推 dellacasa:最好能這樣搞啦 07/25 15:43
推 decorum:RJ Moose 年紀都不小了，哪堪如此操勞? 07/25 17:17
推 chungrew:不失為一種可行的想法 07/25 19:18
推 rachellu0221:不贊成, 這三人都分別有年紀及有傷的紀錄 07/25 22:39
Would a four-man rotation help the Yankees' chances?
By Phil Pepe / Special to YESN
07/24/2006
http://0rz.net/301El
There is a remedy for what ails the Yankees — no, not an arm transplant for
Alex Rodriguez — and it's right before their eyes, etched in their
illustrious history, if they want to avail themselves of it.
This remedy won't cost the Yankees any money or prospects, but it would
represent a radical departure from current baseball philosophy and would
require some powerful arm-twisting and mind-bending to get today's players to
comply.
GO TO A FOUR-MAN STARTING ROTATION!
Today's baseball is bogged down in pitch counts and tendencies, in
specialists and match-ups. As a result, we have seventh inning pitchers,
eighth inning pitchers, pitchers who face one batter and leave, and starting
pitchers who have to be bailed out when they reach a count of 100 pitches, no
matter the score, the inning or the situation.
Yet the game's history resonates with great performers who had pitching
coaches that never held a counter; pitchers that lived by a code that the
game, and their job, wasn't over until the last man was out. Robin Roberts,
for instance, once pitched 28 consecutive complete games. He pitched for 19
years, started 609 games, finished 305 of them, and never had a sore arm.
The five-man starting rotation is not of recent vintage. It goes back
decades. Even the legendary Casey Stengel, when he was winning all those
championships with the Yankees, subscribed to a five-man rotation-in 1949,
Vic Raschi, Allie Reynolds, Eddie Lopat, Tommy Byrne and Fred Sanford started
139 of the Yankees' 154 games.
It wasn't until 1961 when Ralph Houk took over from Stengel as manager that
change came to pass. Convinced by pitching guru Johnny Sain that a four-man
rotation was the way to go, Houk encountered Whitey Ford in a chance meeting
at a St. John's Kansas basketball game at Madison Square Garden.
"How would you like to pitch every fourth day?" Houk asked Ford.
"I told him I'd love it," Ford said. "I never liked the long wait between
starts to begin with."
And so the plan was put into effect. The rotation revolved around Ford who
made 39 starts with other starters slotted in around him — Ralph Terry made
27 starts, Bill Stafford 25, Roland Sheldon 21, Bob Turley 12 and Jim Coates
11 — and the results were startling.
FORD IN 1960 UNDER STENGEL
G GS W-L IP K BB CG SO ERA
33 29 12-9 192.2 85 65 8 4 3.08
FORD IN 1961 UNDER HOUK
G GS W-L IP K BB CG SO ERA
39 39 25-4 283.0 209 92 11 3 3.21
If Whitey Ford could do it, why not Randy Johnson? And Mike Mussina? And
Chien-Ming Wang?
On Monday, July 24, Johnson, Mussina and Wang had a combined record of 32-15.
The remaining Yankees' starters had a record of 24-25. Clearly, the Yankees
would be better served by giving the Big Three more starts at the expense of
the others, even if it means that, on short rest, the Big Three would be
pitching at 80 percent of their efficiency. Isn't 80 percent of Johnson,
Mussina and Wang better than 100 percent of the rest?
As Johnson took the mound against the Texas Rangers on Monday, July 24, the
Yankees had 66 games remaining. Pitching on the present five-man rotation,
Johnson, Mussina and Wang figured to have about 42 starts remaining among
them. On a four-man rotation, they would have about 54 starts left; that's 12
additional games without seeing the names Shawn Chacon, Jaret Wright and
Sidney Ponson penciled in.
It seems the right thing to do, but given the current climate and pitching
philosophy, it probably will never happen. But shouldn't it?
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