Mother
Game 31: May 8, 2005
Mariners (13-18), 6
Red Sox (18-13), 4
W: Ryan Franklin (2-4)
H: J.J. Putz (5)
S: Eddie Guardado (9)
L: John Halama (1-1)
Mother Nature was unkind on Sunday. It’s not nice to fool with her, and she made that abundantly clear all Sunday long. For this game I sat under the .406 Club with the previously mentioned Rebecca and Jere, watching as the rain collected on the netting like dew on a spiderweb. Our trio got into a spirited discussion on Willie Bloomquist’s stat line with two guys in front of us, which at one point stated .167 BA, .160 OBP. It was an impossibility, but somehow we had convinced ourselves that there must be some reason why this was so. We even tried to call WEEI to see if they had a reason for discrepancy. The answer was simple: a typographical error. By the time Bloomquist was up again, it was corrected to 167 BA, .2 something something OBP.
Nice to spend the game with knowledgeable, friendly fans. Quite unlike a group of about 6 in front of us who arrived completely wasted, spoke loudly throughout the innings they were there, and stood up at random moments. The loudest one of them was either a Seattle fan or bet heavily on them. His appreciation of the game was so shallow it was difficult to tell exactly what he stood for. At least these seats have the benefit of a television monitor, so we got to see the NESN replays of David Ortiz’s fair ball that Ron Villone strongly contested.
Pitching debuts galore today. Wade Miller, who soon may have the appelation “our saviour,” went for 5 innings, 3 hits, 2 earned runs, 1 walk, and 6 strikeouts. The success couldn’t be shared, however, as Terry Francona saw fit to hang Cla Meredith out to dry. Feet of Cla. (This is so late, I’m sure someone has already blogged that pun. Sorry if you’ve had to read that elsewhere.)
This is the first time I’ve been to every game of a series. I was hoping for a series sweep, maybe catching a foul ball, or seeing Manny’s 400th home run, perhaps. Despite that, I got to spend time with two great fans who grew up in enemy territory. How easy it would have been for them to turn to the dark side. But they didn’t, and that’s good for us.
Comments
Easy, maybe, in terms of access to the yanks. But getting kicked out of my family would have made my childhood rather difficult.
Jere Smith ∙ 9 May 2005 ∙ 11:44 PM
It turns out to be entirely possible for a player to have a higher BA than OBP... it's one of my personal favorite statistical quirks. I believe Shea Hillenbrand managed it well into April one year.
Andrew ∙ 10 May 2005 ∙ 1:07 AM
I guess it's because of the different denominators?
Batting Average
H/AB
On Base Percentage
(H + BB + HBP)/(AB + BB + HBP + Sac Flys)
Empyreal ∙ 10 May 2005 ∙ 5:40 AM
Pretty much. BA is calculated using AB, while OBP uses plate apearances. So, a guy who's 4-4 with a sac fly has a 1.000 BA, but only an .800 OBP, because he's 4-5 in plate appearances.
Actually, Damon Hollins of the Devil Rays is rocking this one right now. .367 BA, .355 OBP.
Andrew ∙ 10 May 2005 ∙ 8:52 AM
That was my theory, actual plate appearances. (This was also the most popular theory with the more inebriated of the two guys in front of us, so I understand why it was not taken more seriously.) Note that Damon Hollins has no walks to make up for his sacrifice at bats in his OBP.
Rebecca ∙ 10 May 2005 ∙ 11:56 AM
Those guys were drunk as well? Were we the only sober people in the ballpark besides the kids?
My confusion was that I didn't think sac flys were calculated in OBP. Good jorb, Rebecca.
Empyreal ∙ 12 May 2005 ∙ 6:56 AM