Any Day Ellsbury #2: The Weekend in Jacoby

Inspired by Ted Walker’s “Every Day Ichiro” over at Pitchers & Poets, I’ll be chronicling the 2011 Red Sox season by paying close attention to outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury.

Ellsbury hasn’t done a whole lot to write about so far. He has made a couple of nice defensive plays, he’s still struggling at the plate, and—like all of the Red Sox—he’s been upstaged by Dustin Pedroia’s “Laser Show.” Pedroia seems to want to carry the whole team on his back, and he’s doing a damn fine job of it. At times I thought I picked the wrong player to follow for the season, but there’s just something more attractive about a player who can both be an offensive spark and also struggle at times. I wonder what goes through the mind of a player like Ellsbury when he looks so visibly disappointed at himself after watching a perfect fastball go by him for a called strike. On the other hand, I wouldn’t be surprised if Pedroia never went through another slump ever again. 

On to the weekend: I’ll admit I didn’t watch an entire game this weekend, but I did catch most of all three games. I spent most of the weekend doing household chores and watching sports, rotating through baseball and the NBA playoffs. Baseball has always been my favorite sport, so I always go back to it. Ellsbury served as my anchor this weekend; no matter what I did, I did my best not to miss an Ellsbury at-bat. Washing dishes can be quite relaxing with the TV volume loud enough to hear Remy’s and Orsillo’s voices over the swoosh of soapy water. 

Despite not having a hit on Saturday, Ellsbury showed why he can be such an asset to the Sox offense with two walks. I’m okay with Ellsbury walks because they’re pretty much the same as a double. After a walk in the second inning, I (and all of Fenway) expected Ellsbury to steal second, which led to a number of throw-overs by Jays pitcher Jo-Jo Reyes, which ultimately led to a Jed Lowrie home run. I feel like it’s easy to overrate the effect a runner can have on distracting a pitcher from the batter, but I do think there’s something to it. Maybe some advanced stats guys can educate me on that. (Also, Ian and I have been on the #FreeJedLowrie hashtag on the Twittermachines.)

On Sunday, he crushed a ball around the Pesky Pole for his third homer of the season. Three homers for Ellsbury this early in the season is a bit surprising, if not a little troubling. As Remy pointed out, his swing had a bit of an uppercut motion to it. I don’t really want him trying to hit homers. I want him hitting line drives, which he’s not doing right now. He is, however, getting walks, which is nice. 

Ellsbury’s been bounced from leadoff to the 8- and 9-spots in the lineup, which is indicative of how much lineup shuffling has been going on with the Sox in general. I believe most of the shuffling is caused by trying to get Crawford going and finding a consistent spot for him in the lineup. Ideally, I’d like to see Ellsbury leading off, followed by Crawford and Pedroia, but the Sox lineup has so many offensive weapons—especially when Lowrie is in there—that finding a consistent lineup can be difficult.

Any Day Ellsbury #1: Intro, 0-5, and 0-6

Ted Walker of Pitchers & Poets has been doing a wonderful ongoing project called “Every Day Ichiro,” where he tracks the Seattle Mariners’ season through the lens of Ichiro Suzuki. I’ve chatted briefly with him about my idea of doing the same thing with Jacoby Ellsbury. I’ve been fascinated with Ellsbury ever since he appeared with the Boston Red Sox in 2007 and played an integral role in the team’s World Series run. The fact that both he and I went to Oregon State University certainly helped me jump on the Ellsbury speed train as well. In baseball, I’m always drawn to the hyper-athletic, speedy players like Ellsbury (and Ichiro). These players demand attention because every pitch might lead to something brilliant; with them, diving-catch highlights, inside-the-park homers, and any other exciting or rare feat is always a possibility. Any poorly hit ground ball still might result in a single, which will probably result in a stolen base, which can easily change the dynamic of a game. So, inspired by Ted, I’ve decided to track the 2011 Boston Red Sox season through Ellsbury.

I decided to go with “Any Day Ellsbury” instead of “Every Day Ellsbury” for a few reasons. The first simple reason is that 162 games is a lot of games to write about, let alone watch. For example, today’s first pitch was at 12:05 p.m., which means I couldn’t watch it while at work. Also, while Ellsbury makes fun baseball plays, he doesn’t really carry the enigmatic, zen-like presence of Ichiro. (The closest thing Ellsbury might have to that is that Red Sox fans think he’s dreamy looking.) Still, on any given day, Ellsbury might do something that makes me think, “I need to write about this!”

Last night, Ellsbury went 0-5 (same as the Red Sox record at the time!) bringing his batting average to .143. I should be in panic mode, right? I mean, Red Sox Nation is! Okay, maybe the Nation isn’t on red alert, but no one thought it would take this long for the Sox to get a win. I’ve always wondered what goes through a professional athlete’s head after a 3-strikeout, 0-5 game after the the postgame interview or the immediate frustration. I wonder what lingers, if anything, after a game like that, and after six games without a win. 

Sure, it’s a long season, but Ellsbury’s final AB last night (broken bat groundout to second) pretty much sums up the Red Sox season so far.

*Top photo courtesy of Keith Allison via Creative Commons License