Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
July 17, 2007
Clearing the Bases

Jon Weisman notes that the Dodgers scored ten runs last night and left only one runner on base. It's the first time the team did that in ten years. Home runs tend to clear the bases, and the Dodgers had two three-run shots in the game.

However, lots of men left on base usually indicates a team is getting on base, hence a team with a high OBA. That's a good thing. Leaving lots of men on base and scoring a lot of runs just means everyone is hitting. Leaving a lot of men on base in a low scoring game means the offense had poor timing. In general, I'd rather have a team that leaves lots of men on base. Eventually, they'll come around to score.


Posted by David Pinto at 09:07 AM | Team Evaluation | TrackBack (0)
Comments

I completely agree, David. I didn't mean to imply that I don't think getting a lot of runners on base is good.

Posted by: Jon at July 17, 2007 10:46 AM

See this post from June:

http://dodgerthoughts.baseballtoaster.com/archives/706494.html

Posted by: Jon at July 17, 2007 10:47 AM

The Dodgers' spectacular numbers with runners in scoring position--with Garciaparra and Martin leading the way--are effectively disguising their serious OBP problem--Juan Pierre has scored 59 runs in spite of a horrendous OBP and an anemic SLG to go with it (even his stolen base numbers--while better than last years--aren't all *that* impressive). Pierre might well end up scoring 110 runs in spite of himself, and the stat illiterate baseball media in LA led by Bill "I Need To Unzip My Fly To Count To Eleven" Plaschke will be singing his praises, interfering with the vital task of dumping the inept loser by any means necessary before he starts crippling the Dodgers with his sub-Landreaux line abilities.

Posted by: M. Scott Eiland at July 17, 2007 11:09 PM
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