All season long I’ve been thinking about what we need to do. Forget the other guys and just go out and get today’s win. If you’re part of an organization—any organization—that’s what you control anyhow. But as we head towards the American League Championship Series, I need to figure out who to root for in Thursday’s decisive game between the Oakland Athletics and Detroit Tigers. Which would be a better matchup vs the Red Sox? Let’s look at the numbers.
Red Sox vs Rays in Game 4
After a tough loss Monday, the Red Sox go with Jake Peavy vs the Rays tonight in Game 4 of the American League Division Series. Peavy is 3-1, 4.91 ERA in 6 career starts vs the Rays. He’s 2-0, 3.93 ERA in 3 career starts at Tropicana Field. Peavy has postseason experience, but it wasn’t great and it was a long time ago. In back-to-back seasons of 2005 and 2006, over 2 NLDS games with the Padres vs the Cardinals Peavy gave up 13 earned runs over 9.2 innings pitched.
He’ll be matched up against Jeremy Hellickson for the Rays. He was 12-10 in 2013 with a 5.17 ERA in 31 starts, going 1-0 in 3 starts vs the Red Sox, and 6-3 with a 4.77 ERA in 15 starts at Tropicana Field. For his career vs Boston he’s 4-2 with a 4.21 ERA in 12 starts, that’s his highest ERA vs any other AL East rival and his 4th highest vs any other American League club. Worth noting, Hellickson is 2-6 with a 7.02 ERA since August 6.
Here’s Boston batters’ career performance vs Rays Hellickson, sorted by batting average, followed by the same for Rays batters vs Jake Peavy:
Red Sox vs Rays in Game 3
The Red Sox go with Clay Buchholz vs the Rays today in Game 3 of the American League Division Series. Buchholz has a career 2.41 ERA in 16 starts vs the Rays. His 2.26 ERA in 9 starts at Tropicana Field is the best ERA among active starters.
At the plate over the past 5 seasons at Tropicana Field David Ortiz is just 27-for-137 (.197) but with club-highs in home runs (5), walks (38), and RBI (18). During that same span Jacoby Ellsbury has gone 37-for-138 (.268) and Dustin Pedroia is 40-for-150 (.267) with club-highs in doubles (8) and runs scored (25). [Read more…]
Rays vs John Lackey
Rays lifetime performance vs Red Sox ALDS Game 2 starter John Lackey. Sorted by career batting averages.
Day Game Performance
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A look now at how our two ALDS contenders stacked up in 2013 day games:
