Was C. C. Sabathia Any Good?

With the news of his retirement from baseball still fresh in my mind, I was thinking about Sabathia today. After retiring from such a long career, almost entirely in the American League, I wondered how he performed in games I attended. I assumed I had seen him pitch quite a bit, especially since joining the Yankees, and pitching against the Sox so often. So, I flipped through my scorebook so to see how Sabathia did while I was keeping score.

Twice. I saw him pitch twice? Not really sure how that's possible. I saw Mike Mussina pitch twice as often. But, twice it is. 

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

Well he went winless. He didn't exactly pitch shutouts. He was pretty much unimpressive in every way. Terrible, really. He did strike out 9 guys in just under 11 innings pitched. But, that not winning any awards.

His season projections are just as bad. We’ll even ignore the projected 0-16 record. An 8.82 ERA is practically criminal. That WHIP of 1.57 would be sure to annoy plenty of his fans and teammates as well.

So I think it's fair to say I didn't see the “real” Sabathia. Those people who think he’s a Hall of Famer would certainly agree. Once again, even though he's facing the Sox I always prefer to see stars be stars. I just hope the Red Sox are able to beat those stars.

This isn't one of those cases.

How did Sabathia do when you were in the park?

Was Jose Offerman Any Good?

There's a name I hadn't thought about in a while. But while flipping through my scorebook so recently, I kept seeing his name next to some pretty nice performances. So, I thought it was time to do another one of these exercises and see how he performed in games I scored.

Take a look.

Wow, that's a lot of games. Especially for a guy who was only in Boston for 3.5 seasons. In fact, I'm not sure if you can read any of these stats. So, here's a larger view of the totals.

Can I get another wow?

How is this guy not remembered more fondly? Either he performed like garbage is all the games I didn't attend, or he's vastly under appreciated. Remember when he was signed, and everyone laughed that he would replace some of Mo Vaughn’s OBP? Not only did he absolutely live up to that in games I attended, but he did a pretty good making up for Mo’s slugging as well.

Look at those projections! If the games I attended are stretched out to a full “Derek Jeter” season, he would score 141 runs thanks to 207 hits. His three homers would help him to an OPS juuuuuuuuust under 1.000. So when I was in the park, Jose Offerman was an elite player.

Not sure I would have guessed that. 

His numbers during his all-star 1999 first season were insane, by the way. He only went hitless in three of the 23 games I saw him in that season. He batted over .500 with a 1.252 OPS. I don't know how to process that.

So, was Offerman any good? He certainly was when I was in the park.

How did he do when you were watching?

Was Dustin Pedroia Any Good?

With the recent news that Dustin Pedroia is taking a break from his rehabbing, and questioning whether he'd ever play again, I thought it would be a good time to look through my scorebooks and see how Pedroia performed while I was keeping score. Was he the little spark plug superstar people seem to get no he is? Only one way to find out.

Here are his stats!

They may be hard to read, but they're a pretty solid “meh”.

It looks like I saw Pedroia come to the plate almost 200 times while I was keeping score. He reached base in 32% of those appearances.

Projected over an entire season, he would have ended with a .260-7-51 stat line while slashing .320/.365/.685. Not exactly the stuff of legends.

It's also a significant step down from his career averages. So, it's safe to say that I didn't see Pedroia at his best. It's interesting, though, because I saw him for a good chunk of time, throughout his career. You would think that I'd get a good cross section. But, alas, I got a weak hitting middle infielder.

That's too bad.

How was Pedroia while you were in the park?

Hall of Fame Match-Ups (Updated)

Last year at about this time, I had another of my many wonderments. After noticing that when I saw Jim Thome face Pedro Martinez I was seeing future Hall of Famers face each other, I wondered how often I had seen that happen. As it turned out, that had happened nine times. When I finally got around to admitting that people had been elected to the Hall this year, I wondered if those numbers had changed. As it turns out, I was able to add two more games where I saw future Hall of Famers face off. Naturally, both included Pedro Martinez and the newly elected Edgar Martinez. When you add those numbers into my totals, the hitters end up doing a little bit better. Somehow, Edgar managed to get two hits off of Pedro...in eight at-bats. And, yeah, that brought the numbers UP. See for yourself.

Yup. Those were the only two hits I saw a future Hall of Famer get off another future Hall of Famer. If you eliminate Eckersley walking Junior, all of those were Pedro dominating the best hitters in the game. Look at those insane projections of a 660-AB season. 43 hits. A .212 OPS. That's just unfair!

I guess that's why Pedro is the best there ever was.

Did you see any Hall of Fame match-ups?

How did the hitters do?

Was Mike Mussina Any Good?

I was so disgusted by the announcement of the 2019 baseball Hall of Fame class, that I forgot my regular duties. One of the things I usually do when a player is elected to the Hall of fame, is to see if they were any good in the games I saw them play live. I realized that just because Mike Mussina has no business being in the Hall of Fame, it doesn't mean I should neglect my duties! So, how did he do while I was in the park, and keeping score? I'm glad you asked!

Yeah. Ok. He did really well when I was watching. 

Now, with only four games to work with, his numbers are really skewed by the near-perfecto he pitched while I was there. Those nine innings are a bit of an outlier, since he gave up at least two runs in the other games. But, I can't cherry pick. He was dang good with me in the park.

While a 2.67 ERA isn't exactly Pedro-esque, his 0.79 WHIP is definitely elite. And, a full season projection of 240 strikeouts is pretty good too. 

If only he pitched every game with me there, he may have actually earned his Hall of Fame induction. Instead, we'll have to know that he did have the ability to be great, even if it wasn't all the time.

How did Mike Mussina do while you were in the park?

Was Edgar Martinez Any Good?

With the recent Baseball Hall of Fame, elections, I started to wonder how the new inductees performed while I was is the park. I've already talked about Mariano Rivera. So, I was wondering about Edgar Martinez. I knew I had seen Martinez at least a few times later in his career. I wondered how he performed in games I attended. There’s only one way to find out. To the scorebooks!

I was slightly surprised that there were only four games. I know that it's not like he played on an AL East team, but for some reason I expected more.

How did he do?

Pretty good actually. While I didn't see him hit a home run, he certainly got plenty of hits. A .429 batting average is nothing to sneer at. Since his power numbers weren't what they might have been, his OPS isn't exactly legendary but really good. 

Overall, I'd say that I got to see the "real" Edgar Martinez. This is exactly who he was. A really good hitter. 

It's always nice when that happens.

How did Edgar Martinez perform when you were in the Park?

Hall of Fame Match-ups

When I recently wrote about how Jim Thome performed in games I attended, I mentioned there were a couple games included where Thome faced Pedro Martinez in a matchup of future Hall of Famers. I wondered, offhandedly, how many of those match-ups I had ever seen where a future Hall of Fame pitcher faced a future Hall of Fame batter. How did those match-ups go?

I decided I should take a look and see. It turns out that there weren’t very many. That was helped because the Red Sox haven’t had many Hall of Fame batters on the team recently. Certainly none that spent their careers here since Boggs and Rice in the early nineties. (I’m not forgetting someone, right?) So, in the rare case where I was at a game where someone like Rickey Henderson played, it was long odds that the game also happened to feature a Hall of Fame pitcher. So, basically, we were looking at time where Pedro Martinez faced a future Hall of Fame batter, and a fluke matchup here or there. Turns out, it happened nine times (so far). Eight of them were Pedro. Here are the results.

What’s that they say about good pitching beating good hitting? Yeah. That’s apparently true. The Hall of Fame pitchers absolutely dominated their hitting counterparts. In 25 at-bats, the batters went hitless and only drew two walks. They struck out, though, nine times. Check out that ridiculous WHIP against the best hitters in the game.

Since so many of those appearances were Pedro, I decided to see what his numbers were just by himself.

As you might expect, they got even better. Pedro faced a future Hall of Fame batter 26 times while I was in the park, only once did he allow them to reach base. The walk to Jim Thome. He basically pitched a no-hitter where the only batters were headed to the Hall of Fame.

That’s just crazy talk.

I know I say it a lot, but damn he was good.

Was Jim Thome Any Good?

With his recent election to the Baseball Hall of Fame, I was wondering about Jim Thome. I remember seeing several Red-Sox Indians games in the late nineties. A couple Pedro Martinez vs Bartolo Colon duels come to mind. So, I knew I had seen Thome at least a little bit. I wondered how he performed in games I attended. There’s only one way to find out. To the scorebooks!

Bleh.

First of all, I should give Thome the benefit of the doubt and point out the small sample size. It’s also worth noting that of the five games I saw Thome, he faced Tim Wakefield’s knuckleball in one game, and had to face Pedro Martinez in two others. (Those were his three hitless games) Just for fun, the Pedro games were April 25 and June 8. Pedro’s numbers in those two games combined? 2-0, 17 IP, 8 H, 3 BB, 2 ER, 20 K, 1.06 ERA, 0.65 WHIP. Frankly, the fact that Thome managed to draw one of the three walks should be a major feather in his cap.

Which is a long way of saying that I didn’t see the “real” Jim Thome. But, it wasn’t really his fault. Which is always a little too bad. Sure, I don’t want to see any visiting player perform well against the Sox. But, I saw fellow HOF inductee Vladimir Guerrero hit one of the longest home runs I’ve ever seen in Fenway, so I feel like I truly experienced his greatness. Thome, not so much. Because a .176 batting average is not the stuff of legends. Nor is a sub-.600 OPS.

On the other hand, I got to see Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez dominate Hall of Famer Jim Thome over seven at-bats. Which is pretty cool to be able to say. (It also sounds like something else I should look up. How often did I see a Hall of Fame pitcher face a Hall of Fame batter?)

I still wouldn’t have minded being able to see Thome hit one towering blast, though.

How did Jim Thome do with you in the park?

Was Alex Cora any Good?

For some reason Alex Cora’s name has been mentioned a lot lately in Red Sox Nation. Since it’s been a while, I thought it might be fun to take this chance to dive back into the scorebooks and see how he performed in games when I was in Fenway Park.

How did he do? See for yourself.

Not too bad. Not too bad at all.

Granted, I had limited exposure to Cora games. Only nine times did he take the field while I was keeping score, and it appears that the last two were as defensive replacements at the end of games.

So, 19 at-bats isn’t exactly an appropriate sample size. But, what a sample it was! Apparently if I was in the park for every one of Cora’s starts, he’d be polishing off his Hall of Fame speech. 

Despite the fact that he went hitless in five of the nine games I saw (including the two DR games) he did well enough it the others to average out to a .421 clip. That’s not all. Even going homerless, he was able to slug over .600 while I was watching. With his 1.053 OPS, he was clearly more than a defensive guru. He should have been hitting in the middle of the order.

Obviously, I didn’t exactly catch a representative sample of Alex Cora’s career. But, that’s fine. I’m always glad to see players on the Red Sox perform well. 

Hopefully he does the same as Red Sox manager while I’m in the park. I guess we’ll find out!

How did he do with you in the park?

Was Curt Schilling Any Good?

It’s been a while, so I thought it would be fun to dive back into the scorebooks and see how people performed with my watchful eye peering down on them.

Today I chose Curt Schilling. He had some good years with the Sox. He had some lost years with the Sox. How would that play out of games I scored? Let's see.

Wow. Pretty well I'd say.

First, I'm surprised I didn't see Schilling more. But, I guess he wasn't with the Sox as long as I was imagining. But, scoring six games of his is a decent sample. Especially when those two October starts were pretty important.

In the six games, Schilling had a 5-0 record. Not too shabby at all there. He also struck out 29 opposing batters under my watchful eye.

How did his performance project out to an entire season? My fictional Schilling season would see him win 27 games. But, to be honest, his other numbers are really less than spectacular. Sure, a 3.35 ERA and a 1.05 WHIP aren't exactly "bad". But, it's not like he was Pedro out there on the mound. Which, I suppose, means I saw the essence of Curt Schilling. Good in the Playoffs. Above average the rest of the time.

And, certainly not Pedro.

Was Josh Beckett Any Good?

It’s been a while, so I thought it would be fun to dive back into the scorebooks and see how people performed with my watchful eye peering down on them.

Today I chose Josh Beckett. He had quite a roller coaster of a career here in Boston, from terrible trade to ace to deadweight. But, did the games I saw reflect that? Let’s see.

On first glance, I was surprised that I saw so few Beckett starts. Seven games over seven years seems pretty sparse to me. The other thing you notice is that, yes, I captured the up and down nature of Beckett’s career.

It looks like in the seven games, I got two absolute stinkers and five very high quality starts. Interestingly enough, one of the stinkers was during his best season of 2007. So, while the numbers would say that on the whole I saw a guy with a mid-threes ERA, in actuality most of the time I saw a guy give up a run or fewer. That’s not bad at all.

How do his starts with me in the park project out? An 18-9 record is pretty darn good. Not legendary or anything, but exactly what you’d be looking for. As is his 3.40 ERA and 1.01 WHIP. He would strike out fewer people than I would have expected. I was actually surprised when I looked how low his strikeouts per game were. Only once did I see him strike out ten batters, and only twice did he strike out more than one batter per inning.

But, overall, the Josh Beckett I saw would be the ace of many staffs. It makes me wish I saw him more often.

How did he do with you in the park?

How Good was Nomar Garciaparra?

Ok. It's time to once again to look back through my scorecards and see how a Red Sox favorite performed while I was keeping score. Did he perform up to his expectations? Or beyond? Or was I a bad luck charm?

Today I decided to look at Nomar Garicaparra. Things sure did change for Nomar's fortunes with the Sox in a hurry, didn't they? But before it all fell apart, how did he perform while I was watching? Let's find out!

Wow. I'd say he did just fine. Wouldn't you?

Looks like I saw about a half a season worth of Nomar games. That's a fun thing to realize. In those games, I'd definitely say I saw a representative sample. A .362/33/129 extrapolated season is nothing to sneeze at from a shortstop. Or anyone else, for that matter. He was an absolute on-base machine. But, you knew that. That's a big reason why he ended up with a career OPS of 1.017 while I was in the building. That's one of the highest of the players I've done so far. 

Which always makes me happy. This is exactly what Nomar was. A terror at the plate. So, I'm glad I got to see who he really was. I always hate to think I happened to catch a great player on an off night. But, that didn't happen here. Nomar was definitely Nomar. How about you?

How did he do when you were in the park?

Was Jason Varitek Any Good?

Ok. It's time to once again to look back through my scorecards and see how a Red Sox favorite performed while I was keeping score. Did he perform up to his expectations? Or beyond? Or was I a bad luck charm?

Today I decided to look at the Captain, Jason Varitek. I saw a large number of TEK games over the years. How did he perform? Let's find out!

Told you I saw a lot of his games!

How did he do? Pretty damn good, if I do say so myself.

Looks like I saw over half a season worth of games from Varitek. That's quite a sample size. In those games, he batted over .300 with an OPS over .900! Those are all-star numbers at least.

How do his projections work out? Over a 660 at-bat season, I'd see Varitek hit 21 home runs, and drive in over 100. 

Which is great. It means I saw Varitek as he should have been seen. I saw all the quality that he provided in every game. I was glad I got to see it. 

How did he do when you were in the park?

Was Derek Lowe Any Good?

I thought it was about time to flip through the scorebooks once again and see how a Red Sox favorite performed while I was keeping score. Today I chose Derek Lowe. 

Lowe was, of course, part of one of the most lopsided trades in Red Sox history when he joined the team along with Jason Varitek. He started out as many young pitchers do with a mixed role in the bullpen. From there, he set himself up to be an all-star closer before finishing his Red Sox career as an all-star starter. With all those roles, his scorecards had a lot of variety in them, which you can see in his career totals. 

So, was he an all star when I was watching? As a reliever? As a starter? See for yourself.

Wow. Wow. And then wow some more. He was really just great at everything, apparently. As far as pitchers I've scored so far...those are approaching Pedro numbers!

No, he's not Pedro.

His career stats as a reliever are hurt, as far as saves are concerned, because a lot of his games are before his time as a close. And, his starter stats are skewed a bit because one of his eight starts was a no-hitter. But, I don't want to take anything away from those performances.

He projects to be a 20-game winner when I saw him as a starting pitcher. I guessing his ERA would lead any league where Pedro wasn't pitching. As a closer he's, again, a bit short on the saves projection. But, I'll take that ERA and WHIP any day of the week. Well done, Mister Lowe. Well done.

How did he do when you were watching?

Was Manny Ramirez Any Good?

There’s been a lot of talk about Manny Ramirez’s career lately. That will happen when you’re on the Hall of Fame ballot for the first time. Even more so when your candidacy is a bit controversial. 

Of course, as these conversations often do, it made me wonder how Manny Ramirez performed in games I scored. Was he a Hall-of-Famer in my books? Well, see for yourself.

I’d certainly say so!

I apparently scored about a third of a season’s worth of games for Manny. In those games, just look at that slash line. While those aren’t the highest numbers I’ve ever scored, they’re probably the highest ones with any sort of legitimate sample size. While I was there, Manny hit to a .344 batting average, got on base 45% of the time he came to the plate, and slugged 0.617. Fantastic. That also means that so far Manny has the most home runs on my scorecards, with 16. David Ortiz was the previous high with 15. Obviously, I haven’t tabulated everyone’s career statistics yet. But, offhand, having trouble thinking of someone who will challenge him. 

How do those numbers project to a full season? Very very well. Give Manny 660 at-bats, and he would have hit 47 home runs, driven in 150 runs, and scored 142 of his own. Exactly what you’d expect from one of the best hitters in baseball history. 

Whenever I do these totals, it’s always nice to see that I was watching the “real” player in my games. I got to see a good sample of what it meant to watch Manny Ramirez. I wasn’t short-changed. Nor do I think I was especially lucky. 

I just saw Manny being Manny.

How did he do when you were watching?

Clay Buchholz Live

With Clay Buchholz's trade to the Philadelphia Phillies a few weeks ago, my guess is this ends my chances of seeing him pitch in Fenway again. Oh, sure. The Phillies come to Fenway every now and then, but I figure the chances of both me being at the game and Clay pitching are dwindling. So, I thought it would be fun to see how Clay fared in games I scored during his career. 

Here we go.

The first thing I noticed is that I didn't see many Buchholz starts. Sure seems like I was seeing him every other time I went to Fenway. But, there is is in black and white. A mere seven games.

How did he do in those seven games? About how you'd expect Clay to do. The enigma that was Clay Buchholz displayed in seven games. He dominated one game. Got lit up in two. Was "meh" in the other four. That led to an ERA over six in games I scored, while giving up almost two baserunners an inning. Not exactly Pedro-esque.

Which is, I suppose, why he's in Philadelphia right now. Not as many shutouts as he should have had with all his talent. Too many starts of less than five innings.

But boy, that April 8th start was something.

How did Clay Buchholz do in games you attended?

Tim Wakefield Live!

With the Red Sox making a huge trade to acquire a #49 (you may have heard) it made me wonder. What about the other #49? What about Tim Wakefield? How did he do while I was scoring the game? I figured his would be interesting. He played for a long time, in many roles. How did he do? Well, let’s see.

Right away I saw I was going to have to change things up. Since Wake pitched as both a starter and a reliever, my projections would be off. My totals too, for that matter. His lack of wins per appearance makes more sense when you realize he was a middle reliever for a lot of those. In fact, check out his games in May of 1999. On the 9th, he comes in for a regular one-inning save. Then, on the 22^nd he gets the start and goes 8.1 innings for the win. This is not typical behavior.

But, overall, how did he do? A 3.54 ERA is about what I would have expected. Solid, if not spectacular. Just like Wake. He also performed better as a starter than as a reliever while I was watching. No wonder I was always a bit nervous with him as a close.

I find it really interesting that I apparently missed seeing him for the last seven years or so of his career. How odd that he didn’t pop up once or twice after 2005.

As for the projections? Meh. As a starter, a ten win season with a mid-tree ERA. As a reliever, 25 saves with an ERA over four.

But, the numbers were never the whole story with Wakefield. It was his ability to do whatever you needed, and do it well. From closer to starter to mop-up. All in one month if that’s what the team needed. 

That’s pretty valuable.

How did Wake do while you were watching?

David Ortiz Live

With all the hoopla at the end of the season surrounding David Ortiz, this one just seemed like a natural fit. How had Ortiz performed while I was in the park? I hadn’t looked at anyone with such a large sample size before, so I thought this would be interesting. First, of course, I needed to be sure that I was really covering every game I saw him in. So, I waited until after the Red Sox were eliminated, just in case. Of course, that made me really regret that I don’t have every time I’ve seen Ortiz chronicled here. There are games I don’t score for one reason or another. That’s especially annoying in this case because I notice no October games in 2004. That means I missed ALCS game 4. I feel like he did pretty well in that game.

But, even missing those few instances, I have an amazing sample of Ortiz performances ranging from 2000 to 2016. Those games encompass his entire Red Sox career, and then some. I scored 65 of his games, totaling 270 plate appearances. 

How did David Ortiz do while I was in the park?

Yup. Pretty damn well. Exactly what you’d expect from Ortiz, and maybe then some.

Just the raw numbers. I’ve seen David Ortiz hit a home run at least fifteen times. I’ve seen him drive in over 50 runs, and score more than 40 himself. Those are fantastic numbers.

But, look at the extrapolations. If I scale his performance to a 660 at-bat season, I can see what kind of player I was watching. From the looks of it, I was watching an MVP. Look at that slash line. Slugging over .600? An OPS of 1.025? Monster numbers. 200 hits. 150+ RBI. 44 HR. Even if he didn’t exactly end on a high note, he was a magical player while I was in the park.

Which is, of course, exactly what I was hoping for. It’s always nice when I do these and see that I saw a pretty fair representation of the player. I don’t like that I saw the very worst of Paul Konerko. I wish I had seen more of the “real” Mariono Rivera. (On second thought, scratch that. I’m glad I saw the worst of him.) But, much like Pedro, with Ortiz I got a true representation of the player, and I’m thrilled.

How did Ortiz do when you were in the park?

Daisuke Matsuzaka Live

While I was celebrating Dice-K’s birthday a couple days ago, I was wondering how often I saw he play live. So, I looked it up. As it turns out, I saw him pitch in person five times. Looking it over, I noticed something. I now understand why I never had much of a problem with him. Take a look at the results.

Those are pretty darn good numbers.

No wonder I don’t remember myself being insanely frustrated by his long starts. I probably didn’t see many of them. Sure, he gave up three or four walks a couple times. And he gave up seven hits in one appearance. But he didn’t give up any runs. Typical Matsuzaka.

And look at those numbers projected over a season. 19-6? That’s insane. A 2.16 ERA while striking out 237 guys? That’s a monster season. That’s the guy the Red Sox thought they were getting. That’s the performance that they were expecting. Maybe even the numbers they were hoping for.

It’s just that he only did it while I was watching. That may have skewed my judgement of his time with the Sox. Or, maybe, it simply allowed my to be more objective about him. I wasn’t tainted with horrible performances. I had a solid base to work from. How about you?

How did Daisuke perform when you were in the park?

Ichiro Suzuki Live

You may have heard. It was in all the papers. Ichiro notched the 3,000^th hit of his major league career yesterday. I remember when Ichiro first came into the league, and his rookie cards were hot items. I remember thinking that people buying his cards were crazy. Sure, he was a great player. Sure he’d have some good years. But, he was 27 already. Not only is that old to start a career, but his game is based almost entirely on speed. If he lost a step or two, it would really show when he stopped beating out infield hits. His career was limited. He wouldn’t have enough time left to have a Hall of Fame type career. He may hit almost 300 hits a year for a while, but he doesn’t have the time left to reach a career milestone like 2,500 hits. Certainly not 3,000.

Yeah, I’m an idiot.

That was my first though upon hearing the news. My second? A question.

How many of those 3,000 hits did I see in person? I knew I had seen Ichiro play live. I must have seen a bunch of those hits. So, I grabbed the scorebooks again to find the answer:

Yup. Two. Ichiro had 2 hits with me in the stadium, and 2,998 without me. Apparently I’m not a lucky charm of any sort. In fact, of the three games I saw him play, he only got a hit in one of them. 

The thing that I think is even more significant than the two hits, though, is the last entry. April 10 of 2007, Ichiro was 0-3 with three strikeouts. How often could that have happened in his career? Josh Beckett apparently knew something that other people did not. Or, Beckett was just THAT good in 2007.

Beyond that, the small sample size makes most of the other numbers meaningless. I don’t see Ichiro getting 189 walks in a season. Nor do I see him batting .286. 

But, that doesn’t really matter. The important thing is that I got to see a great player do what he does best. 

Twice.

How did Ichiro perform when you were in the park?