Change-UpJuly 22, 2008
Roadkill
By Patrick Sullivan

Going into last night's game against the Seattle Mariners, the Boston Red Sox sported a road record of 21-32, "good" for the American League's fourth worst mark. Here are some of their road numbers, and how they stack up against their American League peers. Maybe this will help to clarify why it is they have struggled away from Fenway Park.

        OPS
BOS    .763
CHW    .742
TEX    .739
NYY    .732
TBR    .727

       OPS Against
BOS      .696
LAA      .706
OAK      .719
TOR      .729
CHW      .730

Oops, doesn't really clarify much at all, does it? On Sunday night's national telecast in Anaheim, Joe Morgan went on and on about how the Red Sox road woes represent their Achilles Heel. Jon Miller said that their poor body of work away from Boston precludes one from saying Boston is a great team.

But the numbers above tell a different story. They have been situationally bad on the road, allowing a disproportionately large number of runners on base to score while failing to drive their own players in. But Boston boasts Major League Baseball's second best run differential and their best hitter hasn't played for the last 45 games or so. And while many seem to think that their troubles on the road will hold them back (they might), the numbers above suggest that Boston will be just fine.


Comments

I think ESPN likes the fact that Joe Morgan says all the dumb things he says. This way they are assured that people will watch the game to hear his dumb statement of the week and then go prove him wrong on some website. You never know, they might even *supply* him with things to say.

Posted by: rubemode at July 22, 2008 7:39 AM

In fairness, Miller and many of the talking heads here in Boston seem to agree with Morgan.

"This team stinks on the road", etc. You hear a lot of that these days. And the object of baseball is to win, so in that regard they do "stink". But if you peel back the onion even a little bit, you notice that Boston has done the things that typically lead to wins quite well on the road.

Posted by: Sully at July 22, 2008 7:42 AM

The Sox seem to be one of those teams that consistently plays below their pythag record every year. On the road this year, its just even worse. Other than totally shutting down the oppostion in innings 6-8, they are playing very well.
Regardless of where they sit in the standings right now, when Ortiz comes back they need to be considered series favourites...assuming they can scrape together enough road wins to make the playoffs.

Posted by: Hugh Jorgan at July 22, 2008 4:36 PM