Monday, August 18, 2008

We missed you, Peter King

MMQB is back.

It's reassuring to know that some things don't change: for example, the Ten Things this week are actually 37 items. He even briefly mentions the Red Sox-Rangers insanity from last week. (Though with a score like Boston 19, Texas 17, he could be forgiven for wondering if the Pats and Cowboys had played an early game this year.) The funny thing is, he notes the crazy first inning, where David Ortiz hit two 3-run homers, while Kevin Youkilis struck out twice. It would only have been fair to add that Youks came back to hit two homers himself, including the 3-run shot that won it in the home half of the 8th inning.

I would be equally remiss without noting that the Rangers intentionally walked Ortiz to get to Youkilis for that at-bat. How'd that work out, kids?

(Yeah, it's Papi, but think about this:

Ortiz- 260/363/488; 14 db,0 tr, 17 hr; OPS+ of 119; not fully healthy
Youks- 320/388/577; 33 db, 4 tr, 23 hr; OPS + of 147; healthy

OPS+ is on base + slugging, adjusted for one's league, and expressed as a percentage of the average. In other words, Youkilis is hitting about 47% better than an "average" player would if playing for the '08 Sox; "average" in this sense could be represented by Mike Lowell: 270/335/446; 25 db, 0 tr, 14 hr; OPS+ of 101. Youks' OPS+ is currentlythe best on the team - better even than the very hot JD Drew and the recently-departed Manny Ramirez.)

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