I’ve said
it before, and I’ll say it again: I hate the Blue Jays more than the Yankees.
Those jerkfaces!
So the Sox
are 23-34
against Toronto
dating back to 2005 — the most wins by any opponent.
Coincidentally,
as someone point out on Sons of Sam Horn last night, the Jays are 23-34 versus
the Yankees in the same time period.
How nice.
At least Frank
Thomas is on my fantasy team!
But, alas, so
is Josh Beckett.
Anyway. A
shitty trip from start to finish. (The trip to Canada, that is. I’m still glad they
went to Japan. Maybe a little bit less of a dog-and-pony show upon their
return stateside would’ve been nice. And yeah, I have no doubt they’re hurting,
but Papelbon
should’ve shut his trap.)
That’s all
in the rear-view mirror now.
Home
cooking tonight. (Literally — I just saw Javier Lopez stocking up at the Boylston Street
Star Market.)
And “rings
and clean underwear” tomorrow.
Hopefully
it all will give ‘em the jolt they need, because after that it’s 20 straight
games against the cream of the American League.
There’s
reason for hope. Lugo’s
looking logey, but Beckett felt
good and Buchholz did
OK, and JD Drew
is, improbably, the hottest hitter on the team.
Now the
question is: are the Tigers ready to lose nine in row?
Etc.
I was lucky
enough to interview
Bill James last week, who had some interesting things to say the coming impact
of Lester, Ellsbury, et al, about Big
Papi’s baserunning prowess, and
about his own baseball obsession. (I was only allowed 15 minutes with him...the
exhaustive Freakonomics
Q&A, which must’ve taken him all day, is definitely also worth a read.)
If you
haven’t already, definitely sign up his new site, Bill James Online. For just three bucks
a month, you’ll
get unfettered access to the vast depth of his cogitation and curiosity.
Here’s just
one tiny iota of the knowledge that might be gleaned there.
Bill, I thought I'd
throw this one at you if only because it involves the composition of the
current Red Sox offense, and so perhaps you've already thought about it. I was
surprised to see that only one Sock last year — Papi — scored more than 86
runs. Pedroia (.380 OBP) scored 86, Youkilis (.390) scored 85, Manny (.388)
scored 84, and Lowell (.378) scored 79. All four of these played between 133
(Manny) and 154 (Lowell) games, and only Lowell is very slow
(although Manny is probably not a great baserunner.) The Tigers scored only 20
more runs on the year, but had four guys over 100 runs scored, plus Guillen
with 86. The Yanks scored 101 more runs on the year, certainly a big
difference, but had *seven* players over 90, including four over 100. Do you
agree that the Sox' distribution of individual runs scored is unusual? If so,
do you attribute it to characteristics of the Sox' players, style of play, or
batting orders; or to more frequent off-days and less reliance on the
"front line"; or to luck; or something else?
I
would attribute it to batting order primarily. Coco Crisp, our
leadoff man at the start of the year, battled injuries and bounced out of the
leadoff spot. Youklis, Pedroia, J. D. Drew and Lugo all jumped in
and out of the 1-2 spots in the batting order. . .Youkilis, because he CAN bat
anywhere in the lineup and so does, Pedroia, because Terry was trying to keep the
pressure off of him at the start of the year and so didn't move him to the top
of the order until he started to hit, Drew, because we were trying to get his
bat started, and Lugo, because his speed allows him to be a top-of-the-order
hitter against lefties.
The Internet
is a big place. So maybe mean
ol’ Murray Chass can set up his own online venture now that he’s reportedly
got a
lot more free time on his hands?
Uh,
doubtful.
(Check in tomorrow for photos and comments before and after the game!)