"It's about time I started to do something to contribute offensively." --
Brian AndersonNow, now, Brian...don't be so hard on yourself. By my count, you've been doing it for two months.
Obviously, Anderson has been a work in progress all season long, but the way I see it, he turned into a big-league player over the course of a three-day period. On
June 9 against Cleveland, he robbed Travis Hafner of an extra-base hit that would've put the Indians ahead, a ball Rob Mackowiak surely would not have reached. On
June 11, he hit a three-run homer with the Sox down 10-2 to spark a furious ninth-inning rally that ended with the tying run at the plate.
His performance during that series quelled the uprising that wanted him demoted to Charlotte, and he's been a different ballplayer ever since.
Today is noteworthy, not only because Anderson hit a game-tying, two-run, two-out single that tied the game, but also because now Anderson has as many plate appearances after June 11 as he did before June 11.
The comparison is downright stark:
| Era | AB | R | H | 2B | HR | RBI | BB | K | BA | OBP | SLG |
Before
| 125
| 16 | 19 | 2 | 4 | 12 | 16
| 42 | .152
| .250 | .264 |
After
| 132 | 17 | 36 | 14 | 2 | 16 | 9 | 25 | .273
| .326 | .424 |
He hasn't had much of an impact in scoring runs, but that's mainly because he's been sandwiched in between a sub-average OBP guy (Juan Uribe or Alex Cintron) and
two guys who haven't hit at all as of late (Scott Podsednik, Pablo Ozuna). Most of his terrible numbers with runners in scoring position came during that "before" period, and I don't have the tools or wherewithal to separate those at-bats from the rest.
Otherwise, that kind of jump in production surpassed my expectations (I would've expected him to be in the .190s at this point), and he's made a lot of people look foolish.
Hell, he still makes people look foolish. During the Yankees series, every single time Anderson came to the plate, Michael Kay said that the Sox thought they could survive without Aaron Rowand in center, but Anderson hasn't held up his end.
As much as I love Rowand, he's been the lesser center fielder in the last two months (not even factoring in his five errors to Anderson's zero). Here's the way his season breaks down:
| Era | AB | R | H | 2B | HR | RBI | BB | K | BA | OBP | SLG |
Before
| 179
| 26
| 53 | 10 | 7 | 23 | 6
| 28 | .296
| .339 | .492 |
After
| 189 | 26 | 42 | 13 | 5 | 21
| 11 | 43 | .222
| .300 | .381 |
Not shown: Rowand's OBP is buoyed by his 16 HBPs, which is second in the NL (he finished No. 2 in the AL last year in that category with 21). Also, after June 11, Anderson has grounded into one double play; Rowand has grounded into six. Methinks the NL has discovered the big hole in his swing low and away.