Tigers 5 - A's 1

Last night the Tigers took it to the A's in the first game of the ALCS. Barry Zito was the starter for the A's and he got knocked around (5 ER on 7 hits and 3 walks in 3 and 2/3 innings). After Zito out-dueled Johan Santana in the ALDS and the Yankees lost - the "experts" crowed that Zito just earned himself an extra $5 million a year from the Yankees. That line of thinking begs the question - did last night's egg cost him a couple of million a year?

To me Barry Zito has always been a more glamorous Tim Wakefield. Both are innings eating pitchers who rely on offspeed pitches (Zito his sweeping curveball and Wakefield his knuckleball). Both have a tendency to give up a HR (Zito has averaged one per 9.77 innings and Wakefield one per every 7.72 innings) and both have a less than 2-1 career strikeout to walk ratio. Both also have similar WHIP's (Zito 1.25 and Wakefield 1.36).

If Wakefield's knuckleball isn't fooling anyone - chances are good that he'll get shelled. If Zito's curve isn't fooling batters - chances are he'll get shelled too (like last night).

Most of the stats are clearly in Zito's favor but one that isn't may end up being the most important. In his career - Wakefield has an ERA of just 3.15 at Yankee Stadium while Zito has an ERA of 4.24. Don't get me wrong - an ERA of 4.24 at Yankee Stadium vs that great Yankee lineup is pretty impressive - just not Tim Wakefield impressive.

Please don't take this post as a knock on Barry Zito. I just wanted to point out that some Yankee fans may think they're getting the next Sandy Koufax but in reality - they're getting the next Tim Wakefield (and for $15 million plus per year - you'd expect closer to Koufax). This is assuming that Zito signs with the Yankees.