Home with Jekyl and Away with Hyde
Seriously? Is this team really this bipolar?
The East-leading Sox hold the reins by two games, but this despite the enormous disparity between their home and away records. Inside Fenway they've managed to pitch, hit and throw their way to a 28-7 mark, best in all of baseball. On the heat-soaked trails of the summer road schedule they've floundered at 14-21, seven games under .500. Last night's 3-1 loss to Cincinnati perfectly represented the struggles they've had. We've managed to pick up decent starting pitching off every part of the farm and from underneath every rock in free agency... ok, well, not really, but we've been ok. Haven't we?
Let's look at the way our nine hold up to the rest of the major league baseball:
Batting average: 3rd
On-base percentage: 2nd
Slugging percentage: 4th
Earned runs: 12th best
Walks: 24th
Maybe that pitching hasn't been as stellar as we think. Manny Delcarmen, Mike Timlin and are each hovering around one hit per inning pitched (Timlin's actually higher than that). Craig Hansen, while impressing of late, has still given up 17 runs in only 18.1 IP. David Aardsma has been effective, though the ability to locate something other than a fastball would be very helpful in the second half, I'd imagine. Jonathan Papelbon has been his usual self, with the exception of those blown saves and all the "work opportunities" that Tito has handed him, much to the chagrin of my entire fantasy roster.
On the front end, the first-place run has been in spite of the fact that Curt Schilling, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Josh Beckett and Clay Buchholz have all spent or are currenty spending time on the DL. Justin Masterson and Bartolo Colon have filled in nicely, but the constant makeshift patchjobs are really going to have to end.
Offensively, we've all reveled in Manny's 500th home run hoopla, but we've seen Mike Lowell and now David Ortiz sit on the DL, taking a lot of pop out of the lineup. Julio Lugo has sucked more than anybody should suck at his payrate, while Coco Crisp has only managed to post an OBP that most players would want to improve as a batting average, a whopping .295! The overall effect of all the shuffling and power mitigation hasn't been too terrible, but this team has, as a whole, been lacking in overall clutchiness, if you will.
If you ask me (and so few people read this site, I doubt anyone really will) a big part of the home success has to be chalked up to the Fenway mystique. I can't explain it, but it works.
And they won tonight. That helps.
The East-leading Sox hold the reins by two games, but this despite the enormous disparity between their home and away records. Inside Fenway they've managed to pitch, hit and throw their way to a 28-7 mark, best in all of baseball. On the heat-soaked trails of the summer road schedule they've floundered at 14-21, seven games under .500. Last night's 3-1 loss to Cincinnati perfectly represented the struggles they've had. We've managed to pick up decent starting pitching off every part of the farm and from underneath every rock in free agency... ok, well, not really, but we've been ok. Haven't we?
Let's look at the way our nine hold up to the rest of the major league baseball:
Batting average: 3rd
On-base percentage: 2nd
Slugging percentage: 4th
Earned runs: 12th best
Walks: 24th
Maybe that pitching hasn't been as stellar as we think. Manny Delcarmen, Mike Timlin and are each hovering around one hit per inning pitched (Timlin's actually higher than that). Craig Hansen, while impressing of late, has still given up 17 runs in only 18.1 IP. David Aardsma has been effective, though the ability to locate something other than a fastball would be very helpful in the second half, I'd imagine. Jonathan Papelbon has been his usual self, with the exception of those blown saves and all the "work opportunities" that Tito has handed him, much to the chagrin of my entire fantasy roster.
On the front end, the first-place run has been in spite of the fact that Curt Schilling, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Josh Beckett and Clay Buchholz have all spent or are currenty spending time on the DL. Justin Masterson and Bartolo Colon have filled in nicely, but the constant makeshift patchjobs are really going to have to end.
Offensively, we've all reveled in Manny's 500th home run hoopla, but we've seen Mike Lowell and now David Ortiz sit on the DL, taking a lot of pop out of the lineup. Julio Lugo has sucked more than anybody should suck at his payrate, while Coco Crisp has only managed to post an OBP that most players would want to improve as a batting average, a whopping .295! The overall effect of all the shuffling and power mitigation hasn't been too terrible, but this team has, as a whole, been lacking in overall clutchiness, if you will.
If you ask me (and so few people read this site, I doubt anyone really will) a big part of the home success has to be chalked up to the Fenway mystique. I can't explain it, but it works.
And they won tonight. That helps.
Labels: 2008 Season
Ryan Brodeur at 9:57 PM
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