This is the news story of the day, the one with serious and far reaching implications if the Yanks don’t figure out how to deal with it. Andy Pettitte admitted yesterday that he’s getting frustrated with the new Yankee Stadium, that its getting into his head and making him consider changing the way he pitches. He said:
“It’s simple, if you leave a ball up and they hit it with the barrel right now, it’s a home run,” Pettitte said. “You can’t make a mistake up in the zone.”
Pettitte was reminded of the hazards of the ballpark when he gave up a first-inning shot to Raul Ibanez.
“I ran a ball in off the plate and then I felt like I didn’t have to worry about keeping the next pitch down and got a little lackadaisical with a four-seamer away, and just left it up,” Pettitte said. “He hit it right out. You have to get the ball down, especially if you are not overpowering. If you don’t have, or if you are not throwing, overpowering stuff, you cannot let your guard down ever out there right now.”
Pettitte let his guard down again in the fifth. He gave up a leadoff single to Shane Victorino and walked Pedro Feliz, before John Mayberry Jr., making his major league debut, homered.
“It’s so frustrating, because I felt so good and I just had a horrible pitch,” Pettitte said. “I couldn’t have felt more confident, I couldn’t have been more confident about what I wanted to do with the hitters and all that. I left a ball up and the kid hit it out of the park.”
But it’s that one bad pitch or one bad inning that is frustrating Pettitte.
Of the eight home runs he has given up this season, seven of them have been in the new ballpark. He said he now has to go out there thinking about limiting the damage.
“I cannot walk guys,” Pettitte said. “I walked a guy in that inning before the three-run homer. I am gonna have to stop doing that, because you know you are gonna give up home runs. I am gonna give up a few homers, so I just can’t walk guys.”
We all know the effect Coors Field had on pitchers, with the most famous case being Mike Hampton. Joe Girardi played for 3 years in Colorado before becoming a Yankee, I hope he has some answers for his increasingly frustrated pitchers.
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I don’t know, I’m still not sold. My friend, a Mets fan, was complaining about how easy these homers go out in the new stadium. But in reality the Yankees and Phillies have 8-10 hitters who can homer in every at bat. So is 7 homers really that much? Bronx Baseball Daily(Quote)
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The giving up more damage thing happens in every ballpark. In regard to the other stuff, everyone but Pettitte and Hughes seem to have no issue with pitching in the park, as they have given up about the same amount of HR’s per game at home and on the road. Andy, the wily vet, has a large disparity (7-1), as does Hughes. I’m not sure what that says. Moshe Mandel(Quote)
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Steve S. Reply:
May 24th, 2009 at 4:24 pm
“The giving up more damage thing happens in every ballpark.”
Not exactly. Do pitchers get shaken up after giving up a HR? Some do, but its quite a different matter when you have good stuff, make your pitch and still give up multiple HRs. That will make a pitcher wonder if he belongs in the big leagues, and most HRs dont have that effect. Steve S.(Quote)
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Hughes putting his head down after the Wiggington HR probably just upset he gave the HR up. That ball was crushed. That HR wasn’t a product of the new stadium. Adam Jones HR? Yes! but not the Wiggington one.
Also lets keep in mind Pettitte Hughes and Burnett are fly ball pitchers. That doesn’t help. On the other hand CC and Joba have not given up a lot of HRs. Mmmm….
Still comes down to executing your pitches. Trevor(Quote)
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