http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ge-fullcount092309&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

http://l.yimg.com/a/p/sp/tools/med/2009/07/ipt/1248748047.jpg

Home field isn’t always an advantage

Gordon Edes

By Gordon Edes

<snip>

Measure of relief: The ever-curious Ari Kaplan, the statistical analyst who consults for several big league clubs, posits that for an accurate take on how relievers (non-closers) performed, look at how they did in late and close situations. “Late and close (LAC)” is defined as when a pitcher enters a game in the seventh or eighth inning down by a run, tied or in a save situation.

Rafael Betancourt(notes), who pitched this season for Cleveland and Colorado, came into 18 LAC situations, and allowed no runs in 16 of them, an 89 percent success rate. In the other two games, just one run scored.

John Grabow(notes) (since joining the Cubs), Alberto Arias(notes) (with Houston) and Justin Masterson(notes) (while with Boston) all were a perfect 10 for 10 in LAC situations. Others who did well were the Marlins’ Dan Meyer(notes) (no runs in 15 of 17) and Phil Hughes(notes) (21 of 24) of the Yankees. On the other end of the scale, Blaine Boyer(notes) of the Diamondbacks gave up a run in all nine of his LAC games, and allowed four-plus runs in three of the games.

The teams that had the best LAC conversions (no runs) are the Phillies (84 pecent LAC), Cardinals (82 percent), Rangers (81 percent) and Braves (80 percent). The teams that had the worst LAC conversions all had losing records, which reinforces the importance of mid-relievers. Those teams are: the Orioles (56 percent), Royals (57 percent), Padres (58 percent), Blue Jays (59 percent), Nationals (60 percent), Pirates (67 percent), Diamondbacks (67 percent) and Indians (68 percent).

PhotoRafael Betancourt, right, has been one of the elite middle relievers in baseball, according to “LAC” metrics.

(US Presswire)

<snip>