Well, better late than never, I suppose.
With the trip back to SBGville this weekend and the coincidental timing of having a nephew born while I was there, well if I'd have run down the basement and started tapping away on the Internet for an hour or two, I would have had to answer to just about everyone.
So, I bring to you the second edition of 360 degrees a couple of days late. This edition examines the five games ending with Scott Baker's start on Friday night.
If I were going to use one word to describe the second time through the rotation in one word, I'd say: BETTER. In fact, the second trip through the rotation was very good. Here are the raw numbers (last trip in parenthesis:
IP:Â 32 1/3 (26)
R:Â Â 15 (25)
ER: 15 (24)
H:Â Â 26 (43)
K:Â Â 17 (14)
BB: 7 (7)
HP:Â 2 (1)
HR: 5 (5)
Clearly, almost everything was better about this trip around. On average, the starters averaged about 1 1/3 innings longer, while giving up 3.5 fewer hits per start. That translates into 3(!) fewer runs per start, despite the extra 1 1/3 innings. The strikeout rate was about the same and the walks and home runs per inning were slightly better.
ERA: 4.18 (8.31)
WHIP: 1.02 (1.92)
FIP: 4.50 (5.16)
QS: 2 (0)
The starters collectively had an ERA of 4.18 as compared to 8.31 last time. An ERA of 4.18 from the starting staff would be outstanding for the season. The starters had a WHIP of 1.02, which is off the charts good. The FIP was 4.50, down only slightly from the 5.16 FIP from last week (relatively speaking, as the ERA was down by over 4).Â
The relatively small decline in FIP points to the fact that the pitching staff had similar numbers in walks, strikeouts, and homeruns per inning (which are the components used to calculate FIP) as compared to last week. That relatively small decline in FIP says a couple of things. One, that the Twins pitching staff didn't really pitch all that much better than last week, if you put stock into things like field independent pitching, which I do. Two, the terrible results from the first time out were somewhat anamolous. The results over the five games in this rotation are more in line with what should be expected. Considering that the results were pretty good this week, that bodes well for an overall improvement from the staff.
Clearly, the most impressive outing was turned in by Scott Baker. His FIP was 2.06 and his WHIP was 0.57. Considering that he turned in this effort against the Yankees, and he's a no-brainer for pitcher of the the second time of the rotation. Runner up was Kyle Lohse, who nailed down the sweep of the A's with a very strong performance (for him). Of course, we are 40% through the rotation again already, with one colossal stinker of an outing already posted. Let's see after the Angels series how the rotation stacks up.
No strikeouts in the stats report? An omission or an oversight? Personally, I like to see strikeouts.
Anyway, I'm also a fan of FIP stats, especially for short periods of time. I find it interesting that, if I read your table right, the Twins have only allowed one unearned run all season. If the Twins keep the number of unearned runs down, then their ERA will be undervaluing them.
An oversight. I've added them. Sorry about that.
[...] The last time we looked at the rotation, my one word summary was BETTER. This time, the one word summary is HORRIBLE. [...]