“We’re not game-planning to score 961 runs again” - Theo Epstein, quoted in the Providence Journal, Mar 7 2004
Currently the Sox have scored 904 runs, most in the majors, with a certain David Ortiz scoring #900 in the second inning yesterday. To highlight what an offensive juggernaut the Theo-assembled Sox are, this is the first time in history the Sox have scored 900 runs in back-to-back seasons. There’s an outside chance of beating last season’s astounding total of 961: with seven games to go, they’d need 58 runs or 8.3 runs a game. That’s tough and unlikely, given that they’re averaging an (already-impressive) 5.8 runs a game, but not completely unthinkable if they massacre the D-Rays and the Orioles.
Regardless of that (and regardless of what you think of Theo’s conjugation of “game plan” as a verb), even scoring 900 runs is a really impressive feat, and they’re on pace for 945 runs right now. Unless some serious blowouts occur elsewhere, only the Yankees will score 900 this season (well, one hopes not - I’d love to see them fail to score 14 runs in the 6 games they have left). This was a supposedly more defensive-oriented team: for a good part of the season we had Pokey-Bellhorn instead of Nomar-Walker, while Trot Nixon has only played 43 games. We knew the rest of the lineup, being largely unchanged from 2003, could hit, of course - but the 2003 Sox were a team that was constantly compared to the 1927 Yankees en route to setting a slugging record. I certainly wasn’t expecting this much offensive production especially after losing Nomar and Nixon to injury and then trade (well, Nomar at least), and I think a lot of praise for the continued offensive capability has to go to the stellar on-base capabilities of Bellhorn and the superb season of Johnny Damon. Yes, these aren’t the 1950 Sox with their ludicrous 1,027 runs in a 154-game season. But they’re still one hell of a hitting team.
(Cross-posted on Sons of Sam Horn)