Houston Beats Up on Papelbon, Downs Boston in 8

by Ben Buchanan on Mar 21, 2010 4:53 PM EDT in Game Stories

It was an ugly day for Jonathan Papelbon and the bench, as mediocre backup defenders gave the ineffective closer no help. The Astros took advantage, scoring 6 runs in the 7th and defeating Boston 10-7 as rain brought the game to an early end.

The day started off similarly troubling for Jon Lester, who gave up a run on back-to-back doubles in the first. While Lester gave up 3 runs over 5.1 innings of work, he was more effective than the numbers would suggest, recording 7 strikeouts and allowing no walks. Okajima gave up a 1-run home run, while Ramon S. Ramirez recorded 2 clean outs, and Daniel Bard had a 1-2-3 8th.

Offensively, the Sox had no trouble getting on base and scoring. The team put together 12 hits and 4 walks, including homers from Dustin Pedroia and Mike Cameron. 3 of the hits belonged to Ellsbury, while Pedroia, Varitek, and Cameron each recorded 2 of their own. The team would waste some opportunities when they failed to score Ellsbury despite him reaching 3rd with 0 outs, and when Lowell twice grounded into double plays with Varitek on first.

Notes:

Another no-hit day from Ortiz. Everybody jump from the bandwagon!
The Sox split their squad today to play against the Blue Jays as well, but the Jays game was rained out.
As a result, the usual backups were unavailable, leaving players like Will Holmes and David Mailman to play the outfield. The results were far from spectacular.

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Comments

Someone start a poll on is Ortiz is on the roster after the all star break

Moderator-so watch it.

by gizmosandy on Mar 21, 2010 6:08 PM EDT reply actions

He will be

I gotta go 'cause I'm probably definitely gonna nod out again.

by Drugs Delaney on Mar 21, 2010 9:14 PM EDT up reply actions

+1

A more interesting poll would be on how many HRs he’ll have by then. 15? 10? 5?

Or maybe an over/under vote on say … 13 HRs. (’Need to go lookup the projections and prorate to the break).

by mmmmm on Mar 22, 2010 6:00 PM EDT up reply actions

pablano concerns me

how has he been this spring?

by Mick Lowe on Mar 21, 2010 8:18 PM EDT reply actions

he's been dominant up until today

today he supposedly had a migraine coming on, so he took medication for it which sapped him. At least that’s his story.

by wolf9309 on Mar 21, 2010 8:26 PM EDT up reply actions

thank you

by Mick Lowe on Mar 22, 2010 9:14 PM EDT up reply actions

its bard time

by celtsfan1 on Mar 21, 2010 10:25 PM EDT reply actions

Papelbon sucks

Coincidently, Eric Gagne was released today. He can be our savior.

"We are not normal, We are Legends. People will tell their kids about us." - Deon Butler before Ohio State Game 2008.

by Rogue Nine on Mar 22, 2010 12:12 AM EDT reply actions

Its funny...

I feel like Sox fans still view that Gagne trade as a big mistake by Theo. Umm… we gave up Kason Gabbard (who we already have back and isn’t anything special), David Murphy (a super fringy OF) and Engel Beltre (who is now a very frustrating though still talented prospect for Rangers fans). Where was the big mistake there?

The real shame was he didn’t even pitch well enough to be worth risking an arb offer so we could get a pick back (he would only have been a type B at that point, anyway). That was the initial plan – we had two prospects who weren’t particularly in our plans (Gabbard and Murphy) and we could include a super raw IFA and then “start over” with two 1st rounders as compensation for Gagne signing with another team. It was a great idea and it should have worked out fine… but Gagne had other plans.

It was a decent shot for Theo to take, not a bad move. It didn’t work out according to plan, but then again we gave up nothing that hurt us short term and while Beltre still has the tools to make us regret including him in the long term, it looks less and less likely with each year that he will turn those tools into skills.

Again, didn’t work out, but given how volatile relief help is this trade made absolute sense and still does in retrospect.

Bullpen Banter
www.bullpenbanter.com
twitter: @alskor

by alskor on Mar 22, 2010 2:52 AM EDT up reply actions

I agree

At the time I thought it was a great trade, we needed bullpen help and Gagne at th time was one of the games great relievers, nobody was scoring on him that year. Unfortunately he got here and imploded in way I’m not sure I’ve ever seen before. It’s just easier to make jokes when talking about Gagne.

"We are not normal, We are Legends. People will tell their kids about us." - Deon Butler before Ohio State Game 2008.

by Rogue Nine on Mar 22, 2010 9:49 AM EDT up reply actions

Gagne was on the active roster when the Sox won

And Julian Tavarez was left off. This annoys me to this day.

I loved that goofy bastard.

Galactus does as he pleases. Because Galactus is drunk.

I have a five-tool player in my pants.

ACTUALLY, advanced metrics show that that wasn't "premature".

by Bloggy on Mar 22, 2010 2:08 PM EDT up reply actions

+1

I also loved Hatchet Face.

I gotta go 'cause I'm probably definitely gonna nod out again.

by Drugs Delaney on Mar 22, 2010 2:26 PM EDT up reply actions

He did some substantial work for us in 2007 as a spot guy etc...

Moderator-so watch it.

by gizmosandy on Mar 22, 2010 6:44 PM EDT up reply actions

Also, in 2006

He did great work as a starter when the whole team was on the DL. To leave a guy who contributes (and entertains) like that off the roster for a guy who’d done nothing but SUCK from the second he put on a Sox uniform…FEH.

Galactus does as he pleases. Because Galactus is drunk.

I have a five-tool player in my pants.

ACTUALLY, advanced metrics show that that wasn't "premature".

by Bloggy on Mar 23, 2010 7:10 AM EDT up reply actions

I cannot remember didn't Kyle Snyder get his spot?

Moderator-so watch it.

by gizmosandy on Mar 23, 2010 7:40 AM EDT up reply actions

Big Poopie

was DONE several years ago and only provides one thing: a financial drain on the team. Quit living in the past, OTM, and get a reality check. Ortiz flat-out sucks and is only getting worse each year. We need a new DH desperately. I shudder how many runners will be left on base again, thanks to him.

by ccthemovieman on Mar 22, 2010 9:55 AM EDT reply actions

Wow

Ortiz has ONE truly bad year and now he “flat-out sucks.” In 2008, he was hurt and limited to 109 games. Still, he had an OPS of .877 and wOBA of .372. Both of those numbers don’t suck. In his limited time at DH, Papi was a 2.0 WAR player in 2008. As for 2009, he was awful for two months and good to very good after that. We’ll see this year whether or not his 2009 numbers reflect a steep decline or the affects of a wrist injury that limited his off-season workouts.

Regarding Ortiz as a money drain, since 2003 the Sox have paid roughly $70.4 million (according to Cots). Fangraphs estimates Papi’s value at $106.5 million since 2003. Since you think he has been “done” for several years, Ortiz has earned $37.5 million the last three seasons, while giving Boston $40.2 million in estimated value. Only last year was he way overpaid. Time will tell if he’s done. Chances are, he’ll be more like the 2008 Papi than the 2009 Papi. If he plays at least 150 games at his 2008 level, he’ll earn his money.

I gotta go 'cause I'm probably definitely gonna nod out again.

by Drugs Delaney on Mar 22, 2010 11:39 AM EDT up reply actions

+1 and a high-five

Galactus does as he pleases. Because Galactus is drunk.

I have a five-tool player in my pants.

ACTUALLY, advanced metrics show that that wasn't "premature".

by Bloggy on Mar 22, 2010 2:10 PM EDT up reply actions

I wonder if

Papi’s 2007 WAR is the highest on record for a DH? Does anyone know? I think Edgar Martinez would have beaten that 1 or maybe 2 times…but just how rare is a 7 WAR DH?

by Buzzy on Mar 22, 2010 3:06 PM EDT up reply actions

It is hard to say.

The WAR values on fangraphs are only calculated back to 2002.

All of Edgar’s best seasons (from 1995-2000 he had a wOBA above .425!!!!) are before that.

Ortiz posted that unbelievable 6.7 WAR in 2007 with a wOBA of .441 and 176 wRC+. He also had a .427 in 2006. He didn’t crack .420 in any other year though.

Edgar’s wOBA numbers are somewhat other-worldly for a while:

1992 .424 174 wRC+
1993 .341 (injury, i think)
1994 .380
1995 .468 <—-188 wRC+—!!!!!!!!!!!! this one might have busted a 7 WAR
1996 .449 172 wRC+
1997 .434
1998 .426
1999 .434
2000 .425
2001 .409
2002 .381 (2.5 WAR)
2003 .386 (3.7 WAR)

Someone else to consider in this discussion would be Frank Thomas, but only in the “What if ….” sense.

Frank Thomas posted wOBA’s above .430 NINE times, including .497 in 1994 – a year in which he produced 209 wRC+!!!!!!

BUT defensively, Thomas played 1B poorly and was a huge liability. Its entirely possible that his defense dragged his value down significantly during those years (he finally stopped playing the field much after 1997). I’m just speculating. We don’t have UZR numbers for back then. But he was really pretty bad.

In other words, “What if Frank Thomas had just been a pure DH?”

by mmmmm on Mar 22, 2010 6:31 PM EDT up reply actions

Papi bashers

And if he hits 30+ hr and has 100+ rbi’s this year you would say?

by RED SOX are #1 in my heart on Mar 23, 2010 11:49 AM EDT up reply actions

"He's back on the roids!"

That will be the Yankee fan line.

Bullpen Banter
www.bullpenbanter.com
twitter: @alskor

by alskor on Mar 23, 2010 5:29 PM EDT up reply actions

The Mailman didn't deliver?

That’s a shame.

"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 Mar 22, 2010 1:21 PM EDT reply actions