Learning Something New: Boxscores
Well, the first half of my morning has been a learning experience for me. A little frustrating at that.
I actually kept reading about the Red Sox’s horrible loss versus the Orioles on Tuesday (June 30th), where they ended up losing 11-10, after having a 9 run lead (worse comeback against the Red Sox in 20 years). John Papelbon was credited with his second blown save of the season, and I didn’t quite understand why Papelbon was given the blown save.
At first I was confused simply because I was being blind to the fact that they didn’t play in the bottom of the 9th, but I was wondering why Papelbon was credited with the blown save when he didn’t even allow a run in the 9th (again, before I realized they didn’t play the bottom of 9th)… So I jumped to look at the Boxscore. Once I realize that Papelbon WAS involved in the 8th inning (when Sox gave up another 5 runs that gave Orioles the lead), I was still a bit confused.
If we’re looking at Papelbon’s line, it simply shows that he gave up 1 hit, 1 walk, and dealt 1 strikeout. Now, in my mind, reading Papelbon’s line of statistics, and ignoring the rest, I see that Papelbon didn’t give up any runs or any home runs. So I was really quite confused as to how he “blew” the save. So I consulted my coworker.
Of course (for the veteran boxscore reader), it is revealed that Takashi Saito allowed 1 player on base, and Hideki Okajima already had a player on base when he was pulled, and it was John Papelbon’s allowed hit that got those two runners to score, I now understood why Papelbon got the blown save. But again, I looked at the statistics.
I understand (now) where Baseball statistics were going by accrediting Takashi and Hideki with the runs that were accumulated by the runners that THEY put on base. I was under the impression that because Papelbon was the reason they scored (by giving up that 2 RBI double) that the Runs would show up in Papelbon’s stats. I failed to realize that baseball keeps track of what pitcher allowed what player on the bases, and tracks each of them as the responsibility of that pitcher, regardless of how many new pitchers enter the game after them. Knowing that, I can finally understand the statistics, and we can move on.
Upon a second look after the hour long discussion ended, I realized that the ERA actually reveals that Papelbon gave up the runs. I failed to look at the ERA initially, which might’ve been able to help my understanding prior to consulting my coworker.
All the same, glad I finally understand the Boxscore Statistics a bit better 
I’m starting to think I should do a post like this more frequently… showing something new I learned recently. Sure this one made me seem like a bit of an idiot (what doesn’t, right?), but it’s a decent idea.