Write it on a Rock

They didn't just lose, they got embarrassed. Losing 10-2, while never good, wouldn't have seemed as bad if they had given up a run an inning or scattered the runs allowed through the game. Instead, they give up 9 runs in the 7th.

Way to go Yanks...

A lot of people in the sports world are blaming or seem to be blaming the Yankees' pitching for the reason they didn't do better this year. They point to Ian Kennedy & Phil Hughes and how they were a disappointment this year and perhaps should have been traded last off season for the great Johan Santana. They point to Wang's injury which left them without their ace, the pitcher with the most total wins in the last two years in MLB. They point to the injury to Joba Chamberlain and also the fact he got moved from being Rivera's setup man to a starter. I disagree with them.

While Kennedy and Hughes were pretty terrible (17 starts between them with an 0-8 record and a 7.50 E.R.A.) and losing Wang certainly hurt, it was the Yankees' bats that were the main reason they couldn't make it this year. We can look at some of the pitching stats from last year, which was the worst year since the late 90s, to this year.

2007 pitching stats

• 4.49 ERA
• .268 opponent batting average
• 777 runs allowed
• 1.43 WHIP

2008 pitching stats

• 4.28 ERA
• .266 opponent batting average
• 727 runs allowed
• 1.36 WHIP

You can see that opponents batting average was roughly the same but they had a lower WHIP this year, which means the Yankee pitchers gave up fewer walks in 2008 as well as 50 less runs allowed. While their pitching wasn't a lot better then 2007, it WAS better. Now take a look at a few hitting stats between 2007 and 2008.

2007 hitting stats

• 1656 hits
• 968 runs
• .290 batting average

2008 hitting stats

• 1512 hits
• 789 runs
• .271 batting average

That's almost 1 run a game difference. They lost 18 games by 1 run this season. 13 games by 2 runs. Give them a fourth of those games and they finish with the same record as the first place Tampa Bay Rays. While better pitching certainly could have made a difference it was timely hitting that really did them in this year.