Who was that guy who started game 2 for the Red Sox and what has he done with Josh Beckett? One problem with the recent success of Boston sports is that we as sports fans have become spoiled and expect certain things, Josh Beckett included.
Saturday Josh Beckett went 4.1 innings giving up 8 earned runs on 9 hits. This is the second straight playoff start Beckett has been roughed up and there is certainly cause for concern in Red Sox Nation. Perhaps more concerning then the 8 earned runs is Beckett's velocity and control issues. Usually Beckett touches 96 on the gun and can put his fastball where he wants it. In game 2 Beckett topped on at 92mph and struggled with his location.
The Sox maintain that Beckett is not hurt however he did receive a shot of painkiller and anti-inflammatory on the last weekend of the season when he injured his oblique. I don't know if Beckett is still hurt, or maybe he just doesn't feel comfortable pushing himself for fear he will re-injure himself. If the Sox are lucky, Beckett is still fighting rust issues as his throwing schedule has been dramatically altered over the last 3 weeks.
With the series tied up at 1 the Sox send Jon Lester to the mound against Matt Garza in game 3 Monday at Fenway, 430pm start time (I myself will have to get creative and find a way to watch it at work). Lester has yet to give up an earned run this postseason and is filling the role of ace vacated by the troubled Josh Beckett.
ITM notes from game 2:
-Despite losing the Sox bats did heat up, unfortunately so did the Rays. Pedroia homered twice and Bay and Youk also had good games at the plate. Ortiz still remains in a slump, perhaps I was quick to jump on an earlier comment about his ability to come up with a big hit this series.
-The Sox bullpen performed great in game 2, again the Rays were just a little better. When Timlin came in I think a lot of fans thought that would be it, sure enough it was. Perhaps bringing in Paul Byrd might have been the better option.
-One question I would like Francona to answer is why he let Beckett pitch to Longoria in the 4th inning? Longoria already had two hard hits off Beckett and it was evident he didn't have his ace stuff.
Sunday, October 12
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7 comments:
I think the real question is what was the rationale behind putting in Mike Timlin instead of Paul Byrd?
I see their thinking in reliever v. starter in terms of getting stretched out, but really, they need to avoid Timlin at almost all costs. It was a shame that it came to that.
Yeah the game was over when Timlin came in. Idealy they shouldn't ever have to use him and should have scored well before then. Tito did manage the bullpen well to that point, I would have liked to see Byrd come in as well.
I'm trying not to overreact to the game three loss, but i'm troubled by our lack of hitting....I told myself I would not post tonight because of an emotional desire to throw everyone outside of Dusty under the bus....and I won't do that...but I will say Tampa deserved to win and we certainly deserved to lose....came out lifeless and flat, failed to capitalize on early scoring opportunities and allowed Garza to get in a groove.
I'm just happy there isn't an off day tomorrow.....an ITM game wrap is forthcoming.
Sox win this series, I buy drinks if you guys ever come down to the Tampa area (yes, for all three of you). Rays win, you guys owe me if I'm ever up in Boston or if you come down here.
Deal?
Deal.
I'm pretty pissed about tonight's game but this series is far from over. The Rays are certainly showing they're for real, Sox can knot things up at 2-2 tomorrow.
sit jacoby start Crisp and let him bat lead off
Agreed. Crisp has got to get his shot.
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