Peabody: Life, Friends Baseball

Coming out of the historically inept offensive years that 2010 and 2011 were for the Mariners, if Seattle fans were to be asked what is more critical, hitting or pitching, the question would have been handled derisively by a majority of folks. People would have asked if truth had shown itself to us and still we could not see from whence the sunlight emerged. That defense is not talked about much is an issue to ponder concurrently.

Lies, damn lies and statistics the statement attributed to Mark Twain or Benjamin Disraeli unfortunately puts sabermetrics somewhere towards the caboose in this train we’re riding into the mist, but plunge ahead through the scorched earth of recent Mariner history we shall do.

The five teams with the best run differential since the All Star break in the American League in order have been:

1. Tampa Bay 68
2. Oakland 53
3. Texas 32
4. Yankees 31
5. Mariners 26

The teams that have scored the most runs in the American league since the All Start break are:

1. Angels 244
2. Texas 227
3. Oakland 221
4. Yankees
5. Minnesota

The teams that have allowed the fewest runs and although this is thought to be pitching, it includes defense and some other stuff:

1. Tampa Bay 117
2. Seattle 154
3. Oakland 221
4. Detroit 202
5. Yankees 217

Texas is sixth with 227.

What’s it all about Alfie? Well, gee whiz Clark, I guess it seems, well, the pitching list is almost the same as the runs differential list at least in the top five, except Detroit which was just behind Seattle with 23. This is just after all etc. a small sample size, but there is probably some shiny ruby of truth in this stinking, fetid pile of…shoot fire let me say this to the empty chair, the Ms came in fifth in run differential largely on pitching and great defense. The Angels scored 64 more runs than the Ms, but the Ms are scoring more runs than they did last year and are on pace to score 284 runs in the second half of the season which is better than last year by some 30 runs, and almost 80 runs for the year.

If they have great pitching and defense they don’t have to score runs at the pace say that the Angels do, but they surely need to score more than they have in the past two years, which is 513 and 556. Tampa Bay is on path to score 680 runs or so which is less than their 707 from 2011, but they made the playoffs last year and will this year and were in the World Series in 08 with a relatively pedestrian 774, in what could be considered a year in which Steroids were still around.

I’m not sure why I threw that in, but in Safeco with pitching and defense if the Ms score 650 runs or more in a given year they should be in the hunt. So think about that when you’re playing roster fantasy and signing free agent softball hitter 1b/dhs.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 31st, 2012 at 9:36 am by terrybenish and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.