Hit Tracker

I've been doing my part to refute the notion that the new Yankee Stadium is a bandbox, an argument that is proving more and more difficult to make with each passing day. To wit: in 24 road games this season, the Yankees have hit 32 home runs. In one less home game, they have 45, or 13 more. More telling, however, as Peter Abraham points out, is the fact that the new Stadium yields approximately 3.78 total home runs per game, while Citizens Bank Park and Rangers Ballpark--two notoriously hitter-friendly parks-- only give up three per game. Case Closed. 

Abraham compiled his stats via Hit Tracker , one of the coolest websites I've come across in a very long time. It's full of interesting information, like which player's hit the longest home run in the Majors this year: As of this morning, Raul Ibanez, May 22, off Chien-Ming Wang at Yankee Stadium. 

And the shortest, Howie Kendrick's limp-wristed bloop off Gil Meche on May 8, at Angel Stadium. (Ed. Note: I'm not counting Brett Gardner's inside-the-park home run, for obvious reasons).

The site also posits which home runs would have gone out of other parks around the league. Ibanez's shot, for instance, would have cleared the walls of all 30; Kendrick's, on the other hand, wouldn't have been a home run in any other park. Not surprisingly, Yankee Stadium has a lot of low numbers in this particular category. The site also suggests that David Ortiz's sole home run this season, a 381-foot drive off of Brett Cecil, would have remained in the field of play in every other park besides Fenway.  

Such a great website. 

The Onion Brings David Ortiz Back From the Dead

Classic. 

"We have amended the rules of the game to allow David [Ortiz] to use any performance enhancer he can find, as baseball is pretty boring when he's not hitting home runs," said Selig, who added that Ortiz could be suspended for 50 games under the new policy if drug tests show he is not taking any previously banned substances. "What David is doing right now is wrong, and this season could damage his reputation forever. The game of baseball needs him to do the responsible thing and superhumanly whack balls over the fence whenever possible." 

Ortiz, Cheney Live!

Less than 24 hours after David Ortiz hit his first home run in 149 at-bats dating back to last season, Dick Cheney delivered a self-aggrandizing national security speech to the uber-conservative American Enterprise Institute. Coincidence? I don't think so. In recent years, Big Papi and Big Dick-y have been, at least to me, the root of all evil. I don't know this for certain, but I'm pretty sure neither man can be stopped without the aid of a wooden spike.  

David Ortiz, Record Breaker

This is also cheering me up. After sitting out the past couple of days to "clear his head," David "Papi Stinks" Ortiz returned to the Boston lineup last night and went 0-for-3 in the Sox's 2-1 victory over the Blue Jays. Ortiz's homerless streak is now up to 133 at-bats, which, as of this writing, is the longest drought to start a season by any player who previously recorded a 50-HR season since Greg Vaughn went 132 at-bats in 2002, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. (Incidentally, Vaughn hung up his cleats the following year). Ortiz will try to break his own record later tonight when he steps in against Blue Jays rookie Brett Cecil. 

"Papi Stinks"

0-7, 3 ks and 12 men left on base. Ay Dios Mio!

Ortiz, for several seasons and countless playoff games, has injected Red Sox games with drama and fans with elation, his larger-than-life persona turning him into a near-cartoon hero. Yesterday, he was something else. More than at any point since he came to the Sox in 2003, Ortiz looked frail and human.

"I'm sorry, guys," Oritz said. "I don't feel like talking right now. Just put down, 'Papi stinks.' "

In a season chocked with frustration, Ortiz yesterday reached a nadir. He went 0 for 7 and left 12 men on base, which tied a team record, in a 5-4, 12-inning loss to the Los Angeles Angels. He was the last out of an inning four times. He struck out three times, including with the bases loaded and two outs in the fourth inning.

[Snip]

For now, Ortiz remains the Red Sox' designated hitter and their third batter in the lineup. Capable hitters surround Ortiz in the order, ensuring he'll have chances to blast out of his slump. The question is, how much longer can the Sox afford to wait?

Brett Gardner 1, David Ortiz 0

Apropos of yesterday's post, I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that Brett Gardner last night joined the very long list of major league players with more home runs than the formerly unstoppable David Ortiz. Not only that, but all of Gardner's power numbers, believe it or not, are either higher than or within striking distance of Ortiz's. 

Gardner's batting average is 13 points higher, and his slugging percentage (total bases divided by number of at bats) is 25 points higher. Granted, Gardner has 50 fewer at bats than Ortiz, which pretty much explains the higher slugging percentage, but should Gardner and Ortiz even be compared as sluggers in the first place? That I'm even doing it speaks volumes about Ortiz's vertiginous drop, and I could have easily substituted for Gardner Pablo Sandoval or Coco Crisp both of whom have higher power numbers than the Artist Formerly Known as Big Papi. If I were a Sox fan, I'd really start to worry about Ortiz. As one Red Sox official recently told Ken Rosenthal, "If [Ortiz's] not hitting in June, our record will not be very good." From his lips to God's ears. 

Ay Papi!

Not that I'm complaining, but what the hell is going on with David Ortiz? He hasn't hit one out in 142-plate appearances this year. The last time he hit a home run was in Game 5 of the American League Championship Series against the Tampa Rays, in October, or about forever and a day in baseball parlance. Ortiz is suffering through a power outage that would make Enron (and Mark Teixiera) turn away in horror. Although it's far from time to report Big Papi's demise, it doesn't look good for the anointed "Greatest Clutch Hitter in the History of the Red Sox."

Yahoo! Sports' Gordon Edes crunched the numbers. The results aren't pretty, Sox fans:  

His performance at this stage resembles another large-bodied first baseman, Cecil Fielder, who at age 33 in 1997 hit three home runs in his first 201 at-bats and finished the season with 13 home runs in 98 games for the Yankees. A year later, after hitting 17, Fielder’s big-league career was over.

Since 1954, there have been 19 players who have hit 50 home runs in a season, including Ortiz, who hit a career-high 54 in 2006. Of those 19, only one, Greg Vaughn, went longer at the start of a season than Ortiz without a home run. Vaughn, who hit 50 for the San Diego Padres in 1998, went the first 37 games in 2002 for the Tampa Bay Rays without a home run. On May 18, on his 159th plate appearance and 133rd at-bat, he finally connected, and later hit another homer in the same game.

Vaughn, 36 that season, wound up batting .163 with eight home runs, and retired a year later. 

To add insult to injury, the maniacs at It is High... compiled a list of current Red Sox players who have yet to hit a home run this season. 

Tim Wakefield
Jonathan Papelbon
Jon Lester
Ramon Ramirez
Javier Lopez
Manny Delacarmen
Josh Becket
Takashi Saito
Hideki Okajima
Brad Penny
David Ortiz

All kidding aside, though, Edes also points out that Ortiz is the only 50-homer hitter to go this long into the season without hitting a homer, including Brady Anderson and Luis Gonzalez, two guys often accused of using performance-enhancing drugs during their respective 50-home run seasons. Like it or not, Ortiz's out-of-nowhere, four-year home run production, from 2003 to 2007, certainly raises more than a few eyebrows, especially following the recent A-Rod and Manny revelations. Personally, though, I'm more inclined to say Ortiz is just getting old, and is still dealing with the lingering effects of debilitating knees and wrist injuries, which could also explain his drastic drop in bat speed. Perhaps I'm being too generous. Maybe I'm still being naive. Either way, Ortiz is no longer producing terrifyingly high offensive numbers, which is fine by me.