Really, Curt Schilling just had to prove he still had it, huh?
Curt Schilling proved that he still has big playoff performances left in the veins. Now he gets to prove he’s got more in Game 2 Saturday.
With Red Sox Nation still buzzing over an ALDS sweep and overwhelming sense of shaudenfreude over the latest Yankee collapse, there was actual news to be made Tuesday, when Terry Francona announced that Schilling, and not Daisuke Matsuzaka, would start Game 2 at Fenway Park.
It’s an interesting shift. Dice-K didn’t pitch badly in Game 2 of the ALDS against the Angels, but he did have some serious rocky moments. The bullpen got involved earlier than wanted, and against a much more balanced lineup like the one Cleveland throws at a pitcher, it’s doubtful the Dice-man would have even lasted the 4 2/3 innings that he did.
That being said, some of what seemed to make Schilling’s dominance Sunday in Anaheim was predicated by the Angels’ big park. That should help Dice-K, too, but Schilling seems to gain so much from pitching in bigger parks than Fenway. He’s not the strikeout dominant pitcher he was when he came to Boston, that much has been proved over and over again. Still, isn’t that supposed to be who Dice-K currently is? Sure, he gives up some contact, but he gets lots of strikeouts, and most of his contact comes on hits that are bloops to the outfield or liners through the infield.
Schilling, meanwhile, gives up an even higher quotient of SSS’s (Schilling Solo Shots) in Fenway than he does anywhere else. The friendly confines have a hard time holding a lot of the fly balls that are long outs in places like Anaheim and, possibly, Cleveland.
Now, with all those prior things being said, we’re definitely not going to say that Francona is making a bad call in the shift. Schilling was absolutely masterful Sunday, dominating the Angels and looking even better after he got an early lead. It was the kind of postseason performance that has becoming vintage Schilling over the years; you just got the feeling that the game was over and won in about the fourth inning. That’s a great feeling.
Similarly, Dice-K has performed better on the road than he has at home throughout stretches of the year. By taking the pressure away from a Fenway start, it’s possible that he’ll settle earlier, avoid the first and second inning contact and cruise through a few innings, a luxury not afforded him against the Angels.
Will any of this happen? Who knows. But at the moment, it seems like a good idea. And right now, let Francona pull the trigger when he needs to. Worked well in round one, don’t you think?
Two games does not a series make, but two wins goes a long way toward making one incredibly palatable.
That’s the opportunity the Sox face tonight, hosting the Angels for Game 2. Daisuke Matsuzaka makes his long-awaited playoff debut, with the Angels throwing the twice-unfortunately named Kelvim Escobar at Boston. That’s not all the Angels are throwing out there, either. Manager Mike Scoscia juggled his lineup, pushing Vlad Guerrerro back into the outfield to create room for another bat in the DH hole.
It’s Dice-K time, but will it be gut-check time in Boston?
While it might seem early for that kind of adjustment, this is the playoffs, and the Angels looked positively baffled against Josh Beckett Wednesday. On top of that, LA has never seen Matsuzaka, missing his turn in the rotation in both stints at Fenway and when the Sox hit the left coast in July.
It’s a seeming advantage for Dice-K, a point Scoscia has already made himself. But the bigger question in the matchup will revolve around the Japanese ace’s control. If Dice-K locates multiple pitches and throws first-pitch strikes, the Sox will likely be in good shape. If he doesn’t, it could get to be a long night at the Fens (see below).
Then again, the same can be said for Escobar, and getting to the front end of the Angels pen would definitely be an advantage for Boston. Will they get there? That’s very much to be determined. But if they can be patient and force Escobar into the zone, just as they did with Jon Lackey again Wednesday, they’ll be in very good shape.
Naturally, being in good shape tonight could decide what kind of shape the Sox come out of in the series. Or what shape they stay home in.
When he’s on, hitting his spots and grooving multiple pitches around the plate, Daisuke Matsuzaka can be one of the best pitchers in baseball, a man worth the massive $103 million contract that brought him over from Japan in the offseason. When he’s off, he can look like a minor leaguer still unable to hold his composure in prime time.
His arrival was much hyped, and some of his performances have lived up to the attention. But the real question is whether Daisuke Matsuzaka’s first playoff outing tonight will meet the $103 million demands.
The question of which Dice-K will show up tonight has to have some Sox fans shuddering. They have good reason to.
But while determining which Matsuzaka will make an appearance for Game 2 at Fenway Park might seem a total crap shoot, it’s actually more predictable than it might seem. Quite frankly, fans should know within the first couple of innings if Dice-K is on top of his game. Maybe much earlier than that.
In fact, they might be able to tell within the first 10 pitches.
That’s because Dice-K has been at his best, the pitcher he was expected to be when brought from the Land of the Rising Son, when he’s locating more than one pitch. And regardless of which pitch it is, the most important one he needs to land is strike one.
Just look at the data. In one of Matsuzaka’s most dominant starts, his career opening victory in Kansas City, the Dice-man drilled in first-pitch strikes to 19 of 26 batters. In a game against Cleveland he was masterful through five innings, tossing first-pitch strikes to 13 batters while mystifying the Tribe.
What happened after that? He melted down, giving up four runs in the sixth in a loss to Paul Byrd.
Those bugaboo innings have cost Matsuzaka dearly all year, perhaps taking as many as five wins away from his season total. But he’s appeared more consistent later in games over his final three appearances of the regular season, capped off with a masterful eight-inning win against Minnesota last Saturday.
So which Dice-K shows up tonight? If he locates his pitches early, it will almost certainly be the dominant Dice-Man, the pitcher who has looked like the man Boston fans expected to see when rumors of their massive $51.11111 million posting fee leaked last December.
And what if he doesn’t? Well, then the Sox are probably in for a long evening, with Dice-K’s well documented struggles to maintain his consistent placement once runners get on base (let alone with bothering gnats like the Angels runners on the basepaths).
But at least now Sox fans know what to expect, and what will make a difference. Perhaps most significantly, they’ll know what they’re getting from Dice-K, and they’ll probably know it early.
That’s right LA of Anaheim of Orange County of California of you get the damn idea. That’s right, Josh Beckett is out to get you. In his Texan dialect, he done hunted your ass down once now. He’s got the scent, and if he has to again, he’ll shoot Jon Lackey right between the eyes.
Ahh, screw it Josh. Go get some. Sox fans won’t judge, you deserve it.
Or many he can leave that to Big Papi and Kevin Youkilis. They certainly did a suitable job of that last night.
But the story, not shockingly, was Beckett’s dominance. At one point he mowed down 19 straight. Nineteen! It’s almost preposterous. And not only did Beckett’s dominance thoroughly frustrate the entire Angels lineup - OK, Vlad the Impaler got a hold of two different pitches that looked impossible to hit and stroked them for singles, but he is Vlad the Impaler - it also saved the Sox bullpen, which can now lineup Hideki Okajima on nearly a full week of rest, not to mention the Irish jigger himself, Jonathan Papelbon.
So, what can you give the guy who just nearly duplicated his epic postseason performance of 2003? What do you give the man who is now riding an 18-inning scoreless streak? Or, because this is The Morning After, who?
You give him the ultimate baseball blogger (seriously, how the hell did she earn that title so fast?), the woman who finally gave up her attempt to sleep through the LA Dodgers rotation (the whole lot of which combined doesn’t have Beckett’s stuff): Alyssa Milano.
Wait, he’s already been there, in 2003? Well, who the hell cares? Alyssa Milano’s still hot. Smoking hot. And Josh Beckett is still nasty. Filthy nasty.
Charmed may have been one of the worst shows of all-time. But it did give birth to this scene, so I think we’re going to call it even.
So we’re hooking it up again. Joshie deserves it after last night. And just think of the possibilities. The last time he was with Ms. Milano, Josh Beckett was sizing up his first World Series ring. Too bad it had an ugly fish on it.
Maybe this time he can get another one, one that might even be a bit prettier. If he gets help from Dice-K tomorrow and Curt Schilling Sunday, he’ll be well on his way.
Let’s get the engines revving folks, the playoffs are officially on.
Tonight, well, this evening? Or should we just call it this supper-time? Whatever. Red Sox fans get to watch a potential Cy Young winner head to the mound for Boston, facing off against a legitimate ace from the left coast. Here, as always, is your Baseball-Reference preview.
Josh Beckett goes back to the mound in the playoffs for the first time since 2003. Think he’s excited to be back on the big stage? It won’t take long to find out.
That, of course, is where the home field Fenway factor kicks in. Because unlike Josh Beckett, who’s been outstanding at home all year (we’re forgetting about that last throw-in start against the Twins), Jon Lackey’s starts in Boston have been an unabetted disaster.
The question becomes one of big game performance, and whether Lackey can put aside those frustrations in the heat of the moment. Beckett certainly has in the past - see 2003, Yankees - but Lackey is a bit less battle-proven.
That doesn’t mean he won’t right his personal pitching ship in the Fens tonight. It just means that Boston’s fans could become a factor, which is exactly what Terry Francona, Theo Epstein and the rest of the Red Sox organization had to be hoping for in gaining home field advantage with the league’s best record in the season’s closing days.
For his part, Beckett certainly seems to be focused. He claims to be patterning his postseason routine after Curt Schilling’s circa 2001 and 2004. He knows how much each batter makes a difference from his own experience in 2003, and he’s had to wait three years to get back near the stage he was on then in Florida.
Now that he has the stage, with the three-ring circus that is a postseason Fenway atmosphere circling around him, will Beckett turn up the heat as he has in the past?
We’re about to find out. Buckle up folks, what Sox fans hope will be a long ride starts. Now.
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?
We bring this to light because we certainly didn’t know until this AP piece about this afternoon’s playoff rally at City Hall Plaza.
OK, so this picture is from 2004, but can you imagine how distracting and deflating it might be if it happens again, well, right now at City Hall Plaza?
The answer, of course, is The Standells, who recorded the piece in 1966, not knowing that it would be played after each Red Sox win in perpetuity. We’re willing to make an educated guess, however, that they’re hoping it’ll be played another, oh, 6-11 times this year.
Still, the question is prompted by The Standells’ appearance at this afternoon’s rally, and it’s role in the larger development of the AL Divisional Series. Sure, The Standells may be a fine band, and we know that The Dropkick Murphys, also scheduled to perform, are excellent. Just listen to Jonathan Papelbon’s theme of choice as he warms up on the mound.
The larger question is whether they should be playing a pep rally for a divisional crown. Sure, a team always wants to win the division, and perhaps should even expect to. But it’s hard to justify a grandiose celebration when there’s still so much baseball to be played.
The Red Sox stated goal every year is to win the World Series. They’re a large market team, one of the few that have no budgetary constraints to justify not putting an excellent team on the field year after year. They have deep pocket owners and a front office which seems to have a strong sense of vision, both for present and future, behind wunderkind World Series architect Theo Epstein. So why should the city be surprised that they win the AL East, even if it is the first time in 12 years it’s happened?
The answer, of course, is that it shouldn’t. And perhaps Boston isn’t surprised, but is rather just jubilant about the team’s success. On top of that, we’re willing to sign up for any situation in which Papelbon might be around alcohol or a microphone and do or say something crazy. He’s reaching that point in character-dom.
But the whole rally does seem a bit forced, doesn’t it? Particularly on a day when the Patriots are facing off at a supposed AFC contender in Cincinnati for an event that legitimately matter. A lot.
You remember this scene, right? We’re hoping for another one, and may get one, so long as today’s little celebration isn’t more distraction than motivation.
Not that we’re condemning the Boston front office or even questioning its judgment in going along with the pre-playoff rally plan. OK, maybe we are questioning its judgment, but we’re not going to condemn it. Yet.
If the Sox go out and look distracted or deflated in games 1 and 2 at Fenway? Then we will definitely condemn it. Harshly. Just wanted to throw it out there.
Maybe you’ve seen it by now, maybe you haven’t. If you’re in the latter category, you need to keep reading below.
When Boston clinched the AL East with New York’s loss Friday night, there were a number of notable Sox players who went back out onto the field to celebrate with the scattered fans who remained in Fenway Park. Curt Schilling and Daisuke Matsuzaka show up in numerous photos, as do Tim Wakefield and David Ortiz, among others.
But while those players may have earned the most ink, no one could keep up with closer Jonathan Papelbon, who may have made a bigger ass out of himself than anyone since, well, George W. Bush. But don’t take our word for it, check it out yourself:
That’s right Red Sox fans, your closer of past, present and future is quite the Irish dancer. In fact, even Kevin Youkilis and Terry Francona were pretty taken with his moves, Youk in person and Tito, well, in the press, here via the Boston Globe.
“If he wasn’t, I’ll make sure Manny is aware we won today.”
But no one present last night, including Francona, missed Jonathan Papelbon’s wild Irish jig on the mound after the game.
“You mean, ‘The Riverdance’?” Francona said. “That’s one of the . . . he looked to me . . . I don’t want to call him a moron, but the only thing better than that was when he was inside dancing, wearing only a jock.
“That’s him. He’s young, carefree, a great kid. That said, when he gets on the mound, he’s all business. It’s a good mix.”
That’s right, a carefree kid with a nasty fastball, ridiculous splitter and a filthy new pitch which he calls a slutter. All puns intended, of course.
It’s official, the AL playoffs will go through Fenway Park. And guess who the Sox have to thank for that? A man by the name of Hideki Okajima.
That’s right, Okie has returned from his respite/vacation to toss two perfect innings in two nights, last night’s spotless frame in the ninth to shut down the Twins. He’s looking like the dominant set-up man from midseason, when he made the All Star Game as a rookie over much more highly touted countryman and teammate Daisuke Matsuzaka.
So, is Okie really back in form? Or is this all a mirage? The last two nights sure make it seem like he’s back and already forgetting prior struggles. When he was shut down indefinitely for a tired arm, the obvious problem with his pitching was that he wasn’t locating down in the zone. As his oferrings slowly floated up in the zone, they were getting crushed by career nobodies, setting up rampant comebacks and costing Boston wins.
Now Okajima-san is pounding the strike zone low again, with a couple more miles-per-hour on his fastball and his patented finger-tip control in full effect. It may not be spot on perfect yet, but it’s getting close.
Of course, the renaissance of Okajima breeds a whole new question: Who do the Sox use as an eighth inning setup man in the playoffs, as the bridge to power closer Jonathan Papelbon? While Eric Gagne has been good his last couple outings, he’s soldmore TUMS in New England than commercials based in a Philly diner. And while Okajima could slip back, it seems hard to believe they’d relegate him to purely seventh inning duty after this turn around in his last two outings. You don’t usually go from recording a save in the ninth to mop up duty and spot work in the sixth inning.
So it says here that Okie is the setup man, again. Naturally, we’re dealing with Terry Francona, so who knows if that will actually be the case.
Now that the Red Sox have officially sewn up the AL East, finally, we know that they’ll be hosting the Angels in the first round. Finally, there’s no drama left to worry about you say? Not exactly.
Tito had a nice night of moves yesterday, so the question now shifts to who he’ll make moves with today.
That’s because home field advantage throughout the playoffs is still very much in play. Boston and Cleveland entered today in a tie for best overall record in the bigs, with the Tribe facing off with the Royals for the finale pairing while Minnesota plays out its string in Boston.
Finishing with the league’s best record might be a measure of pride, but it doesn’t necessarily translate into big things. Remember that 2000 Seattle team with A-Rod? Yeah, not so hot.
Still, home field advantage would be a significant factor, particularly if it swung to Boston as opposed to Cleveland. Just look at the season series. The Red Sox went 5-2 against the Indians, but both of those losses came at Jacobs Field, as part of a four-game split between the teams at the Jake in July.
So, while home field advantage might not be such a huge stick for Cleveland to wield over Boston, it would be a significant one for the Sox at Fenway Park.
Now, because of that 5-2 season series, all the Sox have to do is finish tied with the Tribe to ensure that baseball’s world title will have to go through the Fens. Tonight, Terry Francona is expected to send beleaguered knuckleballer Tim Wakefield to the mound for a faceoff with Carlos Silva a man who has been the very essence of mediocrity all year long. That would seem like a great draw, if not for Wakefield’s struggles since a back injury sidelined him early this month. He hasn’t been the same pitcher since, which means that an average outing from a hurler like Silva might be enough to get the best of Wakefield’s stuff. Or lack thereof.
Meanwhile, the Indians send middling Jake Westbrook to the mound against the one big pitching chip Kansas City has, Gil Meche. That’s about as good a KC bullet as Boston fans could hope for.
The bigger question, of course, is how Tito will draw up his lineup, whether he’ll play regulars or throw an entire B-squad out there. We’re kind of betting on the b-squad.
No matter who he throws out there, if Wakefield has a decent night it’ll be a strong sign for postseason possibilities, both in terms of playing games at Fenway and having a knuckleballer who can make an impact.
That sounds like a nice recipe to cook up a day after winning the franchise’s first divisional title in 12 years, doesn’t it?
