I think I'm generally too negative regarding the Red Sox, particularly recently. So here are some positive things from recent Red Sox baseball:
1) The Sox won today. So that's cool.
2) And they're getting post-trading deadline reinforcements. Hinske definitely, Pena maybe.
3) While Coco's got a lot of bad press lately (Simmons called him a "colossal disappointment" - worse than Beckett?!?!), so far he's putting together a heck of a nice August. For all the kvetching about him in the leadoff spot, lately Coco's OBP has been better than Youk's...
4) On 53 different occasions a pitcher has come in to face the Sox in a save situation. Yet those pitchers have only have 26 saves. No other team in the majors has given the opposing pitchers more blown saves than saves (though the White Sox and Yankess both come close).
5) Who Wants to Be a Superhero is on tomorrow night.
These are all good things. Lets win the next, oh, 5 games.
Earl, I could agree more with your comments. Go Cell-phone-woman!
ReplyDeleteBy "could" agree more I mean, GO CELL-PHONE-WOMAN!!!
ReplyDeleteMy head exploded.
ReplyDeleteCoco is reasserting himself in the the spot, just as Youk is on fire batting after Manny. And last night! A great way to start the off day before the 5 in 4 days with THAT team.
ReplyDeleteDino - Cell Phone Woman was eliminated a while back. Lumuria is the new hotness.
ReplyDeleteAlso, MHJE.
Crisp
ReplyDelete.281 BA 6 HR 26 RBI .332 OBP 16 SB
Damon
.284 BA 17 HR 58 RBI .361 OBP 22 SB
Damon has played 33 more games. I don't think Crisp would have 17 homers (but he doesn't play in the Bronx, either). The RBI would be closer, and he'd have way more steals.
Here's another quick question...Why aren't the Yankees embarrassed by not leaving the Sox in the dust considering all the Sox injuries? Where are those articles? Tek, Nixon, Wakefield, etc...
In comparing Damon/Crisp you also need to look at runs. I don't care what the stats say, Damon has done what he was brought to NY to do. And Crisp, while he is heating up, has not come exactly as billed. I wouldn't go so far as call him a colossal disappointment, but I don't think anyone would say he has lived up to expectations. If I was giving him a grade, he'd probably get a C+. Maybe a B-. Hopefully his nice August will continue.
ReplyDeleteWell, scaling up Crisp's runs (48) to the number of games Damon has played gives him 69 runs - 16 fewer than Damon. That's a big difference, but it's not obscenely huge.
ReplyDeleteYeah, if Crisp keeps his August hitting going the rest of the season, I'll be very happy with him.
I agee 100%. The injury appears to have set him back, which in turn opened the door for Youk.
ReplyDeleteAnd Damon is going to score 100 runs for the 9th season in a row. I think there is only one player with a current longer streak.
Good point about the injury. The only time this season his hitting was anywhere close to his August numbers was back in April. And remember how ga-ga everyone was about him back then? His August numbers are actually better than that (with a larger sample size).
ReplyDeleteAnd speaking of sample sizes..... Andy Marte is batting .105. Granted in only 40 ABs. But is you include his 60 last year, he has shown virtually no ability to hit MLB pitching. Sure he is only 22. But so is Joe Mauer.
ReplyDeleteWhich brings me back to the original question I raised - why would ATL have traded him. Say what you will about the Braves (and this would include that they can't win in OCT, are led on the field by a red neck hick, have fair weather fans that are complete morons, hell this list could go on and on), they rarely make mistakes in the area of player evaluation. And the young guys they do trade, rarely meet expectations once they are gone.
I just wouldn't compare the two sets of numbers and call one of those guys a colossal failure...
ReplyDeleteThat was my point in posting those. Just think about how much closer those numbers might be in Coco didn't spend so much time on the DL...
I didn't say colossol failure (although Simmons did), but August aside, Coco has been a disappointment. And we can't pretend he didn't get hurt. As Earl and I note, if continues to produce, he can salvage the season. But as of today, his offensive season is quite similar to Renteria last year.
ReplyDeleteWow - good call.
ReplyDeleteRenteria 8/17/05:
.285 AVG, .347 OBP, .392 SLG, .739 OPS
Crisp 8/17/06
.281 AVG, .332 OBP, .406 SLG, .738 OPS
We'll see. Crisp's OPS has gone up 30 points in August so far.