Papelbon and Okajima

Other than the fact that I turned my video camera sideways on accident -- pretty cool stuff.

Fun with numbers

The Red Sox are currently 78-51, 6 games ahead of New York (pending the outcome of the Detroit-Yankees game, which didn't start until about 11 p.m. EST tonight). The magic number to clinch the division stands at 29.

There's a good chance these numbers might be a bit off, because I just fumbled through the box scores quickly while waiting for the Yankees game to start.

But I find it pretty alarming that the Red Sox have only scored 36 ninth-inning runs all season. Contrast that with 106 eighth-inning runs. The ninth inning is by far the Sox's least productive inning. Of course, you have to factor in the fact that they don't bat in the ninth inning for home wins, but the Sox also only have two wins when trailing after eight this season (the "Mothers Day Miracle and the Tampa Bay game in August at Fenway). The next least-productive inning is the second, where they Sox have plated 58 runs this season. And in case you were curious, runs scored in the third through seventh innings is fairly evenly distributed -- at 78, 80, 76, 69 and 67, respectively.

When examining close-and-late batting averages of the Sox regulars (e.g. I'm throwing out people like Brandon Moss), only three are hitting above .300 -- Dustin Pedroia, Jason Varitek and J.D. Drew. A plethora of Sox hitters are around the .270 mark in close-and-late situations -- not terrible. But Manny Ramirez and Kevin Youkilis are hitting .186/.304/.356 and .164/.299/.255 respectively, which is pretty piss-poor.

What does this boil down to? Well, the 2007 Red Sox certainly lack the late-inning dramatics of the 2003-2006 teams. But they're winning in conventional ways, which is fine by me. They're fourth in the league in OPS (.800 even) and second in OBP (the stat that just completes my life), although NYY has the edge over Boston in both of those categories. They aren't hitting home runs like the Red Sox teams of the past (17th in the league), but that's okay with me when they're the second best pitching team in the league by ERA, only behind Oakland. Their starters have the best WHIP in the American League, at 1.29. The Sox also boast the best bullpen in the majors (2.97 ERA). To show you how dominant that bullpen has been, of legitimate American League playoff contenders, the next-best bullpen ERA is Seattle's at a 3.70 ERA.

On a complete side note, I used to think that Joe Morgan was the most vile, annoying, intolerable sportscaster in the business. After listening to Hawk Harrelson for two games, he's taken over as the worst. If I have to hear one more "He gone" or "STAY FAIR FOR PAULIE!" or "You can put it on the boooaaard, YES!" or "1-0 Good Guys" ... you get the idea ... I will shoot him. He and DJ answered a viewer e-mail during Game 1 of today's doubleheader about sports broadcasters that they both like. I was shocked to hear that Harrelson grew up admiring the likes of Vin Scully and Chick Hearn. He sure didn't learn anything from these two legends. He then said, "There are some great broadcasters out there, and some I really don't like." Hello Kettle, this is Hawk. You're black.

Sox-Rays series

Kyle Snyder -- very nice guy.










Hideki Okajima signed this after I nearly killed him. I kid you not.