2008 Andy Pettitte

Great job by Pettitte last night, who has been pitching pretty well this year even though at times it hasn't seemed like it.

His LD% allowed is 19.5, the same as last year. His GB% allowed is 52.4% up from 47.7% last year. He's allowing fewer flyballs, which is great, the unfortunate thing is a more typical 11.5% of those flyballs have found their way out of the ballpark versus last year's 7.0% FB/HR. He probably got lucky last year, but as long as he can keep the flyball rate down the way he has, he'll be fine.

He's walking fewer batters (2.19/9 IP vs. 2.88/9 IP) and striking out more batters (6.43/9 IP vs. 5.89/9 IP, probably because he has substitued more cutters for changeups this season). Overall, he's pitching better this year than he did last year. His xFIP last year was 4.47 and actual ERA was 4.05, with a WHIP of 1.43 (blech). However this year his xFIP is down to 3.60 and actual ERA is 3.93 with a WHIP of 1.33.

Pettitte usually gets stronger as the season goes along. Career wise, in the first half he strikes out 6.36/9 IP, walks 2.97/9IP, and has an ERA of 4.11 and a WHIP of 1.40. In the second half, he strikes out 6.79/9 IP, walks 2.58/9 IP, and has an ERA of 3.53 and a WHIP of 1.30. I think we can expect a great second half from Andy.