Uncategorized Archives – Page 10 of 12

Don’t Miss a Sox Story

January 13, 2017 Leave a Comment

Throughout the year, RSNStats.com posts articles of interest to Red Sox fans. Don’t miss any of it!

Subscribe for free today and you’ll get an email whenever new content appears on RSNStats.com. There’s no cost or obligation and you won’t get bombarded by emails. Of course, you can unsubscribe at any time. Know, too, that RSNStats.com will never ever pass along your email address to anyone else.

As always, fans, thanks for being part of the RSNStats community on Twitter and here on the web.

Subscribe to RSNStats

Ortiz wins DH of the Year Award

November 30, 2016 Leave a Comment

David Ortiz was named the 2016 recipient of the Edgar Martinez Outstanding Designated Hitter Award today. It’s Papi’s eighth such award, the most in major league history. Ortiz joins Orlando Cepeda (1973), Jim Rice (1977), and Don Baylor (1986) as Red Sox who have been so honored.The Martinez award is voted on by club beat writers, broadcasters, and public relations departments. All players with at least 100 at-bats as a designated hitter are eligible for consideration.

Throughout 2016, Ortiz toppled one record after another. His 168-for-527 (.319) record over 140 games as Sox DH earned him his seventh Louisville Silver Slugger Award, the most for a DH in major league history.

Overall, Big Papi led MLB in 2016 with the most extra-base hits (87), most doubles (48), and the best OPS (1.021). Ortiz was also tied for first place in the American League for RBI (127) and intentional walks (15).

David Ortiz
flickr photo shared by Keith Allison under a Creative Commons ( BY-SA ) license

Besides Ortiz, three other Red Sox designated hitters have had 800+ at-bats in club history: Reggie Jefferson, Mike Easler, and Don Baylor. Measured by on-base and slugging percentages, Papi has easily been the most productive at .386 and .570, respectively, for a .956 OPS.

Varitek Unlikely for Sox Coach

November 7, 2016 Leave a Comment

The offseason hot stove is barely aglow, but there are still some stories for Red Sox fans that are worth your time. Here is the latest roundup:

Former Red Sox bench coach Torey Lovullo was formally announced as the new manager of the Diamondbacks on Monday. In describing the kind of culture he’d like to create in Arizona Lovullo cited John Farrell, Sparky Anderson and Terry Francona as his strongest managerial influences.
WEEI’s Rob Bradford reports, among other things, that Jason Varitek isn’t a candidate to replace Lovullo as Red Sox bench coach.
Rick Porcello and Mookie Betts earned nominations for the American League Cy Young and MVP Awards, as voted on by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. One-time Red Sox Terry Francona, Jon Lester, and Dave Roberts also earned nominations in their respective leagues and categories.
The Red Sox are playing their cards close to the vest early in the offseason, but it seems likely they’ll be interested in the offensive production offered by free agent Edwin Encarnacion, particularly now that the David Ortiz era has come to a close. That said, don’t expect the Blue Jays to simply let him walk away. Shi Davidi of Sportsnet says Toronto is making a “significant push” to keep him.
And speaking of Ortiz, toss in one more honor. JetBlue Airlines climbed about the bandwagon, albeit a little late, saying they’ll rename Gate 34 at Terminal C of Boston’s Logan Airport Terminal C to honor the retired slugger. What could possibly be next?

World Series Resumes Tonight

October 28, 2016 Leave a Comment

It’s the final weekend of baseball as the World Series begins again, this time in Chicago, with the Cubs and Indians knotted at 1-1. In eight of the last ten series that were tied at one game apiece, the winner of Game 1 (in this case, the Indians) has won the championship. Indeed, Game 1 winners have won the Fall Classic 70 total times (63.1% of the time), including 12 of the last 13 and 17 of the last 19 times.

In their long franchise histories, both the Cubs and Indians have eight times before found themselves in a 1-1 tie in a best-of-seven postseason series. In the previous seven times the Cubs have won just one of those series (the 2016 National League Championship Series) while the Indians won the whole thing four times (though they’ve lost each of their last three such series).

The 2016 series is guaranteed at least three more games with starts by Kyle Hendricks, John Lackey, and Jon Lester for Chicago versus Josh Tomlin, Corey Kluber, and Trevor Bauer for the Indians, respectively.

Gold Glove Finalist Mookie Betts
flickr photo shared by Keith Allison under a Creative Commons ( BY-SA ) license

On to some news and notes now for Red Sox fans:

Gold Glove finalists for defensive excellence were announced this week and the hometown team were well represented by Dustin Pedroia, Mookie Betts, and Jackie Bradley. The Red Sox were one of eight teams this season with at least three nominees. The Cubs and Tigers had an MLB-best four finalists each. Gold Glove winners will be announced November 8.
It’s the offseason so that means a perennial check in on Pablo Sandoval‘s weight. Here’s the latest.
What a postseason already for one-time Red Sox Andrew Miller. The Indians reliever has racked up 24 strikeouts already, the second most in a single postseason by a reliever since Francisco Rodriguez collected 28 with the Angels in 2002. Miller’s 13.2 scoreless postseason innings are eighth most in major league history. With his next out Miller can tie Hall of Famer Whitey Ford in 1961 for seventh most such innings. The all-time record is by Hall of Famer Christy Mathewson, who went 27.0 IP in the 1905 postseason. Red Sox great and Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez had the 17.0 scoreless postseason innings in 1999, good for fourth most in MLB history.
Of the 50 players on the Indians and Cubs roster just six have World Series experience, five of those with the Red Sox: Coco Crisp (2007), Mike Napoli (2013), Lackey (2013), Lester (2007 & 2013), and David Ross (2013). Ben Zobrist also experienced the Fall Classic before with the Rays in 2008 and the Royals last season.

And finally, while today is October 28 and the nine year anniversary of the 2007 Red Sox Championship, it’s hard to believe that 12 years ago today we were still dazed at the reality of the first Sox Championship in 84 years. Re-live the memories through the eyes of the New York Daily News, which thoughtfully re-posted their story from that day in 2004.

Weekend Odds ‘n Ends

September 23, 2016 Leave a Comment

Unbelievably, we’re heading into the final full week of regular season baseball. Here are some standout thoughts from the week that was:

21 wins, 6 strikeouts for every walk issued, both the best in baseball. 0.978 walks and hits per 9 IP, the best in the American League. Among Sox starters, a club-best 3.08 ERA and a club-best 148 ERA+. Seriously, how really thought Rick Porcello would have the year he’s had in 2016?
Enjoyed Ken Rosenthal’s report on how Dustin Pedroia kickstarted his season with the help of his friend, Andre Ethier. Nice details, too, on what it’s like for Andrew Benintendi, who became roommates with Pedroia and Aaron Hill, once Pedroia’s family headed back to Arizona for the start of the school year.
Sandy León ended an 0-for-17 slide on Thursday but still opened that day with a .316 AVG on the season, speaking to his absolutely torrid mid-summer performance. He was 22-for-61 (.361) from July 3rd to 31st and 18-for-41 (.439) over 12 games in mid-August. He’s solid behind the plate and offensively may still come back around down the stretch.
Xander Bogaerts, who batted just .219 in August and .221 thus far in September, may not crack 200 hits this season. He projects out to about 194 at this point, with the projection skewed by his solid early season batting average. For the combined months of May and June, Bogaerts was 83-for-229 (.362). In those 54 games, Bogaerts had a club-best 45 hits, the most of any Sox player. In the 49 games since August 1st, however, Bogaerts has a hit in 28 of them, whereas Mookie Betts has hit in a club-best 42 of those games. Betts, of course, has already surpassed the 200 hit milestone this season and Pedroia projects out to finish with 204, which would be his most since a career high of 213 hits in his All-Star 2008 season. Only three times before have the Sox had two players with 200+ hits, most recently Jacoby Ellsbury and Adrian Gonzalez in 2011.
Benintendi’s second career home run on Wednesday was the club’s 200th in 2016, making Boston one of eight teams with 200+ HR this season. It’s the Sox’ 10th season with 200+ HR since at least 1913. The Mets and Rays crossed the 200 HR threshold for the first time in their franchise histories this year, leaving four Major League teams that have never hit 200: Royals (139 as of this writing), Padres (168), Nationals (193), and Pirates (146). The Red Sox’ last 200+ HR season was in 2011 (203). Their most HRs in a single season since 1913 was 238 in 2003.

Rick Porcello
flickr photo shared by Keith Allison under a Creative Commons ( BY-SA ) license

If the season ended at the time of this writing, the Red Sox would face the Indians in the American League Division Series. This season, Boston leads that match-up 4-games-to-2 (2-1 both at home and in Cleveland). Since 2013, when Tribe manager Terry Francona took the helm, Boston has bested Cleveland 14-12 (9-5 at home, but 5-7 at Progressive Field).
We’ve looked at David Ortiz‘ remarkable performance this season as a player, just like anyone else. We’ve looked at his incredible performance compared to others playing at age 40 or older. Now, we look at Big Papi as compared with others in their last season and, not surprisingly, it’s still a great story.
The Cardinals recently ended a streak of 25 straight games with a home run, tying a National League record and breaking their own, which was set in 2006 (19). The Padres also collected 25 straight games this season with a home run. Both teams jumped ahead of the Red Sox, who still hold the American League lead in 2016 with HRs in 22 straight, April 29 to May 22, going 15-7 for that span of games. The 2002 Rangers hold baseball’s overall record for consecutive games with a HR (27)
With the way he’s been clubbing the ball of late, who doubts that Hanley Ramírez will connect for one more home run? That would give Ramírez 30 on the season for just the second time in his career and the first time since belting 33 in his 2008 All-Star season. It would join the Red Sox with the Orioles as the only teams this season with three such players (including Betts and Ortiz), something that hasn’t happened for Boston since 1977 (Butch Hobson, Jim Rice, George Scott).

« Previous Page