The Coors Effect
Coors Field is not the homer happy park of a few years ago, one that inflated batting averages and wore out pitching staffs. They've been cooking baseballs in a humidor the last couple of years, cooling them to weight it down a bit. However, with the thin air it's still tough on pitchers. The Rockies average 4.2 runs per game on the road and 4.8 at home.
What's important to understand is that teams going into hitter-friendly parks can get their pitching staffs worn out, which can influence their play in the NEXT series. Too often, attention is focused on the Coors Field or Fenway Park series, stadiums conducive to hitting.
Less attention is paid to what happens AFTER the team leaves those parks for the next series. I recall a National League manager once pointing out that it wasn't the series in Coors Field that bothered him, because the organization would prepare for it, bringing up extra relievers from Triple A while anticipating the starters to go 5-6 innings.
Rather, it was the next series that he complained about, saying that after getting run ragged in Coors Field it disrupted their pitching options for the next series. Look at the Tampa Bay Devil Rays two weeks ago. The Rays went into Coors Field and got bombed in the first two games, 12-2 and 10-5. Tampa Bay used 9 pitchers in those two games.
Then they went to Arizona and lost 2 of 3, giving up 17 runs in the final two games. In fact, they went 3-0 over the total after leaving Coors Field with a worn out staff.
The Yankees just completed a series at Coors Field and their starters failed, going 6, 6.2 and 4.1 innings. They used 3 relievers in the first game, 2 in the second and 4 in the third game. NY then went to San Francisco and lost two out of three, giving up 13 runs in the two losses. Making matters worse, the middle game went 13 innings. Scott Proctor had to throw 40 pitches in extra innings while absorbing the loss as NY used 7 pitchers.
The next day, starter Roger Clemens had to help out in relief to give the weary bullpen some aid. Clemens' last regular season relief appearance was July 18, 1984 for the Red Sox against Oakland. The 22 years and 341 days between relief outings is the longest in history. "It was ugly," Torre said after the series.
Philadelphia is another strong offensive park. The White Sox had the misfortune of playing an Interleague series there June 11-13. Chicago was swept, getting beat by an 18-7 count. They then went to Pittsburgh and lost two of three despite being favored in all three games.
White Sox starter John Danks allowed two runs in just 4 2/3 innings of the finale, meaning Chicago had to use 3 relievers who threw 72 pitches. Then they went to Pittsburgh and got knocked around. No, it's not a coincidence. Pitching staffs are set up around schedules: A day to rest, a day to soft toss, a day to throw, a day to be available to throw on a pitch count, etc. It is a routine that managers and pitching coaches have to carefully balance, to not only get the most out of their hurlers but to protect their arms.
But those plans can get thrown into chaos with one bad series by the staff, which can be accentuated by playing in hitter-friendly parks. Look what happened to the Yankees the first month of the season: They went into Fenway for a 3-game series, and got swept giving up 7 runs in each game. The bullpen was bludgeoned, which is not unusual in a small park like Fenway.
The next two days the Yankees went to Tampa Bay, but instead of feasting off the Devil Rays weak staff, the Yankees were swept, losing 10-6 and 6-4. The numbers weren't pretty: NY used 11 pitchers in the two games, allowing 25 hits, 16 runs, 7 walks in 16 innings. Oh, and the Yankees were favorite of -155 and -170 in those two games.
The point is, what happened the previous few games can have an influence on upcoming game(s), particularly when it comes to pitching staffs and rested (or unrested) arms.
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