From June 23rd to July 1st the M's thrice scored more than 10 runs. 12, 10, & 13 to be exact. They gave up 9 runs in those ball games. They had a +26 run differential. They are +51 on the year. Half of it came in essentially one week of offensive explosion.
Well, the same holds true for almost all teams. Bill James knew that. But I think it may have a larger impact on teams that really struggle to score runs but win with their staffs. To wit: The M's have given up 9 runs twice this year. That's the most. But we've scored 10 or more 6 times. Our run differential in those 6 games is +48. That eats it all up. Give us those 6 wins and then we're a .500 team after that. Less than that, probably, when you consider the M's inability to get the "hard" WAR and "hard" RBI's. Jame and Pythag understood that, I know....
Critical Mass is a big bleepin' deal, Doc. You've nailed it. We've had no one to get on base ahead of Cano and Seager. And no one to be on base ahead of Zunino when he gets loud, like yesterday.
Our hero's heroics are limited because our scrubs are just way too scrubby. Saunders helped, because he edged us closer to CM. But it's worth pointing out that Ackley has heated up precisely when Saunders went down. So the overall impact of his injury has probably been negligible.
We needed a COF bat when we had Saunders and nothing happened. We needed one more when we didn't have him and nothing happened. The moment he went down we should have had that deal made...for anyone, really. We should have "tried" to improve rather than betting the house (or WC slot) on Hart. That's good money chasing bad and we should have known it.
For more than a month is has been "rumored" to be a buyer's market for COF types. About the only guy we haven't been trade-linked to is Frank Robinson. I think he's still on the DL.
And still nothing happened. Mathers smathers, this one falls on Z.
Now get me Rios or Souza right this very instant! Do that and some of the lethargy will be forgiven. But only some.
Sigh...
moe
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