Colbra Lewis strikes!

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Colby Lewis can't lose ... well, he can

Delving into the Texas Rangers pitching staff.



This was a very important year for Colby Lewis in the big, grand picture of things.



He had to take 2011 and prove to the world that 2010 wasn't a fluke. That he wasn't a guy expelled to Japan only to catch lightning in the bottle. He had to prove the Rangers right the notion that he's not a Major League wrong.



Just taking things at face value, it feels like Lewis is having a pretty similar year as 2010. I know it doesn't feel like it, but Lewis wasn't a shining example of pitching a year ago. He wasn't Don Drysdale.



He allowed a lot of hits, a lot of runs, but he was a horse getting to 200 innings, being consistent and pitching great in the post-season.



Most of his numbers are on par with 2010. He's allowed a lot more home runs (31 this year, 21 last), his BAA is up (.244 this year, .227 last), but otherwise he's on pace to match or come close to a number of categories compared to last year.



The biggest differences I see are his numbers against lefties and his home-road splits.



Last season, Lewis was effective against righties and lefties.



Lefties hit in 2010:

.239 BAA - .695 OPS



Lefties hit in 2011:

.280 BAA - .855 OPS



The same tendency is happening with home-road splits. A year ago, he was consistent at the Ballpark and on the road. This year, he's it may explain a lot of the inconsistency. He's bad at the Ballpark:



At Ballpark in 2010:

3.41 ERA



Away in 2010:

3.95 ERA



At Ballpark in 2011:

5.56 ERA



Away in 2011:

2.71 ERA



As good as it feels for him to be excellent on the road, it's odd that he's is simply awful on the home field in front of the home fans.



Some other fun Lewis stats:



Pitches Per Inning

2010: 16.4

2011: 16



Strikeouts Per 9

2010: 8.78

2011: 7.34



Strikeout/Walk Ratio

2010: 3.02

2011: 2.92



Not huge changes. Interesting that we think Lewis is a little worse this year, yet so many statistics are relatively the same. Still, there's slight dips in a lot of areas.



This brings us to who is catching him. There is a method to Ron Washington's madness. Of Lewis' 27 starts, Yorvit Torrealba's caught all but three (those three going to Mike Napoli).



The breakdown:

	IP	Hits	RA	Runs	HRs	BBs	Ks	Record
Yorvit Torrealba	156.2	141	4.37	76	29	43	133	10.7.7
Mike Napoli	15.1	19	5.36	9	2	5	7	1-2-0
Total	172	160	4.46	85	31	48	140	11-9-7

We can't take too much from this. It's clear that Torrealba due to relationships, comfort or merely not overworking someone else is going to catch Lewis. There's not room to deviate from the idea that he'd be better with Napoli behind the plate.



I do know that Napoli was behind the disc during Lewis' shortest start (1.1 IP), but only after Torrealba caught his other shortest start (3.1 IP).



Also, when Lewis loses, he really loses. He has seven no-decisions and I count two in which he probably got screwed out of a win due to the bullpen or lack of run support. There's also another two losses that were well pitched, he just was unlucky.

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