5/4/09

Pitching and the seventh-inning stretch

The seventh-inning stretch has been a long tradition in baseball, legendarily attributed to President Taft. During the middle of the 7th innings, the fans are standing up in the stands and signing take me out to the ball game.

However, the Twins pitchers this season, so far are creating a different version of the seventh inning stretch, practically begging to be taken out off the ball game.

Here is the Twins' opponent OPS at the different innings (10 is all extra innings):

3 comments:

Marv said...

Wow!
I don't suppose we can tell the pitchers it's the 6th inning, part II.
Not thrilled about the second inning either, but the seventh is amazing.
Looks like our starters are running out of steam and/or the BP is coming in and throwing batting practice. Likely both.
Interesting stat, thry.
Thanks

Juanie said...

Interesting stat, but it's obviously a combination of the starters tiring and a lack of a consistent 7th inning reliever. I'd be willing to bet the stats are similar around the league for teams with a lack of multiple good relievers.

thrylos98 said...

Marv, not sure what the cause is, but it is curious...

Juanie, if you look at 2 teams that have worse pen ERA than the Twins, you'll see that the Yankees' worse inning is the second and the Indians' the 8th.