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Sunday, April 15, 2007

Absurd Stat Line of the Month

I was checking up the status of some of the White Sox's pitching prospects in Birmingham when I came across this stat line for Dewon Day. Now, Day, at 27 in Double-A, isn't much of a prospect. But I think you have to wake up and take notice when you see that a guy has 16 strikeouts against only 1 walk...in 5 and 2/3rds innings!! (And I'm not someone prone to use two consecutive exclamation points). That means that of the 17 outs Day has recorded, 16 of them have come by the strikeout, and at least his last 11 outs have come by the strikeout. Amazingly enough, he's also given up 5 hits in those innings, meaning that when players do put the ball into play on him, they are hitting .833. Maybe the most amazing combination of stats I've ever seen.

Meanwhile, Gio Gonzalez has 15 strikeouts against 3 walks in 10 1/3 innings, and some guy named Jack Egbert (of the flying under the radar Egberts) has 17 punchouts against 2 walks (and just 6 hits) in 12 innings. Spring phenom Adam Russell is the trailer of the pack with only 11 K's in 11 innings. I guess you will just have to try harder, Mr. Russell.



Comments-[ comments.]

Sunday, April 08, 2007

Sox 3, Minnesota 0?

Jim on the Sox list may have phrased it best: Who was that on the mound for the White Sox Saturday, and what has he done with Javier Vazquez? Some of my reactions to Javier Vazquez over the years:

7/3/2006:

Vazquez just sucks. He pitches to lose. He is more afraid of hitters than
any starter I've ever seen. He is simply petrified of throwing the ball
over the plate or inside. And every mistake he makes is hit hard because
hitters are so comfortable against him.

7/8/2006:

Don Cooper doesn't look so amazing right now. Buehrle is leaving his
pitches in hittable places, Vazquez looks terrified of hitters, Garland
looks like Judy again, and only Contreras is doing well on the bump. And
never mind the bullpen.

8/15/2006:

I don't know what it is, [Vazquez] is just a loser. He loses. That's what he
does.

It's amazing that the Sox are so good they've bailed him out so many times.

Let's ride him out of town on a rail.

8/24/2006:

No one will take that guldarn loser Vazquez, and that's while they'll move
Garcia.

[Hey, I was right on that one!]

9/14/2006:

[Freddy Garcia] may be a lump sometimes, but he pitches well enough to win, unlike that
POS Vazquez who seems to pitch well enough to lose.

9/29/2006:

Dunno, Ward. Vazquez is such a [expletive] loser - and I'm not one prone to
profanity - that I just can't stand his self-pitying performances. Anything
goes wrong - a borderline pitch is called a ball, and he implodes. He goes
on tilt at a moment's notice and only seems to pitch well when the
pressure's off.

* * *

In other news, John Danks is not nervous about his major league debut today against the Twins and Johan Santana. Two thoughts: (1) you should be very nervous; or (2) you are not nervous because you've accepted the fact that you are going to lose your very first career start against a likely Hall of Famer. Not really much of an option for young John Danks.

***

Finally, has Scott Podsednik generated enough trade value yet?

Comments-[ comments.]

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

I Take It All Back

90-72? More like 72-90 based on Day 1. But maybe it is good luck...like rain on your wedding day.

Kidding aside, I did take two good things away from this game, which were more or less hidden in the blowout result. (1) Bobby Jenks had a solid 9th inning with no walks and a strikeout to start the year. I think the game is 90% half-mental for Bobby, so getting off on the right foot is good for him. (2) The Sox touched up Borowski for two runs in the 9th. So Borowski gets off on the wrong foot. With Cleveland's bullpen problems of 2006, I think getting in the head of their relievers might be key.

So you sit Scott Podsednik...but you play Darrin Erstad? Worked, I guess....


Comments-[ comments.]

Monday, April 02, 2007

Opening Day


Certainly not blogging a single post since September 2006 does not bode well for Black Betsy as a blog. I mean, after all, I've missed the Freddy Garcia trade (I thought it was bad but now it looks good) and the Brandon McCarthy trade (I think it stunk, as I voiced pretty vociferously on the White Sox e-mail list). But Opening Day is time for a fresh start for everything, right?

In thinking over this team, I think the Sox have tread water since the end of '06. I see them at about 90 wins again, which could be good enough for 1st place in the AL Central, or it could be good enough for 3rd (again). Here are the areas I see improving and declining:

Putting this all together, I guess I see the offense being down 30-40 runs this year, while the pitching staff will allow 30-40 fewer runs this year. That comes out pretty even in the wash.

One other thought -I see a midseason run on Andruw Jones to solve the White Sox's centerfield problems. I could see the Sox shipping Gio Gonzalez and Josh Fields for a half season of Andruw. That could really change the outlook for the '07 White Sox. Pray for a bad first half by the Braves.

On the blogging front, I hope to go to biweekly posts. I'm trying to calendar them for regular updates on things I like to know - who is walking in the minors, trade prospects, hidden performances, etc. If it doesn't work, and I don't post, I apologize in advance. I'll even give you a refund of whatever you paid to read this....


Comments-[ comments.]

Saturday, September 02, 2006

I Don't Get It Either

That's what I wrote to someone on the Sox e-mail list about this Sox team. Despite terrific offseason acquisitions like Jim Thome and (as it looked at the time) Javier Vazquez, this team is struggling down the stretch. It has been losing to Kansas City. It could not close the deal against the Devil Rays. And they have lost consistently to Minnesota - 4 out of the 6 games they played.

Let's place the blame squarely where it lies: the starting staff. Of course, that's been said before by every sports writer in Chicago as well as Ozzie Guillen time after time. But it's not that the starting staff has failed, but it's how surprising it is that the starting staff has failed:

This team, in this division, with the offense being produced this year, should have won 105-110 games. Seriously. To have 4 of your 5 starting pitchers perform well below their career performance (with a footnote on Contreras) is very poor luck, or even poor coaching.

It seems very likely that the pitching will rebound next year - perhaps with some changes to the rotation (I'm hoping that McCarthy is IN and Vazquez is OUT). Of course, it's unlikely that Dye or Thome, as they age, will be able to reproduce their production this year, and even Crede and Konerko are near the top of their performance charts.

Of course, the 2005 White Sox seemed to get by with an average offense....


Comments-[ comments.]

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Not Blogging Doesn't Work


Two months since the last post on Black Betsy. Blogger fatigue, exhibit A. Lots of things have gone on since, new house, selling old house, trying to do some business, saving kids from burning abandoned amusement park, solving crimes and creating a new hip Sudoku / crossword puzzle game called "Put The Letters There! No, There!" (title to be finalized - needless to say, you will be playing it three times a day the rest of your life and will gladly hand over thousands of dollars to me each year for solution books).

It's clear that me not blogging about the White Sox doesn't help the White Sox. Since my last post, they've gone 28-25. That's bad baseball, and the proprietors of this Blog apologize for any poor play this blog has caused.

In that time, the team has gone to pieces. Especially the pitching:

Mark Buehrle:
.318 / .356 / .533 AVG/OBP/SLG against
Freddy Garcia: .304 / .346 / .556 against
Javier Vazquez:
.304 / .359 / .477 against
Jose Contreras:
.273 / .335 / .411 against
Jon Garland:
.253 / .299 / .387 against

One of these things is not like the other. Only Jon Garland has been a good pitcher in the last two months, while Contreras has been about average, and Buehrle, Garcia and Vazquez have all been bad pitchers. No one should therefore be surprised that the Sox have played 28-25 ball during that period.

That does not fully answer the question as to why the Sox are 3-11 in their last 14 games (before that, they had been 25-14 since my last post). That answer is simple: the hitting has caught up with the pitching in collapsing. And it's not due to a real lack of getting men on base or hitting for power; instead, the Sox have consistently failed to hit with men in scoring position and have consistently failed to get runners in from third with less thant two outs. Someone called it corpseball a while ago, and that's about right.

The upside is that the Sox are a much better team than they have been playing. They weren't over their heads at 31-15 on May 25, and could pick it up any time. But "turning it on when they need to" has never been a strength of the White Sox.

But, the turn around can start today. No time like the present.


Comments-[ comments.]

Friday, May 19, 2006

The Value of 8 Good Starts

I just noticed that we are coming up on the one-year anniversary of the end of Jon Garland's hot start to the 2005 season, in which he won his first eight starts. Those were heady days. Garland cooled off considerably from that point, going 10-10 the rest of the way with a 3.90 ERA to finish with an 18-10 record and an overall 3.50 ERA.

During the offseason, Garland signed a 3 year, $29 million contract extension based on his very good 2005 season.

Last year, I mused that Sox fans have been fooled by hot starts by mediocre pitchers before. And I compared - perhaps flippantly - Jon Garland's hot start to that of Jon Snyder in 1999. Snyder collapsed to the tune of a 6+ ERA and was basically never heard from again.

But there is a lesson to be learned from Snyder's collapse, and it is shown in Garland's performance since his perfecto start last year. Since May 23rd last year, Garland's line has been this:

13-12 W-L, 212 1/3 IP, 231 Hits, 105 ER, 33 HR, 47 BB, 112 K, 4.45 ERA

Does that remind you of anyone? Like the Jon Garland of 2002-2004? With the exception of the walk column, the Jon Garland since 5/23/05 has been the Jon Garland of 2002-2004. Almost exactly what you would expect.

It's not that Garland is incapable of being a good pitcher. But it's also true that if Garland is really nothing more than he was in 2002-2004 and 5/23/2005 through today, it's also entirely possible that he could have a good, 8-start run like he did in early 2005 and have it be no more than a fluke. Indeed, given a long career, every pitcher has bouts of respectability, even quality.

But it's another thing to turn that bout of respectability into $29 million over three years. I think Sox fans should have been more critical of the Garland contract, and I guess I regret not being more critical myself. I have a feeling it is going to wind up being a bad deal. $11 million per year in 2007-2008 for a league-average pitcher.


Comments-[ comments.]

Saturday, May 06, 2006

Blowing Leads, and the Bullpen


I wrote a detailed response to someone's point on the Sox e-mail list, so I thought I'd cross-post here:

From: Big Unit
To: Sox e-Mail Listserv

What bothers me is the Sox have blown enough games already to have opened up
a pretty good lead, despite Detroit's hot start.

From: Comic Book Guy
To: Sox e-Mail Listserv

Blown enough games?

Aren't they 20-9?

From: SuperNoVa
To: Sox e-Mail Listserv

Well, the odd thing is that they've blown big or late leads in a bunch of
their 9 losses:

Game 2 vs. Cleveland (up 1 in the 8th, Logan serves up tying dinger to
Pronk)
Game 3 vs. Royals (up 6-0 in the 5th inning, Garland blows big lead)
Game 4 vs. Royals (up 1 in the 8th, Politte serves up 2-run homer to
Sweeney)
Game 10 vs. Blue Jays (up 5-2 in the 4th, Vazquez gets hammered)
Game 29 vs. Kansas City (up 1 in the 9th, Jenks blows save)

So of the 9 losses, the Sox blew big leads (3 or more runs) or late leads 5
of those 9 games. This team is 20-9, but it could easily be 25-4.

I take this as a good thing and a bad thing. The Sox are so good that they
have a chance to win almost every game they are in. If you are "in" 25 out
of 29 games, losing 5 of those 25 isn't bad at all. Seems about par to me.
Great teams are "in" almost every game.

It's a bad thing inasmuch as the bullpen looks like the Achilles' heel of this team. They need bullpen help relatively soon. Right now, only Jenks and Cotts look anything like reliable relievers. Shoot, I'd settle for someone like Luis Vizcaino right now.

The Sox have some assets in AAA - think Chuck Haeger (<0.70>


Comments-[ comments.]

I Told You Not To Worry About Podsednik 

In an earlier post, I said that I wasn't worried about Scott Podsednik's slow start - a 2-for-34 stretch - than most Sox fans. Mostly, I wasn't worried because he was making contact.

Well, sometimes you say things and they turn out right. Since that low point, Scott Podsednik has gone
26 for 72, which pencils out at .361. He's also drawn 6 walks, and his OBP is right at .410. That's the Podsednik the Sox need.

I've done the ERV boxscores for May 1-4, and will post some time today. I had a real tough time figuring out why the numbers didn't add up for the May 1 box score, and finally figured it out Thursday.

Comments-[ comments.]

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

April ERV


The Sox wrapped up the month of April 17-7. They did so with nearly equal contributions from their pitching and hitting: the hitters were 20.66 runs better than average, while their pitchers were 17.47 runs better than average. As a team, that is +38.13, or about 1.6 ERV per game.

ERV Player of the Month goes to Jim Thome, who was +17.19 ERV on his own.

ERV Pitcher of the Month goes to Jose Contreras, who put up a +13.08 ERV.

Batting

Player Total April Home Road
Pods

-7.77

-7.77

-3.32

-4.46

Mackowiak

-3.81

-3.81

-2.25

-1.57

Iguchi

1.94

1.94

0.03

1.91

Thome

17.19

17.19

8.62

8.58

Cintron

-4.26

-4.26

-4.23

-0.03

Konerko

12.51

12.51

2.65

9.87

Dye

11.96

11.96

9.34

2.62

Gload

-0.31

-0.31

-0.10

-0.21

AJ

-3.77

-3.77

-2.21

-1.56

Crede

4.47

4.47

4.33

0.14

Uribe

-4.14

-4.14

2.58

-6.72

Anderson

-6.50

-6.50

-3.06

-3.43

Ozuna

3.87

3.87

2.67

1.19

Widger

-0.71

-0.71

-1.12

0.41

Team

20.66

20.66

13.93

6.74


Pitching

Player Total April Home Road
Buehrle

8.52

8.52

4.33

4.19

McCarthy

2.88

2.88

4.09

-1.21

Politte

-4.08

-4.08

-3.16

-0.92

Thornton

0.62

0.62

0.75

-0.13

Garcia

-2.49

-2.49

-2.80

0.31

Logan

0.15

0.15

0.29

-0.14

Cotts

0.54

0.54

-1.19

1.73

Jenks

2.31

2.31

3.69

-1.38

Contreras

13.08

13.08

6.85

6.23

Garland

-7.35

-7.35

2.30

-9.66

Vazquez

3.28

3.28

-0.13

3.41

Team

17.47

17.47

15.04

2.43


Fielding:

Player ERV
Crede -0.92
AJ -0.11
Thornton -0.29
Iguchi -1.46
Podsednik -0.23
Garland -0.61
Total -3.62



Player of the Game tracking:

Dye - 6
Konerko - 6
Thome - 4
Iguchi - 4
Crede - 2
Anderson 1
Uribe 1

Pitcher of the Game tracking:

Contreras - 5
Buehrle - 3
Vazquez - 3
Garland - 2
McCarthy - 2
Cotts - 2
Logan - 2
Garcia - 1
Thornton - 1


Comments-[ comments.]

Monday, May 01, 2006

Sox 6, Los Angeles of Anaheim 5


I'm almost ready to declare the West Coast Malaise of the Sox dead. I'm not there yet, but I am close after the Sox's sweep of the Angels in Orange County, something not seen since the powerhouse 1994 White Sox. Thank you, Scot Shields!

Here is your ERV boxscore / scoresheet:

Batter 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th B/R Total
Pods

-0.24

0.27

-0.47

-0.11

-0.16

-0.71

Cintron

-0.17

0.37

-0.44

-0.24

-0.17

-0.66

Thome

-0.11

1.27

-0.24

-0.17

-0.11

0.64

Konerko

-0.24

0.05

-0.17

-0.11

-0.46

Dye

0.27

-0.24

-0.11

-0.08

Anderson

-0.24

-0.24

Crede

0.37

0.62

0.62

0.27

1.88

Mackowiak

-0.42

0.33

1.00

-0.31

0.60

Uribe

-0.49

-0.56

-0.16

-0.24

-1.44

Widger

-0.24

1.00

0.13

0.38

1.27

Ozuna

0.24

0.24

Total

1.05


Pitcher ERV
Garland

-1.38

Thornton

0.24

Politte

0.28

Cotts

0.52

Total

-0.35


Team ERV: 0.30 (Shields wild pitch).

Player of the Game: Joe Crede

Pitcher of the Game: Neal Cotts


Comments-[ comments.]

Sox 2, Los Angeles of Anaheim 1


Saturday's ERV boxscore / scoresheet for a masterful performance by Jose Contreras:

Batter 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th B/R Total
Pods

-0.24

0.13

-0.11

-0.79

-0.24

-1.24

Iguchi

-0.17

0.38

-0.24

-0.11

-0.14

Thome

-0.11

-0.35

1.00

-0.24

0.31

Konerko

-0.24

0.37

-0.17

-0.17

-0.22

Dye

-0.17

1.00

-0.11

-0.11

0.61

AJ

0.13

-0.47

-0.24

-0.58

Crede

-0.24

-0.44

-0.17

-0.85

Uribe

-0.24

-0.24

-0.11

-0.58

Anderson

-0.17

-0.17

0.38

0.04

Total

-2.65


Pitcher ERV
Contreras 3.10
Thornton 0.11
Jenks 0.44
Total 3.65

Player of the Game: Jermaine Dye

Pitcher of the Game: Jose Contreras


Comments-[ comments.]

Sunday, April 30, 2006

Public Service Announcement

Read Johnny Mostil's Razor.

Sometimes I fear that I'm one of Doug's only readers, and that is a crying shame. He's the best analyst of Sox baseball there is, period. If you are a Sox fan, you should like Doug's writing. He's a reformed stat-head, who looks much deeper that AVG/OBP/SLG lines indicate. He looks for the context that makes the statistics meaningful.

Here's an example. You might think
Jhonny Peralta is a great hitting shortstop. And he is a very good hitter - he banged out 24 home runs last year. Doug wasn't satisfied with Peralta's stat line based on his own observations, so he went inside Peralta's game log to discover that, for the most part, Peralta didn't hit good pitching. The overwhelming portion of his home runs were off bottom of the rotation starters or bottom-of-the-bullpen arms.

Similarly, while Cleveland put up the league's best run differential last year, Doug went behind those numbers to determine that Eric Wedge was, for the most part, leaving in his starters in garbage time situations, who then were running up scores or making blowouts closer. Wedge was managing to his player's stats, thereby making the team's performance look better.

While not every one of Doug's posts is going to be a winner, I really enjoyed
his post yesterday about the team's performance thus far. Doug put into words what a lot of Sox fans are feeling - we've got a great record thus far, but we are uneasy because the Sox aren't winning in the same way they won last year. That's been inchoate in my mind for a while, and I almost got there with this post.


Comments-[ comments.]

Saturday, April 29, 2006

AJ's Hot Lukewarm Start


As I was looking at the American League hitting leaders marveling at Paul Konerko's lofty .386 average, I was a little surprised to see AJ Pierzynski rolling in at #9 with a .359 average. I was vaguely aware that AJ was hitting in the mid-.300's, but didn't know he was putting up a .359/.395/.408 line.

The reason I was not as aware is that I track ERV, not average. And on the ERV front, AJ has been below average. He simply isn't producing runs offensively at the pace suggested by his AVG and OBP. As of last night's game, he is -3.19 ERV, meaning that an average hitter would have produced 3 more runs than AJ given the runners on base and outs presented to AJ. And, indeed, if you look back game by game over the season, AJ has failed to get a clutch hit with runners on base a number of times. Sure enough, AJ is hitting .250/.318/.300 with runners on base, while putting up a gaudy .484/.500/.548 line with the bases empty. This is how AJ can hit .359 and only have 5 RBI.

AJ's -3.19 ERV puts him well behind a number of Sox hitters. Obviously, he is behind Thome (16.24), Konerko (13.19), and Dye (11.42), but also Pablo Ozune (3.62), Joe Crede (3.44), Tadahito Iguchi (2.08), Ross Gload (-0.31), Chris Widger (-1.98), and Juan Uribe (-2.12).

The good news is that AJ's performance is not a character defect.
Last year, he hit .294/.361/.492 with runners on base.

Comments-[ comments.]

Sox 8, Los Angeles of Anaheim 5


Hooray for Jeff Weaver. After dominating the Sox early in his career (or so it seemed), he's really turned it around and become a reliable victory for the Sox. His control was non-existent, even if he had his strikeout pitch working, and he grooved a number of cookies for Sox hitters to munch on. Only Jermaine Dye homered for the Sox.

The Angels helped out with a number of bad defensive plays. Adam Kennedy couldn't reach Podsednik's weak two-out grounder up the middle of the second, and then Garret Anderson gator-armed Iguchi's long fly (which I thought was an easy home run off the bat) to left. All in all, the five-run second inning was largely a set of Angel gifts.

Oddly enough, the Sox have batted 9 men in an inning several times, but have not sent more than 9 to the plate. This is great for your scoresheet or spreadsheet, but it would be nice to put up a 7 spot or so.

Jim Thome looks like he is heading for a slump to me. He didn't make contact with some juicy pitches last night.

Here is your ERV scoresheet / boxscore:

Batter 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th B/R Total
Pods

0.38

1.69

-0.37

-0.24

0.31

-0.44

1.33

Iguchi

-0.35

1.91

0.38

0.27

-0.75

1.46

Thome

-0.11

-0.35

-0.35

-0.31

-0.24

-1.35

Konerko

0.38

0.38

0.63

0.21

0.27

1.87

Dye

0.57

1.62

-0.69

-0.44

-0.31

0.75

AJ

-0.56

0.38

-0.49

0.38

-0.24

-0.52

Crede

0.61

-0.35

-0.24

-0.35

-0.24

-0.56

Uribe

-0.78

1.43

-0.17

-0.31

0.27

-0.24

0.20

Anderson

1.00

-0.61

-0.11

0.21

-0.31

0.18

Total

3.35


Pitcher ERV
Garcia

0.10

McCarthy

-0.98

Cotts

0.42

Jenks

0.11

Total

-0.35


Player of the Game: Paul Konerko

Pitcher of the Game: Neal Cotts


Comments-[ comments.]

Thursday, April 27, 2006

Seattle 5, Sox 1


You know, I really believed - until the very end - that the Sox were going to come back and win this game. And with a number of fits and starts at rallies, it did look like they would stage a comeback several times. But Willie Bloomquist's nice play on Crede's line drive in the 7th put the kaibosh on that. Kudos to Konerko for recognizing that it would get caught and tagging all the way. He scored a run only because he did tag up on that play.

Buehrle looked awful in one inning, and the Mariners scored three runs. That turned out to be more than enough, and Mark takes his first loss of the season. Thankfully, because he went 7 innings, the game ended in 2 hours and 20 minutes or so, and I got a bit more sleep last night than the nights before.

Here is your ERV boxscore / scoresheet:

Batter 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th B/R Total
Pods

-0.24

-0.24

-0.24

-0.17

-0.88

Iguchi

-0.17

-0.24

-0.17

-0.11

-0.69

Thome

-0.11

0.27

-0.11

0.38

0.43

Konerko

-0.24

0.37

0.38

0.57

1.08

Dye

-0.17

-0.47

0.57

-1.10

-1.17

Crede

-0.11

-0.44

-0.29

0.12

-0.72

Uribe

-0.24

-0.24

0.17

-0.49

-0.80

Widger

0.27

-0.17

-0.35

-0.25

Anderson

-0.31

-0.11

-0.24

-0.66

Total

-3.65


Pitcher ERV
Buehrle -0.38
Jenks -0.48
Total -0.87

Player of the Game: Paul Konerko

Pitcher of the Game: None awarded (no pitchers with positive ERV)


Comments-[ comments.]

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Laughers


Friend of Black Betsy Aaron S. wrote on the White Sox e-mail list:
Is it me, Or have we already been on the upside of more laughers this season than all of last season?
An interesting question. One that requires a definition - what is a laugher? I guess you could define it by win probability - one that you have a less than 5% chance losing if the eventual winning margin was held in the 7th inning. In other words, if you had a 4% chance of losing a game you were up by 5 runs in the 7th inning, that's a laugher.

As it turns out, a "laugher" as defined above on the road is any game where the visiting team is up by 5 or more runs in the beginning of the 7th inning. Visiting teams win 97% of the time when they are up 5 or more runs in the 7th. At home, a "laugher" as defined above would be any game where the home team is up by 4 runs or more at the beginning of the 7th. Home teams win 96.2% of the time with such a lead.

With that definition in mind, the Sox have won 7 "laughers" already this year (vs. Cleveland April 2 (10-4), vs. Kansas City April 17 (9-0), vs. Kansas City April 9 (4-0), vs. Minnesota April 21 (7-1), vs. Minnesota April 22 (9-2), vs. Minnesota April 23 (7-3), at Seattle, April 25 (13-3)). Note that 6 of the Sox's last 7 victories have been laughers, as such.

Last year, it took until June 8th against Colorado for the Sox to get their seventh "laugher" victory of the year. Note that the Sox did have a bunch last year - 13 before the All Star Break alone - but only had 4 laughers in their red-hot 28-12 start to the season.

Good teams get a lot of laughers in a season. They are both a demonstration of a good team and helpful to a good team at once. If you have a laugher, you can rest your starters, your key closers, and give guys like Boone Logan a shot a major league experience. That makes you more competitive in close games.

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Sox 13, Seattle 3


There's that 13 run pool again. Another laugher for the Sox this year - good for the Baseball Prospectus adjusted standings - and the meat of the order continues to crush the ball. Thome, Konerko and Dye have all blown past +10 ERV on the year (Thome +17.2, Dye +11.8, Konerko +10.2).

There's almost never much to write about in this kind of blowout. It's fun to watch the ball fly out of the park, and to see Brian Anderson take a couple of walks and look much better at the plate. Boone Logan looked shaky again when called in the 7th, looked marginally better in the 8th, and fine in the 9th. He will, through the absurdity of the Save Rule, be
credited with his first major league save. But Logan is far, far away from being ready for a high-leverage situation. He is only fit for mop up duty right now.

On an unrelated note, the Mariners usually have the best promo commercials. There is a lame one with people crashing into objects around the office to imitate Ichiro, but they do have a couple of good ones. One makes fun of Moyer, suggesting he was there for various firsts in major league history (first night game, 1938, etc.). Another has people striking an Ichiro-pose in various daily activities. Still not as good as the one where Moyer gets excited about seeing his pitches in kph, but good.

Here's your ERV boxscore / spreadsheet:

Batter 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th B/R Total
Pods

-0.24

0.57

0.13

-0.20

0.13

-0.17

0.21

0.44

Iguchi

-0.17

1.10

-0.24

0.09

1.87

-0.11

2.55

Thome

0.13

-0.16

-0.24

1.05

0.78

Widger

-0.11

-0.11

Konerko

0.21

1.30

-0.17

1.11

2.45

Gload

1.00

1.00

Dye

-0.44

-0.17

1.00

0.14

1.00

1.53

AJ -0.24 -0.11 0.13 1.00 -0.24

0.55

Crede

-0.17

1.00

-0.24

-0.75

-0.17

-0.33

Uribe

-0.11

-0.24

-0.24

-0.24

-0.11

-0.93

Anderson

0.38

-0.17

0.27

-0.17

-0.24

0.35

0.42

Total

8.35


Pitcher ERV
Vazquez

1.79

Logan

-0.14

Total

1.65

Player of the Game: Tadahito Iguchi

Pitcher of the Game: Javier Vazquez


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