Bill Chuck's Nine to Know: Report from Fenway

September 11 at Fenway Park
Photo by Bill Chuck

Last night at Fenway where the Red Sox were hosting the Yankees, after a moving 9/11 ceremony, I expected to see a game between a motivated team against an opponent playing out the season, And that's exactly what I saw. However, I was shocked to find that the inspired team was the near-comatose Red Sox as they faced a Yankee squad that looked sloppy in every aspect of the game won by Jacoby Ellsbury on a 9th inning walkoff single, 4-3.

Here's Nine to Know:

1. Each team had 12 at bats with runners in scoring position - the Sox were 5-12, the Yankees were 1-12.

2. The Yankees blew leads of 1-0 and 3-2, the Red Sox blew a 2-1 lead when Derek Jeter hit a two-run double.

3. Red Sox starter Jon Lester pitched 5.1 innings throwing 102 pitches walking seven and allowing three runs. Yankee starter Hiroki Kuroda pitched 6.1 innings throwing 94 pitches and allowing three runs including a Dustin Pedroia homer.

Lester was all over the place last night:

Lester has been hit at a .275 pace this season, .276 against righties and .271 against lefties:

4. Andrew Bailey picked up his first win as a Red Sox, David Robertson took the loss and dropped to 1-7. Robertson continued his not-2011 season as he failed in his attempt to pitch two innings of relief (he went 1.1).

5. For the third time in a week the Yankees fell into a first-place tie with the Orioles who crushed the Rays, 9-2.

6. Lester struck out five giving the lefty 150 for the season and 1044 for his career, the most for any lefty in Red Sox history. Here's your top nine:

Rk	Player	SO	From	To	W	L	W-L%	IP	ERA
1	Jon Lester	1044	2006	2012	85	45	.654	1138.0	3.76
2	Bruce Hurst	1043	1980	1988	88	73	.547	1459.0	4.23
3	Dutch Leonard	771	1913	1918	90	64	.584	1361.1	2.13
4	Lefty Grove	743	1934	1941	105	62	.629	1539.2	3.34
5	Mel Parnell	732	1947	1956	123	75	.621	1752.2	3.50
6	Bill Lee	578	1969	1978	94	68	.580	1503.1	3.64
7	Ray Collins	511	1909	1915	84	62	.575	1336.0	2.51
8	Mickey McDermott	499	1948	1953	48	34	.585	773.2	3.80
9	Babe Ruth	483	1914	1919	89	46	.659	1190.1	2.19

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used Generated 9/12/2012.

7. Jacoby Ellsbury celebrated turning 29 by picking up four hits, just the third time a Red Sox birthday-boy celebrated with this many hits since 1918:

Rk	Player	Date	Opp	Rslt	AB	H	RBI
1	Jacoby Ellsbury	2012-09-11	NYY	W 4-3	5	4	2
2	Carl Yastrzemski	1976-08-22	OAK	L 6-7	5	4	1
3	Carl Yastrzemski	1961-08-22	WSA	W 3-2	5	4	0

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used Generated 9/12/2012.

8. Alex Rodriguez went 0-4 with three strikeouts and was 0-2 with runners in scoring position. This season, A-Rod is hitting .221 with runners in scoring position and RISP/w 2 outs he's hitting .156 with four RBI.

A-Rod's hitting with RISP:

9. Jon Lester started and finished his September 11th start with a record of 9-11.

Curtis Granderson becomes the 39th Yankee with 100 homers

Curtis Granderson came up as a pinch-hitter off the bench to hit his 35th homer and drive in five runs, and New York beat the Baltimore Orioles 13-3 on yesterday to regain sole possession of first place in the division. Granderson ended up with three hits and five RBI and according to ESPN Stats, the last player to have 3+ hits and 5+ RBI in a game he did not start was Kelly Gruber of Toronto, on April 11, 1988.

The Grandy Man's 2012 homers

The home run for Granderson was his hundredth as a member of the Yankees (he had 102 for the Tigers), the 39th player to hit 100+ homers for the Yanks and it's a great list of players.

Not surprisingly, the Yankees have had the most 100+ hitters of any franchise.

Rk	Player	HR	From	To	G
1	Babe Ruth	659	1920	1934	2084
2	Mickey Mantle	536	1951	1968	2401
3	Lou Gehrig	493	1923	1939	2164
4	Joe DiMaggio	361	1936	1951	1736
5	Yogi Berra	358	1946	1963	2116
6	Alex Rodriguez	301	2004	2012	1228
7	Bernie Williams	287	1991	2006	2076
8	Jorge Posada	275	1995	2011	1829
9	Derek Jeter	255	1995	2012	2564
10	Graig Nettles	250	1973	1983	1535
11	Don Mattingly	222	1982	1995	1785
12	Jason Giambi	209	2002	2008	897
13	Dave Winfield	205	1981	1990	1172
14	Roger Maris	203	1960	1966	850
15	Bill Dickey	202	1928	1946	1789
16	Tino Martinez	192	1996	2005	1054
17	Paul O'Neill	185	1993	2001	1254
18	Charlie Keller	184	1939	1952	1066
19	Tommy Henrich	183	1937	1950	1284
20	Bobby Murcer	175	1965	1983	1256
21	Robinson Cano	173	2005	2012	1192
22	Tony Lazzeri	169	1926	1937	1659
23	Joe Pepitone	166	1962	1969	1051
24	Bill Skowron	165	1954	1962	1087
25	Elston Howard	161	1955	1967	1492
26	Roy White	160	1965	1979	1881
27	Hank Bauer	158	1948	1959	1406
28	Joe Gordon	153	1938	1946	1000
29	Bob Meusel	146	1920	1929	1294
30	Reggie Jackson	144	1977	1981	653
31	Hideki Matsui	140	2003	2009	916
32	Tom Tresh	140	1961	1969	1098
33	Mark Teixeira	134	2009	2012	590
34	Thurman Munson	113	1969	1979	1423
35	Gil McDougald	112	1951	1960	1336
36	George Selkirk	108	1934	1942	846
37	Mike Pagliarulo	105	1984	1989	703
38	Nick Swisher	101	2009	2012	576
39	Curtis Granderson	100	2010	2012	430

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 9/10/2012.

Here are the totals for each team:

Rk	Tm	#
1	New York Yankees	39
2	Detroit Tigers	33
3	Boston Red Sox	28
4	Baltimore Orioles	27
5	Cincinnati Reds	26
6	San Francisco Giants	26
7	Los Angeles Dodgers	25
8	Oakland Athletics	25
9	Philadelphia Phillies	24
10	Cleveland Indians	23
11	Atlanta Braves	21
12	Chicago Cubs	20
13	Milwaukee Brewers	20
14	Pittsburgh Pirates	20
15	Chicago White Sox	19
16	Minnesota Twins	19
17	St. Louis Cardinals	19
18	Texas Rangers	19
19	Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim	16
20	Toronto Blue Jays	16
21	Houston Astros	14
22	Kansas City Royals	11
23	New York Mets	11
24	Seattle Mariners	11
25	Washington Nationals	10
26	Colorado Rockies	9
27	Florida Marlins	9
28	San Diego Padres	7
29	Arizona Diamondbacks	5
30	Tampa Bay Rays	5

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 9/10/2012.

Do the Yankees miss David Robertson more than Mo?

Where is the 2011 David Robertson?

The 2012 version is similar in name only.

Last night, the Baltimore Orioles hit like their Beltway buddy Washington Nationals slamming six homers off Yankee pitchers in a dominant 10-6 victory. I'll give you that Robin Ventura is the Rookie Manager of the Year, but there should be no doubt in any observer's mind that Buck Showalter is the Manager of the Year. As Red Sox owner John Henry told Tom Verducci in (another) brilliant piece for Sports Illustrated in describing his embarrassing Red Sox, “What appeared to be an outlier month in September 2011 turned out to be a harbinger instead.” The same thing could be said for Showalter's Orioles who went 15-13 last September including taking five-of-seven from the Dead Sox and playing the Yankees and the Rays even.

In the opener of a four-game set in sold out Baltimore last night, the Orioles had built a 6-1 lead against Yankee starter David Phelps (the fact that Phelps started last night for NY spoke volumes) but after Orioles starter Jason Hammel left the game (in his first start since coming off the DL, Hammel gave up just one run and six hits in five-plus innings) the Yankees scored five times in the 8th surrounding a few key hits around four walks.

So, with the score tied 6-6 entering the bottom of the 8th, the 2012 version of David Robertson entered the game.

The Yankees certainly can't complain that with Mariano Rivera lost for the season, Rafael Soriano has done an outstanding job as the team's closer replacement, leapfrogging Robertson from his 2011 7th inning role when the Yanks featured a last three-inning trio known as "So-Ro-Mo." And had Robertson performed in a fashion similar to his brilliant 2011 season, the Yankees would have been able to get away with surviving the loss of Mo. But Robertson has been a different pitcher.

Year	W	L	W-L%	ERA	G	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	IBB	SO	WHIP
2011	4	0	1.000	1.08	70	66.2	40	9	8	1	35	6	100	1.125
2012	1	6	.143	2.77	51	48.2	42	16	15	5	17	0	63	1.212

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 9/7/2012.

I can't help but stare at the one homer that the 2011 Robertson surrendered in 66.2 innings and think about the two homers that the 2012 Robertson surrendered while facing three Orioles last night, retiring none of them as Baltimore scored four times to wrap up the 10-6 win. Last season in the 7th through 9th innings, batters hit .175 aginst Robertson, this season the number is 50 points higher and while a .225 average may sound good it's already resulted in five more runs surrendered in 15 fewer appearances.

Check out the cool blue of Robertson in 2011

Now look at the "hotter" 2012 Robertson

Here's what Robertson's two homers and a single looks like

The Yankees aren't tied with the Orioles just because of David Robertson, in fact how much complaining can you do about a guy who is one of the four relievers who has pitched at least 100 innings since the start of 2011 and has an ERA of under 2.00.

Rk	Player	ERA	IP	G	W	L	W-L%	SV	H	R	ER	BB	SO
1	Eric O'Flaherty	1.41	121.1	132	4	4	.500	0	103	23	19	38	108
3	Craig Kimbrel	1.75	128.1	130	4	4	.500	80	69	26	25	45	221
4	David Robertson	1.79	115.1	121	5	6	.455	2	82	25	23	52	163
5	Mike Adams	1.94	120.2	130	9	7	.563	3	91	29	26	27	114

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 9/7/2012.

But it's September and there is no room for error for any contending team. The Yankees had battled back to tie the game and they looked for the 2011 David Robertson and he just wasn't there.

If the interlocking NY wants to see the postseason, they better send out search party for that guy because they need all the help they can get.