Was Jon Lester Any Good?

With the news of his retirement from baseball still fresh in my mind, I was thinking about Lester today. I wondered how he performed in games I attended. I assumed I had seen him pitch quite a bit. So, I flipped through my scorebook so to see how he did while I was keeping score.

Ok. Two? I only saw him pitch twice? Well, I only scored a game he pitched twice? That's like John Smoltz level viewership. I'm not even sure how that happened. But, that's what we have.

So, even though it's not exactly a representative sample, how did he do in the games I scored?

Well, he had a .500 record. A bit below his Boston career average. His 2.67 ERA was a good clip. Even better than his career numbers would suggest.

What if we extrapolated those number over a full 32-start season? Obviously his percentages would be the same. a 16-win campaign would be the third highest of his career. The 208 strikeouts would be a solid accomplishment, good for fourth highest of his career.

So I think it's fair to say I pretty much saw the standard Jon Lester in my two outings. Nothing too exciting, but two solid starts.

How did Lester do when you were in the park?

Was Adrian Beltre Any Good?

With the announcement of his retirement fresh in my mind, I thought it would be fun to see how potential Hall of Famer Adrian Beltre performed in games where I was in the park. Or, at least games where I kept score. After all, the guy played forever, and even spent some time in Boston. So I should have a pretty healthy sample.

Let's see what we have.

Adrian Beltre
Date	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K	2B	3B	HR	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
4/10/2007	3	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0.000	0.000	0.000	0.000
5/8/2010	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.000	0.000	0.000	0.000
6/19/2010	3	0	1	0	0	2	0	0	0	0.333	0.333	0.333	0.667
7/17/2010	3	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0.000	0.250	0.000	0.250
8/21/2010	5	0	1	1	0	2	0	0	0	0.200	0.200	0.200	0.400
9/4/2010	4	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.250	0.250	0.250	0.500
Totals	21	0	3	1	1	5	0	0	0	0.143	0.182	0.143	0.325
660 AB AVG	660	0	94	31	31	157	0	0	0	0.143	0.182	0.143	0.325

Yeah. I was surprised too. Six games? I know he spent lots of time in the NL, but he also spend a ton of time in the AL. I would have expected at least a dozen. But, six is what we've got. So, how did he do in that six-game sample?

Not exactly Hall of Fame numbers. A .143 batting average? Even worse, a .143 slugging percentage? Dear god, a .324 OPS? Nasty, nasty, nasty...and not nasty like Chris Sale’s slider.

Which is disappointing. Especially since most of those games, he was wearing a Boston uniform. I wanted him to be hitting well when I saw him. And, he just didn't.

So, once again I didn't see the true Adrian Beltre. I'm starting to think I'm bad luck or something. Maybe I should start going to more Yankees games to test that theory.

How did Adrian Beltre do while you were in the park?

Jorge Posada Live

It’s been a while since I dipped into the scorebooks, so I thought it was a good time to do it again. Over the years I’ve seen lots and lots of Yankees games, so their players are often more fun than others. This time I decided to go with Jorge Posada.

I was never a big Posada fan, beyond the obvious reasons. It always bugged me that he was considered an all-star type catcher when the “catcher” portion was in name only. It always bugged me that he was the only catcher I saw throw the ball down when a 3-2 count with two outs and a man on first was called a ball. Most catchers would hold the ball in that case, knowing the runner could have second at that point. I always felt it was bush league to throw the ball down and try to trick the runner, and make him risk injury. I thought so even more after he tricked the umpire once into calling Manny Ramirez out.

I also found it annoying that he was called a “patient” hitter. He wasn’t patient, he just didn’t swing. There’s a difference. I always felt he just put the bat on his shoulder and was almost as likely to take a called third strike as a ball four. 

So, do the games I was in the park for account for any of that bias?

Looks like it just might have.

Take a look at that BB/K ratio. While I was watching, Posada struck out almost twice as often as he walked. Sure, that resulted in a decent on base percentage. But, you get the impression that it had more to do with the pitchers missing their spots than anything he was doing. After all, he only hit .215. His .800 OPS wasn’t exactly setting the world on fire either.

So, I guess that’s where my impression of Posada was formed. Just watching the guy stand there, and then accomplish very little. No wonder Red Sox-Yankees games took forever.

At least while I was in the park.

How did Posada perform with you in the park?

Live Stars

Here’s a little exercise that I had hinted at doing a while ago. Being able to see Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun in person made me wonder. What’s the best team I could make of players I had seen live, in non-exhibition games? I think I came up with a pretty good team. As a rule, I used awards as a tiebreaker over numbers. I also decided to ignore the steroid issue. Even if Barry Bonds cheated his way to a couple MVP’s, he’s still a noteworthy player to have seen. So, I included him. I also didn’t care when I saw them. I went on career accomplishments even if I only saw them when they were washed up. With that in mind, here is my first and second team of stars.

First Team
C-Ivan Rodriguez. He’ll be in the Hall-of-Fame soon enough.
1B-Frank Thomas. Double MVP and 500 HR guy.
2B-Alfonso Soriano. Couldn’t play second very well, but a weak position.
3B-Alex Rodriguez. Maybe the best ever, as much as I hate it.
SS-Cal Ripken. He’s in the Hall.
LF-Barry Bonds. As I said, he has to make a list like this.
CF-Ken Griffey. MVP. 600 HR
RF-Vladimir Guerrero. MVP.
DH-David Ortiz. As a DH, he’s on top.
SP-Roger Clemens. See Barry Bonds. 7 Cy Youngs.
SP-Pedro Martinez. 3 Cy Youngs. Most Dominant pitcher in years
SP-Randy Johnson. 5 Cys? Kazillion K’s
SP-Greg Maddux. 5 Cy’s? 300 wins
SP-Roy Halliday. At least 1 Cy.
CL-Dennis Eckersley. MVP, Cy Young. Hall of Fame.

Not a bad team, especially that rotation. Just to show you the choices I had to make, here’s my second team.

C-Mike Piazza. Obviously Varitek could be here. Mike’s more likely in Cooperstown.
1B-Jason Giambi. Unfortunately, he has that MVP
2B-Dustin Pedroia. His ROY gives him the nod.
3B-Wade Boggs. Sure, he was in Tampa. But, he’s a Hall of Famer
SS-Nomar Garciaparra. His two batting titles over Tejada’s MVP
LF-Manny Ramirez. 500 HR
CF-Carlos Beltran. Amazingly, not a lot of quality CF on my list
RF-Ichiro Suzuki. Personally, I don’t like his game. But, a MVP and ROY
DH-Edgar Martinez. The first HOF DH?
SP-Tom Glavine. Cy Young
SP-Bartolo Colon. Cy Young
SP-Bret Saberhagen. 2 Cy Youngs
SP-John Smoltz. Cy Young?
SP-Josh Beckett. Mr Postseason
CL-Eric Gagne. Yes, with the Sox, but the CY let me put him ahead of Rivera.

Those are the best I could do. A couple weak positions surprised me. Hopefully I didn’t miss anyone. Does anyone else have a team they’d like to share?