Falling Apart
The Red Sox lost 7-3 to the Indians last night falling behind 3 games to 1 in the best of 7 series. Now one game away from elimination Boston has to win game 5 in at Jacob’s Field to bring the series back to Fenway. Thoughts:
- Once again the Boston offense, with the exception of a 3 home run barrage in the 6th, took the night off. As frustratingly inconsistent as they were during the regular season, any thought that they could turn it on in the post season has been thoroughly dashed. Pedroia, Drew, Crisp, Varitek, and Lugo have simply been awful. Forget the pitching, when over half of your lineup consists of automatic outs, you’re going to have trouble winning games.
- As much as I like him, and as much as I enjoy watching him chase down fly balls in center field, the Coco Crisp era in Boston should come to an end after this season. Varitek is going nowhere, Lugo and Drew are in the first year of their contracts with no replacements in sight. But with Elsbury waiting in the wings Boston should trade Crisp and hope they can get something useful in return. After being given 2 years to straighten himself out in Boston, it’s clear he’s simply a mediocre hitter who goes through periods where he’s much worse. Maybe he’ll thrive with another team, but it’s quite apparent that’s never going to happen in Boston.
- I have no problem with Francona not using Beckett in game 4. The hype about pitchers having problems with only 3 days rest is misleading, but you have to trust that Francona knows his players well enough to make the decision. Besides, with the offense only scoring 3 runs Beckett might not have been enough even if he pitched well.
- Not only has Boston been outplayed in the series, but luck has not been on their side. From Wakefield stopping an inning ending double play himself to the two screaming line drives hit directly at Indian infielders to a bloop and a dribbler down the third base line that both went for Cleveland hits, you start to feel that this simply isn’t Boston’s year, or more precisely, that this is Cleveland’s.
It doesn’t look good, but it’s not over. First, Beckett has to get the Red Sox back to Fenway. Schilling would be on tap for game 6 and he lives for those kind of games. Dice-K in game 7? Well, you happily take your chances because at this point you’ll be lucky if you ever reach it.
