Author Danny Vinik

Yankees Are A Different Team Night and Day

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The Yankees are 28-5 during the day. They are just 28-33 at night.

So the Yankees have as many wins during the day as night though they’ve played 28 fewer day games! What gives?

I dug into this a little more. The Yankees top three pitchers, Sabathia, Burnett and Garcia, have each started seven day games. The Yankees were 18-3 in those games, including 7-0 when Sabathia took the hill. Ivan Nova, the Yankees number five guy, has made just three day game starts (the Yankees are 3-0 in those however). This is probably just a strange coincidence but when you’re number 1-3 pitchers start 21 day games and the number five guy starts just three, you’re certainly going to win more than you lose.

Of course, the Yankees have done more than just stay above .500 during day games. They’ve won 84.8 percent of those games! They’ve given up just 2.91 runs per game while scoring 5.64 and are a total of +90 during the 33 games. Seventeen of the games were at home while 16 were on the road, a very even split (only one loss came at home).

As a team, the Yankees have a .279 batting average and .831 OPS during the day.

But this is where New York should get concerned. During night games, the Yanks are batting just .247. A .247 team average would rank 22nd in all of the majors.

For the rest of the season, the Yankees play 22 of their 68 remaining games during the day. If their winning percentage at night and during the day continues as it is, they’ll win about 40 of their remaining 62 games (18.7 of the 22 day games, 21.1 of the remaining 46 night games).

That will leave them with 96 wins and likely the AL Wild Card berth. Good right?

Well, maybe not. It’s World Series or bust for the Bronx Bombers and if they can’t win at night, they aren’t going to be the last ones left standing come October. Just two of the Yanks nine playoff games last year were day games (and they were both 4:07 games). During their 2009 title run, New York played just one of its 15 games during the day (a 4:07 start as well).

In the postseason, there aren’t many day games and the Yankees play in less than their fair share of those so MLB can put them on primetime. If New York can’t find a way to win at night, they’re going to struggle come October.

For more in depth information on the Yankees day games, click here.

Judge Declares a Mistrial in Clemens Case

Danny Vinik 1 Comment

Well that was fast. We’ve heard about the government’s case against Roger Clemens for months and it has picked up in recent days with jury selection and the beginning of the trial but just like that, it’s over. And it’s because the prosecutors royally screwed up.

I don’t know much in the ways of law except for the dozens of episodes of Law and Order I’ve watched, but even I know that when a judge tells you not to present something to the jury, you can’t just ignore his orders. And that’s what the prosecutors did.

Andy Pettite says that he had a conversation where Clemens admitted to taking human growth hormone (HGH). Pettite told prosecutors that he relayed that conversation to his wife, Laura. The U.S. government wanted to put on Laura on the stand to testify to this, but Judge Reggie B. Nelson ruled the evidence inadmissible as it is hearsay. From everything I’ve watched on tv and read about hearsay, it’s a correct and straightforward ruling. The prosecutors should have expected it and abided by it.

But then came today’s openings statements. Prosecutors showed the jury a video of Clemens’s testimony in front of Congress from 2008. In the video, Representative Elijah Cummings read off a sworn affidavit from Laura Pettite saying that her husband had relayed the conversation. Judge Nelson stopped the video, removed the jury from the courtroom and chastised the prosecutors for disobeying his orders.

“I think that a first-year law student would know that you can’t bolster the credibility of one witness with clearly inadmissible evidence,” Walton said.

Lead defense attorney Rusty Hardin asked for a mistrial and was granted it. Hearings will follow on whether the government can even attempt to prosecute Clemens again given the law against double jeopardy. But they should give up this case anyways.

As much as Clemens cheated and lied about it under oath, Congress and the U.S. government has bigger fish to fry. Yes, I know that the government has to ensure that people cannot just take the stand and lie but hasn’t enough time and money been wasted trying to make a mockery of a man who’s legacy has been thoroughly damaged? In the court of public opinion, Clemens was convicted a long time ago. There’s no reason to do so in an actual courthouse.

All in all, the prosecutors were as big of an embarrassment as Clemens was in this case. Defense attorney Hardin is laughing himself to sleep at how easy this was. The prosecutors gave him a mistrial on a gold platter. I’m sure Clemens will walk out of the courthouse relieved at not facing jail time, but his reputation is forever tarnished and a mistrial isn’t going to change that.

NCAA (Rightly) Shows Little Mercy to Tyler Laser

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Do you know who Tyler Laser is? I doubt it and you shouldn’t. I didn’t until a few minutes ago when I came across this article saying that the NCAA had denied Laser’s appeal for an additional season.

Except, Laser’s circumstance is a bit different. The NCAA states that a player can earn an additional year of eligibility if he plays in less than 30 percent of his team’s games (or equal to).

Laser played in 10 games this past season before he was injured and needed season ending surgery. His school, Eastern Illinois, played 29 games on the year. Thus, Laser played in 34.4% of his team’s games.

And that’s all it took. After waiting a few months to hear the answer to his appeal, Laser found out yesterday that his college career had come to an end.

When I first read that article, I was once again annoyed at the NCAA. It seems every week I find a new article that shows how the NCAA is looking out for its bottom line and not the kids that make them that money. But after further reflection, I don’t disagree with them here.

At some point, there has to be a line. The NCAA decided that line was 30 percent, a pretty reasonable number. You can’t just grant slight exceptions, because then that line becomes meaningless. All of a sudden, it’s 35 percent, then 40 and so on and so on. Eventually, a player will miss five games and be eligible for an extra season.

In the article, Diamond Leung contends that “Laser had played one game over the participation limit [30 percent of the season] that would have allowed him to gain back the additional year.” I’m a bit confused on this. If Laser had played in just nine of his team’s 29 games as Leung suggests, that would still be 31 percent and above the NCAA’s threshold.

If somehow Leung meant that if Eastern Illinois had played an additional game than Laser would get an added season, he’d still be wrong. In that case, Laser would have played in one-third of his team’s games.

Either Laser had to play two fewer games (8/29=.275) or Eastern Illinois would have had to play five more games (10/34=.294). That’s more than just a single game as Leung suggests. It’s heartbreaking for Laser, but the NCAA had to draw a line.