MLB Baseball Analytics - Baseball Analytics Blog

You might recall that each of the eight pitchers listed below pitched 2013 complete game one hitters. However, you might not recall that The Standells were one-hit wonders in their own right as they had one hit in their rock and roll career. Their 1966 hit "Dirty Water," is considered the unofficial official victory anthem of the Red Sox and is played after every home victory.

One-hit Wonders

	The Standells
1	Jordan Zimmermann
2	Anibal Sanchez
3	Chris Sale
4	Yusmeiro Petit
5	Shelby Miller
6	Jon Lester
7	Gio Gonzalez
8	Andrew Cashner

This year Fenway celebrated with their home fans more frequently than any other AL club.

Rk	Tm	W	L	W-L%	Home ▾	Road
1	ATL	96	66	.593	56-25	40-41
2	STL	97	65	.599	54-27	43-38
3	BOS	97	65	.599	53-28	44-37
4	OAK	96	66	.593	52-29	44-37
5	DET	93	69	.574	51-30	42-39
6	CLE	92	70	.568	51-30	41-40
7	TBR	92	71	.564	51-30	41-41
8	PIT	94	68	.580	50-31	44-37
9	CIN	90	72	.556	49-31	41-41
10	LAD	92	70	.568	47-34	45-36

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table Generated 10/21/2013.

And thanks to the Mariano Rivera inspired AL All-Star team, the Red Sox have home-field advantage in this World Series and might need each of those four games to secure the championship.

Red Sox and Cardinals at Home this postseason

The Red Sox will have a number of advantages when playing at Fenway Park in the Series:

They are a team built for the Green Monster in left, the Pesky Pole in right, the triangle in center, and the asymetrical left and right-centerfield gaps.
They have the ability in their home park to use David Ortiz as their DH, where he is better offensively than when he plays first, while Mike Napoli is better defensively at first, and their lineup is more potent when they are both in it.
They have a diehard fan base who feel that no deficit is insurmountable and no lead is large enough not pile on the misery further.
Their up close and personal support can be heard when a Sox pitcher gets two strikes on the opposition and their disapproval is voiced for something as benign as a throw to first by the opposing hurler who is merely trying to keep a Sox runner close.
Then there is the boisterous singing of Bob Marley's Three Birds as Shane Victorino come to the plate and then again, every 8th inning of every game, when the cloying "Sweet Caroline" produces a sing-along that may be diabetes-inducing.

The Fenway Advantage

Compare the hitting numbers for the Sox at home at the Cards on the road:

2013 Postseason Red Sox and Cardinals

	G	AB	H	XBH	HR	Runs	BB	K	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLUG	OPS
1. 1. Red Sox @ Home	5	158	38	17	4	30	21	58	5	1	.241	.339	.405	.744
2. 2. Cardinals on the road	5	158	30	9	4	13	14	39	3	0	.190	.264	.304	.568

Created by BaseballAnalytics.org on 10/21/2013

2013 Postseason Red Sox at Fenway

	G	AB	H	XBH	HR	Runs	BB	K	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLUG	OPS
1. Xander Bogaerts (BOS)	2	2	1	1	0	2	2	0	0	0	.500	.750	1.000	1.750
2. Dustin Pedroia (BOS)	5	17	6	2	0	3	3	6	0	0	.353	.429	.471	.899
3. Shane Victorino (BOS)	5	18	6	1	1	3	0	6	2	0	.333	.429	.500	.929
4. Jacoby Ellsbury (BOS)	5	18	6	1	0	6	3	6	2	1	.333	.429	.389	.817
5. Daniel Nava (BOS)	1	3	1	0	0	0	1	2	0	0	.333	.500	.333	.833
6. Will Middlebrooks (BOS)	4	12	3	2	0	2	1	2	0	0	.250	.308	.417	.724
7. Jonny Gomes (BOS)	4	16	4	2	0	5	1	6	0	0	.250	.294	.375	.669
8. Jarrod Saltalamacchia (BOS)	4	13	3	1	0	1	1	6	0	0	.231	.286	.308	.593
9. David Ortiz (BOS)	5	18	4	4	3	5	3	5	0	0	.222	.333	.778	1.111
10. David Ross (BOS)	2	5	1	1	0	1	1	1	0	0	.200	.333	.400	.733
11. Stephen Drew (BOS)	5	18	2	1	0	1	1	7	0	0	.111	.158	.222	.380
12. Mike Napoli (BOS)	5	14	1	1	0	1	4	9	0	0	.071	.278	.143	.421
13. Mike Carp (BOS)	2	4	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000

Created by BaseballAnalytics.org on 10/21/2013

2013 Postseason Red Sox on the Road

	G	AB	H	XBH	HR	Runs	BB	K	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLUG	OPS
1. Xander Bogaerts (BOS)	4	4	2	2	0	5	3	1	0	0	.500	.714	1.000	1.714
2. David Ross (BOS)	2	4	2	1	0	0	0	2	0	0	.500	.500	.750	1.250
3. Jacoby Ellsbury (BOS)	5	22	10	3	0	4	2	2	4	0	.455	.500	.636	1.136
4. Mike Napoli (BOS)	5	19	7	4	2	4	1	6	0	0	.368	.400	.789	1.189
5. Daniel Nava (BOS)	3	8	2	0	0	0	2	3	0	1	.250	.400	.250	.650
6. Jarrod Saltalamacchia (BOS)	4	13	3	0	0	0	0	9	0	0	.231	.231	.231	.462
7. Dustin Pedroia (BOS)	5	22	4	0	0	0	1	3	1	0	.182	.208	.182	.390
8. David Ortiz (BOS)	5	17	3	0	0	0	5	1	0	0	.176	.364	.176	.540
9. Shane Victorino (BOS)	5	20	3	1	0	1	0	6	0	0	.150	.261	.200	.461
10. Jonny Gomes (BOS)	5	9	1	0	0	1	1	2	0	0	.111	.200	.111	.311
11. Will Middlebrooks (BOS)	5	11	1	0	0	0	2	7	0	0	.091	.231	.091	.322
12. Stephen Drew (BOS)	5	17	1	0	0	0	0	5	0	0	.059	.059	.059	.118
13. Mike Carp (BOS)	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000

Created by BaseballAnalytics.org on 10/21/2013

Sox pitching at Fenway

This postseason, the bullpen and Jon Lester have thrived at home

2013 Postseason Sox Pitchers @ Fenway

	G	IP	GS	PA	AB	H	XBH	HR	AVG	OBP	SLUG	K	BB	ERA	WHIP
1. Brandon Workman (BOS)	2	2.1	0	10	9	2	0	0	.222	.300	.222	1	1	0.00	1.125
2. Craig Breslow (BOS)	3	3.1	0	15	11	1	1	0	.091	.333	.182	1	3	0.00	1.091
3. Felix Doubront (BOS)	1	1.1	0	5	4	0	0	0	.000	.200	.000	0	1	0.00	0.750
4. Junichi Tazawa (BOS)	4	2.0	0	7	7	1	0	0	.143	.143	.143	0	0	0.00	0.429
5. Koji Uehara (BOS)	4	4.0	0	15	15	3	1	0	.200	.200	.267	7	0	0.00	0.750
6. Ryan Dempster (BOS)	1	1.0	0	4	4	1	1	0	.250	.250	.750	2	0	0.00	1.000
7. Jon Lester (BOS)	2	14.0	2	56	50	9	3	2	.180	.268	.320	11	4	1.93	0.929
8. Clay Buchholz (BOS)	2	10.1	2	46	43	12	5	2	.279	.326	.488	10	2	5.91	1.313
9. John Lackey (BOS)	1	5.0	1	26	21	7	2	0	.333	.423	.429	6	3	6.75	1.875

Created by BaseballAnalytics.org on 10/21/2013

The results are not as clean on the road

2013 Sox Postseason Pitching on the Road

	G	IP	GS	PA	AB	H	XBH	HR	AVG	OBP	SLUG	K	BB	ERA	WHIP
1. Brandon Workman (BOS)	2	2.1	0	11	9	2	0	0	.222	.300	.222	2	1	0.00	1.125
2. Craig Breslow (BOS)	4	3.0	0	14	12	2	0	0	.167	.286	.167	5	2	0.00	1.200
3. Felix Doubront (BOS)	1	1.0	0	5	3	1	0	0	.333	.600	.333	1	1	0.00	2.000
4. John Lackey (BOS)	1	6.1	1	24	24	4	1	0	.167	.167	.208	8	0	0.00	0.600
5. Ryan Dempster (BOS)	1	1.0	0	3	3	1	0	0	.333	.333	.333	0	0	0.00	1.000
6. Koji Uehara (BOS)	4	5.0	0	16	16	2	1	1	.125	.125	.313	6	0	1.80	0.400
7. Jon Lester (BOS)	1	5.0	1	24	20	7	0	0	.350	.435	.350	3	3	3.38	1.875
8. Junichi Tazawa (BOS)	4	2.1	0	10	10	4	0	0	.400	.400	.400	3	0	3.38	1.500
9. Clay Buchholz (BOS)	1	6.0	1	27	24	7	3	1	.292	.370	.500	5	3	4.50	1.667
10. Franklin Morales (BOS)	2	1.1	0	7	6	2	0	0	.333	.429	.333	0	1	6.75	2.250
11. Jake Peavy (BOS)	2	8.1	2	37	34	10	3	0	.294	.351	.382	4	3	8.31	1.500

Created by BaseballAnalytics.org on 10/21/2013

As a reminder...

Just saying, the Red Sox play Games 1, 2, 6, and 7 and as Bob Marley sings to Victorino - "Don't worry about a thing, 'Cause every little thing gonna be all right!" because the Red Sox love that dirty water, aww Boston is their home.