Red Sox WPA through 7/18/06

After going 88 straight games without recording a shutout, the Red Sox pitching staff has now put up two in the last four games. Jon Lester's brilliant start last night earned him the highest WPA for a starting pitcher so far this season, with a total of +0.592. Having a single-game WPA greater than 0.500 essentially means that the player was responsible for an entire win by himself, and then some. In last night's case, he won the game on his own (earning +0.500 WPA), and compensated for the lack of offense by the rest of the team by notching an additional +0.092 WPA. In contrast, Schilling's two-hit appearance in Saturday's shutout was only worth +0.268 - partially because he only pitched seven innings, but mostly because the Sox bats had already given him a five-run lead by the fourth inning, so there was less WPA on the line in the later innings.

Individual Player WPA Contributions
Tuesday, 7/18/06
Royals 0, Red Sox 1

Full-Season Player WPA Contributions
Through Tuesday, 7/18/06

Full-Season Category WPA Contributions
Through Tuesday, 7/18/06