fielding ability as a whole.
They are still towards the bottom in both these categories, but some of the other teams have closed the gap.
They continue to tweak the roster, so hopefully things are starting to gel a bit more. In their last three games, they only have one error, and none on this road trip so far.
A loss is still a loss is still a loss, but losing games 1-0, 3-2 and even 5-4 is more tolerable than giving up 9 runs a game, and making two or three errors in the process.
Three-Run Blues
One of the oft-cited “statistics” lately in the world of Yankee broadcasts is that the team hasn’t won any game this season in which they’ve scored 3 runs or less. That means no 1-0 shutout victory. No 2-0 or 2-1 nail-biters. No 3-0, 3-1 or 3-2 pitcher duels. What I’ve taken from this little nugget of almost useless information is that the Yankees pitching staff hasn’t given the Yankees offense many chances to take a night off. And looking at the team’s bottom-of-the-barrel pitching statistics, isn’t this fairly obvious?
Steven Goldman summed this up nicely in his current installment of The Pinstriped Bible:
The thing that is odd about this particular bunch is that it seems that it’s either all or nothing. Last night’s 12-3 bludgeoning of the Brewers came after 10 games in which they averaged a measley 2.3 runs/game; there is not a lot of subtlety here. Either they go out and flux their perceived offensive punch, or go down quietly in the night. I’m not going to run through the entire schedule to back this idea up right now – it’s just a general observation.
After watching the New Haven County Cutters drop to 0-8 last Thursday night, the team proceeded to win two in a row to put a couple of much-needed notches in the “W” column. Since Sunday, however, they’ve dropped three in a row, including two to North Shore this week, the first two games of a six-game road trip. Their season record now stands at 2-11, 5 games back in the South Division of the Can-Am League.
Despite the spotty record, things have gotten better for the Cutters of late, i.e. they are finally starting to get some decent pitching and defensive work. Last night, Tim Keinath started for New Haven and despite giving up a run in the 1st on a solo home run, was very solid.
The Cutters ended up losing 1-0, mustering only three hits themselves, in a rain-shortened 7-inning game.
IP H R ER BB K
6 2 1 1 0 7
For a team that started the season in such a big hole, any small victories are a step in the right direction. In their first eight games, the Cutters allowed their opponents to score at an unacceptable 9.1 runs/game. Since then, they’ve given up 19 runs in five games, a 3.8 R/G clip. A large part of this turnaround has been their defense, which started the year on a terrible note. At one point last week, they not only led the league in errors, but had allowed the most hits by a huge margin. Although the infielders and outfielders can’t take the blame for line drives, well-placed hits and dingers, that number of hits allowed is reflective of the team’s fielding ability as a whole.
They are still towards the bottom in both these categories, but some of the other teams have closed the gap.
Errors
Grays 28
Cutters 22
Elmira 21
Brockton 19
New Jersey 18
Quebec 15
Worcester 12
North Shore: 11
I’m not saying that the Cutters’ problems on the defensive side of the ball have been all about their fielding. No question, the pitchers deserve a fair share of the blame. Their 55 walks allowed are the 2nd most in the league; they have the lowest strikeout total; and their 10 homers allowed are middle of the pack. But their glove work has been the biggest culprit.
Hits Allowed
Cutters 144
New Jersey 141
Grays 140
Elmira 129
Quebec 126
Brockton 102
Worcester 78
North Shore 61
They continue to tweak the roster, so hopefully things are starting to gel a bit more. In their last three games, they only have one error, and none on this road trip so far.
A loss is still a loss is still a loss, but losing games 1-0, 3-2 and even 5-4 is more tolerable than giving up 9 runs a game, and making two or three errors in the process.
Three-Run Blues
One of the oft-cited “statistics” lately in the world of Yankee broadcasts is that the team hasn’t won any game this season in which they’ve scored 3 runs or less. That means no 1-0 shutout victory. No 2-0 or 2-1 nail-biters. No 3-0, 3-1 or 3-2 pitcher duels. What I’ve taken from this little nugget of almost useless information is that the Yankees pitching staff hasn’t given the Yankees offense many chances to take a night off. And looking at the team’s bottom-of-the-barrel pitching statistics, isn’t this fairly obvious?
Steven Goldman summed this up nicely in his current installment of The Pinstriped Bible:
As for not having any wins when scoring three runs or fewer, well, despite the
slight reduction in offense we've seen this season, American League teams are
still averaging 4.7 runs a game. Three runs "or fewer" (which could include
zero) just isn't going to do it on most nights. This is just another way of
saying that the pitching staff hasn’t been holding too many teams. Again, even
if the pitching staff were average (4.30 ERA), this wouldn’t be something that
you could count on happening very often. With a 4.62 team ERA, and more
importantly, a 5.27 run average (that is, all runs, earned and unearned), the
Yankees have a very minimal chance of making these kinds of games competitive.
The thing that is odd about this particular bunch is that it seems that it’s either all or nothing. Last night’s 12-3 bludgeoning of the Brewers came after 10 games in which they averaged a measley 2.3 runs/game; there is not a lot of subtlety here. Either they go out and flux their perceived offensive punch, or go down quietly in the night. I’m not going to run through the entire schedule to back this idea up right now – it’s just a general observation.
