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2008 Astros Pitchers and their Transition Inning Performance

It may be small potatoes in the long run, but Astros pitchers allowed the fewest runs per nine innings during "transition" innings than any team in the NL. "Transition" innings are those innings where a manager sends his starter out there, pulls him, and then goes to bullpen before the inning is over. In 64 such innings, the Astros allowed 95 runs. Expressed in terms of RA/9, it's 13.4. Here's the NL chart from Baseball Prospectus 2009:

Team IP R RA/9 Leads Lost
Astros 64 95 13.4 3
Cubs 55 82 13.4 7
Giants 64 109 15.3 6
Dodgers 60 104 15.6 3
Marlins 54 96 16.0 5

Braves

55 98 16.0 4
Mets 62 111 16.1 7
Cardinals 55 101 16.5 3
Brewers 55 106 17.4 5
Phillies 66 130 17.7 8
Reds 59 121 18.5 4
Pirates 61 126 18.6 3
D-Backs 45 94 18.8 4
Padres 52 109 18.9 6
Nationals 58 125 19.4 9
Rockies 68 165 21.8 9

What we can also see, is that Cecil Cooper was more willing than most to give his starter the hook in the middle of an inning. Our bullpen was highly effective in 2008, as the low number of leads surrenders begins to indicate, but it was also overused. With two aging set up men, and a long reliever coming off elbow surgery, it will be important for Cooper to judiciously use his bullpen arms.