Andy via PFX

By On October 8, 2010 · 9 Comments · In Uncategorized

Yesterday, I went to work at 4 PM. By the time I got out, the Yankees had already defeated the Minnesota Twins 5-2 to take a two games to none lead in the American League Division Series. (Sidebar: anyone need SAT tutoring?)

What I wanted to see most was Andy Pettitte. He had one good start after coming off of the disabled list and two shaky ones. While we were all confident in Pettitte’s ability and experience, we couldn’t help but feel a bit of trepidation as he took the hill in Game Two. After all, how did we know what Andy we’d get? Luckily, we got the Andy we’ve come to know and love.

Pettitte allowed just five hits and one walk against the Twins. He surrendered two runs and struck out four. Since I missed the game entirely, the only thing I have to go off of is Andy’s PitchFX data. Let’s have a look.

Andy threw just 88 pitches, 58 of them for strikes (65.91%). He used mostly fastballs, splitting the pitches between his four seamer (37), cutter (27), and two seamer (15), while sprinkling in a curveball here and there (8). He was most accurate with the cutter, throwing it for a strike 70.37% of the time.

In terms of swinging and missing, Pettitte got seven whiffs. One was on a straight fastball and the other six were on his cutter, which is a great sign.

Here’s the strikezone plot, with pitch type labeled:

We can see the usual strategy with his cutters (the black squares): hit the inside corner against right handed batters. The two seamer was a little more spread out, but stayed towards the inside corner against lefties.

Normally, I’d be worried about the lack of curveballs, but Andy’s location on his fastballs and their variants seemed to be fine, as was the movement. From the looks of the curveballs, it seems as though Andy was trying to back leg and back door the pitch to right handed batters.

Pay attention to the black dots here:

Andy was able to get strikeouts in a few different parts of the plate, and that’s really encouraging. The fact that he was able to get those two strikeouts way down in the zone is always a great sign: guys were chasing against his pitches.

This start looks great by the pitch data and I’m sure it looked just as great live and in color. I’m annoyed that I didn’t see it, but I’ll sacrifice that for a win. Pettitte should be able to build on this moving forward and I think it’s safe to say we don’t need to be worried about him as the playoffs (hopefully) progress.

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9 Responses to Andy via PFX

  1. Damian says:
    October 8, 2010 at 11:12 am

    A main concern of some Yankee fans going into the playoffs was Andy Pettitte’s health and, accordingly, the quality of the rotation behind Sabathia. I think, as you’ve shown, last night’s start shows that we’re going to get the Andy Pettitte we’re familiar with from this point on. He’s susceptible to the bad outing, as every pitcher is, but at least it looks like he’s over his injury.

    Reply
    • T.O. Chris H says:
      October 8, 2010 at 4:18 pm

      He was looking nasty last night too he had the good velocity and he gave Mauer some dirty breaking balls late in the count for the put away pitch.

      Reply
  2. old fan says:
    October 8, 2010 at 4:17 pm

    Matt, With the MLB.com postseason package for $10 you can watch the games live and also 90 min after they finish. I watched 4 games in about 24 hrs yesterday and my head is mush today. But, I love this technology, espicially this time of year. Absolutely fantastic for a guy who listened to Yankee games on the radio almost every day in 1965.

    The big question is—Can Andy pitch like this all the way thru the playoffs, as he did last yr?

    Reply
    • Moshe Mandel says:
      October 8, 2010 at 4:44 pm

      Are you out of the country? because in the US, the Postseason.tv package only gives you the raw feed, no graphics or announcers, and the cameras dont move.

      Reply
      • old fan says:
        October 8, 2010 at 5:13 pm

        I know. You are correct about the feeds. But I like them in a way. You can set it for just on the Yankees dugout, for instance. I can see the players reactions as I have never seen them before on any network TV. For continuous periods. Or the other angles show you things not usually seen. You can change the views when you want. It’s nice to see the players reactions in spots that are usually cut away from on TV. It’s almost like being there in that you can focus on something off the main stage.
        I also watch the complete network broadcast after the game, at my convience.There are definitely some limitations. I can’t see the triple off the wall live, but I see the guy rounding the bases. It is certainly not for everyone, and some people won’t like it. But I have watched thousands and thousands of standard network broadcast games, and I like seeing something different for a change. Also, if the game is on TV, you can have both the TV and computer going at the same time. I think its worth it just for the option to watch the games later.
        Yesterday I overdid it and watched the Yankee game in raw feed, and also later in total. I watched part of the Rays game in raw feed, and later in total. I watched the Giants game in total after the game, also a little in raw feed. You can also jump around by inning, too. So I watched some key innings over and over, and skipped some innings here and there.
        I really like this. But, my brain was mush today. A 20 mile bike ride on the trail helped.
        Cheers

        Oh–and you do get the announcers on the raw feeds. Only some sections, like when they call into headquarters to get an update on another game, are cut out. You don’t get the graphics on the raw feeds, but you do get them when you watch the game later. It’s great for the price.

        Reply
      • old fan says:
        October 8, 2010 at 5:53 pm

        Also, the camera angles are mostly stationary, but they do move a bit, also change focus, at times, so there must be a living person behind them.
        For instance, during the James Shields tantrum, the camera followed him down to the far end of the dugount as he walked. Also it changed focus as he was ranting between him and Maddon numerous times.
        The cameras also follow the runners for a certain bit. I like it, so long as I can watch the complete normal broascast later to see what I missed.

        Reply
      • old fan says:
        October 8, 2010 at 6:01 pm

        I am in Cincinnati, so things might be different for you in the NYC area. I don’t know about this.

        Reply
  3. old fan says:
    October 8, 2010 at 5:38 pm

    Yesterday, I decided to watch the Rays dugout for awhile as I was curious about their mood, Well, I just happened to catch James Shields throwing a fit in the dugout after maddon took him out before the 5th was over.
    Shields was throwing stuff around, trying to engage everyone that he passed that he was very pissed about being taken out so early. He was saying that it was his mess and that he should have been allowed to clean it up. You could read his lips on some things, and there were announcers commenting on it. He keep making quick mean glances down to Maddon, at the other end of the dugout who was totally ignoring him. Shields kept trying to engage Garza and Price in his woes, but they were leaning on the rail watching the game with hard, hard faces, and trying not to get involved. This kept on and on, as Shields was running his hands thru his hair, and his beard, unable to sit still and still complaining.. Then the whole dugout erupted when the check swing by Young was ruled against them., and he hit the HR. This was right before Maddon came onto the field and did his schitk. I believe Shields histrionics had a lot to do with it. Also, I saw at least 4 Rays players biting the nails! really chewing on them at different times when I was watching.Saw a lot more. Amazing.
    This was a inside view that was priceless to see.

    Reply
    • old fan says:
      October 8, 2010 at 6:22 pm

      These dugout shots may too much information for some fans.
      For instance, in all of the dugout shots that I watched so far, the Rays, Yankees, Twins, and Giants—the players and coaches spit constantly. Spit, spit, spit. The dugout floors must be horrendous. They must be a unique biological zone. Generations of human saliva layers. God help anyone who slips. Why a player would dive into a dugout after a foul pop is beyond me. Their uniforms must have to be incinerated later on, and the player sent to the CDC.

      I like everything else about it though.lol

      Reply

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