Jon Lester continues to prove
what everyone said he wasn’t during his rough patch during the middle of this
year. Lester is the ACE of the Red Sox
pitching staff and last night he dominated the St. Louis Cardinals and gave the
Sox a 3-1 victory and only one more win to go to a World Series title.
Adam Wainwright was all the talk
because of his poor outing in Game 1.
All I heard the last couple of days was that Wainwright would be
brilliant, Game 1 was an anomaly, and he’ll be lights out in Game 5. Don’t get me wrong, Wainwright was excellent
too but Jon Lester matched him pitch for pitch and again made the Cardinals
look lost in route to a victory.
Lester went 7 and 2/3 innings,
giving up just 4 hits and 1 run (a solo homer by Matt Holliday in the 4th),
while walking none and striking out 7.
Not only was Lester dominant but he was also economical as he needed
just 91 pitches to get through the outing.
This bodes well for the Sox and John Farrell. By not throwing a ton of pitches, it leaves
the possibility of seeing him in a relief role in a Game 7 should it get that
far.
It seemed that Lester had great
command of the strike zone last night.
His cutter was downright filthy and when he needed the heat, he was able
to bring it and put it where he wanted.
What makes it even more impressive is that he was dealing with back
tightness for most of the game. After
the game, he down played the injury saying that it’s the time of year and that
he’s fine. He has 3 months to recover so
I’m sure if he’s needed for Game 7 (if need be), he’ll be ready.
This postseason has been simply
outstanding for Jon Lester. In 5 starts,
he’s 4-1 with a 1.56 ERA giving up 2 earned runs or fewer in each of his
starts. His only loss was in Game 1 of
the ALCS when he lost 1-0 against the Tigers. He’s the first lefty Red Sox
pitcher to win his first 3 World Series starts since the great Babe Ruth.
With 2 outs in the bottom of the
8th, John Farrell went to Mr. Automatic, Koji Uehara, who struck out
pinch hitter Matt Adams on 3 pitches.
Adams was the tying run as there was a runner on 2nd.
In the bottom of the ninth it was
more of the same. Uehara struck out
Carpenter, then got Jay on a groundout and Holliday on a fly out to end the
game. It was Uehara’s 7th save
this postseason, tying the record shared by John Wetteland, Troy Percival, Robb
Nen and Brad Lidge.
With the pitching being so
dominant, the Sox would need only a few runs and although more would have been
better, they scrapped together some key hits in the top of the 7th
and held on for the rest of the game.
The game was tied 1-1 in the top
of the 7th as Wainwright struck out Daniel Nava to start the
inning. Nava looked absolutely horrible
all night long but on this at bat he looked so lost that I’d be surprised to
see him start in Game 6. Xander Bogaerts
singled to start the rally and Stephen Drew had a big walk. Drew’s walk came after he was down in the
count 1-2 and was something that he really needed. David Ross, starting in place of Salty, then
ripped a 1-2 pitch down the line in left that barely stayed fair. It would bounce over the wall for a
ground-rule double to plate Bogaerts and keep Drew at 3rd. The bounce into the stands benefited the
Cards as Drew would have easily scored on the play.
After Lester grounded out to the
pitcher, Jacoby Ellsbury came up with 2 outs.
Ellsbury hasn’t hit well this World Series and had looked lost against
Wainwright all night long. He muscled a
ball off his hands into center-field for a single. Drew scored easily but Ross was thrown out at
the plate for the final out. The damage
had been done however as they were up 3-1.
The Red Sox came out with a quick
burst of offense in the 1st inning as Pedroia rifled a 1-out double
into the corner in left and David Ortiz brought him home with a double of his
own down the right field line. Why the
Cardinals haven’t started pitching around David Ortiz is beyond me. He’s just insane right now. Even his outs are loud outs and he’s not
swinging and missing at pitches. Look
for them to make sure Ortiz doesn’t beat them in Game 6.
Offensively, the Sox had 3 runs
on 9 hits and were 3 for 8 with runners in scoring position. They left 5 men on base but struck out 14
times on the night. Gomes was 0 for 4
with 3 strikeouts, Daniel Nava was 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts and Stephen Drew
was 0 for 3 with 2 strikeouts,. Every
Red Sox starter except for Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz struck out at least
once (most were 2 or more).
David Ortiz had 3 more hits in
game 5 (3-4) and is now batting .733 with 2 homers and 6 RBI. Xander Bogaerts went 2 for 4 with a run and
David Ross was 2 for 4 with an RBI.
Ellsbury and Pedroia had the other 2 hits for the Sox.
The Sox will now head back to
Fenway Park with a 3-2 advantage. There
will be an off day and then on Wednesday night, Fenway Park will host a
clinching game of the World Series for the first time since 1975. If they can win one of the next two games, it’ll
be the first time since 1919 that the Red Sox have won a World Series title
game in Boston. In 2004 and 2007 both
clinching games happened on the road.
Taking the ball in Game 6 will be
John Lackey who has been brilliant this postseason and had a really good Game
2. He took the loss but went 7 and 1/3
innings giving up just 3 runs on 5 hits while striking out 6 and walking
2. He was even better in the ALCS and
there is no one else I’d rather see on the mound in this clinching game.
He’ll be opposed by rookie
sensation Michael Wacha. Wacha has been
outstanding this postseason going 4-0 with a 1.00 ERA in 4 starts. In Game 2, he went 6 innings giving up 2 runs
on 3 hits while striking out 6 and walking 4.
The Red Sox need to be patient
again against him as they made Wacha work last time out and ballooned his pitch
count and got him out of the game early.
I expect them to come out prepared their 2nd time facing the
youngster.
SHAVING CREAM PIE TO THE FACE –
GAME MVP
Jon Lester. Lester was amazing again as he simply
dominated the Cards. One bad pitch (the
homer to Holliday) but other than that he was lights out.
ELBOW TO THE FACE – GAME LVP
Jonny Gomes and Daniel Nava. Both looked lost last night against
Wainwright. They combined to go 0 for 8
with 5 strikeouts. Nava looked
especially lost in his 2 strikeouts.
PLAY OF THE GAME
David Ross’ RBI ground-rule double
in the top of the 7th to give the Sox a 2-1 lead.
NEXT
Wednesday, October 30th, at
Fenway Park vs. the St. Louis Cardinals.
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