Poor Justin Verlander. In four of
his last six starts, his team has provided no runs for him. We saw it happen in
Game 2 of the ALDS, where he had a great pitching duel with A’s pitcher Sonnie
Gray. That resulted in a walk-off in the bottom of the ninth. Verlander didn’t
even give up the run that time.
This time, however, he did. But it
was the only mistake of his night and the Tigers. He finished going eight
innings, giving up four hits and walk while striking out ten, giving up one
homer.
That homer came in the 7th
inning, where Mike Napoli barely gets one out of there.
And that’s all the Red Sox needed: John Lackey would have one of the best games of his career, going 6-and-two-thirds, striking out 8 in 97 pitches. Craig Breslow and Junichi Tazawa would run into some trouble in the 8th inning, but Koji Uehara, once again, finishes the game strong.
Napoli has been a surprise
throughout this season. He was added to the Red Sox this season from free
agency, and, while playing 21 more games this season, goes from 56 to 92 RBI’s
had moved his batting average up from .227 to .259. Not bad at all. His WAR
moved from 1.6 in 2012 to 4.1 in 2013.
Fun fact: Napoli's first at-bat of hist career was a home run. Guess who it came on? Justin Verlander.
He’s had a weak postseason thus
far, as his home run was the first of the postseason, and his first hit of the
series. But he came in where it matters most, and that’s what sums up the Red
Sox series. They now have a 2-1 advantage, and look to be one win away from the
world series tonight.
Besides the home run, the most
important part of the game might have come in the 8th inning. Miguel
Cabrera steps up to the plate with men on first and third and one out. In any
other day, you would say “oh crap.”
But the Red Sox didn’t. Junichi
Tazawa didn’t. And on a 2-2 pitch, he struck out Cabrera. It might have been
the most important pitching success for the Red Sox thus far. Prince fielder
steps up to the plate, and this time, it’s Uehara that’s pitching. What
happens? What do you think. He strikes out, and they get out of the jam.
The Tigers had all these chances,
yet failed to connect on each and every one. They lost that game by themselves.
Now they have to bring it back to an even series. If it was the Tigers that
played in Game 1, this should be a 3-0 series in favor of Detroit.
Game 4 will be at 7 PM CT, so I
hope that you don’t miss it. It’ll be Jake Peavy (12-5, 4.17 ERA on both the
White Sox and Red Sox in 2013) against Doug Fister (14-9, 3.67 ERA). Fister had
a no decision in the ALDS, going six innings and gave up three runs. Peavy went
5 2/3 against the Rays, giving up only one run.
I believe that it will be a 3-1
series by the end of the night.
Mike Matheny might deserve Coach of
the Year. It’s between him and Pirates coach Clint Hurdle (NOT Don Mattingly),
and while Hurdle is such a great coach and a great pick for the award, last
night’s game might just show that he deserves it.
In the 5th inning,
starter Lance Lynn, who put nine men on base in the game, had two outs and a
man on, and Adrian Gonzalez steps up. Gonzalez has the advantage, being a lefty
and Lynn being a righty, and he doubled earlier in the game and ended up
scoring.
The Cardinals had a lefty in the
bullpen in Kevin Siegrist, who has been outstanding this season. But Matheny decides
to put him in. And what happens? He’s able to get Gonzalez to ground out, in a
battle that was completely dominated by Lynn.
That might just be luck. Let’s move
into the 8th inning, where he puts in Pete Kozma to play shortstop.
With a man on, the Dodgers ground into a double play, with a great play by
Kozma, to get out of the inning.
A third example was keeping
reliever Chris Martinez in the game. Martinez
would not only finish one inning, but TWO, and had a HUGE hold to help set up
Trevor Rosenthal. The biggest part was getting out of a jam himself. After giving up a double to Nick Punto, he is able to pick Punto off at second base. It was such a great game changer.
And my favorite move which should
have been the Cardinal’s favorite move, was pinch hitting Shane Robinson for
reliever Seth Maness. I have never heard of the guy before, and he was 0-for-10
in his postseason career.
That didn’t matter to him. On a
fastball down the middle, Robinson hits on deep to left field that bounces off
the top of the wall and out for a home run. It was off J.P. Howell, who is a
very respectable setup man.
Mike Matheny’s work helped them so
much in that game, and now they’re up three games to one.
They can end this series today, as
it’ll be a rematch of Game 1 with Joe Kelly and Zack Greinke. If this series is
forced to a Game 6, the Cardinals will have to deal with Clayton Kershaw, but
if it’s to Game 7, they are back home, with Adam Wainwright starting.
It looks real good for the
Cardinals right now. They can win it today. The World Series is closer than I
thought.
Email me at statsbuddy42@gmail.com for any
questions/comments/concerns.
-Evan Boyd
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