Back in June the Red Sox were
awful—and our
Dalton Jones Industrial Average reflected that performance—
suffering its biggest drop ever (-41.9 points). July wasn't
great, but it was a whole lot better—resulting in
a 13.4-point increase in the DJIA to
83.4. This month, perceptions of
starting pitching improved dramatically—going from a raw score of 19.2 to 42.8.
Relief pitching, however, fell
again—going from to 33.6 down to 32.8. Ratings of the Red Sox
offense improved sharply (80.0 today, compared with 65.6 in June), but views of the team's
defense dropped again—going from 70.0 in June to to 68.9 today.
FenwayNation offers its readers this monthly reading of
"The Mood Of The Nation" through our exclusive
Dalton Jones Industrial Average—which 'crunches' all of those raw scores into a single Index Value. Named for the all-time Red Sox pinch-hit leader, the average is a composite index of four key metrics:
starting pitching,
relief pitching,
total offense and
total defense. The editors invite readers from around the world to weigh in every month on the state of the team. The Index number—and its fluctuation up or down—has proven, over the years, to be a pretty accurate bellwether of actual team status.
