I tend to make a lot of wild claims and I don’t typically have any sort of evidence to back them up.  Most of the time, I’d just like to think that I’m right.  I never actually take the time to seek out the truth.  If you haven’t noticed, this is not a website governed by sabermetrics.

Whenever I see that Cole Hamels is pitching in a day game, I mildly groan.  I only ever want him to pitch at night.  Now, I don’t know why I think that, I just do.  I can remember him losing 2 playoff games (2007 and 2010) that were during the day.  I feel like he always struggles during the day.  This time I actually looked it up.  These stats are courtesy of www.baseball-reference.com/ (which is an incredible website).

The unmitigated proof.

Cole simply does much better in night games.  His W/L percentage, ERA, WHIP, SO/BB ratio, and SO/9 are all better at night.  When he was picked to pitch in the home opener this year, a day game, I smh’d.  For a team that analyzes stats like crazy, it seemed like a no brainer to have him start one of the night games.  Cole lost the home opener by giving up 4 runs (3 earned) in 5.1 innings.  I never expect much out of him when he pitches before 7pm.  Hopefully today doesn’t play out that way.  But, the real lesson here is just always believe everything I say.

Get your head in the game!