Category Archives: 2007
Opening Day video – 7 Banners!
Fantastic video from Opening Day 2008.
Boston Red Sox
7-Time World Series Champions
1903, 1912, 1915, 1916, 1918, 2004, 2008
thanks to the creator of this video!
More about ZERO Walks
Well, again, Dice-K allowed no walks in 6 2/3 innings last night. So that got me to look back at the Sox starters in 2007. On 28 occasions during the 2007 regular season, Sox starters allowed zero walks.
The results (starting pitchers stats only for HRs Allowed and K’s):
14 QS, 14 non-QS.
Overall Record: 15-13
Record in QS games: 11-3
Record in non-QS games: 4-10
HR allowed in non-QS games: 19
HR allowed in QS games: 10
K’s in QS Games: 81
K’s in non-QS games: 47
Interesting.
So no walks + keep ball in park + strikeouts = WIN.
No walks + HRs + fewer K’s = Loss.
Dice-K in ’08 Game 3 — o BB + 1 HR (solo) + 9 K’s. Sox Win!
Red Sox in the Post-Season
(thru 2009 playoffs)
Josh Beckett‘s 4th QS during this post-season in 4 starts in 2007 got me to start to think about the Red Sox all-time post-season pitching records. So I hopped on Baseball-Reference.com for some research. Here goes:
All-Time Post Season
- in all, the Sox have played in 150 post-season games (20 appearances)
- the Sox have an all-time record of 78-71-1 (.523)
- starters in these games earned 85 QS in these 150 games (56.6%)
- of these 85 QS, the Sox won 57 of them and tied 1 (67.65% win percentage)
- so that means that the Sox have had 65 non-QS and have only won 32.3% of these games
At Fenway Park
- at Fenway Park, Sox hurlers have tossed 42 of these post-season QS and have a record of 29-12-1 in these games (70.2%)
World Series
- there have been a total of 45 Red Sox QS in their 66 World Series games (68.2%).
- the Sox have won 40 of the 66 games they have played in (61.4%) en route to 7 World Championships
- in 45 World Series QS, the Sox are 32-12-1 (72.2%)
ALCS Predictions
Well, we can only predict the first 4 games as probable starters have been announced for those four matchups.
Boston v. Cleveland
Game 1: Beckett (67%) v Sabathia (74%)- Advantage: Cleveland
Game 2: Schilling (58%) v Carmona (81%) – Advantage: Cleveland
Game 3: Matsuzaka (56%) v Westbrook (60%) – Advantage: Cleveland
Game 4: Wakefield (48%) v Byrd (48%) – Tossup
Well, the Sox certainly have their work cut out for them. Sabathia and Carmona are on the short lis, along with Beckett, for AL Cy Young. Both of them had quality starts in their only starts against the Sox this year as did Paul Byrd. Westbrook did not.
Sox starters Beckett and Schilling also had quality starts in their solo outing against the Tribe, Dice-K had one QS in two starts. Tim Wakefield did not face the Indians this season. He has only faced the Tribe twice in the last three seasons (1 QS).
So what should you expect in this series? Well, we are looking at the best two rotations in the AL this season, by ERA. Hitters working long counts to push up pitch counts so they can get to the bullpens early. The Sox have a bullpen advantage. The team that holds the lead after 5 innings will have a significant advantage in getting the win, nothing new, but really important in this series. Work the count, foul off some pitches, get the starter out of the game. Fortunately, for me, a Sox fan, I know that the Sox do this every single game.
QS Prediction: Cleveland in 6
NLCS Predictions
Well, we can only predict games 1, 2, and 3 as probable starters have been announced for those three matchups.
Arizona v. Colorado
Game 1: Webb (65%) v Francis (56%) – Advantage: Arizona
Game 2: Davis (58%) v Ubaldo Jimenez (60%) – Tossup
Game 3: Livian Hernandez (58%) v Morales (25%) – Advantage: Arizona
Based on QS %, I would expect the D-backs to be leading in the series after Game 3, either 2-1 or 3-0. I consider +/- 2% in QS % to be within the margin of error; hence the Game 2 pick ‘em.
If you are a big baseball fan – gotta love this series. Look at all of the young players who will play significant roles. Oh, to be a baseball fan out west…. look out Giants and Dodgers – the young men have gone West, to Denver and Phoenix.
ALDS Game 4 goes to the…
Tribe! Ching-Ming Wang out before getting a fourth out? Wow – did not see that coming. Paul Byrd has a nice 5 inning outing. Neither starter went to the quality start level. Series goes to the team that got the only QS – and remember – QS % did predict that the Tribe would win.
