With the Boston Red Sox beating the Tampa Bay Rays last night in Game 1 of the ALCS, the pressure now shifts to the Rays to take Game 2. The Rays had taken 8-of-9 at the Trop during the regular season but this is the playoffs and you wipe out whatever happened in the regular season.
With Daisuke Matsuzaka giving them 7+ innings last night, the Red Sox bullpen appears to be in good shape tonight. Everyone should be available and yes that includes Jonathan Papelbon.
Terry Francona turns to his October ace Josh Beckett to try and send the Red Sox back to Beantown with a 2-0 lead. Yes Beckett wasn’t his normal October self in his last start but I expect that to change this time around. Despite the rough outing against the Halos in the ALDS, Beckett carries a 6-2 mark in the postseason with a 2.09 ERA. During 2008, Beckett made 5 of his 27 starts against the Rays and was 2-1 with a 2.06 ERA. Two of those starts came at the Trop where he was 0-1 with a 1.20 ERA. In his career at the Trop, he is 1-2 with a 1.93 ERA in 4 starts.
In his last start against the Red Sox which took place on September 15th, Scott Kazmir got lit up like the Rockefeller Christmas Tree for 9 runs in just 3 innings of work. He made 4 starts total against the Red Sox in 2008 and was 0-2 with a 9.00 ERA. In 21 starts lifetime against the Sox, he is 6-7 with a 3.62 ERA.
Here are the transcripts and video of the press conferences of Terry Francona and Joe Maddon from this afternoon.
Tony Massarotti of the Boston Globe has a preview of Game 2 as well as information about the injection that Josh Beckett took before his start in the ALDS.
Rays manager Joe Maddon agreed with Big Papi’s thoughts about the Rays after Game 1.
Someone sent Terry Francona a pretty funny picture with Dustin Pedroia’s face transposed on it.
Gary Marbry of WEEI.com has his nuggets from Game 1 of the ALCS.
Adam Kilgore of the Boston Globe has a nice little piece on Red Sox rookie Jed Lowrie.
Lineups and batter/pitcher matchups after the jump.
Terry Francona explained the Red Sox lineup (below) and why he has Coco Crisp in there instead of J.D. Drew.
1-0
1. Jacoby Ellsbury, RF
2. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
3. David Ortiz, DH
4. Kevin Youkilis, 3B
5. Jason Bay, LF
6. Jed Lowrie, SS
7. Mark Kotsay, 1B
8. Jason Varitek, C
9. Coco Crisp, CF
– Josh Beckett, SP
0-1
1. Akinori Iwamura, 2B
2. B.J. Upton, CF
3. Carlos Pena, 1B
4. Evan Longoria, 3B
5. Carl Crawford, LF
6. Cliff Floyd, DH
7. Dioner Navarro, C
8. Gabe Gross, RF
9. Jason Bartlett, SS
– Scott Kazmir, SP
And here is how the hitters have fared against tonight’s starters during the regular season in their careers.
