The Unexpected

Andy Pettitte’s 2008 home/road splits are as follows:

HOME — 5.09 ERA & 1.41 WHIP
ROAD — 3.67 ERA & 1.36 WHIP

Strange, huh? I didn’t even throw in Pettitte’s game from today, where he allowed 6 ER against the Jays. His season ERA sits at 4.52 (with today’s game included), though, and that’s pretty terrible considering he’s our number 2 starter. With 2 other starters name Sidney Ponson and Darrell Rasner, it’s been very hard for the Yankees to really mount much against their opposition. Pettitte won 11 games for the Yankees in the 2nd half of 2007 (yup, 11 games) and now, in the 2nd half of 2008, he’s got a 3-4 record with an ERA well over 5. His first half was very good (4.03 ERA and 10 wins), so maybe this year he’s experiencing an aberration in his numbers (the splits are reversed, since Andy is typically a better 2nd half pitcher). There’s still September, of course, but he’ll have his work cut out for him.

The Yankees are going to need more from Andy Pettitte if they’re looking to extend their season. In defense of Andy, he’s had 3 very solid starts (3 GS of 7 IP, 3 runs or less) this month (against LA, KC, and TOR) and the Yankees only won 1 of those games, due to their lack of run support. However, it’s definitely crunch time, and he’s going to have to keep the Yankees in all of their games, something he really hasn’t done in his past 2 outings (both of which were home games).