OK time to fire up the FanPost machine.  Mostly I just wanted to throw some dap to Jeremy Bonderman and his solid start to the 2010 campaign.  And what better way to do that than to compare him favorably to the ersatz ace of the staff, Justin Verlander?  Stats after the jump (courtesy of fangraphs).

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I've been meaning to type this up as a FanPost for a while, mostly because it's a pretty good discussion topic.  Since we are all baseball fans (I assume) and the readership spans pretty much from sea to shining sea (and something about purple mountains and their majesty), I figure we've been to a fair amount of MLB stadiums as a group.  So now is your chance to write your thoughts of the various venues for baseballing you've experienced!  My list is below (from worst-to-first)

Veterans Stadium (Philadelphia, PA):  The worst piece of crap imaginable.  From the era of cookie cutter, multi-use concrete slabs of conformity comes The Vet.  But hey, if the smell of stale beer and fresh urine is your thing, well this was the stadium for you.  Thankfully, the South Philly stadium complex has gotten much better.  More on that in a minute.

Miller Park (Milwaukee, WI): Not an altogether bad place to watch a game.  From the outside it looks a bit like some sort of giant space vulva crash landed in the middle of Wisconsin.  Great tailgating scene in the parking lots (mmm...brats).  Brewers fans are a nice group of folk.  The inside is a bit sterile, particularly if the roof is closed.  My experience was ruined when Rickie Weeks took Joel Zumaya deep for a Brewers win.  On the plus side, I ate for the cycle (brat, hot dog, italian sausage, polish sausage).

Minute Maid Park (Houston, TX): Setting aside the fact that the building is located in Houston, an experience at the Juice Box is definitely memorable.  I wouldn't say it's really a great ballpark, but it's definitely different.  A little gimmicky for my taste with the hill and the train and whatnot.  And I'm pretty sure I could hit a ball into the Crawford Boxes, which are something like 220 feet from home plate.

Fenway Park (Boston, MA): Everybody gets their panties into a bunch over this one, and I'm not exactly sure why.  The seats are uncomfortable (particularly if you're 6'3" like myself), there are obstructed views from approximately 98% of the seats and the concourses remind me of a WWII bomb shelter.  But they've got the big wall and the pole and the history, so I guess it's got that going for it.  Related note:  peeing in a trough = not fun.

Memorial Stadium (Baltimore, MD): Another deceased edifice.  Not really a particularly memorable park, but approximately 986 times better to watch a game there than at The Vet.

Camden Yards (Baltimore, MD): Now this is more like it.  The original of the retro-style ballparks, the O's yard became a model for numerous stadiums to come.  The warehouse is a nice touch, and there's really not a bad seat in the place.  I was there when they were filming a scene from the movie Dave.  So, yeah, I'm in that flick.  I haven't gotten my SAG card in the mail yet, for some reason.

The Ballpark in Arlington (Arlington, TX):  I've been to this one more than any other park, so it gets bonus points for familiarity.  This one opened just a couple years after Camden, and in my opinion they did a better job with it.  Awesome sight lines, visually pleasing architecture and you're most definitely sure that you are in Texas when you watch a game there.  I'm wicked pissed that they removed the hand operated scoreboard last year, though.  Oh, if you go to a game here, don't bother buying a ticket for the lower bowl.  Just get an upper deck seat for $6 and go sit wherever you want.  The ushers don't really give a crap.  They're just happy you're there.

Citizens Bank Park (Philadelphia, PA): This one is the gold standard.  It's just awesome.  You're really right on top of the action.  You can see the game from just about anywhere as you're walking around the concourses, Ashburn Alley has some great food and being there just feels like an event - it's always a sellout and the Philly fans are, you know, enthusiastic.  Just try to not get vomited on.  Bonus:  I was there in '07 when the Tigers were in town, and they took 2-of-3.  Good deal.  Also, this was the start immediately after Verlander's no-no.  I only bring this up because I was also at his start immediately before the no-no in Texas.  So yeah, thanks Justin.  I guess.

You may have noticed that Justin Verlander had himself a fair-to-middlin’ season in 2009.  After a sucktacular 2008, JV rebounded to finish 3rd in the AL Cy Young race and led the league with eleventy billion strikeouts while notching career highs in W’s with 19 and ERA at 3.45.  Though I guess that last one is technically a career low, but whatever.  I’m also sure you noticed that Mr. Verlander also had a bit of a problem with damage control, frequently getting lit for 3+ runs before you could blink.  If you’re like me, the fingernail chomping began in about the 5th inning whenever runners reached base.  You just hoped it wouldn’t be one of those innings.  Anyway, that brings me to the point of all this:  were Justin's "big" innings in line with his peers, or does he really have a problem with That One Inning?  Because, after all, I don’t trust my lyin’ eyes.

I decided to take a look at JV’s 2009 game logs compared to those of Zack Greinke, Felix Hernandez, Roy Halladay and CC Sabathia.  Call me a homer, but I considered these guys his “peers” this season.  For the purposes of this research, I counted innings where the pitcher gave up 3+ runs (earned or not – just straight runs).  Then using the complicated mathematical formula known as “division”, I figured the % big innings vs. total innings pitched and the % of total runs allowed as the result of those innings.  Disclaimer:  some of these runs were inherited runners that the bullpen let score.  I didn’t really know what to do with those.  Check it out:

JV: 15 innings allowing 3+ runs (out of 240).  6% of all innings pitched were “big”.  52 runs allowed in those 15 innings (99 total runs allowed).  53% of all runs allowed were during “big” innings.  Wow.

FH: 7 Big Innings (out of 239, or 3%).  23 runs scored in Big Innings (out of 81 runs allowed, or 28%)

ZG: 4 Big Innings (out of 229, 1.7%...yeah, he was real good).  14 runs scored in Big Innings (64 runs allowed, 22%)

RH:  4 Big Innings (out of 239, 1.6%...enjoy him, Philly).  14 runs scored in Big Innings (82 allowed, 17%)

CC:  14 Big Innings (out of 230, 6%).  47 runs scored in Big Innings (96 allowed, 49%)

So what does this all mean?  Well, first of all my suspicions were confirmed – JV was more susceptible to allowing multiple runs than the other Cy Young candidates.  Only Fatty was even close in that department.  If JV can go to the Doc Holliday school of limiting the damage while keeping his K/BB rate where it was in ’09, the sky is the limit for the Pride of Goochland.