David Price Continues His Late Season Surge, As The Red Sox Beat Baltimore's Brains In
At the midway point, David Price’s 2016 season appeared to be unsalvageable.
Now, with less than three weeks remaining in the regular season, 2016 won’t go down as Price’s best season that he’s ever had, but it certainly won’t be his worst, either. On July 23, Price allowed 5 earned runs to the lowly Minnesota Twins, raising his ERA to 4.51 on the year. Since then, Price has made 10 starts and posted a 2.44 ERA over that span, lowering his ERA to 3.81 on the year. In fact, he’s lowered his ERA in each of his last seven starts. Over that seven-start span, Price is unbeaten at 7-0, and has a 2.16 ERA, which is the third lowest ERA in the American League over that stretch.
Price has benefited a great deal from run support this season. The Red Sox offense has given him an average of 5.87 runs per start, which would indicate that Price’s 16-8 record has been inflated by having the sixth best run support in the majors, right? Not so fast. Of Price’s 16 wins this season, he’s allowed three earned runs or less in all but one of them. The only time Price got a bullshit win this season was when he allowed 6 earned runs to the Yankees on May 1, and the Red Sox scored 8 runs to get him a victory. Also, six of his eight losses came in starts that Price allowed three earned runs or less. So, yeah. We could easily be looking at a 22-2 season for Price right now with the run support he’s gotten.
Seven starts into the season, Price had a 6.75 ERA. He’s made 24 starts since then, and he has a 3.07 ERA, which is sixth best in the American League. That’s what the Red Sox paid for, and that’s what Price has been for a majority of the 2016 season. The expectations for Price became unrealistic once he signed a monster contract, and that happens with any big money free agent signing. But the fact of the matter is that here in the American League, there is only one qualified starter with an ERA under 3. One.
No doubt Price had a shit start to his Boston tenure, but since mid-May, he’s been right there with the best starters in the league. Not to be lost in all of this is the fact that, for the second year in a row, he’s having his best stretch of outings in the middle of a pennant race. And you can’t. Teach. That.
It was yet another night that the Red Sox offense handed out another ass beating to an AL East division rival. This time, it was the Baltimore Orioles’ candy asses who got rock bottomed by the People’s Lineup. I don’t want to call it “poetic justice” that it was former Red Sox starter Wade Miley who caught the brunt of Boston’s offensive attack, but I’m sure Red Sox manager John Farrell didn’t mind seeing Miley get knocked around at Fenway after the incident they had in the dugout last season.
Dustin Pedroia collected two more hits to bump his average up to .330 on the year. He now only trails Jose Altuve (.337) by SEVEN points for the batting title. On August 11, they were separated by 69 points #nice. By the way, quick side note, everyone who’s saying that Altuve should win the MVP award, get the fuck outta here. First of all, if playoffs don’t matter, Mike Trout should win the MVP. And if the postseason matters, then Altuve’s Astros aren’t getting in, and he’s the biggest reason why, which ties into my Pedroia/batting title storyline here. Since August 30, Altuve is hitting .173 with a .521 OPS. When his team needed him the most, dude straight up disappeared. Same thing with Josh Donaldson, who’s hitting .097 in the month of September, and hitless since September 3. MVP my ass. Shine that som’ bitch up and give it to Mookie Betts stat.
Anyway, back to my point about Pedroia. In the 30 games since Farrell moved Pedroia to the leadoff spot, he’s hitting .447 with a .998 OPS. As you can imagine, Pedroia’s .447 batting average over that span is tops in the majors. Also, since August 9, Pedroia is hitting .574 with a 1.294 OPS at Fenway Park in 47 at-bats. What he’s doing right now is absurd, and I don’t think that it’s any sort of coincidence that the Red Sox have the second most wins in the American League (20-12) since Pedroia moved to the leadoff spot. When Pedroia goes, the Red Sox go. It’s been that way since be broke into the league, and it’s happening again here in 2016, a decade after Pedroia made his major league debut.
David Ortiz, Chris Young and Hanley Ramirez all homered in this one, but I just had to highlight this Hanley home run. I mean, holy shit, dude. That thing was MURDERED. I haven’t seen a ball hit that high and that far by a Red Sox player since the Manny Ramirez days. And Hanley deserves a LOT more love for what he’s been doing this year. You bring up Hanley, and immediately, the conversation turns to his defense, and how much of a pleasant surprise that’s been. Have you been watching this fucking guy at the plate? He’s been MASHING in the second half. Since July 20, Hanley’s hitting .301 with a 1.003 OPS, 8 doubles, 16 home runs, and 49 RBI in 45 games. Over that span, Hanley’s OPS is 7th in the American League, just one point behind MVP candidate Mookie Betts (1.004).
Also, shout out to Buck Showalter for challenging the final out of the game at first base when you were down ten runs. Stanky leg on ‘em, CY.
Final score: Red Sox 12, Orioles 2