Yankees’ .120 (3-for-25) showing with runners in scoring position in this ALCS, as well as their .150 (9-for-60) mark with RISP this postseason. This like walking on the edge of a cliff. I don't know if they had this level of performance during the regular season, though at times they were very bad with RISP. Not only is the RISP stat bad, but the base running seems to be worse than I remember which obviously takes potential runs off the board. Hopefully they will get it together tonight and blow out Cleveland like LA has done to the Mets.
Just my 2 cents...Teams leaving RISP happens throughout the season and postseason. Sometimes that happens because of good pitching. The Yankees only need a better RISP average than the team that they are playing. However, there's no excuse for their horrible base running mistakes.
That's pretty much spot on, Max.
I did some research into this and wrote one of my usual overlong over-dramatic thread starters at the old place. It was written after the playoff failures from 2004-2007. The gist of it was that despite their reputation for being great clutch hitters in the post-season the Dynasty Yankees of the late 90's won 4 titles and 5 pennants in 6 seasons without a particularly good batting record with RISP in those post-seasons. I still have it saved in my documents files, transferring it from computer to computer. To wit:
Yankees' team post-season BAVG with RISP, by pennant-winning seasons:
1996: 27-140, .193
1998: 25-120, .208
1999: 26-104, .250
2000: 35-126, .257
2001: 26-114, .228
For the five pennant-winning teams combined: 139-614, .226
And I noted that the four Yankee teams that choked the playoffs away from 2004 through 2007 compiled this record:
2004: 31-119, .261 (yes, higher than the 5 Dynasty teams, although they went 8-37 in the last four games against the Red Sox, with multiple critical failures)
2005: 10-45, .222
2006: 5-28, .179
2007: 5-28 again, and again .179
The four "choke" teams total: 51-230, .232, or slightly higher than the five pennant-winning teams.
I then noted the real reason they kept losing was that the pitching and defense was far worse.
RISP allowed, 1996, 1998-2001: 125-565: .221 (not much below what the hitters did)
RISP allowed, 2004-2007: 64-219, .292.
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Now, some new information I didn't think to look at when I wrote that piece in the offseason of 2007-2008:
The numbers don't include the 2002 loss to the Angels, when it seemed like the Angels hit .400 with RISP...OK, I'll go check that...well, it seemed like they hit .400 with RISP because they went 19-48, .396. Add that one in, and the pitching/defense on the 5 losing teams allowed 83 for 267, .311. Those Yankees teams didn't hit all that much worse with RISP, but their pitching and defense was much much worse in those spots and it highlighted the failures of the offense to match what the pitchers and fielders were allowing.
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Case in point...the "November HR games" in the 2001 World Series.
October 30th, game 3. Yanks win 2-1. Brosius' RBI single in the 6th provides the winning run. D'backs get just 3 hits and 3 walks for the whole game, Clemens and Rivera retire 9 in a row after the Yanks took the lead, and Arizona went 1-4 with RISP, the Yanks went 1-6.
October 31st, game 4. D'backs get a RBI double/error and a RBI grounder to get their 2 runs in the 8th to get a 3-1 lead, Tino Martinez hits a 2-run HR in the 9th off Kim (with a man on 1st, and not RISP) to tie it. Derek Jeter hits a solo HR in the 10th just before midnight, also off Kim to win it (no runners, much less RISP). D'backs went 0-7 with RISP, Yanks went 0-6.
November 1st, game 5. Yanks win 3-2. D'backs get solo HR from Finley and Barajas to take a 2-0 lead in the 5th off Mussina. Miguel Batista, of all pitchers, shuts the Yanks out for 7 2/3. Lefty Swindell retires Tino Martinez on a flyout with 2 on and 2 outs. The game goes bottom 9. Posada leads off with a double. Spencer: RISP fail. Knoblauch: RISP fail. Brosius hits a 2 run HR off Kim to tie up the game. Yanks go 1-2-3 in the 10th and 11th, and Alfonso Soriano singles to drive in Knoblauch after he singles and was bunted to 2nd for the game-winner off of Albie Lopez. Yes, the Yanks got 2 hits with RISP for all 3 runs, but missed in 8 other tries; 2 for 10 with RISP. The D'backs? They were 0-8 with RISP that night.
For the three 1-run wins combined: the Yanks went 3-22 with RISP, but the D'backs were 1-19. The D'backs would go on to go 12-22 with RISP in the blowout game 6 win, and 2-7 in game 7, but 0-5 until the 9th when they tied it on the Womack double and won it on the Gonzalez flare just over the drawn-in infield. Amusingly enough, the Yanks went 3-10 with RISP the two losses, 2-6 for no effect in game 6, and 1-4 in game 7. The Yanks got humongous clutch hits in game 3, 4, and 5, but were 3-19 in RISP and just 1 for 12 in games 3 and 4.
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The moral of the story is that if you get the pitching/defense that shuts down the opposing teams, especially in key spots, you can hit poorly with RISP for a long time and still win, even in the post-season, because the pitching and defense will give you enough time and chances to break through.
