Bullpen v. Bullpen: no starting pitchers in Houston tonight. J.A. Happ should tell Yankees: "If I ain't starting, I ain't departing."

So, it comes to this. In game six of the semifinal (ALCS) neither the Houston Astros nor the New York Yankees feels that it has a starting pitcher good enough to use in that role tonight. Here's how it's gone so far:

1. Saturday, October 12, 2019 in Houston: Yankees 7, Astros 0
2. Sunday, October 13, 2019 in Houston: Astros 3, Yankees 2 in 11 innings
off day
3. Tuesday, October 15, 2019 in New York: Astros 4, Yankees 1
rain out
4. Thursday, October 17, 2019 in New York: Astros 8, Yankees 3
5. Friday, October 18, 2019 in New York: Yankees 4, Astros 1
6. Saturday night in Houston
7. Sunday night in Houston

Starting pitchers so far:

Houston: Greinke, Verlander, Cole, Greinke, Verlander

Name	G	GS ▼	ERA	W	L	SV	CG	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	WHIP	WPA	G	GS	ERA	W	L	SV	IP	H	BB	SO	WHIP
Zack Greinke	2	2	3.48	0	1	0	0	10.1	10	4	4	4	11	1.355	0.05	*33	33	2.93	18	5	0	208.2	175	30	187	0.982
Justin Verlander	2	2	3.95	0	1	0	0	13.2	10	6	6	2	16	0.878	-0.01	34	34	2.58	21	6	0	223.0	137	42	300	0.803
Gerrit Cole	1	1	0.00	1	0	0	0	7.0	4	0	0	5	7	1.286	0.41	33	33	2.50	20	5	0	212.1	142	48	326	0.895

New York: Tanaka, Paxton, Severino, Tanaka, Paxton

Name	G	GS ▼	ERA	W	L	SV	CG	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	WHIP	WPA	G	GS	ERA	W	L	SV	IP	H	BB	SO	WHIP
James Paxton	2	2	2.16	1	0	0	0	8.1	8	2	2	6	12	1.680	0.16	29	29	3.82	15	6	0	150.2	138	55	186	1.281
Masahiro Tanaka	2	2	2.45	1	1	0	0	11.0	5	4	3	3	5	0.727	0.26	32	31	4.45	11	9	0	182.0	186	40	149	1.242
Luis Severino	1	1	4.15	0	1	0	0	4.1	5	2	2	3	6	1.846	-0.04	3	3	1.50	1	1	0	12.0	6	6	17	1.000

Cole and Severino are scheduled to start game seven Sunday, if necessary.

Each team has another starting pitcher on the roster, who has pitched an inning in relief in this series:
Houston: Brad Peacock in 2019 has not started since June, only 7 innings since:

Split	W	L	W-L%	ERA	G	GS	GF	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	BK	WP	BF	WHIP	SO9	SO/W
Home	4	3	.571	4.08	13	9	0	0	0	0	53.0	48	24	24	10	17	0	58	4	1	0	225	1.226	9.8	3.41
Away	3	3	.500	4.19	10	6	1	0	0	0	38.2	30	19	18	5	14	0	38	1	0	1	158	1.138	8.8	2.71

New York: J.A. Happ in 2019:

Split	W	L	W-L%	ERA	G	GS	GF	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	BK	WP	BF	WHIP	SO9	SO/W
Home	7	6	.538	5.01	16	16	0	0	0	0	82.2	93	46	46	18	22	1	67	3	0	1	352	1.391	7.3	3.05
Away	5	2	.714	4.81	15	14	0	0	0	0	78.2	67	42	42	16	27	0	73	2	0	2	326	1.195	8.4	2.70

The Yankees reluctance to start Happ is especially odd because:
- Happ started 30 games in 2019
- Yankees signed him as a free agent for 2019 and 2020: $17 million each year
- Happ had his lowest ERA in Sept/Oct

Split	W	L	W-L%	ERA	G	GS	GF	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	BK	WP	BF	WHIP	SO9	SO/W
April/March	1	2	.333	4.68	6	6	0	0	0	0	32.2	33	17	17	7	8	0	24	0	0	0	136	1.255	6.6	3.00
May	4	1	.800	4.99	6	6	0	0	0	0	30.2	29	17	17	8	7	1	31	3	0	0	125	1.174	9.1	4.43
June	2	1	.667	6.43	4	4	0	0	0	0	21.0	27	15	15	5	4	0	11	0	0	0	93	1.476	4.7	2.75
July	1	2	.333	5.04	5	5	0	0	0	0	25.0	30	14	14	4	9	0	23	0	0	0	111	1.560	8.3	2.56
August	3	2	.600	7.30	5	5	0	0	0	0	24.2	23	20	20	8	12	0	23	2	0	2	108	1.419	8.4	1.92
Sept/Oct	1	0	1.000	1.65	5	4	0	0	0	0	27.1	18	5	5	2	9	0	28	0	0	1	105	0.988	9.2	3.11

Why is J.A. Happ on the Yankee roster if the Yankees will not start him in a game in which he is their only rested starting pitcher? Yankee starting pitchers with at least 100 innings in 2019:

Rk	Pos	Name	Age	W	L	W-L%	ERA	G	GS	GF	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	BK	WP	BF	ERA+	FIP	WHIP	H9	HR9	BB9	SO9	SO/W
1	SP	Masahiro Tanaka	30	11	9	.550	4.45	32	31	0	1	1	0	182.0	186	95	90	28	40	0	149	2	0	7	759	100	4.27	1.242	9.2	1.4	2.0	7.4	3.73
2	SP	J.A. Happ*	36	12	8	.600	4.91	31	30	0	0	0	0	161.1	160	88	88	34	49	1	140	5	0	3	678	90	5.22	1.295	8.9	1.9	2.7	7.8	2.86
3	SP	James Paxton*	30	15	6	.714	3.82	29	29	0	0	0	0	150.2	138	71	64	23	55	0	186	2	1	7	633	116	3.86	1.281	8.2	1.4	3.3	11.1	3.38
4	SP	Domingo German	26	18	4	.818	4.03	27	24	0	0	0	0	143.0	125	69	64	30	39	0	153	5	0	5	594	110	4.72	1.147	7.9	1.9	2.5	9.6	3.92
5	SP	CC Sabathia*	38	5	8	.385	4.95	23	22	0	0	0	0	107.1	112	64	59	27	39	0	107	3	0	0	468	90	5.66	1.407	9.4	2.3	3.3	9.0	2.74

In both innings and number of starts Happ is second only to Tanaka.

The Yankees intend to use only their relief pitchers tonight. OK, then why don't they start their best relief pitcher, lefty Aroldis Chapman against the top of the order. Then relieve Chapman with their second best relief pitcher: lefty Zack Britton. Or mix lefty, righty, lefty. But start with Chapman. Show some imagination.

There does not seem to be much consistency other than analytics. Yeah, we're going with analytics. Oh, we've got plenty of analytics.

Why didn't J.A. Happ show some gumption and tell the Yankees:

"If I ain't starting, I ain't departing." -Garry Templeton, Cardinals shortstop on turning down his All-Star Game selection as a reserve unless he was voted a starter by the fans ... about 40 years ago.