The Dodgers are the first to clinch
into the Championship series, but the Red Sox have just followed. In a great
game by both teams, the Red Sox pulled it out towards the end.
You might be wondering, how can it
be a good game from the Rays if they lost and are now out of the playoffs? You’re
right, it doesn’t look good in that view. But to be honest, they could have
lost 7-1 if they didn’t play like last night. The Red Sox left 10 men on base
last night, including stranding the bases loaded with nobody out in the 2nd
inning.
Defense and pitching were fantastic
for the Rays. That is, up to about the sixth inning. Jeremy Hellickson was
scheduled to start, and he did, but after a successful 1-2-3 first inning, he
walked two and gave up a hit to load the bases in the 2nd, and Joe
Maddon pulled him.
It sounds like an absurd thing to do, but it turned out to
be the best move of the night. Jamey Wright would come in, strike out Jarrod
Saltalamacchia, then James Loney had an amazing double play that potentially prevented a 3-run double.
With that, the Rays were pumped. I
thought they would strike immediately and score some runs in the bottom half.
Jake Peavy proved me wrong. He would go five-and-two-thirds, giving up only one
run on five hits. Craig Breslow came in to relief, and man was he a tank. In
relief for Peavy in the 6th, Breslow would get out of it, then would
strike out the side in the 7th, and ended with one out in the 8th.
A HUGE relief appearance that potentially saved the Red Sox, Breslow would end
up getting the win.
After David DeJesus drove in the
game’s first run in the 6th inning, the Red Sox quickly responded.
Xander Bogaerts, the rookie, came in and potentially had the most important
plate appearance in the game. What did he do? He walked. (Billy Beane would
love him!).
Why was that so important? Because he was able to walk against a
tough Jake McGee, who walked only 11 in 69 appearances in 2012, letting his
veteran teammates to drive him in.
That’s exactly what happened, with
a little help from the Rays too. The Red Sox executed a successful hit and run,
having Jacoby Ellsbury bloop a single into centerfield. Then a passed ball
allowed Bogaerts to score from third and Elsbury, who was running on the play,
to move to third. Now all of a sudden, the game is tied with two outs and there’s
a man on third.
So who comes up? Shane Victorino.
What’s he known for? Well, a lot of things, but speed. Victorino hits a soft
grounder to the shortstop that he’s able to beat out for a hit, allowing
Ellsbury to score. The Red Sox take the lead.
Junichi Tazawa and Koji Uehara
would come in after Breslow, and would be excellent. Tazawa would only face one
batter, striking him out. What I found interesting about that at-bat was that
the Red Sox’s catcher, David Ross, who came in after Saltalamacchia, kept
shaking his head to Tazawa to make him shake his head, in order to try to
confuse the batter. Best thing about it: it worked. Expecting a breaking ball,
Matt Joyce was too late on it, and Tazawa struck him out.
In the ninth, Rays closer Fernando
Rodney was all over the place. He walked two batters and hit Shane Victorino,
loading up the bases. Note: Shane Victorino now has the divisional record with
most hit-by-pitches with four. Rodney would get only one out, and the Rays had
to use their final two relievers to get out of the game. The Red Sox would add
an insurance run on a Dustin Pedroia sac-fly, making the game 3-1.
With some extra insurance, Uehara
had no problems in the 9th, and would strike out Evan Longoria to
win the ballgame. The night after Uehara somehow blew a save, he comes back and wins it. The Red Sox move to the ALCS.
They will be playing the winner of
the Tigers-Athletics series, which is heading back to Oakland for Game 5. That
was another great game, this time with lots of hitting. Yoenis Cespedes, Jed
Lowrie, and Coco Crisp provided the offense for the A’s, as they had every RBI,
but that was not enough to the resilient Tigers. After the A’s went up 3-0,
Johnny Peralta (the steroid user, mind you), hits a three-run homer out to tie
the game.
After Doug Fister went two innings
for the Tigers, Max Scherzer would provide the next two. He didn’t look that
good at all, as he would give up a run, but he got out of a HUGE jam, a bases
loaded, no out jam in the 8th. He struck out two batters, then
forced a fly out to get out of what looked like a change in the lead.
A questionable call resulted in the
Tigers scoring a run. Victor Martinez hit a ball into right field that looked
like fan interference, but they ruled it a home run. After looking at the
review monitor, the call remained a home run.
Some key hits in the 7th
and 8th allowed the Tigers to go up 8-4, but the A’s were not done
yet. They struck back and got two runs off of a single by Cespedes, rattling
closer Joaquin Benoit. Benoit, however, was able to get out of it, and would
get the save.
It’s Game 5 for these two teams…
again. And guess who will be starting for the Tigers again? Justin Verlander.
Let’s see if history repeats itself. The A’s can decide either to start Bartolo
Colon, the Game 1 pitcher, or the young Sonny Gray, who started Game 2. Colon
has more rest, but Gray had that amazing start that gave the A’s their first
win in the series. I’d say to pitch them both, starting Gray and having Colon
go in relief. 
While that Game 5 will be great, it’s
unfortunately not on today. The only game on today is the Pirates vs. the
Cardinals in their win-or-go-home game. This will probably be the best game of
the postseason so far. It’ll be played in St. Louis, and it’ll be Adam
Wainwright, the Game 1 winner, vs. rookie Gerrit Cole, the Game 2 winner. It’s
going to be a pitching duel with some great hitting. I can’t wait. That’ll be
on tonight at 7 PM CT.
Email me at statsbuddy42@gmail.com for any
questions/comments/concerns. Happy Leif Erickson Day! Hinga Dinga Durgen!
-Evan Boyd
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