As I sit here and try to figure out what to say, only one thing comes to mind. Friday night can’t come quick enough. Then at least we will be able to watch our Boston Red Sox take on the Tampa Bay Rays for the right to go to the World Series and for the Red Sox that means a chance to defend their title they won back in 2007.
But hey at least we’ll get some form of baseball tonight as the NLCS between the Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Philadelphia Phillies gets underway at 8 PM on FOX.
Yesterday brought us our first look at the Red Sox rotation for the 2008 ALCS. And I’m pretty sure you said the same thing as I did, “Huh? Dice-K? in the first game.” At first I didn’t understand it too much because my thinking was that you throw out Josh Beckett in Game 1 and Jon Lester in Game 2. But after some thinking and looking at some numbers, I’ve come to terms with what the Red Sox are doing. It’s not like the opinion of a blogger would matter anyways.
Daisuke Matsuzaka has made 8 starts on 6+ days of rest this season and is 4-2 with a 3.05 ERA. Even with those numbers, he hasn’t exactly been stellar as he has thrown 44.1 innings in those 8 starts. The one number that stands out is Dice-K’s 9-0 record on the road this season, including 1-0 with a 1.80 ERA in 2 starts at Tropicana Field this season.
Then you look at Lester’s numbers at Fenway Park this season. He was 11-1 with a 2.49 ERA in 17 starts. He was also 3-0 against the Rays with 0.90 ERA at the Fens. Like I said, I don’t know if these numbers factor into the decision but they could have. No matter what though, it’s obvious that we have our 3 best pitchers going in the first 3 games and I’ll take that any day of the week. Plus when you look at it, Dice-K would pitch if there was a Game 5, Beckett in Game 6 and Lester if needed in Game 7. You really couldn’t ask for anything better than the Red Sox winning it in 4 games.
And that’s when I felt comfortable with how the Red Sox rotation looked. After all, Lester’s thrown 14 innings allowing just an unearned run in the postseason so far.
Little Dustin Pedroia has come up big for the Red Sox this season.
Grant Balfour is the Rays version of Jonathan Papelbon.
Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe previews the ALCS.
Troy Percival was left off the Rays ALDS roster but hopes to be a part of their ALCS roster.
Be prepared, the national media will probably not be kind to the Red Sox during the ALCS.
Interested in attending the ALCS in Tampa, be prepared to pay for it.
The Red Sox are no longer the lovable underdogs. That role goes to the Rays.
Paul Byrd doesn’t mind hanging out in the Red Sox bullpen since Tim Wakefield is getting the Game 4 start.
Curt Schilling checks in at 38 Pitches about the comments Dr. Craig Morgan made yesterday.
Gary Marbry of WEEI.com has his first ALCS Nuggetapoolza.
Have you met Pedroippet? The full-size Dustin Pedroia puppet.
The scribes at the Boston Globe will be holding chats during the ALCS over at Boston.com starting Friday at noon with Nick Cafardo.
Please let us know who you want to win in the ALCS by voting in the poll on the left sidebar. Voting closes at midnight tonight.
For more playoff slices of Boston Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Hartford Courant and Providence Journal websites.
And if you must see what the enemy papers are saying you can check out the Tampa Tribune and St. Petersburg Times websites.
