They are going to the ship!! It was a gritty all around performance for
the Red Sox as they finally knock off those pesky Rays, 3-1, in a very tense
Game 4 of the American League Division Series at Tropicana Field.
There were nine outs to go and
Boston was down 1-0 and they faced a possibility of having to go back to Fenway
Park on Thursday. A scenario that never
bodes well. They needed to finish off
these Rays yesterday or I was sure certain doom would fall upon this team.
But as they’ve done all year, the
team rallied and can now rest up for Game 1 of the American League Championship
Series on Saturday at Fenway Park. Their
opponent is unknown at this time as the Tigers and Athletics have to play a
deciding Game 5 on Thursday in Oakland.
This will be the first trip to
the ALCS for Boston since 2008. For a
team that won only 69 games a year ago, this has been one surreal ride.
The game turned in the top of the
7th, as the Red Sox put together a rally in a very National League
type of way.
It all started with one out and
pinch hitter Xander Bogaerts up at the plate.
Bogaerts put together a very impressive at bat for a rookie as he was
down in the count 1-2 but somehow worked a walk out of Ray’s reliever Jake
McGee. Xander continually fouled off
tough pitches and was very patient at balls outside the strike zone. It was the best at bat of his young career in
my eyes.
After the walk, Will Middlebrooks
struck out and with 2 outs the rally seemed doomed. But then, up stepped the ridiculously hot
Jacoby Ellsbury who singled to right field and moved Bogaerts to 3rd
base. Joel Peralta replaced Jake McGee
and that is when the magic started.
Peralta’s first pitch was in the
dirt and squirted away from catcher Lobaton for a wild pitch. Bogaerts raced home to score the tying run
and Ellsbury who was off on the pitch, stole second, and then advanced to 3rd
to put the go ahead run only 90 feet away.
Up stepped the also ridiculously
hot Shane Victorino who hit a broken bat dribbler to shortstop that beat Yunel
Escobar’s throw to first, scoring Ellsbury, and putting the Sox up 2-1.
Dustin Pedroia would single to
left to put runners on 1st and 2nd with 2 outs but Big
Papi couldn’t do anything and struck out on 3 pitches to end the inning.
The Sox would add an insurance
run in the top of the 9th on a Dustin Pedroia sacrifice fly that
they ultimately wouldn’t need as the bullpen last night, mostly Craig Breslow,
was simply fantastic.
After a solid outing from Jake
Peavy, the bullpen showed why this team is where it is right now. With 2 outs in the 6th, Peavy was
pulled in favor of Craig Breslow and he pitched his best game of the season.
Breslow struck out Loney to get
out of the 6th, then came back in the 7th and struck out
the side. The 7th inning was
deflating for the Rays because the Sox just took a 2-1 lead and to have Breslow
go out and strikeout arguably their best hitters (Longoria, Zobrist and
Jennings) was a huge turning point in the game.
Craig would then come on in the 8th
for 2 batters, getting the first to groundout but then let up a single to
Escobar. He would be pulled in favor of
Junichi Tazawa who struck out the only batter he faced.
John Farrell then called on Koji
Uehara, who took the walk-off loss in Game 3, for a 4-out save. He promptly struck out David DeJesus to end
the 8th and set up a tense 9th inning.
After the Sox got him an
insurance run, Uehara induced a flyball out of young phenom Wil Myers and a
groundout from James Loney. Then stepped
up Evan Longoria, Red Sox killer. Koji
struck him out to end the game and send the Sox to the ALCS. It was thrilling and you could tell Uehara
was pumped after blowing the game the night before.
Jake Peavy turned in a very
strong performance in his first postseason start for the Red Sox. He did exactly what the Red Sox wanted him to
do when they traded for him back in August.
He went 5 and 2/3 innings, giving up only 1 run on 5 hits while walking
none and striking out 3. He threw only
74 pitches but Farrell wisely pulled him when he did as most of his pitches
were high stress and the bullpen has been lights out this year.
Offensively, it looked like it
was going to be one of those games that missed opportunities would come back to
haunt them. They were 2 for 8 with
runners in scoring position and left a staggering 10 men on base. None more crucial than in the top of the 2nd
when after 2 walks and a single the Sox had the bases loaded with no outs. Joe Madden lifted starter Jeremy Hellickson
quickly for Jamey Wright who struck out Salty, then got very lucky as Drew
lined out sharply to 1st base and caught Napoli off of 2nd
for a double play. I couldn’t believe
it. No outs with bases loaded and no
runs. That usually spells disaster.
Luckily this team does not fold
easily. They showed incredible plate
discipline and worked 8 walks out of an array of Ray’s pitchers. Joe Madden used an amazing 9 pitchers on the
evening, including starters Matt Moore and Chris Archer. They were out of pitchers and had they tied
up the game in the 9th would have had to turn to David Price who was
warming in the bullpen.
Ellsbury went 1 for 4 with a run
scored and a walk and Victorino went 1 for 3 with an RBI and hit by pitch. His big 2-out RBI was as clutch as they
come. David Ortiz went 1 for 4 with a
walk and Daniel Nava went 1 for 2 with 2 walks.
Will Middlebrooks went 1 for 3 with a walk and Xander Bogaerts who came
in late in the game walked in his only 2 plate appearances scoring both times.
Mike Napoli walked and Dustin
Pedroia went 1 for 4 with an RBI on the night.
The bats seemed to cool off in
Tampa Bay but the pitching stepped up in a big way and the Red Sox are off to
the ALCS!
Tampa’s bats were even cooler,
scoring only 12 runs in the series and going 5 for 28 with runners in scoring position,
geez, and I thought the Sox were bad.
The only 2 bats that seemed like they could do anything against the Sox
were Yunel Escobar and James Loney.
Escobar hit .467 with 2 doubles, 3 runs scored and an RBI. Loney was 5 for 12 with 2 doubles and 2 RBI.
If you had to give an MVP award
in the ALDS, it had to be Jacoby Ellsbury who went 9 for 18 (.500) with 7 runs
scored, 2 RBI and 4 stolen bases. It’d
also be tough to overlook Shane Victorino who went 6 for 14 (.429) but was on
base 4 more times by hit by pitches which made his on base percentage a
ridiculous .556. He also scored 2 runs,
drove in 3 and stole a base.
Let’s hope these 2 guys can keep
it going for the ALCS because when they are getting on at the top of the order,
this team will score a ton of runs.
SHAVING CREAM PIE TO THE FACE –
GAME MVP
Craig Breslow. Breslow was simply fantastic last night. He went 1 and 2/3 innings giving up only 1
hit and striking out 4 of the 6 batters he faced. Simply amazing what he did in the bottom of
the 6th and 7th, striking out the Rays 4 best hitters in
a row.
ELBOW TO THE FACE – GAME LVP
Jarrod Saltalamacchia. Salty went 0 for 2 with 2 strikeouts before
being pulled for pinch hitter Jonny Gomes then ultimately David Ross. He looked lost up there at the plate but did
bat .300 in the series. Let’s just hope
it was a bad game.
PLAY OF THE GAME
Shane Victorino’s infield RBI hit
in the top of the 7th to put the Sox up 2-1.
NEXT
Saturday, October 12th. It has not been decided who they will face
but it will be at Fenway Park and against either the Oakland Athletics or
Detroit Tigers. They play an important
Game 5 Thursday night in Oakland.
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