We were recently part of a blog roundtable hosted by Red Sox Monster and MassLive’s inimitable Dan Lamothe, so we thought we’d share our answers in preview of tonight’s Sox-Angels lid lifter. For those interested in the full roundtable answers, which also included bloggers from Red Sox Stat Guy, Sox & Dawgs and The Joy of Sox, here’s the spot for all your answers. Definitely a good anticipatory read.
And while we may not have hit the mark as squarely on some questions as our friends in the blogosphere, here’s our distilled question-by-question answers for your perusal. Interested to see what everyone thinks.
Isn’t it amazing how there are almost no questions about Mike Lowell heading into the playoffs? That’s how ridiculously reliable Dr. Double has been. It’s uncanny.
1) OK, let’s start with some basics. Since they clinched home field advantage in the playoffs, the Red Sox had the choice on what kind of schedule they wanted to play. They opted for “B,” which could extend the series to eight days, rather than seven. Good or bad for the Sox, considering the state of affairs for the two pitching staffs?
This seems like an obvious boost for the Sox, since it allows them to use both Josh “Don’t F@%$ with me” Beckett and Daisuke Matsuzaka twice. Now, a week ago, that previous sentence probably would have included using Beckett and Curt Schilling twice, but Terry Francona’s already decided to stick his neck out there before the playoffs even begin, opting for two potential Dice-K starts rather than two of the man who has enough nicknames to form a band himself: Mr. Ankle and his “Pay Me” Chorus! Still, while that might seem like a shaky move, Sox fans have to remember that Matsuzaka-san’s big-game dominance in the World Baseball Classic and throughout his Japanese career were two of the biggest reasons they were willing to shell out the GDP of a Central American nation to sign him. So what the hell, let’s roll with the Dice-Man.
OF course, if the Sox were playing the Angels, the schedule would mean two shots for both C.C. Sabathia and the operatic Fausto Carmona, which would be a VERY bad thing (good luck New York! Not!). But with the Angels, it means Jon Lackey at Fenway, where he’s been ROCKED (0-2, 8.38 ERA at the Fens) and Kelvim “Don’t Call me Kelvin” Escobar. That’s a much more palatable double dip, wouldn’t you say.
Then there’s the bullpen factor. While Hideki Okajima looked great against Minnesota over the weekend, there are bound to be some lingering concerns about the health of his arm. Having an extra day of rest between the first three games on helps things from a set-up angle.
2) The Red Sox went 6-4 against the Angels this season, but that includes a three-game sweep in April, when the Angels were struggling with injuries. How afraid should Red Sox fans be of the Angels? Would they have been better off drawing Cleveland in the first round?
The answer to the second part of this question, quite frankly, is a resounding NO! The Indians are straight up terrifying, and while the Halos can cause a lot of headaches on the basepaths, they’re incredibly over reliant on three guys for their power numbers: 1) Vlad Guerrero, who may have hurt his hand in the season’s final series, 2) Gary Matthews Jr., who DEFINITELY hurt his knee in the final series, and 3) old Boston favorite Orlando Cabrera, who has been dinged up a good portion of the season. If Boston’s pitchers can keep the O-Cab and gnats like Chone Figgins off the basepaths, there shouldn’t be too much to worry about. Certainly, the pitching seems like a distinct Boston advantage (again, see above), which wouldn’t be the case against the Tribe. We’ll see if that shakes out later, but let’s note get ahead of ourselves. Or the Red Sox.
3) Josh Beckett has been reliable throughout the season. For a second, though, let’s say he loses Game 1. Does anything change for the Sox?
Nope. If Joshie gets rocked, then Joshie gets rocked. One would hope he can find a way to avoid the kind of meltdown he had against Minny at the Fens the other day, but you never know. Down 0-1, Game 2 obviously becomes a virtual must win, but isn’t that when you want Dice-K on the mound? And any questions about his ability to come through in big games should be somewhat quelled by his performance in his last three regular season starts, which ranged from admirable to downright dominant. Ask Minnesota.
4) The Angels clinched the American League West on Sept. 23, then rested their regulars a fair amount of the time thereafter. It’s an age-old question, but advantage or disadvantage?
Neither, because while it might have helped, when Mike Sciosca played his starters they kept getting hurt! It’s remarkable. While it would have seemed like a nice refreshing bounce going into the playoffs, now LA has a handful of questions about Jr. Matthews, Vlad the Impaler, etc. (see above). So much for the rest, huh?
5) Tell us something that’s not common knowledge about this matchup. Anything the common fan has not noticed, do you think?
There’s so much talk about how the Angels run right at teams, about how they’re terror on the basebaths, you fill in your own baseball cliche here, basically. But as much as the Halos could present problems, some of that is mitigated by Tim Wakefield being left off the roster, which helps both in keeping them from running on him and also keeping Varitek as the arm behind the plate. Conversely, the Sox could be in an interesting position to turn the “run-happy” table on LA of Anaheim of Orange County of California of you get the idea. If Tito stacks the bottom of the lineup with two of Coco Crisp, Julio Lugo and Jacoby Ellsbury, you can bet those guys will be galloping trying to create runs. Ellsbury in particular could have a huge impact on the series. It’ll be fascinating to see how Tito works him into lineups and, failing that, into games as a super-sub. As good as J.D. Drew has been the last couple weeks, Ellsbury has been a revelation at the plate and on the base paths. It’s almost impossible to imagine he’s not going to get serious run, whether he’s filling in for Drew or Crisp. We do know he won’t be filling in for Manny, barring an injury. In fact, let’s not even imagine that possibility. Just forget I just wrote that. I’ll go singe the hair off my left forearm as pennance, so don’t worry, we’re all good.
As for the Angels, one HUGE dark horse to watch for is Casey Kotchman. We really can’t figure out why for the life of us, but the guy just gets Boston pitching. He hit a remarkable .343 against the Sox this year, with a handful of those hits making a difference out in Anaheim. Yes Sox fans, this is your official cue to go start digging up personal dirt to scream at him at the plate tomorrow afternoon.
6) So, who will win? What separates these two teams in the end?
Pitching separates the two teams in the end, just as it always does in the playoffs. Naturally, the Sox will have to get to the Angels’ starters, because the LA pen is pretty damn solid, what with Justin Speier and Scott Shields setting up K-Rod. It mirrors the Sox pen (the GOOD version) remarkably well, all the way down to Shields having an off year (see Eric Gagne) and Speier making up for it (see Okaji-san).
Still, with Matthews and Guerrero’s gimpiness, and with Lackey’s regular season tribulations as Fenway hanging like an albatross across Game 1, it’s hard to image the Sox go to Anaheim down 0-2, and really that’s the one way the Angels would seem like prohibitive favorites to pull out the series.
That means I’m picking the Sox, in either 3 or 4. I don’t see this puppy going full like those epic Oakland and Cleveland Divisional slates of the late ’90s. With a gun to my head I’d say 4 games as a buffer for a mediocre start from either Dice-K or “Buy my house in Medfield!”, but I would not be shocked by a sweep. Here’s hoping, right?
Dice-K has been looking for something throughout the second half of the season. Now Sox fans are starting to get impatient that he hasn’t found it.
With Josh Beckett on the mound for the last time in the regular season, and with Big Papi officially reaching postseason form with a 4-4 night that included another homer, the Red Sox found a way to lose. In the process, Beckett may have lost a potential exclamation point in his Cy Young argument with Cleveland’s C.C. Sabathia.
Regardless, the bigger - and more important - point is that the Red Sox lost a game while playing their starters, while that team down in the Bronx won a game at the Tropicana Terror Dome, pulling within two of the Sox with three to go. The AL East is not won yet.
Tonight, the Sox can cut that number to one with a win, just as they could last night. And just as yesterday provided Beckett with a valuable final tune-up (you judge whether or not it was wasted), tonight offers the same opportunity for Daisuke Matsuzaka, the pitcher that has looked like he could use it more than any other in recent weeks.
Matsuzaka has been impressive through the bulk of his last two outings, both of which ended in no-decisions on his behalf. But he might have to be even better tonight, facing off against Minnesota rookie rising star Kevin Slowey, a pitcher who’s stuff does anything but follow the lead of his name. Slowey has yet to lose a start this year, much like Jon Lester, though he has been almost exactly as hittable as Matsuzaka-san.
The question, of course, is whether the rookie will be more phased in his first Fenway appearance than the psuedo-rookie will be in his latest crunch time start heading toward the playoffs. In all fairness, Dice-K has not given too much to complain about as his starts have mattered more. Despite a mini-meltdown last week when he couldn’t finish off an inning, he had a terrific start against the Yankees in the game prior. A third stable start in a row, combined with what will likely be a full week of rest, and Dice-K may be in fully fine form for his playoff premiere.
But a shaky start and another loss will add more instability to a potential division title and the Sox postseason pitching plans. After the past three weeks, that’s the last thing New England’s fragile psyche needs heading into the playoffs.
Just in case you thought Josh might not be from Texas, there you go.
Regardless of bad names, Boston game against Minnesota this evening still has surprisingly far-reaching implications. The Sox are two games away - either via Boston victories or New York losses - from clinching the team’s first AL East title since 1994. Such a title would all but lock up the first round playoff matchups for the league, putting Los Angeles on a plane to Massachusetts for a first game either next Wednesday or Thursday, all while the Yankees prep for a flight to Cleveland.
Naturally, now that the Sox are already assured a playoff berth, the high-wire balancing act comes into play. This will be Josh Beckett’s last start before the playoffs, an outing for him to grab a major league-leading 21st win while also heading into the playoffs with a bit of gusto.
Meanwhile, Boof Bonser will be hoping to regain some of the strut he had in the season’s first half, when many - including we here at Sox Nest - were bracing for a major second-half push to put Minnesota back in contention in the AL Central and for the league’s Wild Card berth.
Neither one of those things happened, and now the Twins are playing out their string while simultanously bracing for the defection of longtime twin city legend Torii Hunter. The center fielder will be making his final Fenway appearance in a Twins uni in three days, and there’s plenty of speculation over where he’s headed next (Texas is a particularly popular potential destination, according to some sources). Regardless, there’s little doubt he wants to go out of Minnesota as a winner.
His chances of doing so will likely improve markedly if Boston can win the first two games of the series. Regardless of the AL’s best mark floating out there, it’s likely that the Sox will sit a full complement of their regular contributors as soon as they lock up a division crown. If they do.
Tonight would seem to be a better chance to start locking up that title than any other. If the Sox hit like they have the last couple days, things could easily fall into place. But Sox fans know not to get ahead of themselves, don’t they?
Torii will be pulling down catches like this in another uni next year. Or so we think.
Wait, no they don’t. Oh well. Here’s hoping they don’t have to look back in retrospective regret one more time tonight.
It’s an easy equation really. Win two games, and the Red Sox get the Angels in the first round. Lose out, or drop three of four to Minninniesota, watch the Yankees take three of four, and play Cleveland.
The ability to use Dice-K more than once in a five-game series would be a big advantage for the Sox, no?
As much as it might seem like the second scenario bodes equally well for postseason success, the Red Sox do NOT want to go into the playoffs limping as the Wild Card. Here’s why.
1) If the Sox can finish with the best record in the AL - and the best in the majors by defunct - they get to pick when they start the playoffs. No biggie, right? Wrong. Should the Sox elect to open the playoffs next Wednesday, they would get a five game series in which they could pitch only their top three pitchers. That’s Josh Beckett, Curt Schilling and Daisuke Matsuzaka, with Beckett and either Schilling or Matsuzaka going twice, if necessary. That’s a big advantage, regardless of opponent.
2) Despite the fact that the Red Sox won the season series with Cleveland, the Indians are not the team to be tangling horns with right now. The Tribe has cruised through September, sweeping reigning AL champ Detroit out of the playoffs during a remarkable hot streak. The biggest two factors in that push have been C.C. Sabathia, i.e. Monsieur Beckett’s primary competition for the AL Cy Young, and second-year star Fausto Carmona. Wait, that Fausto Carmona? The one who gave up back-to-back walk-off hits to the Sox a year ago? The same. And if you watched him pitch against Boston earlier this summer, you know the difference between his two incarnations. No one wants any part of the Sabathia-Carmona double, particularly if you have you beat Carmona twice to advance. Yikes.
3) As much as final records serve as relatively bland trivia facts in the big scheme of things, they do have a significant impact on momentum headed into the playoffs. And let’s be completely frank, no one wants to cruise into the postseason on the brink of a meltdown. That’s the exact precipice the Sox appeared to be on a week ago, but they’ve since turned a corner behind a strong Schilling start and a patchwork outing from Jon Lester, Kyle Snyder and co. A good finish against Minnesota, a team which is finally grounded but suddenly playing like the ocntender they traditionally are, would be a great test heading into the playoffs. And the sooner the Sox can clinch the division, giving regulars a chance to rest as a result, the better.
Is any of this make or break to reach the World Series? Definitely not. After all, while Cleveland may look like the nightmare matchup at the moment, Anaheim is the team that keeps Yankee fans awake at night. Nonetheless, so much of the playoffs is about a team finding the easiest road possible. Remember 2004, when the Sox swept the Angels to set up a fully rested ALCS against the more entrenched Yankees? We all know how that turned out, and anyone who says the Yanks weren’t breathing fumes a bit in Game 7 doesn’t know what they’re talking about.
C.C. Sabathia may be a crooked-hat chunker, but he’s having an almost transcendent year for the Indians. That’s as good a reason as any to not want to play them.
So here’s hoping for a nice tidy conclusion, rather than another epic, drawn out, down to the wire race for a division title. Otherwise so much of the aforementioned three advantages will wash away like a flotilla of leaves in a September shower.
Boy, that win took long enough, didn’t it? Why didn’t the Red Sox just think to pitch Josh Beckett earlier?
Kylie Minogue would constitute a nice change from a slump, no? So would a Josh Beckett win, as last night proved.
That, of course, is a joke. Though two more Red Sox losses, and a preemptive Beckett start on short-rest might not have been such a jocular exaggeration. As it stands, however, Boston finally won, the Yankees finally lost, and for a night at least, all was right in the AL East universe.
Really, it was a bit like coming off a long nightlife slump after the end of a long-term relationship. Sometimes it takes a few months before someone can get back on the horse. And the last week of losing made for one tall horse.
Somehow it seems rather appropriate that a cocksure Texan - all puns intended - would be the one to mount the horse, doesn’t it? Beckett’s been known for brash reactions when turned down by women at bars, but his reactions were all confident last night in becoming the bigs’ first 20-game winner. By giving up just a single run through six innings, Beckett dropped his ERA back down below that of fellow top Cy Young contender C.C. Sabathia - Beckett’s is 3.14, Sabathia 3.89 - and almost single-handedly got his team back on the winning track.
OK, single-handedly is quite the exaggeration. A couple bombs from Big Papi didn’t hurt, and neither did another night from Mike Lowell, and two more tremendous hitting performances from youngsters Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury.
All-in-all, it made for a huge Florida night for the Red Sox. A huge Florida night for Beckett, who’s known to have a few of those, dating back to his days in a Marlins uni. To think that he’s hitting those marks again now, and that he’ll get a chance to in the postseason again. Well, at least we know the Sox have one thing going for them.
Some interesting conceptual thoughts as we await the inevitable lack of offense now that we know Senor Manuel Ramirez is taking another long holiday …
Josh Beckett may need to dial up his high school heat to mow through another win tonight.
Can you imagine what you would have done if someone told you a month ago that the Yankees would be within two games of the Sox, and that the Sox would need key contributions from Eric Hinske to find a way to beat the Devil Rays? I’ll bet you would have laughed. We would have, too. Now, we want to cry. All part of being a Boston fan, right?
Still, things should be good tonight. Should be. And there have been a lot of disappointing shoulds in the past couple of weeks. With Josh Beckett on the mound looking for win No. 20, the Sox should be dialed in on getting just enough offense at the Trop to get a win. It’ll be interesting to see if the anemic, injury-riddled offense can do that minus Manny, Kevin Youkilis, Coco Crisp and hell, any power outside of Big Papi and the indefatiguable Mike Lowell.
Incidentally, there’s an equally shocking response to another offensive Sox question: What would you have said if told that the two most consistent Sox hitters over the course of the season would be Dustin Pedroia and Lowell? It’s truly amazing, isn’t it? Can Lowell’s role be overemphasized? And can Pedroia’s amazing season be played up enough? I’m not sure it can. The Mighty Mite has gone from being a short-term survivor to an almost sure-fire rookie of the year. And Lowell - worth noting that it’s a monster contract year for him, isn’t it - has been nothing short of spectacular. If he’s not the second best third baseman in the AL, well, whoever’s compiling the list is kidding him or herself.
Still, that just reframes tonight’s question, doesn’t it? Now it reads, “Can Lowell, Pedroia, Papi and maybe Jacoby Ellsbury do enough to get past a suddenly viable Tampa Bay lineup? And Scott Kazmir?”
So we’ll be brief. To be honest, we tried to kick our ass into blogging something last night, but we were too distracted by the latest Terry Francona act of incredible flexibility, stabbing himself in the back with his dinner fork, this time by leaving Eric Gagne in after his control took a late flight back to the states from Toronto.
Hey Tito, wouldn’t this one be easier to slide into your upper scapula?
Seriously, does anyone have any idea how the hell this is happening? And is there any way we can just move past this whole painful collapse thing if all Red Sox fans agree to take five giant punches to the gut at exactly the same time around the world? I’d sign on for that right now without a second thought. We really would.
Tonight the Sox get another shot at redemption … again. And again it falls on the young arm of Clay Buchholz, who’ll be starting for the first time since his no-hitter against the Orioles. In fact, the last time he pitched it was also against the Orioles, and he didn’t give up any runs then, either. Toronto may be a slightly different scene, but the stakes and pressure will be even higher, if anything.
Amazingly, the sight of a rookie on the mound is actually comforting. Buchholz has been one of the few players who looks like he’s thrived in pressure spots in the second half of the season. There have been flashes of clutch Big Papi moments and others when he looks flamed out. Dustin Pedroia has generally looked terrific, Mike Lowell has been outstanding and Jacoby Ellsbury, last night’s game-ending strikeout aside, still looks like the guy you want up with the game on the line. That, of course, doesn’t say much about Monsieur J.D. Drew.
On the mound, Josh Beckett continue to be “the man”, but outside of him, the rotation suddenly looks like a Palestinian mine field. Shockingly, Jon Lester has been the next most consistent option the past two weeks, and despite his earlier struggles of late, Daisuke Matsuzaka’s last outing against the Yankees leaves plenty of optimism about his postseason chances. It was a huge game and he pitched terrificly. It’s not his fault he got stuck with a loss.
Ummmm, anyone think we can get Kason back? We’ll take him.
That, of course, leads us to the bullpen, which is too brutal to even talk about right now. We can’t bring ourselves to do it. So we won’t.
Instead, we’ll get back to looking for that extended BBQ fork. We may not be as flexible as Tito, but it’s hard not to get into the self-mutilating action right about now.
There are big wins, and then there are games like yesterday’s rout of the Yankees. The Red Sox might have won the division without it, but it sure as hell would have been a hell of a lot harder to.
Beckett was dealing in the Fenway shade, just as the Sox needed him to.
Naturally, a single win, regardless of when it comes, doesn’t make a season. But yesterday afternoon, a win might have saved Boston’s. Friday night’s collapse was the team’s worst since either the Papelbon blown save in last year’s Boston massacre or - gulp - Game 7 of that series in 2003. You know which one.
All of that made yesterday’s game, and particularly the performance of Josh Beckett, all that much more important. If there was any question which pitcher was the AL’s most dominant, it was answered yesterday. Ching-Ming Wang may have entered with the same number of victories as Monsieur Beckett, but his were more sporadic, even if they did come across fewer starts.
Beckett’s, on the other hand, have been consistent from Day One; they’ve all been dominant performances from the tall Texan. He’s flashed a more consistent curve ball than in past seasons. He’s had his heat right where it’s been during the best stretches of his career. He’s mixing strikeouts with smart contact baseball. And, perhaps most importantly, he’s doing it all and winning while staying healthy.
Perhaps the one smudge on Beckett’s record before yesterday was that he had yet to dominant the Yankees. Sure, he’d had wins against the pinstripes, but they’d always come in games where both teams had racked up runs, usually at the expense of Beckett’s pitch count early in games.
Not yesterday. Beckett mowed down the Yanks throughout, going a full six before leaving with a comfortable lead, a move that was made to save his arm, not to mention the arms of the bullpen heavy hitters, Jonathan Papelbon and Hideki Okajima among them. By that point in the game, Beckett had already picked up a psychic boost of his own, a bridge which was the key to the Sox picking up one of their own.
Now the question is one solely of momentum, and which team can grab it. The Yankees could make a huge power grab by taking two of three in the series and keeping Boston’s magic number at a lofty nine. The Sox could do wonders for their anxiety, not to mention the fragile psyche of all New England, by pulling out another win and cutting that playoff determinant down to seven games.
Finally, a nice day to look at the rivalry. What a difference a day makes, huh?
And if the old saying that momentum is only as good as the next day’s pitcher is true, well, figuring out who has momentum should be interesting. Curt Schilling vs. Roger Clemens? Sounds pretty good, huh? Now add in a scramble for a division crown, and you’ve got playoff baseball a few weeks early.
Time to dust off the old Rahhjahh chant Sox fans. Somehow we doubt that’ll be hard to do.
Seriously. Did that just happen? Really, are we sure it did?
Ugggh. Sox fans are so sick of these guys. Seriously.
Let’s try to focus on just how painful last night’s loss really was. The game was over. O-V-E-R over, like Okajima-Papelbon in the eighth and ninth over.
In fact, that’s just the problem. It wasn’t an Okie-Paps straight pick up in the eighth and ninth, because Okie had worked the seventh. Why Terry Francona was unwilling to give the ball to one of the other relievers in the seventh - sure he’d already used Mike Timlin and wasted Javier Lopez’s arm yet again, but Manny Delcarmen was still sitting out there, right? - we may never know. What we do know is that putting Okie out there an inning early was a mistake.
But what was an even bigger mistake was sticking with him in the eighth, rather than rolling the job over to the resurgent Eric Gagne, who pitched a strong ninth after the game had slipped away.
So, there’s your most painful loss since last August Sox fans. The question now becomes, will it lead to another collapse today? Or will Boston bounce back? Much of that may be determined by whether Papelbon can legitimately return a night after tossing a solid number of pitches. We know Okajima will have to ride the pine for a day, if not two. But Papelbon’s outing was brief enough he could come back if absolutely necessary.
Will he be needed? It’s likely. Josh Beckett heads to the mound looking to be the savior the team needs once again, and he finds himself in a possible Cy Young battle with Ching-Ming Wang (we’re not considering C.C. Sabathia here, but obviously he would also have to be a candidate). If Beckett can’t come through with good stuff, and serious innings, the team may be in serious trouble and - almost unbelievably - in jeopardy of losing their once seemingly indestructable division lead.
Will the cake keep crumbling? We don’t know. Will we be able to use the word “will” at least one more time to add to the annoying oral gesticulations thrown out throughout this frustrating postgame post?
No. Sorry. And let’s all hope we don’t have another of these tomorrow, right?
Three out of four in Baltimore isn’t bad, right? I mean, when you go on the road, anytime you take three out of four is good, right?
Another strong Josh Beckett start was among the positives the Sox could take away from Maryland.
Normally that’s the case. And to a large extent it’s the case here, too. But with the fiery implosion of Daisuke Matsuzaka Saturday night, taking three out of four in Baltisnore, losing a half game on the lead over the surging Yanks in the process, almost felt like slipping slowly under while treading water.
And anytime you’re holding steady in the best circumstances, falling under in the worst, that’s not a good thing.
Nonetheless, there was plenty of good that came out of the Baltimore bake job. So let’s look at the positives:
1) Josh Beckett had a second-straight start back on the straight and narrow. After a solid outing marred mostly by a single bad pitch, Beckett cruised in Baltimore, getting his 18th win in the process. Not a bad bounce back season, eh?
2) The Jacoby Ellsbury experiment continued to thrive, with the outfielder coming through with a handful of terrific plays in the field, launching a passel of hits and seemingly taking a firm hold of the lead-off spot in the process. Obviously that last claim is apt to be revised depending on Terry Francona’s mental stability and the sensitivity of other Red Sox - because we all know Tito’s big on holding players’ hands - but Ellsbury has been nothing short of a revelation in his first week.
3) Clay Buchholz in relief? Looks like a good fit. We know that he can’t start because of the preseason prescribed 155-inning limit on his pitching work. But if Buchholz can be effective in two and three inning spurts, that’s another weapon in the bullpen, which with the sudden moderate ineffectiveness of Hideki Okajima and the extended injury of Eric Gagne, is a big help.
It wasn’t a no-hitter, but Buchholz’s three innings of relief on Thursday were still dazzling.
4) Big Papi finally looks like Big Papi. He was crushing balls all over Camden Yards, which was a reassuring sight, particularly with the absence of Manny Ramirez. The Sox need the power, and that takes a huge burden off of Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis, who are finally hitting simultaneously, which makes the lineup turn over a lot better, to say the least.
And now, of course, the Sox get Tampa Bay, which should be patsy No. 2 on the radar. But outside of Tim Wakefield, whose success against the Rays is more than legendary, no other games should be a lock. Carlos Pena is hitting like a machine, the young Tampa pitching staff is finally starting to click a bit, and there’s plenty of reason for the Florida flounders to be optimisitc; they’ve won five of their last six series, after all.
Does that mean that Tampa will hold off the Sox tonight? Hardly. But it does add intrigue to a matchup that’s lacked it for quite some time, doesn’t it?
We certainly think so. And that gives us more than enough reason to tune in.
