The Lynx In April 2007 (Part Two)

Hitting and even pitching can be streaky but if you have solid and consistent defence you’ll always have a chance to win. The 2007 version of the Ottawa Lynx appear to be proving what baseball people have been saying for many years, solid defence can rescue many an ugly pitching stat. Let’s examine the pitching for the Ottawa Lynx in the month of April.

Pitching: Let me begin by stating that won-lost records and ERA can be largely a matter of luck, run support and other factors. A pitcher can allow several runs after an error has been made with two out. A relief pitcher can enter a game with the runners on base and allow these runners to score before recording the final out of an inning. Those runs, as we all know, do not count against that pitchers ERA-the logic being that in the first case, the inning should have ben over-and in the second-the relief pitcher didn’t put those runners on base. Both fair scoring rules but those runs still show up on the scoreboard. Won-lost records can be largely a matter of run support and solid bullpen work in many cases.

In April 2007, Ottawa Lynx pitchers ranked twelfth in ERA at 3.96, (Richmond was first with an unbelievable 2.44). Ottawa allowed 71 earned runs, (87 runs), 13 home runs and the bullpen recorded 6 saves while the starters threw one complete game. The Lynx ranked sixth in earned runs, (Rochester and Richmond were tops with 52), sixth in runs allowed, (Richmond were first with 59), fourth in home runs allowed, (Richmond had 9), eighth in saves, (Rochester had 10), and in a three way tie for complete games, (Syracuse and Buffalo). The Ottawa bullpen had 10 holds, fifth in the league, tied with Louisville and only one behind Indianapolis, Toledo and Scranton. One of the more important indicators of team pitching efficiency, and a strong indication that it was the Ottawa defence which held this team together in April, is the WHIP average. As everyone know, a WHIP of 1.0 is very good, a WHIP near 2.0 is not. The Lynx ranked second worst in the league in April with a WHIP of 1.45. The Lynx allowed 167 hits in 161.1 innings while walking 67. That’s a lot of base runners and with only 113 strikeouts, that’s a lot of balls in play and a lot of pressure on the defence.

Brian Mazone, Matt Childers and Fabio Castro led the team with two wins each in April. Zach Segovia had the only complete game and Brian Sanchez and Yoel Hernandez split the team’s six saves. Amongst the starters, J.A. Happ had the lowest ERA, (2.05) and John Ennis led the relievers with 0.79. Joe Besinius had 3 holds and Hernandez had the best WHIP at 1.09. Now for some odd stats. While Besinius had three holds, he also had a WHIP of 2.32 an indication that he was given some big leads to protect and/or that he had a couple really bad outings. Against Buffalo April 10, 0.2 IP, 2 hits, three runs and one walk and again vs Buffalo April 11-0.2 IP, 2 hits, 2 runs, one walk. He managed to earn a hold in both games. It would seem that both scenarios applied in this case.

Brian Mazone has had very solid numbers, (a WHIP of 1.11 but with only 14 strikeouts in 30.2 IP. It’s obvious that Mazone pitches to his defence by walking very few batters, (only 6). This has helped as he has given up four home runs but only nine earned runs. Zach Segovia was the Lynx hard luck starter in the month of April. He went 0-3 but had a pretty decent ERA. J.A. Happ has been on a fairly strict pitch count and if not for a blown hold by the bullpen, he should probably be 3-0. Lynx starters are 5-8, a stat more indicative of poor run support than their pitching. Lynx pitchers have allowed three or fewer runs in eleven of nineteen games and only three times have they allowed more than six runs. Throw out the 2-5 road trip which had games in which the pitching staff allowed 12 runs and 8 runs in the first two games and the stats look much better. The manager’s contention that much of the fault lies with the bad weather and not knowing if you were going to play that day or not because of it seems to have been valid. Since that opening 2-5 road trip, Lynx starters logged seven quality starts in the last twelve games in April. With the offensive struggles of Ottawa in the month of April, quality starts are vital. Ottawa, at this point, can not afford to play too many catch up games.

Manager Russell’s confidence in the pitching staff getting more consistent as the season went on seems to be holding up. He had a steady rotation the last half of April and the amount of quality starts has allowed him to not only stretch out the starters but has insured that the bullpen are not overworked.

Tomorrow I will examine the Ottawa defence in the month of April and exactly how it saved the day.