What's up with That? ESPNChicago

Chicago has their own ESPN site called espnchicago. It got started last April as ESPN’s first local sports media venture. Let’s juxtapose all the Chicago sports teams with those of Boston and see who has fared better in recent years. Since 2000, Chicago has brought home one championship, and Boston has taken six. And yet, ESPN feels like Chicago deserves its own media outlet, and that it should be advertised every half-hour on SportsCenter. If any city deserves special treatment in the sporting world, it’s Boston.So I ask you, ESPN, what’s up with that?

Bears: Record past five seasons, 45-35, two losing seasons. Since 1995, they’ve made the postseason three times, and two out of three times, they failed to win a single playoff game. Last championship, 1985. Marquis names: Brian Urlacher, Jay Cutler
Patriots: Record past five seasons: 63-17, zero losing seasons. Reached the playoffs six of the past eight years, and have never lost their opening series. Super Bowl champions 2001, 2003, 2004. Last championship: 2004. Marquis names: Tom Brady, Randy Moss, Jerrod Mayo

Bulls: Record past five seasons, 211-199, one losing season (two .500 seasons). Since the days of MJ, they’ve won a single playoff series. Last championship: 1998. Marquis names: Ben Gordon—gone to free agency, Kirk Hinrich—benched, Derrick Rose—sophomore slump, anyone?
Celtics: Record past five seasons, 230-180, two losing seasons. They’ve finished first in the Atlantic division three of the past five years, and have made the playoffs six of the past nine years. Last championship: 2008. Marquis names: Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo, Rasheed Wallace, the list goes on

Cubs: Record past five seasons, 416-393, two losing seasons. Do I need to mention the Curse of the Billy Goat? They haven’t won the World Series in a century! Three managers since 2001, and no postseason wins since 2004. Last championship: 1907. Marquis names: Alfonso Soriano, Carlos Zambrano
White Sox: Record past five seasons, 433-378, one losing season. I do have to give the South Siders some props for their recent years’ success. They won the World Series in 2005, and skipper Ozzie Guillen keeps his squad in the headlines (for good or bad). Last championship: 2005. Marquis names: Carlos Quentin, Paul Konerko
Red Sox: Record past five seasons, 470-340, zero losing seasons. Do I need to mention the Curse of the Bambino? It’s been broken! World Series champs in 2004 and 2007. Stuck in the toughest division in baseball, these Sox haven’t had a losing season since 1997. Red Sox Nation is alive and well, and I’d be willing to bet its population equals the total number of Cubs and ChiSox fans. Not to mention, the Fenway Faithful hold the longest streak of consecutive sellouts in baseball history (at well over 500 games). Last championship: 2007 Marquis names: David Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia, Josh Beckett

Blackhawks: Record past five years, 163-186, three losing seasons. They’ve been making some progress in recent years, but they’ve only made the playoffs twice since the 1997-1998 season. They have longest current Stanley Cup draught in the entire NHL, now at 48 years. Last championship: 1961. Marquis names: Martin Havlat, Marian Hossa
Bruins: Record past five seasons: 199-145, two losing seasons. Made the playoffs 29 straight seasons from 1967-1996, and have qualified for the postseason the past two years. Last season, they tied for the most wins of any team in the NHL, and won the Eastern Conference. Last championship: 1972. Marquis names: Zdeno Chara, Tim Thomas, Patrice Bergeron

Miscellaneous: Chicago Fire (soccer) won the MLS Cup in 1998, but haven’t made a trip to the finals since 2003. Chicago Sky (WNBA) have never had a winning season since their debut in 2006.
Miscellaneous: New England Revolution (soccer) made it to the MLS finals three years in a row from 2005-2007, and have qualified for the playoffs the past seven years. Boston Cannons (lax) is one of the original six teams of MLL and have a 9-season record of 60-48.

And so ESPN thinks Chicago sports have what it takes to keep ESPN reporters busy around the clock. Why? Because they have won extra baseball team? Clearly, Boston is where they belong. The only reason I can think of that would steer ESPN away from Boston is that Boston's local sports coverage--the Globe, WEEI, NESN--is probably the best in the country, and ESPN's Steve Phillips doesn't want to get shown up by the local reporters. But really, ESPN, what's up with that? We'd all love a little extra TLC from the national media.

Just Dive, Drew!

I don’t know if I was the only one who noticed this, but last night, Sox fans gathered another piece of evidence in the case of Red Sox Nation v. J.D. Drew. In the sixth inning, Justin Masterson was charged with his first blown save after David DeJesus hit a 381 foot home run just into the right field bullpen. Now, most outfielders would relish a long ball that clears the wall by less than a foot, because most outfielders like to give the home crowd a show by making a magnificent catch that robs a home run. But not J.D. Drew. He was content to bump into the wall as gently as a leaf falling to the ground, content to watch the ball skim the top of the wall, as two Royals jogged around the bases. But we were playing the Royals, and already had the game in control, so why risk an injury, right? Actually, no. Dejesus’s two-run shot essentially won the game for the Royals, who ended up beating Boston 8-6. Here's J.D.'s lack of effort. http://kansascity.royals.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?content_id=5501039

It hurts me to say this about a professional outfielder, but J.D. must still be haunted by the time he crashed into the right field wall in 2007: chasing down a fly ball, he bruised his back, putting him out of the lineup for a few days. OK, so he’s a little wimpy for not wanting to put his body on the line like we watched Coco do time and time again. But there’s more. In 2007, two months after he bruised his back on that wall, Fenway groundskeepers added two inches of padding so that J.D. Drew wouldn’t have to fear hurting himself if he decided to play all-out baseball for once in his life. And yet, even now, J.D. still isn’t comfortable playing his position the way it was meant to be played. To see a real outfielder, see Aaron Rowand’s body-sacrificing running catch for the Phillies. I know people always look to J.D. as the cause of all the Red Sox’s problems, and I’m not one of those people. I know he’s ultra-talented, and his on-base percentage is off the charts. Plus, who can forget his grand slam in game six of the 2007 ALCS against the Indians (we won the World Series that year. Thanks, J.D.!) But I’m still waiting to see some $14 million-a-year defense from this one-time All Star.a

Stat of the Day: The Effects of a Full Count

Out of the Red Sox starting nine, only one player is batting better than .250 with a full count this season. That player is David Ortiz. His BA with a full count is far away the best on the team; his .414 average is .164 higher than the Sox’s second best hitter with a 3-2 count, Kevin Youkilis (.250). I think this statistic explains why we love David so much. With the pressure on, and the Fenway Faithful on their feet, Ortiz comes through more often than any other Red Sock. In fact, even with Ortiz in the lineup, the Red Sox BA with a 3-2 count is .215. As a whole, the team batting average for the BoSox is .265, a full .50 points higher than our pipsqueak .215 with a full count. I didn’t know if this was a Boston idiosyncrasy, or if most teams struggle with a full count. So I took a look at the Yankee lineup. Their team BA with a full count is .264, whereas their team batting average, disregarding the count is .276, a difference of only .012 points. But more importantly, the Yankee BA with a full count is way better than what the Sox do when the count is full. Also, it may surprise you to know which Bronx Bomber has the best BA with a full count. No, not Mr. Clutch Derek Jeter, but Johnny Damon. His .429 average with a full count is even better than Big Papi’s!

So what have we learned after this rant? David Ortiz’s reputation for being good in clutch is no fallacy; he is in his element with the pressure on. In fact, his .414 3-2 BA is second only to the classic hitter’s count of 3-0. Also, when Johnny Damon is at the plate with a full count, be careful what you throw him. Next, the Red Sox lineup as a whole should not let the count run full all that much (especially Mike Lowell, who bats .111 with a full count), and should try their hardest to find a pitch to hit early in the count.

Stat of the Day: Youkilis

Of the top 50 AL hitters, (by BA), the average difference between their BA and OBP is .66. So if a batter hit .305, one would expect his OBP to be .371. A difference of more than .66 would indicate that a batter has a keen eye, and thus walks quite a bit—this is a good thing. Generally speaking, walks are good, and if a batter can maintain a high BA, and high OBP, he is a valuable asset to his team. Kevin Youkilis’s OBP is an astonishing 1.20 higher than his BA. Of the top AL hitters, this range is second only to Ben Zobrist of the Tampa Bay Rays, (1.22). Nevertheless, Youk’s data is more impressive because his BA is still .9 points higher than that of Zobrist, and his OBP is .7 points higher. Here’s what I mean:
Ben Zobrist: Batting average = .282
On-base percentage = .404
Difference, .404 -.282 = 1.22

Kevin Youkilis: Batting average = .291
On-base percentage = .411
Difference, .411 - .291 = 1.20

Stat of the Day: Junebug

David Ortiz has finished one fantastic June after his maddening first few months to the season. Take a look at his numbers: .320 BA, 7 HR, 18 RBI, 1.062 OPS in 24 games. In each of these four telling stats, Ortiz ranks better than the entire AL All-Star starting infield of Evan Longoria, Derek Jeter, Dustin Pedroia, and Mark Teixera. On top of that, he’s only made one fielding error all season!


But what’s most interesting about this breakout June is that it wouldn’t be totally out of the question for him to keep batting at this pace for the rest of the year. If he batted a whole year at the pace of this past June, he would not set career highs in any category. His 1.062 OPS would rank behind his 1.066 of 2007, and his .320 BA would not be as good as the .332 he hit in ’07. The 121 RBI he would be on pace for would be less than the ’04, ’05, and ’06 seasons, and his 47 projected homers would tie his 2005 total, and fall short of the 54 he hit in 2006. So what does this June ’09 tell us about the remainder of Papi’s season? We know he still has it in him to put up big numbers, and it wouldn’t be asking too much of the 5-time All-Star to keep hitting as well as he did in June.

Furthermore, over the course of David’s career, June has been a turning point. What D-Day was to WWII, the month of June is to Ortiz’s hitting statistics. Once June rolls around, everything else starts to unfold for Ortiz. With each month following June, Ortiz’s numbers improve in every major category: his career hits, runs, doubles, RBI, walks, and homers are better in July than they were in June, and better in August than they were in July. Let’s look/hope for a monster rest of the season from Big Papi.