| | |
|
Caught Nap-pingby Andy on October 6 at 4:17PM | comments (0)
[ comments (0) ] [ BallHype ]  What's this? The Angels are celebrating a playoff victory over Boston? (AP)If Sox fans were told their team would be up 2-1 entering Game 4 tonight, most of them would have taken that in a heartbeat. Hell, just taking a look at the series prediction below will echo that sentiment. So despite last night’s somewhat discouraging loss, the Boston faithful should still feel confident entering tonight’s Game 4. WMYM’s fears of Beckett’s ineffectiveness were confirmed, but now he has plenty of time to rest that oblique, assuming the Sox end up closing this out. But what’s been most promising over the past two games has been the effectiveness of the Boston bullpen. True, Justin Masterson’s line in Game 2 (1.0 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 BB) isn’t especially impressive. But he was squeezed on a 3-2 pitch to Juan Rivera in the seventh, loading the bases with one out instead of making it two outs, eventually leading to Mike Napoli’s bases-loaded walk. Had the Sox gotten out of that inning unscathed, perhaps fans wouldn’t have had to sweat out the game until J.D. Drew delivered his mammoth blast. Anyways, Masterson was back to his old self in Game 3, as were most of the relievers. Delcarmen and Okajima were as good as you could hope for, and Papelbon gave his third straight terrific outing. As for Lopez? Well, WMYM had that sinking feeling that he wasn’t going to escape unscathed. But Kerwin Danley didn’t do any favors by calling a pair of balls that led to Napoli (who else)’s lead off single, and a sacrifice and looping single later, Boston’s playoff hex over the Angels was over. Still, you can’t hang this one on Lopez (although you COULD argue that he Byrd was the better choice, given the Angels started the inning with Napoli and Kendrick, both righties). The Sox simply couldn’t get the key hit they needed last night. Boston had two hits after the fifth inning. We’re not in any position to tell them to change their approach, but it seemed last night (purely anecdotal evidence), that they were too intent on working the count instead of going up there looking to knock around the Angels. Which meant too many first-pitch fastballs were going into the catcher’s mitt rather into the outfield. So we have Lester tonight. Here’s hoping the Sox ace will avoid another trip back to the land of Thunderstix. And that Pedroia cuts the crap and plays like regular-season Dustin. And that Francona has the sense to sit a clearly ineffective Lowell. WMYM will be in attendance down in the field box. End. This. Tonight.
Filed under: |
|
|
| ||