Anatomy of an at-bat: Utley's three-run homer

by Travis G on Nov 3, 2009 7:30 AM EST in New York Yankees Analysis

This will be a short one -

With no outs, two runners on, and the previous batter the recipient of a bean-ball, Utley was looking for Burnett to get ahead early. And in a sense, A.J. was right to do so: Utley swung at the first pitch only 9% of the time this season (third lowest in the NL*). But for whatever reason, he decided he would guess first-pitch fastball and got one down the heart of the plate:

That was really the game. It increased Philly's chances of winning 19%. No other hit or out was as important.

* courtesy of The 2010 Bill James Handbook

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That’s pretty much AJ’s MO though. He’s always looking to throw strike one. That’s why good teams can sometimes score a lot of runs off of him very quickly because he gets lazy sometimes and throws it right down the middle.

But he kind of needs to do that, he has to get ahead and then he expands the zone.

by Rob Abruzzese on Nov 3, 2009 8:08 AM EST reply actions

Good Take On Utley's At Bat

Cant fault AJ for trying to get ahead, especially against a guy notorious for taking first pitches. Like I posted before yesterdays game, Burnett and Molina shouldve known adjustments would be made to what they did in game 2.

by YankeesJets on Nov 3, 2009 1:27 PM EST reply actions