Is it time to panic in Boston now? After tonight’s 7-3 beatdown by the Indians, I am going to have to say yes. I know this loss is hard on the fans and probably harder on the team. It’s very hard to sit here and write about it when you just all the sudden have gone flat. Given the way things were going in this game, I thought OK it’s going to be a close tight game. I never imagined it would turn into the rout that it did.
With the starting pitching we had going into the series, I never thought that Curt Schilling, Daisuke Matsuzaka and Tim Wakefield would all last 4â…” innings in consecutive starts. I know that Terry Francona and Josh Beckett answered the questions of why Beckett didn’t pitch on three days rest but is it something that could haunt the Sox. Right now it’s looking that way. We can only hope and pray that Beckett can duplicate his Game 1 ALDS and ALCS starts to get us back to Boston on Saturday night. I have complete confidence that he can.
Paul Byrd pitched masterfully for 5 innings before the Sox struck for 2 runs off him and Jhonny Peralta hit a knife-in-the-chest 3-run homer in the Indians 7-run 5th inning to lead the Indians to a 7-3 win and a 3-1 lead in the ALCS. Casey Blake hit a solo home run to start the onslaught for the Indians against Tim Wakefield who had pitched well for the first four innings.
Byrd could have been affected by the long wait after his teammates gave him a 7-run lead to work with. He was pretty nasty with his stuff allowing just four singles before the back-to-back jacks by Kevin Youkilis and David Ortiz to start the 6th inning. He also struck out four Red Sox hitters.
The Red Sox went quietly in their half of the 1st inning. The Indians did manage a walk to Sizemore, who also stole second, but that was all.
In the 2nd, the Red Sox got a leadoff single from Manny off of Byrd and he would get to second on a Mike Lowell ground out. Byrd finished off the inning with strikeouts of J.D. Drew and Coco Crisp. The Sox got two singles in the 3rd off Byrd, both coming with two outs. Byrd had gotten Julio Lugo and Doug Mirabelli, then Pedroia and Youk followed with singles. Big Papi ended the inning by grounding into a fielder’s choice.
Wakefield was perfect in the 2nd inning and only allowed a walk in the 3rd inning to Franklin Gutierrez.
Drew managed a two-out single in the 4th but Crisp flew out to end the inning. The Tribe would get a two-out double from Peralta but he would be left there as Kenny Lofton grounded out to Youk at first.
After Byrd put the Sox down in the order in the 5th, the Indians came out with their arrows blazing. Blake led off with a no-doubter home run to left field that Manny watched and admired. Gutierrez followed that up with a single and he went to second as a Wakefield knuckler hit former Sox farmhand Kelly Shoppach. Grady Sizemore grounded into a fielder’s choice with Shoppach out at second and Gutierrez moving to third. With two strikes in the count, Cabrera hit a foul pop up to Youkilis who did a circus act before dropping the ball. Cabrera ended up driving in the Indians second run as he hit a liner up the middle off the glove of Wakefield for an RBI infield single.Wake then got the second out of the inning as he struck out Travis Hafner for the third time on the night. Victor Martinez made it 3-0 Tribe as his single scored Sizemore from second, not drawing a throw from Manny in left. VMart’s single chased Wake from the game after 4â…” innings. Manny Delcarmen came in for the Sox and promptly gave up the back breaking 3-run homer to put the Tribe up 6-0. The ageless Kenny Lofton followed the Peralta home run with a single and he stole second with Blake at the plate. Blake delivered a single that brought in Lofton to give the Indians a commanding 7-0 lead. Delcarmen then walked Gutierrez and finally ended the long bottom of the 5th with a strikeout of Shoppach.
Just when you thought the Red Sox were six feet under, they pulled themselves out of the big hole they were in the 6th. Youk led off with a home run and Big Papi followed that up with a solo home run of his own. The back-to-back taters were enough for Eric Wedge to pull Byrd out of the game, who got a hero’s reception on his walk back to the dugout. Jensen Lewis came in for the fourth time in as many games and left a fastball out over the plate to Manny, who said see you later to the ball for a solo home run. Of course Manny being Manny, he stood and admired it with his jazz hands. The back-to-back-to-back home runs by the Red Sox were the first time it had happened in ALCS history. Lewis settled down after the home run as he got Lowell to ground out and two fly ball outs to Lofton in left by Drew and Crisp.
Jon Lester came out to the hill for the Sox in the 6th and settled things down for the Sox. He did allow a lead off walk to Sizemore but he got Cabrera and Hafner (his fourth of the night) to strikeout. Martinez ended the inning as he popped out to Coco in center. Lester also cruised through the 7th as well working a perfect 1-2-3 inning.
Jason Varitek, a defensive replacement for Mirabelli in the 6th, led off the 7th with a single. He was quickly erased from the basepaths as Lugo grounded into a 6-4-3 double play. Pedroia ended the inning with a line drive out to his counterpart at second Cabrera, who made a great leaping catch.
Rafael Betancourt worked the 8th for the Indians and set the Sox down in the order. Lester was back on the bump for the Sox in the bottom of the 8th. He allowed a 1-out infield single to Shoppach. He then got Sizemore to fly out and Cabrera to ground into a fielder’s choice to end the inning.
Instead of using his closer, Eric Wedge decided to run Betancourt back out to the mound for the 9th inning. He got Lowell to pop out to Shoppach in foul territory for the first out. Drew then fouled a few balls off before he ended up flying out to Lofton in left. On the first pitch, Coco scorched a shot down the line that was caught by Martinez for the final out of the game sending the Jacobs Field crowd into another frenzy and allowing them to go home happy again.
The hopes and dreams of the Red Sox and Red Sox Nation now rest on the right arm of one Joshua Patrick Beckett. Can he get it done for the Sox. Well we will have to wait until Thursday night to find out but I have the utmost confidence that he will send this series back to Boston for a Game 6 on Saturday night.
Notes and musings:
Jason Varitek’s home run last night was the 10th postseason homer of his career. That ties him with Johnny Bench and Javy Lopez for most homers by a catcher in the postseason. The 10 homers also ties him with Manny and Big Papi for the most in Red Sox postseason history. With their home runs tonight, Big Papi and Manny now stand at the top of that list with 11.
The Captain is also Boston’s all-time playoff leader in games (45), at bats (167), and runs (29).
Tim Wakefield is 5-1 in LCS play in his career. 2 of those wins came with Pittsburgh.
The Red Sox have won of 4 of the 8 postseason series in which they trailed 2-1.
Manny’s 13 game hitting streak in the LCS ties him for 2nd over all-time in LCS play. It is the best in ALCS history. He extended it to 14 games with a single in the 2nd inning. Next up is Pete Rose at 15.
Before tonight’s game, Tim Wakefield and Doug Mirabelli were the only two players on the Sox ALCS roster not to have seen action in the postseason.
Four years ago on this day, Aaron “Bleeping” Boone hit the game-winning home run against Wakefield in the 2003 ALCS.
Tonight’s Indians catcher Kelly Shoppach was originally drafted by the Red Sox in the 2nd round of the 2001 draft. He went to the Indians in the Coco Crisp deal.
Kenny Lofton is the 7th oldest person to hit a home run in the postseason. Julio Franco is the oldest at 43 years old.
Pretty funny video about Eric Gagné over on BostonSportz.com.
The fans in Cleveland are not very nice according to Texy from Center Field. She was at Game 3 last night and Game 4 tonight.
Bobby Kielty is 10 for 30 in his career against Paul Byrd but did not start tonight for the Sox.
Youngstown, OH native and boxing middleweight champion, Kelly “The Ghost” Pavlik threw out tonight’s ceremonial first pitch.
Country music artist Rissi Palmer had the honors of singing tonight’s National Anthem.
Today is FOX broadcaster Tim McCarver’s 66th birthday.
Dustin Pedroia was named Sporting News Rookie of the Year in the American League while Big Papi won the named the top DH in the American League.
Daisuke Matsuzaka stayed in his uniform for an hour after the game last night and never met with the media. Instead, he gave a statement to be read. He was visibly upset with his performance last night.
Kenny Lofton’s stolen base in the 5th inning gave him 34 in career in the postseason. That is the most all-time as he was tied with Rickey Henderson at 33. Granted Rickey didn’t have that extra round, still pretty impressive.
65 teams have trailed 3-1 in the postseason. Of those 65, 10 of them have come back to win the series, the last being the 2004 Boston Red Sox. I think we all remember their comeback against the Yanks.
