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Home Cooking Gets Sox Back On TrackMay 6th, 2008
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Before landing in the Motor City late Sunday night for the start of a four-game tilt against the Tigers, the Red Sox put the finishing touches on a weekend sweep of the Tampa Bay Rays with a 7-3 win, returning the disfavor from seven days ago while capping off a successful 5-1 homestand.
After pitching their way to a series win against the Toronto Blue Jays, the Boston bats finally woke up following a six game slumber (four runs over their last 54 innings) that produced a line score more representative of binary code than an actual offense.
Outscoring the Rays 26-10 over the three-game set, the Sox improved their record to 20-13 and, for the little it’s worth this early in a season, recaptured sole possession of first place in the AL East.
Now, if only the Sox could figure out how to fit Fenway Park in the cargo hold of their private charter.
At 14-5, the Red Sox own the best home winning percentage in all of baseball; however, the team sits under .500 at 6-8 on the road through Sunday’s games—a mark that must have Jack Kerouac rolling over in his grave.
As has been the trend in the past, the Sox offense has continued to thrive before the Boston faithful this season. Averaging 5.6 runs per home game with a run differential of 35, the club has batted .305 and posted a .386 on-base percentage while accumulating 68 extra-base hits, a tally inundated by an onslaught of doubles—53, to be exact— within the friendly confines of Fenway Park, totals that top the rest of the AL when it comes to home cooking through Sunday’s slate of games.
And while typically falling more towards the middle of the pack in the AL in terms of road production in previous years (6th in runs scored and OPS in 2007; then 9th and 6th, respectively, in 2006), this season’s rendition of the Sox lineup has, thus far, bottomed out when playing the role of the road warrior, scoring just a shade under four runs per contest while giving up nearly five.
With Boston set to begin their longest road trip of the season up to this point—a ten-gamer through Detroit, Minnesota, and Baltimore—perhaps a selection out of the Mad Max trilogy would have been a wise choice for the in-flight flick on route to Motown.
Rotation Settling In
Prior to the start of the Detroit series on Monday, the Red Sox rotation has had itself a nice little run of pitching dominance.
The combination of Clay Buchholz (two starts), Josh Beckett (two), Jon Lester (two), Daisuke Matsuzaka (one), and Tim Wakefield (one) has pitched 56 and one-third innings over the past eight games, allowing 12 earned runs (1.92 ERA) on 32 hits while striking out 48 and walking 21 batters.
In all, the Boston pitching staff’s 4.13 earned run average ranks seventh in the AL through Sunday’s games. Although leading the league in strikeouts (233) and ranking second in opponents batting average against (.242), the staff has issued an average of four walks per game and surrendered 32 home runs—a recipe for the occasional disaster.
Speaking of walks, what do Fozzie Bear and Matsuzaka have in common? Well, they both have a tendency to … wocka, wocka, wocka! I think even Statler and Waldorf would approve of that one.
Stealing Runs, Saving Outs
For years a franchise known for its ability to out-slug their opponents… yet run like slugs around the bases … the new age Red Sox—with a recent infusion of athleticism onto the roster—are now capable of shifting towards a more aggressive style on the base-stealing front.
But with an organizational philosophy that preaches rule No. 1 of Moneyball—thou shalt not give away outs—attempting to swipe bags haphazardly (read: at a low percentage) will tend to hurt a team’s run production within a game.
So what’s the happy medium? Well, don’t get caught, of course.
Through Sunday’s games, Boston has stolen 26 bases in 30 attempts, the highest success rate (87 percent) in the AL.
Center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury— the club’s resident Road Runner— leads the team not only in cartoon dust clouds but also with 11 thefts in as many tries, while his backup, Coco Crisp, has stolen five bags without being caught. In addition, the two speed threats have forced four catcher throwing errors on the young season.
The Moneyball approach actually does favor stealing bases if, and only if, an individual player’s or a team’s success rate betters 75 percent. And so far this season, the Sox base-stealing prowess has earned high marks in both categories.
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