Red Sox / A's - Games 38 & 39

The Sox lost 6-4 on Monday and won 7-5 last night.

On Monday Kevin Youkilis got his first start at 1st base and went 1-3 with a walk. While watching the game I imagined Billy Beane somewhere in the stadium salivating over the Greek God of Walks.

The story of the game for the Red Sox was 13 men left on base. This has been a bane this season but the flip side is the fact that to leave men on - batters first have to get on base. The Sox are second in the AL in runs with 217 (the Yankees lead with 229) but they lead the league with a .363 OBP - bottom line - I really can't complain about the men left on base.

Last night the A's flat out gave the game away in the 8th inning. The Red Sox went into the inning trailing 5-3 but a HBP, 2 walks, an error and then a single with a two base error attached - it was suddenly 7-5 Red Sox and that was the game.

Let me take this opportunity to say something about Mark Bellhorn.

Jose Offerman had his career high-water mark at age 29 when he posted the following line for Kansas City:

Offerman - 102 R / 7 HR / 66 RBI / .315 BA / .403 OBP / .438 SLG

Last year may have been the high-water mark for Mark Bellhorn (also age 29):

Bellhorn - 93 R / 17 HR / 82 RBI / .264 BA / .373 OBP / .444 SLG

It was pretty much down hill from there for Offerman and it also looks like its downhill time for Bellhorn. It should be noted that Offerman posted a .391 OBP in his first year with Boston (opposed to Belhorn's .373 OBP last year). Offerman then regressed to .354, .342 and finally a .325 OBP mark before being shipped out of Boston to Seattle. So far this year - this is Bellhorn's line:

Bellhorn - 18 R / 1 HR / 11 RBI / .230 BA / .346 OBP / .372 SLG

For all the crap Offerman took in Boston - he actually put up better numbers than Sabermetric favorite Bellhorn has. I would also like to note that Bellhorn has hit .172 with RISP this year and that brings me full circle back to the men left on base problem discussed earlier.