The Magic Wandy

Earlier this season, I posted about the Angels' Ervin Santana and just how much better he pitches at home as opposed to on the road. Santana recently was demoted to the minors and actually is being brought back up today to start one of the doubleheader games at Fenway today against the Red Sox. Just why Angel manager Mike Scioscia has decided to pitch Santana AGAIN on the road, where he carries an 8.79 ERA, a 1.95 WHIP and a .341 batting average against in 2007, is a mystery to me. His career numbers against the Red Sox are also dreadful - a 7.47 ERA, a 1.53 WHIP and a .274 BAA... At home, Santana's been a very good pitcher over the course of his career - a 3.42 ERA, a 1.25 WHIP and a .256 BAA this year to give him a career 3.16 ERA, 1.16 WHIP and .234 BAA... On the road, his career numbers are now a 7.16 ERA, a 1.65 WHIP and a .302 BAA. In other words, for his career, he gives up an average of FOUR more runs per 9 innings in his road starts as opposed to his home ones...

It's hard to believe that someone would come along with an even more drastic discrepancy between home and road numbers than Santana, but unbelievably a man named Wandy Rodriguez has come along and carved his own niche this year for the Houston Astros. Even though he had his second best road outing of the season last night, giving up only two earned runs and five hits in five innings in a 6-2 loss to the L.A. Dodgers, it only put a small dent in the road damage he's done this year... A 7.80 ERA, a 1.68 WHIP and a .309 BAA in 12 road starts. Conversely, Wandy has been magical at home - a 1.65 ERA and a 0.94 WHIP to go with a .200 BAA in his 12 starts at Minute Maid Park in Houston - a notorious hitter's park. Yes, that's more than 6 earned runs per 9 inning game better at home than on the road!!

So, what gives here??? As Dodger announcer Vin Scully said last night, it's more than likely "all between the ears" with Wandy... Like with Ervin Santana, there's probably something psychological that allows him to pitch well at home, yet makes it difficult for him on the road. The discrepancy is well beyond any "norms" or "probabilities." It could be the mound in Houston is to his liking, or maybe he just likes to sleep in his own bed. Whatever it is, unlike with Santana, Wandy's incredible splits haven't occured during the entire course of his whole career. Rather, it's only been this year. In 2006, his road ERA was 5.82, while his home ERA was 5.48 - statistically insignificant. In 2005, he had a 5.47 road ERA and a 5.57 home ERA - once again no perceptable difference...

One encouraging thing could be gleaned from Wandy's performance last night - he actually pitched very well in the final four innings. After giving up two earned runs in the first inning, he didn't allow another one the rest of the game - though two Astro errors contributed to two unearned runs allowed in his stint. If Wandy can somehow put himself in the "home mindset" all of the time, he could become one of baseball's elite pitchers. He has some great stuff as evidenced by his 122 strikeouts in only 144 innings pitched this year. Overall (in spite of the poor road record), Wandy's numbers this year are easily the best of his career. His 4.31 ERA is a full run and a quarter better than what he put up the previous two seasons... Will Wandy get over the "road hump" or will he follow Ervin Santana's road??? Only time will tell...

-----