On the Road

by 0157H7 on May 30, 2008 9:00 AM EDT in News

Imagine, if you will, two teams, A and B. Team A is a powerhouse, fresh off a division title. Team B is an aging team dealing with veterans who may have their best days behind them; a team that is simultaneously trying to incorporate rookies into important roles.

Team A:

Winning Percentage: 80%
ERA: 3.50
Runs Scored / Allowed: 156 / 100
AVG / OBP / SLG: .303 / .383 / .474

Team B:

Winning Percentage: 37%
ERA: 4.61
Runs Scored / Allowed: 123 / 146
AVG / OBP / SLG: .265 / .330 / .414

Diamondbacks and Mariners? Sadly, no - Team A is the 2008 Red Sox at Fenway Park, while Team B is them on the road. The Sox are 21-5 at home, but 11-19 away. On the current road trip, the team is 1-5, winning only in an improbable comeback against Seattle's Felix Hernandez. The Sox have been swept four times on the road, although one series was only two games against Baltimore. As the numbers above show, the Sox are worse in terms of both offense and pitching in road games.

This is all the more painful because it is a complete departure from last year, when the Sox had a winning road record (45-36, or 56%). Improbably, the 2007 team pitched significantly better on the road than it did at home. Sox pitchers put up a 3.59 road ERA, led by Beckett (2.18) and Schilling (3.65). The Sox home ERA was 4.14, but the offense hit better at Fenway than it did elsewhere.

So what is the source of the Sox road doldrums? I think the answer lies in the team's pitching, rather than its offense. Boston's away batting line last year was .262 / .344 / .424, which is only a little better (in OBP and SLG) than the 08 line. Yet the 2007 team had a winning record on the road. Meanwhile, Sox pitchers took a nose-dive on the road, putting up a 4.61 ERA where they had dominated the year before.

Two players stand out in particular. Buchholz, in limited time, has a huge home-away split. In three home games, his ERA is 1.04; in five road games, it soars to 8.64. Jon Lester has also been significantly better at home (2.72 ERA) than away (4.62) in his twelve starts.

How worrisome should this road trouble be in the long-run? Probably not very. Two thirds of the season remain, and there is plenty of time for the Sox to pitch and play better away from the Fens. Also, many teams, even very good ones, are simply worse on the road. For example, our division rivals, the Rays, have even more pronounced road and home splits in their pitching: the team ERA soars from 2.89 to 4.93 as they play away games. I, for one, expect that when the season ends the Sox will have a winning record in road games. This team is way too good to play .366 ball all season.

What do you think about the Sox road woes? Are they minor, or signs of something more serious? Will we be dealing with this all year, or is this one good road trip away from resolution?

(All stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com.)

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We only swept one good team so far

The Rays. All the other series against good (good teams, .500 teams) teams at Fenway, we dropped a game. That’s okay, no big deal. But we only won ONE series on the road, against the Tigers (I’m leaving the Indians games out of this because we only played 2 games). I am a little worried, but not too much.

Maybe this off-day was what we needed. No big reason on why we dropped 3 games to the M’s, so let’s see today against the O’s.

Walk on, walk on With hope in your heart And you'll never walk alone You'll never walk alone

by MerryGoByeBye on May 30, 2008 10:41 AM EDT reply actions

Sox Fans have nothing to worry about

Im a Rays fan living in massachusetts and i watch the redsox play almost every night. Your offense is way too dynamic not to turn things around. Its early and uve struggled on the road big deal me and everyone else know the sox will be there in the end. THE ROAD WOES ARE JUST MINOR CHILL OUT RED SOX NATION!

by Rays4ever on May 30, 2008 12:31 PM EDT reply actions

How times have changed

No one would have admitted to being a Rays fan in Massachusetts two or three years ago. I’ll be the first to admit that they’re a very exciting team. They’ve really turned it around over the past two years, and I really think that James Shields was the lynch-pin. Kazmir is the better pitcher, but without Shields’ emergence the Rays don’t have enough talented pitching depth to compete. The addition of Garza will help in much the same way; I expect he’ll improve over the next few years.

"You know you're having a bad day when the fifth inning rolls around and they drag the warning track." - Mike Flanagan, Baltimore Orioles pitcher, 1992.

by SoxDevil on May 30, 2008 12:38 PM EDT up reply actions

Ive admitted it since

2002….when kazmir and crawford came aboard i absolutely fell in love with this team even though they were TERRIBLE. Im glad it is finally coming together for this franchise . This year they could stay in the race for the wild card until possibly the end of the season, but one injury could kill that. Talk to any rays fan and they will tell you they would just be happy to get that 7lrst win. Im not thinking playoffs with this team, but who knows anything can happen in professional sports

by Rays4ever on May 30, 2008 3:04 PM EDT reply actions

Winning at Home only; what does it indicate?

A skilled professional athlete should perform the same everywhere, or close to the same. What does it say about such folks that perform well in the confines of a positive charged atmosphere, but do poorly without the hometown momentum extras?? Now that to me is the critical question.

Is there a way for management to make the postively charged atmosphere exist on the road, or to put it another way, is management too Lassie Faire in applying consequences for poor perfomances in general but especially on the road? Could not doing well be so detrimental to a player anywhere that they motivate themselves to always perform like they were in front of the homecrowd??

As an aside, I personally believe all the problems stem from having the momemtum-killing Julio Lugo on the team, and the solution to this is obvious! That is another topic, however.

by NG on May 30, 2008 3:53 PM EDT reply actions