i think that is a mistake on his part....why change what has worked so far...
shields looked great in game 1 and kazmir pitches better at home ...usually....there is talk that kazmir is hurt or hurting....so why move him up is the question? i wouldn't let the red sox get anything going if i were him.....they have a track record here at 1-3
shields looked great in game 1 and kazmir pitches better at home ...usually....there is talk that kazmir is hurt or hurting....so why move him up is the question? i wouldn't let the red sox get anything going if i were him.....they have a track record here at 1-3
How Red Sox could still win ALCS
Wednesday, October 15, 2008 | Feedback | Print Entry
The Rays look faster, they look healthier, and they look stronger near the end of the arduous baseball season, which is easy to do when you're circling the bases like Jimmie Johnson at the Daytona 500. The obstacles that are in front of the Red Sox are enormous, after the Rays' 13-4 blowout of Boston in Game 4. In order to win the American League Championship Series, the Red Sox must win two more games in Tropicana Field, where they won just twice during the entire regular season -- if they get past Game 5 in Fenway Park.
They must slow down the Murderers Row of hitters in the middle of the Tampa Bay lineup, B.J. Upton (10 RBIs and a 1.153 OPS in eight postseason games) and Carlos Pena (a .400 batting average and .474 OBP in October) and Evan Longoria, who seems to have the best attributes of Brooks Robinson and Mike Schmidt (and has a 1.174 OPS this month). They have to slow down Carl Crawford, who a week before the playoffs was considered a nearly certain no-go for the start of the postseason and is now running all over Boston, while hitting .375 in the postseason.
But as the 2004 Yankees will attest, momentum can do a U-turn in a short series. One play in one inning in one game, like a Dave Roberts stolen base and an RBI single, can begin to change everything. If the Red Sox are looking for a map to navigate their way out of the current mess -- although they're probably in far too deep now to extricate themselves -- this is how they can do it:
1. A strong start by Daisuke Matsuzaka in Game 5. He never allows hitters to get a clean shot at him, never gives them a chance to take the kind of big, assured swings the Rays took against Josh Beckett and Tim Wakefield. Matsuzaka is fully capable of throwing a strong Game 5 and allowing the Red Sox faithful to sing a heartfelt "Sweet Caroline" one more time.
2. Somewhere along the way, David Ortiz finds his swing. Maybe he has already started to do that, with his triple near the end of Game 4 (although Ortiz is always at his best when he is driving the ball to left-center field and peppering the Green Monster, the way Pena is these days). Ortiz's swing is something of a mess and he has told friends his wrist just doesn't feel comfortable, which is clear by the way he constantly releases the bat with his top hand on his swing and does not follow through. But it's not as if Ortiz is incapable of getting hot for a few days: Over the span of seven games from Sept. 15-22, Ortiz went 8-for-27 with five homers and 11 RBIs.
3. If there is a Game 6, the pitching matchup is nothing less than a tossup because of the uncertain state of the two starters. Beckett has been awful in his two postseason starts, allowing five homers and 12 earned runs in 9 1/3 innings, but there remains a confidence in Boston's camp that what Beckett needs, merely, is time. In time, his fastball might improve and his command might improve and the rustiness might go away. The same cannot be said for the Rays' Scott Kazmir, who is showing all the signs of someone battling elbow discomfort. (There is a chance that Kazmir will start Game 5, rather than Game 6, as Marc Topkin writes.) In his next start, Kazmir might get better results than he did in Game 2, when he basically battled without any bullets and got hammered. But what Kazmir probably needs to get right again is extended rest, and that can't happen now. So, for argument's sake, if there is a Game 6, Boston could win the coin-flip competition, the way Tampa Bay prevailed in Game 2, and that would take them …
4. To a Game 7. And by then, the Red Sox would have the momentum. The pressure would be all over the Rays. It would be Jon Lester pitching with an extra day of rest against the emotional Matt Garza, who has been awful as often as he has been great in his starts this year.
A comeback is probably not going to happen for the Red Sox this time. The Rays are playing ridiculously well now and will probably finish off the Red Sox in Game 5 or Game 6. But Ortiz knows first-hand that it can happen, and so does Jason Varitek and Kevin Youkilis and Beckett and others.
The Red Sox are in perfect position to do what they do best, writes Jim Donaldson. This time it's hard to find a Ray of hope.
Jack McKeon thinks there's something wrong with Beckett, writes Joe McDonald. It was a laugher in Game 4, writes Michael Silverman. The Red Sox are facing a young dream team, writes Bob Ryan.
It's time to brush back the Tampa Bay hitters, writes Steve Buckley.
Mike Lowell is set for surgery.
• The Rays are running toward history, writes Marc Lancaster. These Rays are taking the tarps off the seats. The Rays' power surge has come at the right time, writes Gary Shelton.
Crawford tied a record.
• Andy Sonnanstine controls the ball-strike count, and doesn't get backed into corners.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008 | Feedback | Print Entry
The Rays look faster, they look healthier, and they look stronger near the end of the arduous baseball season, which is easy to do when you're circling the bases like Jimmie Johnson at the Daytona 500. The obstacles that are in front of the Red Sox are enormous, after the Rays' 13-4 blowout of Boston in Game 4. In order to win the American League Championship Series, the Red Sox must win two more games in Tropicana Field, where they won just twice during the entire regular season -- if they get past Game 5 in Fenway Park.
They must slow down the Murderers Row of hitters in the middle of the Tampa Bay lineup, B.J. Upton (10 RBIs and a 1.153 OPS in eight postseason games) and Carlos Pena (a .400 batting average and .474 OBP in October) and Evan Longoria, who seems to have the best attributes of Brooks Robinson and Mike Schmidt (and has a 1.174 OPS this month). They have to slow down Carl Crawford, who a week before the playoffs was considered a nearly certain no-go for the start of the postseason and is now running all over Boston, while hitting .375 in the postseason.
But as the 2004 Yankees will attest, momentum can do a U-turn in a short series. One play in one inning in one game, like a Dave Roberts stolen base and an RBI single, can begin to change everything. If the Red Sox are looking for a map to navigate their way out of the current mess -- although they're probably in far too deep now to extricate themselves -- this is how they can do it:
1. A strong start by Daisuke Matsuzaka in Game 5. He never allows hitters to get a clean shot at him, never gives them a chance to take the kind of big, assured swings the Rays took against Josh Beckett and Tim Wakefield. Matsuzaka is fully capable of throwing a strong Game 5 and allowing the Red Sox faithful to sing a heartfelt "Sweet Caroline" one more time.
2. Somewhere along the way, David Ortiz finds his swing. Maybe he has already started to do that, with his triple near the end of Game 4 (although Ortiz is always at his best when he is driving the ball to left-center field and peppering the Green Monster, the way Pena is these days). Ortiz's swing is something of a mess and he has told friends his wrist just doesn't feel comfortable, which is clear by the way he constantly releases the bat with his top hand on his swing and does not follow through. But it's not as if Ortiz is incapable of getting hot for a few days: Over the span of seven games from Sept. 15-22, Ortiz went 8-for-27 with five homers and 11 RBIs.
3. If there is a Game 6, the pitching matchup is nothing less than a tossup because of the uncertain state of the two starters. Beckett has been awful in his two postseason starts, allowing five homers and 12 earned runs in 9 1/3 innings, but there remains a confidence in Boston's camp that what Beckett needs, merely, is time. In time, his fastball might improve and his command might improve and the rustiness might go away. The same cannot be said for the Rays' Scott Kazmir, who is showing all the signs of someone battling elbow discomfort. (There is a chance that Kazmir will start Game 5, rather than Game 6, as Marc Topkin writes.) In his next start, Kazmir might get better results than he did in Game 2, when he basically battled without any bullets and got hammered. But what Kazmir probably needs to get right again is extended rest, and that can't happen now. So, for argument's sake, if there is a Game 6, Boston could win the coin-flip competition, the way Tampa Bay prevailed in Game 2, and that would take them …
4. To a Game 7. And by then, the Red Sox would have the momentum. The pressure would be all over the Rays. It would be Jon Lester pitching with an extra day of rest against the emotional Matt Garza, who has been awful as often as he has been great in his starts this year.
A comeback is probably not going to happen for the Red Sox this time. The Rays are playing ridiculously well now and will probably finish off the Red Sox in Game 5 or Game 6. But Ortiz knows first-hand that it can happen, and so does Jason Varitek and Kevin Youkilis and Beckett and others.
The Red Sox are in perfect position to do what they do best, writes Jim Donaldson. This time it's hard to find a Ray of hope.
Jack McKeon thinks there's something wrong with Beckett, writes Joe McDonald. It was a laugher in Game 4, writes Michael Silverman. The Red Sox are facing a young dream team, writes Bob Ryan.
It's time to brush back the Tampa Bay hitters, writes Steve Buckley.
Mike Lowell is set for surgery.
• The Rays are running toward history, writes Marc Lancaster. These Rays are taking the tarps off the seats. The Rays' power surge has come at the right time, writes Gary Shelton.
Crawford tied a record.
• Andy Sonnanstine controls the ball-strike count, and doesn't get backed into corners.
Rays are now 16-3 in Shield's home starts
This is a very good tactical move as it permits Kaz to work without concern about pitch count.
He can fire 100 pitches in five innings and then give way to Jackson, Price and five rested relief pitchers who form the best bullpen in the American League
This is a very good tactical move as it permits Kaz to work without concern about pitch count.
He can fire 100 pitches in five innings and then give way to Jackson, Price and five rested relief pitchers who form the best bullpen in the American League
