The New Ballgame: Understanding Baseball Statistics for the Casual Fan (17 page)

In addition, now we know the original lineup following LaRoche: Jeff
Francoeur batted sixth, Brian McCann seventh, Ryan Langerhans eighth,
with Smoltz ninth.

Next is the linescore. It tells us how many runs each team scored in
each of the nine innings of this game, grouped into three groups of three innings. New York held a 3-0 lead, and Atlanta made it close with two runs in
the 6' inning, but the Mets stretched their lead to 5-2 with two runs in the
9' inning. Following the inning-by-inning account in the linescore are three
traditional numbers for each team-the total runs, hits and errors (the Mets
had five runs, eleven hits and no errors).

The middle section of the box score tells us about notable events in the
game-errors, extra-base hits, stolen bases, double plays and much more.

Here's a primer on the abbreviations and terms in box scores:

E-errors

LOB-men left on base (on the final out each inning)

2B-doubles

3B-triples

HR-home runs (who hit them and which pitchers they victimized)

RBIs-runs batted in

SB-stolen bases

CS-caught stealing

S-sacrifices (bunts)

SF-sacrifice flies

GIDP-grounded into double plays

Runners left in scoring position-runners stranded at second and third
base on the final out each inning

Runners moved up (not in this box score)-the batters who advanced
runners to second or third base while making outs

DP-double plays turned by the defensive team (and which defensive
players recorded assists and putouts in the order that the ball was
handled)

In each case where a number appears in parentheses, that is the seasonto-date total in that category for that player. In this game, Francoeur, for example, committed his second error, David Wright's two home runs give him
five for the season, Reyes collected his 11th RBI and stole his 11th base.

Next is the pitching grid. The pitchers for each team are shown in order
of appearance.

The numbers in parentheses next to some pitchers' names reveal the
winning and losing pitcher and whether the closing (final) reliever on the winning team was credited with a save. We see that Pedro Martinez won to make
his season record 5-0 and Mets closer Billy Wagner recorded his sixth save of
the season. Atlanta starting pitcher Smoltz was the losing pitcher, his second
loss against one victory.

Each pitcher has a column to show his IP, H, R, ER, BB, SO, NP, and
ERA. This data tells us how well each man pitched, and it will help us reconstruct this game without reading a game summary. So will the information
below the pitching grid.

IBB abbreviates intentional walk. HBP means hit by pitch-Mets
pitcher Wagner hit Andruw Jones.

T indicates how long the game took to play (2 hours, 39 minutes).

A indicates attendance-45,389 witnessed this great game. The number
after that in parenthesis (50,091) is the seating capacity in Atlanta.

We know it was a great game because this box score reveals much
more than statistics. It tells us this was a close game with a dramatic finish.
With nothing more than the box score, we can confidently write this detailed
account.

New York survived its struggle to drive in men in scoring position with
two outs (six men stranded on second and third base) in this duel between
Pedro Martinez and John Smoltz. The Mets led 3-0, scoring one run on a solo
homer by David Wright and another on Wright's sacrifice fly. The lead was
trimmed to 3-2 in the 611', when Atlanta's Chipper Jones hit a two-run homer
off Martinez.

After Smoltz and Martinez pitched scoreless seventh innings, they were
done for the day. Smoltz had struggled, yielding eight hits and four walks in
seven innings. After Smoltz threw 122 pitches, manager Cox knew he had
little left, so he replaced him without even pinch hitting for him.

Martinez pitched well, allowing just four hits and one walk. But after
five shutout innings, he gave up the homer to Chipper Jones, and by the end of
the seventh Martinez had reached 108 pitches. When it was his turn up in the 8" inning, Manager Willie Randolph had an easy call-pull a tiring Martinez
in favor of right-handed hitting Julio Franco to face the lefty pitcher Mike
Remlinger. Maybe Franco could drive in the man on base to give the Mets
something better than their 3-2 lead.

Didn't happen. Franco hit into a double play. But Mets reliever Duaner
Sanchez shut down Atlanta 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 8" inning and New
York got its cushion with two runs in the 9t'', one scoring on Wright's second
solo homer of the game.

The Mets' new 5-2 lead sure relieved some Mets fans' anxiety when
Atlanta rallied in the bottom of the 9th. Edgar Renteria singled to lead off the inning against Mets closer Billy Wagner. After Chipper Jones struck out, Andruw
Jones was hit by a pitch. Wagner then struck out pinch hitter Victor Diaz, but
Jeff Francoeur singled to load the bases. Wagner earned the uneasy save when
he struck out pinch hitter Todd Pratt with the bases loaded to end the game.

How do we know all this? Everything is there in the numbers.

We could start in several places, but let's figure the pitching first. We
know that each pitcher in this game threw complete innings-none shows
"1/3" or "2/3" in their IP columns. Further, if any had started a new inning but
failed to record an out before being replaced, we would see an entry below the
pitching grid that goes something like this: "Remlinger pitched to 2 batters in
the 8th." No such language appears, so we know that Martinez pitched exactly
seven complete innings, Sanchez pitched the 8t'', and Wagner pitched the 9t''.
Similarly, Smoltz went seven, Remlinger pitched the 8th, and Reitsma the 9th.

Now for the Wright stuff: He is a key figure in this game, hitting two home runs and driving in three runs. We know both homers were with no one
on base because Wright also hit a sacrifice fly. Each of these plays scored one
run. We also see that one of Wright's homers came off Smoltz and the other
off Reitsma, so one of the solo homers was in the 9" inning.

That means the Mets' 3-0 lead involved one of Wright's solo homers
and his sacrifice fly. We are sure the other home run did not happen in the first
inning, because Wright batted fourth and the Mets scored only one run that
inning. If Wright had slammed a dinger then, it would have been with at least
one man on base.

The Braves scored only in the sixth inning, so Chipper Jones' home run
happened then. Since Jones drove in both Braves runs, we know that it was a
two-run homer. He couldn't have driven in a run in any other inning.

In the top of the 8t'', we're informed, Franco hit into a double play. Remlinger, who pitched that inning for the Braves, allowed just one baserunner,
on a hit.

In the bottom of the 8t'', Sanchez allowed no baserunners. We know it
was a 1-2-3 inning for him.

In the 9t'', as we determined above, Wright hit his second solo homer.
Unless something rare and unexplained happened, Carlos Delgado drove in
the other Mets run that inning with a sacrifice fly that scored Reyes. (Having
accounted for Wright's two runs and his three RBI, we know that Reyes' RBI
could not have scored anyone but Kaz Matsui and, therefore, Reyes scored on
sacrifice flies by Delgado and Wright.)

We can reconstruct the fascinating bottom of the 9' by working
backwards.

We see that Pratt had just one plate appearance, as a pinch hitter who struck out in the 9th. We also read that he stranded two runners in scoring
position, so we know he made the final out. There's another way to be sure
Pratt made the final out: Every spot in the Atlanta batting order had four
plate appearances (at-bats + walks + HBP + sacrifices) except for Langerhans and the Smoltz/Jordan spot. So the Braves went three complete times
through their lineup and ended the fourth time through with the McCann/
Pratt spot.

Reconstructing the rest of the 9th, we see that Mets closer Wagner-who
pitched only the 9t''-allowed two hits and struck out three batters. He also hit
Andruw Jones with a pitch. So Wagner faced six men.

Working backwards from Pratt, we see that Wagner faced Pratt, Francoeur, Diaz, Andruw Jones, Chipper Jones and Renteria.

Who got the two hits? It had to be Renteria and Francouer because
Chipper Jones' one hit was his homer in the sixth. Andruw Jones had a hit, but
it couldn't have been in the 9th, when he was hit by Wagner's pitch.

The pitching grid tells us that all three outs Wagner recorded were
strikeouts. Who struck out? We know about Pratt and we're also told that
Diaz "struck out for Reitsma in the 9th." That leaves Chipper Jones, since he
got on base only once and that was his homer in the 6th.

Finally, we know that Renteria's and Francouer's hits were singles, or
their names would show up in the list of extra-base hits.

So now we know how the bottom of the 9t1' panned out: Renteria singled. Chipper Jones struck out. Andruw Jones was hit by a pitch. Diaz, pinch
hitting for pitcher Reitsma, struck out. Francoeur singled, but didn't drive
in a run, so the bases were loaded. Then Atlanta manager Cox chose Pratt, a
right-handed hitter, to pinch hit for the lefty-hitting McCann against the lefty pitching Wagner. But Pratt struck out with two men in scoring position and
the potential tying run on base.

Those tiny numbers tell big stories.

of long after you start paying closer attention to real baseball teams,
you will encounter fans even more interested
in the fictional teams they claim to own. On any given day, they will speak of
a real player's great game as a personal triumph and another's poor game as
an act of sabotage.

This is not the lunatic fringe. There are millions of these fans. And they
may soon try to get you to be one of them. They play fantasy baseball and simulation baseball, two hobbies that have allowed many fans to increase
their interest in baseball just when they might have abandoned it.