April showers bring May 3-run homers
Posted by Andy on May 15, 2010
Who are these two players?
Player A, 2010
| Split | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | TB | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April/March | 16 | 63 | 56 | 5 | 8 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 21 | .143 | .238 | .286 | .524 | 16 |
| May | 9 | 36 | 33 | 6 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 11 | 2 | 13 | .333 | .361 | .818 | 1.179 | 27 |
Player B, 2010
| Split | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | TB | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April/March | 22 | 100 | 81 | 11 | 11 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 17 | 18 | .136 | .300 | .259 | .559 | 21 |
| May | 13 | 60 | 53 | 10 | 17 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 17 | 7 | 9 | .321 | .400 | .604 | 1.004 | 32 |
Click through for the answers.
Player A is David Ortiz and Player B is Mark Teixeira.
That's right--both guys were awful in April and very productive in May. Yet, Ortiz was the target of many, many calls to be removed from the lineup (and even the team) while the situation was graded as totally normal and acceptable for the Teixeira and the Yankees. Of course, the team's respective records may have had a lot to do with that.
It's also true that Teixeira managed an OBP of .300 in April which, while nothing to brag about, was certainly a lot better than Papi's mark of .238.
May 15th, 2010 at 4:33 pm
Ortiz doesn't surprise me a bit. Sort of reminds me of Graig Nettles -- only Nettles didn't have to deal with the Fenway freaks...er, fans. Rock on, David!
May 15th, 2010 at 5:10 pm
I think it had more to do with their respective ages, physical condition, remaining contracts, and recent history than their teams' records.
May 15th, 2010 at 6:46 pm
Not for the common fan, JT.
May 15th, 2010 at 6:59 pm
Looks like someone predicted this on may 5, 2010.
i am not posting this just to pat myself on the back; but read everyone's comments in this thread.
ortiz was all but written off by most of the commenters.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/blog/archives/5775#comment-17522
And keep in mind that was just 10 days ago.
May 16th, 2010 at 6:32 pm
ortiz had about half the at bats that teixeira had in both months. his rbi's and homers should be double what ortiz has he has struggled wayyyy worse
May 16th, 2010 at 9:23 pm
Somehow, I knew that a Yankee was going to be the answer to one or both of these.
May 16th, 2010 at 11:05 pm
I dunno, Andy. I think a lot of Yankees fans are retarded, but I can't imagine more than a few loonies seriously calling for Teixeira's release even if the Yankees had an April a bit below .500. Even if they don't study all the details, everyone knows Tex is coming off a near-MVP season, and Ortiz has been on a downward slide, and that impacted the reactions to their respective starts.