I guess it's true what they say, that if you're a starter, it's better to be treated well by your hitters than by your bullpen.
Certainly Wandy would agree with that. The day after Biggio, Taveras, and Co. treated him to eight runs of support, I took a look at how well the bullpens have treated our starters, from an inherited runners/scored perspective.
And in that stat, the Wandy Power™ looks like it's been a little absent.
Keep in mind this doesn't factor in what the bullpen has allowed on its own, which is plenty, thank you. "Beq. R," or "bequeathed runners" are runners that the starter left on when he was yanked, "Beq. RS" are those whom the bullpen allowed to come around.
Pen support is thus, according to Baseball Prospectus, from whom I kiped this info,
the number of additional runs charged to the starting pitcher that his bullpen allowed to score after he left the game, compared to an average bullpen. Negative Pen Support means the bullpen prevented more runs from scoring than an average pen (i.e. the pitcher's ERA looks better than it should because of good bullpen support).
| Starter | W | L | Beq. R |
Beq. RS |
Pen Support |
Run Support |
| Wandy Rodriguez | 6 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 1.753 | 6.86 |
| Brandon Backe | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.000 | 6.75 |
| Fernando Nieve | 1 | 2 | 7 | 2 | -0.228 | 4.59 |
| Taylor Buchholz | 3 | 3 | 8 | 2 | -0.683 | 3.44 |
| Roy Oswalt | 5 | 3 | 8 | 2 | -1.050 | 5.96 |
| Andy Pettitte | 3 | 5 | 4 | 0 | -1.071 | 3.45 |
Hard to believe, but it could actually be worse for Andy. . . .