Red Sox Report: Beckett To The Rescue!
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Saved by the ace……..for now.
Josh Beckett returned to the mound for the Red Sox after suffering a severe ankle sprain a couple of weeks ago. And his return couldn’t have come at a better time.
With the Red Sox reeling in the month of September (3-11 heading into play Friday night), Boston’s lead in the Wild Card race was down to a mere 3 games over the Tampa Bay Rays. On cue, Beckett came riding in on his white horse and rescues the team.
Beckett and the Sox beat the Rays 4-3 at Fenway. The Sox’ ace went 6 innings allowing 7 hits, 3 runs (only 2 of them earned). He walked 1 and struck out 7. More importantly, he improved to 3-0 against the Rays who have dominated Boston this year going 10-6 against the Red Sox including a 5-2 mark at Fenway Park.
More importantly, Beckett’s ankle appeared to be A-okay which is HUGE for Boston as they look forward, hopefully, to the postseason.
-The Red Sox are, by no means, out of the woods yet. With two games remaining in the series with the Rays, Boston would like to grab at least one of the two to keep their lead at 4 games over Tampa with just 10 games remaining in the regular season. You have think that Boston’s best chance at a win in the next 2 games comes Saturday with Jon Lester (15-7, 3.07) on the mound for Boston against Jeff Niemann (10-7, 3.97). Sunday’s pitching match-up clearly favors the Rays who send David Price (12-12, 3.34) to the mound to face Tim Wakefield (7-6, 5.13).
-If Boston does fail to make the playoffs it will be because of both a poor start and a poor finish to the season. The Red Sox started the season 0-6 and 2-10. They are currently 4-11 in the month of September. But there are a few other things worth noting.
First and foremost, the players for Tampa have out-played Boston’s line-up this season which is surprising when you consider the discrepancy in the team’s payrolls ($42 million for the Rays to $162 million for Boston).
Second, Rays manager Joe Maddon has out-managed Terry Francona. While you would think that Boston’s lefty line-up would feast on Tampa’s right-handed pitchers, that has not been the case. It is clear that Madden’s game plan, particularly at Fenway Park, is to pitch Boston’s left-handed hitters inside encouraging them to try to pull the ball to the more spacious right field. Maddon has also employed the shift on David Ortiz, Adrian Gonzalez and Jarrod Saltalamacchia essentially daring them to hit it to the opposite field. None of the three seemed to want to accept that invitation and it is doubtful that Francona encouraged any of the three to try to go the other way.
Finally, emotion has clearly been on the side of Tampa Bay as well. The Red Sox have often resembled the Dead Sox at times while the Rays seem to be more energized. Maybe it’s the pressure of feeling like you’re supposed to win that weighs heavily on the Red Sox. Still, a little more fire in their bellies wouldn’t hurt.
-Kevin Youkilis didn’t play last night and will not play today due to his ailing hip and hernia. To his credit, he has tried to play through the pain from these injuries but it has clearly affected his play. Even so, Youkilis has put up sold numbers (.278, 15 HR, 80 RBI).
-Daniel Bard got back on track Friday night by pitching a scoreless 8th inning. Bard walked one but struck out the side before Jonathan Papelbon closed it out in the 9th.
-Mike Aviles had the game-winning hit for Boston with a solo homerun in the bottom of the 4th. Aviles was playing 3B for the injure Kevin Youkilis.
Follow us on Pinterest Google + Facebook Twitter See It Read It