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In the annual Patriots Day game in Fenway, Daniel Bard issued 7 walks (a new game high for this year) in 6.2 innings. His last two walks, to Carlos Peña and Evan Longoria, pushed in the game’s only run.

Boston’s last 1-0 home loss was to the Yankees in July 2008, when Joba Chamberlain outdueled Josh Beckett for 7 innings.
Their last 1-0 home loss on Patriots Day was in 2000.
James Shields got the first out in the 9th, but walked a batter and was lifted. The last CG shutout by a visitor in Fenway was a 2009 3-hitter by Roy Halladay.
The game ended with Cody Ross looking at 3 strikes from Fernando Rodney with the tying and winning runs on base. It was the second time in the game that Ross took 3 strikes.
Rodney finally allowed a baserunner — an intentional walk to David Ortiz, who had 2 HRs in 11 prior meetings with Rodney.
The Rays are 3-0 on Patriots Day in Fenway.
I love the fact that Joe Maddon has Peña batting #2 in the order. You can have all the Darwin Barneys and Elvis Andruses with their “bat control” and their .320 OBPs; give me a #2 hitter who makes the pitcher sweat.

__________

I feel as though I haven’t been running enough tables from B-R lately, so here are a few random ones:

Locked in: These guys have hit in every game they’ve played so far:

	Strk Start	End	Games	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SO	BB
Adam Jones	2012-04-06	2012-04-15	9	35	6	12	2	0	3	4	7	1
J.D. Martinez	2012-04-06	2012-04-15	9	35	5	13	3	0	3	10	7	4
Pablo Sandoval	2012-04-06	2012-04-15	9	36	7	12	4	0	2	8	5	4
Josh Willingham	2012-04-06	2012-04-15	9	31	7	13	2	0	4	7	6	4

Paul Konerko	2012-04-06	2012-04-15	8	31	5	12	4	0	1	7	6	3

Ryan Sweeney	2012-04-05	2012-04-14	7	25	3	10	3	1	0	4	4	3

David Wright	2012-04-05	2012-04-15	6	21	4	12	0	0	2	5	2	4

Still working out the kinks: These guys have an ERA of 9 or higher after 2 starts:

Rk	Player	ERA	Age	Tm	GS	W	L	W-L%	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA+	HR
1	Paul Maholm	13.50	30	CHC	2	0	2	.000	8.0	12	12	12	3	4	28	3
2	Tim Lincecum	12.91	28	SFG	2	0	1	.000	7.2	14	11	11	3	10	29	2
3	Josh Collmenter	12.86	26	ARI	2	0	0		7.0	10	11	10	4	6	30	3
4	Adam Wainwright	11.42	30	STL	2	0	2	.000	8.2	11	11	11	3	9	34	3
5	Randy Wolf	10.61	35	MIL	2	0	1	.000	9.1	18	11	11	4	8	36	2
6	Max Scherzer	10.38	27	DET	2	0	1	.000	8.2	13	10	10	3	14	42	1
7	Francisco Liriano	10.00	28	MIN	2	0	1	.000	9.0	15	12	10	5	6	43	2
8	Clay Buchholz	9.82	27	BOS	2	1	0	1.000	11.0	14	12	12	5	7	45	1
9	Phil Hughes	9.00	26	NYY	2	0	2	.000	8.0	13	8	8	4	11	48	3

The cheapest Wins (Game Score < 40):

Rk	Player	Date	Tm	Opp	Rslt	App,Dec	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	Pit	Str	GSc
1	Jeff Samardzija	2012-04-13	CHC	STL	W 9-5	GS-5 ,W	5.0	10	5	5	1	5	0	103	64	31
2	Yu Darvish	2012-04-09	TEX	SEA	W 11-5	GS-6 ,W	5.2	8	5	5	4	5	0	110	59	34
3	Ubaldo Jimenez	2012-04-15	CLE	KCR	W 13-7	GS-5 ,W	5.0	9	4	4	3	5	0	112	70	35
4	John Danks	2012-04-11	CHW	CLE	W 10-6	GS-6 ,W	5.2	7	4	4	5	3	1	107	62	37
5	Felix Hernandez	2012-04-07	SEA	OAK	W 8-7	GS-7 ,W	6.1	8	6	6	1	7	1	102	64	39

The toughest Losses (min. 6 IP, max. 2 runs allowed):

Rk	Player	Date	Tm	Opp	Rslt	App,Dec	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	Pit	Str	GSc
1	Shaun Marcum	2012-04-14	MIL	ATL	L 1-2	GS-7 ,L	7.0	3	2	2	2	6	0	105	65	67
2	Erik Bedard	2012-04-05	PIT	PHI	L 0-1	GS-7 ,L	7.0	6	1	1	1	4	0	81	58	64
3	Jordan Zimmermann	2012-04-08	WSN	CHC	L 3-4	GS-7 ,L	7.0	6	2	1	0	4	0	80	57	63
4	Ryan Vogelsong	2012-04-15	SFG	PIT	L 1-4	GS-7 ,L	6.1	4	2	2	3	7	1	102	62	61
5	Blake Beavan	2012-04-10	SEA	TEX	L 0-1	GS-7 ,L	6.1	6	1	1	1	3	0	88	58	59
6	Felix Hernandez	2012-04-13	SEA	OAK	L 0-4	GS-7 ,L	7.0	7	2	2	3	6	0	107	69	58
7	Ryan Dempster	2012-04-11	CHC	MIL	L 1-2	GS-7 ,L	6.2	5	2	2	3	5	1	106	65	58
8	Mark Buehrle	2012-04-05	MIA	CIN	L 0-4	GS-6 ,L	6.0	7	2	2	2	5	0	108	72	53
9	Graham Godfrey	2012-04-10	OAK	KCR	L 0-3	GS-6 ,L	6.0	6	2	2	1	1	0	85	54	52

Thanks for Nothing (No decision in 6+ scoreless IP):

Rk	Player	Date	Tm	Opp	Rslt	App,Dec	IP	H	BB	SO	Pit	Str	GSc
1	Justin Verlander	2012-04-05	DET	BOS	W 3-2	GS-8	8.0	2	1	7	105	66	84
2	Bronson Arroyo	2012-04-13	CIN	WSN	L 1-2	GS-8	7.1	3	1	4	94	58	75
3	Gio Gonzalez	2012-04-12	WSN	CIN	W 3-2	GS-7	7.0	2	0	7	97	64	80
4	Joe Saunders	2012-04-11	ARI	SDP	L 1-2	GS-7	7.0	4	2	4	102	57	71
5	Colby Lewis	2012-04-11	TEX	SEA	L 3-4	GS-7	6.2	5	0	6	109	74	70
6	Bruce Chen	2012-04-06	KCR	LAA	L 0-5	GS-6	6.0	3	0	4	75	54	70

Unsung Hero: In 4 games, Toronto’s Luis Perez has not allowed a run, stranding 7 inherited runners, and recording the top relief-game WPA so far:

Gtm	Date	Tm	Opp	Rslt	Inngs	Dec	IP	H	BB	SO	BF	IR	IS	WPA
1	Apr 5	TOR	CLE	W,7-4	12-16	W(1-0)	4.0	0	3	3	14	2	0	0.745
4	Apr 9	TOR	BOS	L,2-4	9-GF		0.1	0	0	0	1	2	0	0.019
5	Apr 10	TOR	BOS	W,7-3	7-8		1.1	2	0	1	6	2	0	0.022
9	Apr 15	TOR	BAL	W,9-2	8-8		0.2	0	0	0	2	1	0	0.007
		TOR					6.1	2	3	4	23

The Quisenberry Award frontrunner for best control by a reliever is … Aroldis Chapman? Is this the same guy who carried a career rate of 6.5 BB/9 into his third season? He’s throwing more strikes than ever before (70% strikes, up from career 60%). Out of 27 batters, he’s had just three 3-ball counts (none starting 3-0) and three 2-0 counts. Out of 19 2-strike counts, he’s gotten 15 Ks.

Year	Age	Tm	W	L	W-L%	ERA	G	GF	SV	IP	H	R	HR	BB	SO	BF	WHIP	H/9	BB/9	SO/9
2010	22	CIN	2	2	.500	2.03	15	3	0	13.1	9	4	0	5	19	51	1.050	6.1	3.4	12.8
2011	23	CIN	4	1	.800	3.60	54	13	1	50.0	24	21	2	41	71	207	1.300	4.3	7.4	12.8
2012	24	CIN	2	0	1.000	0.00	5	2	0	8.0	3	0	0	0	15	27	0.375	3.4	0.0	16.9
3 Yrs			8	3	.727	2.90	74	18	1	71.1	36	25	2	46	105	285	1.150	4.5	5.8	13.2
162 Game Avg.			7	3	.727	2.90	68	17	1	66	33	23	2	42	96	262	1.150	4.5	5.8	13.2

All tables provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 4/16/2012.

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Doug

12 years ago

Not sure if 7 guys who have hit in every game is a lot for this late in the season but, accordng to P-I, since 1918 there have only been 9 season-starting hitting streaks of 20+ games, and only 2 of 30+ games. George Sisler….. 1925-04-14 TO 1925-05-19 – 34 Ron LeFlore……. 1976-04-17 TO 1976-05-27 – 30 Sam Rice………. 1930-04-14 TO 1930-05-17 – 28 Gee Walker…….. 1937-04-20 TO 1937-05-23 – 27 Charlie Grimm….. 1923-04-17 TO 1923-05-16 – 25 Edgar Renteria…. 2006-04-03 TO 2006-05-09 – 23 Joe Torre ………1971-04-06 TO 1971-04-28 – 22 Steve Garvey…… 1978-04-07 TO 1978-05-02 – 21 Harry… Read more »

Timmy Pea

I like Pena batting second also, esp in the AL. I get your point about Barney, but in the NL it’s different. The Rangers have a 30/30 guy leading off. Also the Rangers have been to the last 2 WS so I like what they’re doing down there.

Insert Name Here

“The game ended with Cody Ross looking at 3 strikes from Fernando Rodney with the tying and winning runs on base. It was the second time in the game that Ross took 3 strikes.”

Watch the end of that game again, and you’ll see that he didn’t look at 3 strikes – he looked at 2, at most, and then the umpire had a flight to catch. 🙂

Neil L.

Reply to Insert Name Here

Nice one, Insert, but take off your Red Sox glasses, stop listening to NESN announcers and …. 🙂

Of course, just kidding, but I’m not sorry to see the Sox stay at the bottom of the AL East.

Author

John Autin

Insert, I had a hunch that at least one of those “strikes” would turn out to be questionable. I didn’t have a chance to look at video, so thanks for confirming.

I heard the Mets announcers discussing that call by ump Larry Vanover on Cody Ross. They noted that it was Vanover who called Jason Bay out on a pitch at least 6 inches outside last Wednesday vs. Strasburg.

We joke, but seeing that the 1-0 BOS-TB game took over 3 hours, maybe Vanover really was thinking, enough already.

John, Luis Perez’s four-inning relief appearance in the Indians’-Jays’ season-opener, resulting in a WPA of 0.745, only ranks him ninth in high-WPA relief appearances, since 2000. I was surprised at the number of high-WPA appearances in htat time span. Here is the list of relievers with a WPA > 0.740 in a single appearance since 2000. http://www.baseball-reference.com/play-index/shareit/WOOIE There are only ten pitchers on the list for the last 11+ years and Luis Perez makes the new-millenium, long-relief hall of fame twice. His 2012 relief performance was eclipsed by his 2011 0.753-WPA relief appearance against the White Sox linked here http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/TOR/TOR201105280.shtml?utm_source=direct&utm_medium=Share&utm_campaign=ShareTool… Read more »

Darien

“You can have all the Darwin Barneys and Elvis Andruses with their “bat control” and their .320 OBPs; give me a #2 hitter who makes the pitcher sweat.”

Sadly, my team already has all the Darwin Barneys. I miss Kosuke already.

Paul E

Reply to Darien

I’m glad somebody figured out what to do with a modern-era, typical middle of the order hitter who strikes out 150 times and hits .240….

Now, if Maddon could only get Upton to figure out how to hit a breaking pitch!!

Ozzie comes back tonight, I’d love to see someone get a good Ozzie thread going.

Reply to Timmy Pea

Which new manager has done himself the most harm with his ill-considered remarks, Ozzie Guillen or Bobby Valentine?

Compare and contrast, in 500 words or less.

Lawrence Azrin

Reply to John Autin

Easy – Guillen.

Valentine is a big story with sports fans, but will probably fade quickly in a couple weeks (less if the Red Sox start winning now). Guillen is a big story with the general public, not just sports fans It’s been getting national coverage on the major TV and radio networks.

Plus, it’s a HUGE story with the Cuban-exile community in southern Florida. Even when general interest in this story fades, the Cuban-exiles are not going to forget his Castro comments anytime soon.

(85 words)

Reply to Lawrence Azrin

Agreed! Guillen for sure. He did not get booed, nor were there any protests, but let’s remember he apologized to Cubans as hard as Bobby Petrino has been apologizing to his wife the last 10 days or so. I mean if anything the Cubans in Florida won this battle like they win so many. From what I gather many were satisfied the punishment fit the crime and Ozzie was contrite/scared, and they were very happy with the way the Marlins handled it.

bstar

Agreed that the Marlins and Ozzie handled this very well. Miami’s preemptive suspension of Ozzie was both appropriate and effective in showing they fully understood the weight of Ozzie’s comments. Are there still some Cubans and Cuban-Americans who will never go to a Marlins game? Probably some, but not nearly as many as there could have been had the Marlins not handled this so deftly.

I just read that 13 Marlins season ticket holders wanted to cancel, and the team president called call 13 personally and 12 of the 13 were satisfied and kept the tickets. The other 1 was not satisfied and kept the tickets anyway.