Pittsburgh Pirates' Kevin Correia: Why He Loses at "Home"

The Pittsburgh Pirates' Kevin Correia is quite the road warrior.

Not since 1921 has a Pirate pitcher won his first five road starts. One would think that this might be the "ace" pitcher who the Pirates have been hoping to get—and for a song.

Except that Correia has an undistinguished past record. And when you look at his 0-3 record in PNC Park, you get a glimpse of that. His overall record this year is 5-3, much like Zach Duke's in one of his better years, which is not too bad.

One would expect a veteran pitcher like Correia to do relatively well on the road. That much he is doing. But why the poor showing in Pittsburgh? Usually, players do better at home than "away." And perhaps the reason is the PNC Park is not "home" to Correia, a transplant from the San Diego Padres.

But the more I think about it, it seems that "home" is the problem. Except that it is not at PNC Park, but as soon to be defined.

The data is a bit sparse, but here it is: Two of the losses in Correia's four losing starts (counting one no-decision) are against National League West teams, Los Angeles and Colorado. (A third is against Milwaukee, a Pirate bugaboo.) On the other hand, Correia has scored three of this victories against National League Central teams and a fourth against San Diego, which did not bat against him in 2009 or 2010.

Correia, who has been compared to Zach Duke, is a "finesse" pitcher like him. As such, he can do the job in a solid, if unspectacular fashion, until batters start figuring him out. The batters most likely to be in this category are the "home division" batters in the National League West.

That's why a change of venue to a National League Central team did Correia a lot of good.

Some people remember Duke's spectacular 2005 half-season debut. Almost like Correia, Duke won four of his first five road starts (with the fifth a no-decision). But it was downhill from there.

Duke also had his most spectacular recent successes outside his division—victories against National League East teams headed by Johan Santana and Roy Halladay. On the other hand, he generally fared poorly against National League Central teams that had "gotten used" to him.

One can expect the same from Correia over time, but let's hope it's a slow decline.

Despite being the Opening Day starter, Kevin Correia is not a true ace. But like the similarly situated Duke, he can be quite good, in spots, for a meaningful period of time.

For the $4 million a year he's being paid, that's not a bad deal.