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What Now? Are the Sox Done?by Cameron on October 14 at 12:34PM | comments (0)
[ comments (0) ] [ BallHype ] As The Washington Post's Dave Sheining -- among others -- pointed out this morning, losing to the Rays in dramatic fashion Monday afternoon put the Red Sox in a bit of a pickle. To put it mildly. Lester's loss not only sends shockwaves through the plans Boston may have had for the rest of the series, it also completely undermined the team's bullpen, with Paul Byrd forced into 3+ innings of relief, making him unavailable for the game Boston really needed him in, backing up the ever inconsistent Tim Wakefield. Sure, Wakefield could throw a vintage game where his knuckleball really moves, keeping the Tampa Bay hitters off track and saving the Red Sox. Or he could get battered in the third inning, forcing an early change and the complete exhaustion of the rest of the bullpen. That scenario is clearly the scariest of all the ones postulated by Sheinin: If Wakefield gets knocked out in the third inning -- always a possibility given the ephemeral nature of the knuckleball -- who can the Red Sox turn to, since their long guy (Byrd) can't pitch? You're probably looking at three innings of Mike Timlin and/or Javier Lopez.That's right Boston fans: Three innings of Mike Timlin and/or Javier Lopez. If that sounds terrifying to you, that's because it is. Look, the series isn't over yet, but a loss tonight would just about do it. The Sox can't expect three straight wins from Daisuke Matsuzaka (sometimes incredible, always unsettling to both teams), Josh Beckett (don't even try to tell us the oblique isn't a factor) and Jon Lester, whose aura of invincibility was completely shattered at Fenway yesterday. It's just not going to happen. That means the absolute "must win" game has shifted from Game 3 yesterday to Game 4, tonight. You'd have to think the Rays know that, and will be looking to step on Boston throats tonight. If they don't, some are already thinking about both teams' dilemmas down the runout of the series. And that could be interesting.
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