Monday, September 28, 2009

Rox Talk - Week 25

The Week That Was
A 3-3 week against the Padres and Cards. The Roxs currently stand at 88-68. Five games back from division leading Los Angeles in second place and two and half games ahead in the Wild Card Hunt. Currently 48-30 at home and 40-38 on the road, the Roxs have outscored its opponents 771-689 (expected wins is 86 versus historical wins at 74). On pace for 91 wins with 801 runs scored and 716 runs against.

One week to go...six games left...three at home, three on the road. If we can go 3 - 3 we would finish with a 91 - 71 record (a team record!) but will that be enough? The Braves (Giants are done) have seven games to go and would have to finish 6 - 1 to tie the Rox. Impossible(?)...not really with 3 games against Marlins and then 4 games with the worst team in the world (Nats). So in the big scheme of things we have to root for the Marlins and then cross our fingers to sweep the Brewers. Sure would be nice to leave town with 91 wins...

Monday, September 21, 2009

Rox Talk - Week 24

The Week That Was
A 3-3 week against the Giants and D-Backs. The Roxs currently stand at 85-65. Five games back from division leading Los Angeles in second place and four and half games ahead in the Wild Card Hunt. Currently 45-27 at home and 40-38 on the road, the Roxs have outscored its opponents 744-658 (expected wins is 83 versus historical wins at 71). On pace for 92 wins with 804 runs scored and 711 runs against.

Thank goodness the roadtrips are done (well one more, but just 3 days) because this last one was just plain painful. Two blow outs in San Fran (ugly) and then an almost ugly Giant come from behind smackdown which could have spelled the end of the season. Fortunately Betancourt got the save of his life and the Rox were able to go into Arizona and get two more wins. A 4 - 5 road trip ain't too bad. Talking about roadtrips, here is an updated spreadsheet of Rox road wins. If the Rox can win one more game they assure themselves a .500 road record. Not bad for a team that averages about 32 road wins a year. You know it doesn't take a rocket scientist (I happened to have been one long ago) but the three years the Rox made it to the playoffs just happen to be three of the top 4 winning road percentages.



One other thing...how amazing has this year's starting pitching been? Look at the data. Two more weeks...can they hold it together? Go Rox!

Monday, September 14, 2009

Rox Talk - Week 23

The Week That Was
A 5-2 week against the Reds and Padres. The Roxs currently stand at 82-62. Three games back from division leading Los Angeles in second place and four and half games ahead in the Wild Card Hunt. Currently 45-27 at home and 37-35 on the road, the Roxs have outscored its opponents 717-624 (expected wins is 81 versus historical wins at 68). On pace for 92 wins with 807 runs scored and 702 runs against.
This time of year is just plain hard. Rox just aren't usually in this position and to try and watch when every game seems to be important is just nerve racking. Sometimes I wonder why I am even a fan when I just can't even watch these games! Ughhhhh

Some things I found interesting...






Monday, September 7, 2009

Rox Talk - Week 22

The Week That Was
A 5-1 week against the Mets and D-Backs. The Roxs currently stand at 77-60. Three and half games back from division leading Los Angeles in second place and two games ahead in the Wild Card Hunt. Currently 41-27 at home and 36-33 on the road, the Roxs have outscored its opponents 692-605 (expected wins is 77 versus historical wins at 64). On pace for 91 wins with 818 runs scored and 715 runs against.


Back to the winning ways. Rox continue to win the games they should. It was nice to sweep the D-back for the first time in 5 years. Have to admit it is nice to see the Rox jump ahead of the D-bags. When we met in the NLCS I thought it was going to be a long term duel of two young teams. Last year Rox fall apart and this year the D-backs seem to be going the other way. Maybe next year will be the fight?