Banny Log Update
Posted: May 12th, 2008 | Filed under: Banny Log | 26 Comments »
Wow, as someone who claims to be one of the nation’s leading Brian Bannister scholars, I am embarrassed to say I missed this. But I did. It is brilliant reader PC who points this out:
Brian Bannister by day (this year):
– 4-0, 0.62 ERA, 29 ip, 12 hits, 3 runs, 2 earned runs, 0 homers, 7 walks, 18 K.
Batting average against: .126; OPS: .320; OPS+ -10(!)*, Babip: .156.
Brian Bannister by night (this year):
– 0-4, 8.02 ERA, 21 1/2 ip, 33 hits, 19 runs, 19 earned, 5 homers, 5 walks, 11 K,
Batting average against: .344; OPS .960; OPS+ 158(!), Babip: .350.
*I may have mentioned here earlier that my father was quite the chess player — Dad says he’s lost his chess edge now, but in his younger days he won the Cleveland Open and had pretty close to a Master rating. Because of this, I grew up around chess. And even though I’m quite pitiful the few times I actually play game (as Priest Holmes will tell you) there are a few things in the game that I think carry over beyond the chess board. One of those cool things: In algebraic chess notation — that’s chess play-by-play — if someone makes a great and unexpected move, you put an exclamation point after it. And if someone makes a REALLY great and brilliant move, you put TWO exclamation points after it. Conversely, if someone makes a horrendous move, you put a question mark afterward, and if someone makes a bizarre, Matt Millen, “I’m not sure you understand the basic rules†move, you put TWO question marks after.
The best part of this is that you can mix and match. So if someone makes a move that might look good at first but turns out to be a major blunder, you can make it like this: !?. Or if someone makes an apparently bad move that actually turns out OK, you can put the ?! after it. And so on. Needless to say, I believe we should have a way to include this in box scores, summaries, politics, life, everything.
Signing Barry Zito to that long term deal: ??
Eating that White Castle burger last night: !?
Wearing new sneakers when mowing the lawn: ??
Not benching Eli Manning mid-season: ?!
Screaming at Will Leitch on Costas Now: !?
Naming your book after a phrase in a Jeremiah Wright speech: !?
Trading away the gutty Paul Lo Duca: ?!!
Casting Tom Hanks in “Da Vinci Code:†!?
Going to war in Iraq: !?
Switching blog look every 20 minutes: ??
Giving your child some goofy name to be unique: !?
Giving a lot of money to recruit O.J. Mayo: !?
Trading for Carlos Quentin: ?! (Full kudos to my buddy Chardon Jimmy who, the day that trade was made, said: The Royals blew it, they should have traded for Quentin).
Taking a long nap during the day: !!?
We could do this all day. Nap, I mean. Yeah, also come up with these notations.
Sorry, back to Banny and this day/night craziness. Look at those numbers. Now, you can say: Well, sure, but that’s nothing, it’s a small sample size, it’s a fluke. Maybe. But as PC continues to point out … here are his career numbers:
Brian Bannister by day (career)
– 10-1, 2.65 ERA, 88 1/3 ip, 67 hits, 28 runs, 26 er, 4 homers, 23 walks, 38 Ks.
Batting average against: .212; OPS: .576; Babip .226.
Brian Bannister by night (career)
– 8-13, 4.58 ERA, 165 ip; 168 hits, 88 runs, 84 er, 20 homers, 55 walks, 87 Ks.
Batting average against: .261; OPS .763; Babip: .275.
Again, we’re not looking at a big sample by any means. But I think it’s big enough to say: “Wow, that’s kinda weird.†For whatever reason, it seems like Brian’s stuff is just much harder to hit during the day. I’m going to ask him about this, if there’s anything to it, if it’s something he’s noticed (I’m guessing yes) … we’ll try to report back.
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I didn’t believe it at first, but their might be something to this. I originally thought a bad start or two was skewing his overall ERA. Quality Starts isn’t exactly the best stat, but it is telling in this case. In 2007 and 2008 nine of eleven day starts have been Quality. Only 13 of 24 night starts have been quality.
Sample size alert still but that is 82% vs 54%.
It looks like Banny needs to go to the Cubbies. – TL
As a long-suffering Lions fan (talk about redundant phrasing…), I think that any use of the term “Matt Millen” needs to be accompanied by the equivalent of a Pozki – as in:
“Can you believe Matt Millen (*&%!)…”
I mean seriously, how can you invoke that guy’s name without swearing?
And, extra seriously: how the hell does that guy keep his job? I can’t even begin to imagine what William Clay Ford must be doing in those pictures Millen (*&%!) must have of him…
Just eyeballing those numbers, the walk and K rates look comparable. It’s the HR and BABIP that are off. I wonder how much of that is defense dependent?
Didn’t we have this quandry with De La Rosa a year ago? I don’t think I have to go too far out on a limb to say the final analysis there was that the day time success was a fluke and the guy simply wasn’t a Major League quality pitcher, but that was different because he had something 4 quality day starts to 12 horrendous evening starts at the time. I am certainly not likening Banny to Jorge here though. I’m interested in getting his take on it.
In chess notation, going to war in the wrong country should always get multiple ?s and no !s
Darn, Buchholz beat me to it.
One of the great things about being a baseball fan is that the despair of losing 12 games in a row to a team as lousy as the Orioles is dissapated by this day, when we have a beautiful start by Bannister yesterday combined with the anticipation of Greinke going tomorrow night.
This is the most fun it has been to be a Royals fan in several years.
reds fans have seen a similar puzzle in the day/night splits of one bronson “rockstar” arroyo…
it’s even apparent looking at the silly simple stats:
career day : 14-24, 4.67 ERA
career night: 44-39, 4.17 ERA
last year?
day: 1-5, 5.36 ERA
night: 8-9, 3.93 ERA
(huge difference in BABIP, maybe it was a fluke?)
2006?
day: 5-6, 4.25 ERA
night: 9-5, 2.52 ERA
(well, night BABIP was 20 pts higher than day, so there goes that theory…)
we have two competing theories:
1) bronson’s stuff is so average, that he can’t hide it as well during the day.
2) bronson is staying out too late partying, playing guitars, recording commercials for cable companies, frozen meat products, etc.
the reds and long term, expensive contracts for average starting pitchers: they’re together again.
that last bit only makes sense if you’re in the cincinnati media market. but if you are, well, i hope you now have his stupid jingle stuck in your head too, just like i do. bronson belting out the words “taco filling” with all the emotion he can muster is more than i can stomach. especially after the opening shot of welsh’s mustache. fear the creeper!
wow, the internet is so cool.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=908FQ2xUa5c
still no explanation for bronson’s day/night splits.
As an avid chess player myself, I love that you’ve just introduced your readership to the fascinating language of chess notation. I want to clear something up, though, regarding the use of “!?” and “?!”. Essentially, you have them backwards. “!?” means “an interesting move,” or in other words, an unusual-looking move that nevertheless has some real merit. “?!” means “a dubious move,” or one that can be refuted by a skilled opponent.
Oh, and I just invited you to play chess on Facebook.
In the post-game comments, Hillman mentioned that Bannister has been a lot better so far in day games. He then muttered something about liking to get more of them for Brian.
The day-night thing is probably just a fluke but at least our manager has noticed the current disparity in the results.
McKingford, fear not. If the Knicks can finally let go of Thomas, perhaps there is hope for the Lions yet.
(Then again, Millen’s (*&%!) been in Detroit longer than Thomas had been in New York…)
Avoiding your blog for a few days so that I could enjoy a marathon session today when I didn’t feel like working; ?!?
Maybe the manager can notice a few other things, like Pena hitting .160 (just had to get him an at bat yesterday, didn’t he), the Royals having absolutely no power, and Butler not running hard on the bases, costing the Royals a run.
For a guy who was hired for his small-ball tactics and approach to fundamentals, he hasn’t displayed much of it. Or is it all the players?
Because the office is bored…
Things that would be better using chess notation:
Financial reports
NFL draft recaps
Restaurant guides
Movie reviews
Ha! You think this is good? Check out Ervin Santana’s home/road splits and get back to me.
Anyway, if there IS merit to this, it’s a bit odd, since I thought that hitting stats were generally better during day games. I don’t have stats to back that up, but I know it’s been mentioned before.
Well that’s great news! He’s on my fantasy baseball team. Now I know to keep him benched during night games. Only pitch him during the afternoon affairs.
On the “blog look” vote, I like this one but which it had the comments numbered like the old one did. I know, never satisfied…..
RPA beat me to it with the Bronson info. (and if I ever see him, I will beat him for posting that damn commercial).
Stuff-wise, Bronson and Banny aren’t worlds apart, so there’s no readily-apparent explanation, other than maybe Banny gets to bed on time. Wish we could platoon them.
Jumping way ahead without looking here, but I wonder if this day-night split might be a reason some AAA pitchers have such trouble jumping to the majors.
Aren’t a lot of AAA games played in the daytime, or at least just before dusk? And it seems like there are loads of crafty/junkballer types that whale in AAA but get lit up in the majors.
I do half of the “important play” notation when I’m scoring a ballgame. If a corner infielder makes a nice leaping/diving play, I’ll note it with an exclamation point. (e.g. L5! or 6!-3)
” I’m going to ask him about this, if there’s anything to it, if it’s something he’s noticed (I’m guessing yes) … we’ll try to report back.”
That right there is the value of a sports journalist who is also a blogger. When is the last time you read something like that in a newspaper?
Actually, Major and Minor League Baseball encourage their Gameday stringers to use exclamation points to highlight a play. For instance, on a diving stop by the third baseman that leads to a 5-3 putout, you input 5!3/g+ (for a hard-hit groundball).
“Anyway, if there IS merit to this, it’s a bit odd, since I thought that hitting stats were generally better during day games. I don’t have stats to back that up, but I know it’s been mentioned before.”
This is why it seems odd to me. I’ve seen lots (well, enough to be noticed) of guys with extreme day/night splits, but they’re always bad in the daytime. The usual argument is that hitters see the ball better in the daytime. I don’t know that there is proof for that reasoning or not, but it makes sense. However, why a guy would be so much better in daylight I haven’t a clue.
[...] Joe Posnanski brings you Brian Bannister’s crazy day-night splits. [...]
So…any updates on this? Inquiring minds (and MindAs) want to know.