Team Stats And Standings

In 18 games, the Red Sox are hitting only .256 (11th in the AL, ahead of only Seattle, KC and Oakland (.224!)). Toronto leads the league at .314. However, Boston is 6th in on-base percentage at .344 (the Yankees are #1 at .388) and 10th in slugging percentage (though 5th in extra-base hits).

The Sox lead the league in pitches seen per plate appearance with 4.02 (Kevin Youkilis and Manny Ramirez are #2 and #3, behind Jason Giambi).

In a slightly more important category, they are 10th in runs scored. They have scored three runs or fewer in 7 of their 18 games (they are 4-3 in those games). They are 8th in Runs Created Per 27 Outs (4.95); New York is tops with 6.65.

Here are the current standings, total runs scored and runs allowed and each team's expected record based on RS/RA.

           W  L  GB   RS   RA  ExW/L  GB
Boston    11  7  --   84   80   9- 9   3
Baltimore 11  8   ½  110  110  10-10   3
Toronto    9  7  1    98   84   9- 7   2
New York   8  8  2    99   70  11- 5  --
Tampa Bay  8 10  3    95  113   7-11   5

It looks like the Yankees have been the victims of some bad luck, but this early in the season, I think the RS/RA difference is skewed because of two blowout wins (15-2 on Opening Day and 10-1 on April 9). Subtract those games and New York's RS/RA is 74-67, which projectes to a .549 winning percentage.

Keith Foulke on his role and workload:

My whole career, I've always told everybody, the more I pitch the better I am ... That's how I get into my grooves and become a very good pitcher. ... I'm not going to fool myself, thinking that I'm better than he [Papelbon] is. At the point right now, I'm not. If I've got to pitch in a different role to help this team win, I've got no problem with that. ... The thing I have to make sure everybody understands is that it's [his knees] not affecting my pitching. That's the one thing that's different this year. They may ache in everyday life, but it doesn't affect my pitching this year.

The Philadelphia Inquirer has a story on Jonathan Papelbon. ... Catching up with Gabe Kapler and Jeffrey Maier. ... And the 2004 Final Out Ball is being sent to the Hall of Fame.