Red Sox vs. Yankees
Posted by Andy on July 26, 2007
As the race in the AL East gets a bit tighter than its been for most of the year (although the Red Sox are still firmly in control), I thought it might be interesting to look at some historic Boston-New York data.
Here's an interesting fact with surprising results. Let's look at most RBIs in a game by a Yankee vs the Red Sox, and by a Red Sock vs the Yankees. (FYI, this is done using the PI Batting Game Finder, setting the player's team to NYY or BOS, and the opposition to BOS or NYY.)
These results are all since 1957.
Cnt Player Date Tm Opp GmReslt PA AB R H 2B 3B HR **RBI** BB IBB SO HBP SH SF ROE GDP SB CS BOr Positions +----+-----------------+-------------+---+----+-------+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+-------+--+---+--+---+--+--+---+---+--+--+---+---------+ 1 Yogi Berra 1957-07-03 NYY BOS W 10-0 5 5 1 3 0 0 1 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4th C 2 Joe Pepitone 1964-08-29(1) NYY BOS W 10-2 4 4 2 2 0 0 2 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6th 1B 3 Graig Nettles 1976-09-29 NYY @BOS W 9-6 5 5 4 4 2 0 2 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3rd 3B 4 Johnny Blanchard 1963-08-15 NYY @BOS W 10-2 5 5 2 2 0 0 2 6 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6th RF
Surprise, surprise. Despite the offensive explosions we've seen in the 80's, 90's, and 00's, the best single games all came well before then. There are a mess of Yankees tied at 5 RBIs, including some more recent games by Giambi, Cano, Mattingly, Matsui, etc.
On the Boston side:
Cnt Player Date Tm Opp GmReslt PA AB R H 2B 3B HR **RBI** BB IBB SO HBP SH SF ROE GDP SB CS BOr Positions +----+-----------------+-------------+---+----+-------+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+-------+--+---+--+---+--+--+---+---+--+--+---+---------+ 1 Carlton Fisk 1973-04-06 BOS NYY W 15-5 5 4 4 3 1 0 2 6 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 7th C
This is the only BoSox game with more than 5 RBIs against the Yankees, and it was also in a bygone era. Sometimes I forget that Fisk played so long ago since he had such a long career. Similarly, there is a mess of guys tied at 5 RBI, including Ortiz, Nixon, Greenwell, and Yaz.
I thought to myself: Myself, what Red Sox pitcher has the most career wins against the Yankees, and what Yankees pitcher has the most career wins against the Red Sox? I thought it should be obvious, but as I thought and thought I couldn't come up with it.
Well, using the PI Pitching Game Finder, setting the teams, the decision to "W", and then summing for a player's career gives us the answer (since 1957 at least).
First, Red Sox victories against the Yanks:
Games Link to Individual Games +-----------------+-----+-------------------------+ Bill Monbouquette 16 Ind. Games Roger Clemens 15 Ind. Games Luis Tiant 13 Ind. Games Bill Lee 12 Ind. Games
What gives? I had never even heard of Bill Monbouquette. Looking at his stats, he was a fairly average pitcher (a bit above average, really) who had some good win totals.
And now Yankee victories against the Red Sox:
Games Link to Individual Games +-----------------+-----+-------------------------+ Mel Stottlemyre 18 Ind. Games Whitey Ford 16 Ind. Games Andy Pettitte 14 Ind. Games Ron Guidry 14 Ind. Games
That makes sense.
Part of me expected to see more recent pitchers, due to the unbalanced schedule. But I suppose there are two things working against that: first that both teams have been pretty good most years, and it's rare for one of these two teams to beat up on the other, so it's tough to rack up large win totals. Second, starters are pitching fewer and fewer innings over the last few decades, so wins are more evenly distributed among more pitchers, against making it tougher to amass large totals.