Interesting Stats Time!
Written by Michael Christopher of http://www.soxaddict.org
Posted at 11:04 am on May 25, 2010
Filed Under 2010 Season | Leave a Comment
The Sox have seemingly turned it around as of late so we’re going to take a look at some feel-good stats:
3 – The total amount of triples hit by the team. None of them came from Jacoby Ellsbury. All of them came from Kevin Youkilis.
.850 – Darnell McDonald’s OPS with runners in scoring position.
28.1 – The percentage of plate appearances against Daniel Bard that have resulted in Bard striking out the hitter.
1.118 – Jason Varitek’s OPS on the season. He is thriving in his role as Victor Martinez‘ back-up as he has jacked a HR once every 8 at-bats.
0 – The amount of times a Red Sox player has kicked dirt on an opposing player this season.
15 – Runs that Jeremy Hermida has driven in with 2 outs and RISP. He’s got a 1.029 OPS in 20 at-bats while hitting in that situation.
Tim Wakefield: Milestone Hunter
Written by Michael Christopher of http://www.soxaddict.org
Posted at 7:45 pm on May 18, 2010
Filed Under 2010 Season | 2 Comments
Last week old man river Tim Wakefield notched the 2,000th strikeout of his career. Think about that number for a second. It puts him behind only three active pitchers in strikeouts: Jamie Moyer, Javier Vazquez and Andy Pettitte.
His 1,892 strikeouts in a Red Sox uniform puts him at 2nd place on the franchise list for most K’s. That isn’t the only record he is creeping up on as he only needs 17 more wins to tie Cy Young and Roger Clemens for most in club history (192).
Sure, he also owns the record for most walks allowed (1,021), home-runs given up (363), wild pitches (105), earned runs (1,333) and losses (152) but there is something to be said for the reliability that Tim Wakefield provides a manager. He has selflessly done anything that has been asked of him whether it be starting, long-relief in the bullpen, or even being a closer. There have been an insane amount of surgeries and procedures done just to keep a baseball in his hand. For every happy moment there have been a handful of moments that would have convinced lesser men to retire (Aaron Bleeping Boone? Being left off the ’07 World Series roster?) Not Wakefield though, he took it in stride and even signed a one-of-a-kind contract with the Red Sox that would have lasted until the end of time as long as both parties agreed.
In case you can’t tell, I’m a pretty big fan of Tim Wakefield. I am pulling for him to take over the lead in wins by a Boston player. Unfortunately, it’s not looking good. He hasn’t gotten a win since July 8, 2009. Last night he was only a few outs away until Jonathan Papelbon did something he hasn’t done in 22 straight regular season chances: he blew a save.
Yes, it’s frustrating to watch as a fan. Yes, we all want to smack Papelbon upside the head or yell at the offense when they don’t provide any run support. But you know what? It probably doesn’t matter to him how many wins he ends up with when he retires. The reason we love Tim Wakefield is because he is a classy stand-up guy and he puts his team first.
As the season goes on and the bullpen blows more leads, just try to keep one thing in mind: What would Tim Wakefield do?
Dale Scott had someplace to be
Written by Michael Christopher of http://www.soxaddict.org
Posted at 7:06 pm on May 12, 2010
Filed Under 2010 Season | 2 Comments
The Red Sox had a chance this afternoon to go for a 3 game sweep of the Blue Jays. Unfortunately home plate umpire Dale Scott had other plans in mind. Check out this strike-zone plot of the bottom of the 9th inning provided by Brooks Baseball:
The inning saw David Ortiz take a called 3rd strike 8 inches off the plate. The next hitter, Adrian Beltre, checked his swing and asked for some help from the 1st base umpire when Dale Scott improperly called it a strike. The arrogance of Scott took over and he refused to ask for a second opinion. Terry Francona came out to argue and was promptly tossed.
The call on Beltre ended up not meaning much but the absurd strikeout on Ortiz definitely affected the game. These plays were in the bottom of the 9th alone. The other 8 innings saw a handful of balls called strikes including a few at-bats that left JD Drew just shaking his head in amazement.
Dale Scott’s insane strikezone was all over the place for both teams and didn’t really cause the Red Sox to lose the game but the point remains that players should dictate the final result, not an umpire. Here is what a few people had to say about the game:
Dustin Pedroia on why it seemed like the umpire was trying to rush the 9th inning: “They must have had a flight. I’m going to check on that. We’re going to make sure it’s delayed. I have that kind of pull.”
David Ortiz on the called 3rd strike outside the zone: “Thank God I wasn’t hitting right-handed because that would have hit me in the ribs.”
Tom Caron: “The assist [on the Blue Jays' win] goes to Dale Scott.”
Red Sox Charity Wine Event
Written by Michael Christopher of http://www.soxaddict.org
Posted at 5:14 pm on May 12, 2010
Filed Under Baseball Miscellaneous | 3 Comments
Yesterday I was lucky enough to be able to attend the unveiling of this year’s Red Sox charity wines. If you’re not familiar with how these charity wines work, they are named after an athlete and all proceeds go to a charity of the player’s choice. This year’s bottles were on display for the first time ever yesterday.
The Chardon-K is a light white wine named after Josh Beckett. Beckett wasn’t able to attend the launch because he “tweaked” his back swinging a bat the day before (he’s trying to get ready to hit his 3rd HR in a Red Sox uniform during interleague play.) Jason Oberle, the executive director of the Josh Beckett Foundation, was around to give a statement on Josh’s behalf. Money raised from the wine will go to the foundation and be used to help the community.
Ellsbury’s bottle, ZinfandEllsbury, was a heavy red wine. He hung around for a while and answered a ton of questions. The most important ones were about the charities he is helping out: Project Bread, The Ellsbury-Read Character Strength Project and the Navajo Relief Fund. Jacoby spoke a lot about the Navajo Relief Fund and how dire things are on the reservations. More than 40% of the people there are struggling in poverty, half of them don’t have jobs, and suicide is well above the national average. He was given a Navajo turquoise bracelet after he was done speaking and the whole thing was pretty heart-warming.
Everyone there was given a chance to try a glass (or six, in my case) of both kinds of wine. I thought that Beckett’s Chardon-K was better than the ZinfandEllsbury but my idea of a fancy drink is pouring a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon into a glass so don’t take my word for it. The best way to find out which wine you’ll like more is to snag a bottle of both. You’ll be helping out some worthy charities and even if you don’t like to drink you’ll still end up with a pretty sweet Sox souvenir.
Hit up your local packie (err.. liquor store?) soon or order a few bottles online. It’s worth it.
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Ian from Sox and Dawgs got a bunch of video from the event if you’re interested and we managed to get a clip of Jacoby talking as well.
Boston’s bats are awake!
Written by Michael Christopher of http://www.soxaddict.org
Posted at 11:55 pm on May 3, 2010
Filed Under 2010 Season | Leave a Comment
Tonight the Sox hammered out 20 hits, drew 6 walks, and scored 17 runs. Clay Buchholz and Scott Schoeneweis‘ struggles on the mound proved inconsequential as the team cruised to victory.
What better to follow up a win with than a little inspirational speech? Rob Bradford reports on WEEI that Dustin Pedroia gave just that after the game:
“To the fans of New England,
Everybody can be (expletive) happy when you’re (expletive) 30-and-1, but what is everybody going to do when we’re 12-and-14. Are you going to show up to work the next day and write an (expletive) story. Hell no. You’re going to write the best story of your life. We’re going to try and play the best (expletive) game of our life tomorrow. That’s what you’ve got to do when you’re 12-and-14. Don’t put your head down and mope. Grind it out. You believe. That’s what we’re built on.”
I love Dustin Pedroia. I love that he never gives up and I love that he sticks up for his teammates. It also doesn’t hurt that he’s a Gold Glover with a (after tonight’s game) .876 OPS and 6 HR. Of all the players on the team, I can honestly say he is tops on the list of guys that I’m not worried about “playing the best *bleeping* games of their life.” Fortunately there will be no worrying or complaining of any kind from me tonight with the Sox, Bruins, and Celtics all picking up wins.
High points in tonight’s victory:
Adrian Beltre‘s first HR of 2010
JD Drew goes 4-5 with 3 RBI
Mike Lowell goes 4-4 with 4 RBI and a walk
Clay Buchholz picks off Torii Hunter
Victor Martinez throws out 2 runners with decent speed (Hunter and Maicer Izturis)
Every member of the starting 9 had a hit, with 7 guys having multiple hits
It was talked about quite a bit on NESN tonight that the team had one of their closed door/player only meetings earlier today. I always find it intriguing to watch how a team plays after these pow-wows and tonight the Red Sox offensively dominated. More meetings? Yes please.
Bye Bye Alan Embree
Written by Michael Christopher of http://www.soxaddict.org
Posted at 2:51 pm on May 1, 2010
Filed Under 2010 Season | Leave a Comment
I realize that at the moment, the bullpen looks a little bit like a derailed train carrying hazardous materials. I also realize that Alan Embree is a southpaw that has a history of getting out both righties AND lefties. Neither of those things really seemed to matter as the club sung Bye Bye Birdie to Embree yesterday night as they designated him for assignment. Taking his spot on the roster and making the start tonight against the Orioles will be Daisuke Matsuzaka.
Embree had been signed to a minor league deal on March 20th. His contract gave him a chance to opt-out by April 15th if he wasn’t called up to the big leagues but he decided to extend the ‘due date’ until April 30th. He was finally called up only to sit idle in the pen for a 5-4 Sox loss then promptly be DFA’ed.
Was keeping Scott Schoeneweis over Alan Embree a good decision? It’s pretty hard to tell right now as both of their careers have taken pretty similar paths but Schoeneweis is almost 3 years younger than Embree so he’s got that going for him at least.
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