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I Am Speechless. I Am Without Speech.by Andy on October 17 at 1:44PM | comments (0)
[ comments (0) ] [ BallHype ] Raise your hand if you predicted that last night. If there's one thing we've learned, it's to never, EVER again count out the Sox (AP) If the Red Sox do end up winning this series, in my opinion, that could surpass the 2004 ALCS comeback. Not in terms of historical significance, but in the difficulty of the task. Let’s face it, this Sox team was D-E-A-D until the bottom of the seventh. They couldn’t hit. They couldn’t pitch. I guess you could say they could field – they haven’t made an error yet in the series – but that doesn’t do you a whole lot of good without the first two. And then, as Terry Francona said, the place became unglued. Quite possibly the most unforgettable from this team in a while. And there are plenty who deserve credit. Start with the seventh, with Crisp and Pedroia providing key, two-out hits to keep the inning alive for David Ortiz. Then you have Jonathan Papelbon – yeah, he allowed his inherited runners to score, but a dominant eighth helped temper the Rays’ red-hot lineup. You have J.D. Drew’s bomb in the eighth, and then Coco Crisp’s unbelievable at-bat to bring home Mark Kotsay. Although WMYM was screaming at the TV for Crisp to stop swinging at ball 4, the guy came through. Follow that with Masterson’s shaky ninth that was absolved with the double play, and then you come to Drew again, who shall never be referred to as Nancy again. That wasn’t all. You have Joe Maddon, who made somewhat of a head-scratching decision to allow Grant Balfour to pitch to Ortiz in the seventh when Trever Miller probably would have been the better option, given that Balfour was getting hammered and Miller would give you the lefty-lefty matchup. And then there was Evan Longoria making an awful throw, coupled with Carlos Pena’s attempt at a hero’s scoop, to keep the inning alive. So Maddon’s decision to pitch Kazmir proved to be brilliant and yet it doesn’t even matter now. Still, the momentum the Sox have now is only as good as the next day’s starter. So memo to Josh Beckett: Don’t suck. And if the Sox do still lose this series? Somehow I think that last night’s miracle will do a lot to dull the pain.
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