Another Unlikely Hero Saves The Day for Sox Fans
When watching the Sox in their five game series against the Rays, you realized the Sox were a very good, very dangerous team. The Rays could pitch, but the Sox bats wore them down. Timely baserunning and steals put pressure on the opponents. The defense looked crisp and clean. The Sox took a good team behind the woodshed and left them there without looking back.
When the hitting dried up against Detroit, it was easy to point at the fantastic starting pitching of the Tigers. The Sox still looked dangerous against the weak bullpen, and Detroit couldn't run the bases- or field very
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The Sox regain Home Field Advantage, and hopefully, they will get the hot bats back! |
well - and on balance, just weren't as complete a team. Disposing of the Tigers in six seemed like the hard part, and there would be no stopping them in the final round.
But after watching four games against the Cardinals, it's time to come to grips with how the teams match up. And this pretty biased writer has come to just one conclusion.
St. Louis is better.
Their pitching? Better. Cardinals' hitting? Better. Their defense? With Molina back behind the dish, shutting off the Sox run game (1 steal in four games), they get the nod, despite the early jitters they showed in game one. The Sox have been uncharacteristically coughing up the ball at key times, and not playing the fundamental baseball we've come to expect from this group. The cardinals bullpen, with few exceptions, has been outstanding, while the Sox bullpen, while still effective is looking decidedly vulnerable.
As much as I'd like to, I can't get around it, the Cards should win the series.
And yet? We're here at 2-2. With two at home and three to go. What to make of this?
Can the Sox Close it Out?
Part of me is the optimist. Ellsbury has been the victim of some hard luck outs. Pedroia doesn't look terrible at the plate. Ortiz is hot as a pistol, and we'll get Napoli back at fenway. Gomes remains dangerous. Boegarts is contributing. And though I miss Shane's defense, Nava needs to be in there since there's no run game. And the pitching has been workmanlike and effective - if not pretty. Dubront is looking like your game 7 starter, instead of Peavy, which is a positive. With so few games to go, we won't need to save anyone, and can probably pitch our way around trouble. Those are all good things.
But the larger part of me knows that if the Sox don't get more dangerous at the plate, and get back to the "Bearded Beantown Bashers" as I affectionately call them, it will be for nought. You need skills and luck to win a World Series, and the Sox are desperately close to having cashed in all their leprechauns for this round. (Getting Wong picked off last night was divine providence. Not because Uehara and Napoli can't execute a pickoff, but because he was such an idiot even thinking about stealing two runs down. POINTLESS. We've seen some ghastly baserunning gaffes, but that one took the cake. That should never happen in a regular season game, let alone a World Series game). Ross, Salty, Victorino, Drew, and Middlebrooks look lost at the plate (they are averaging around a .210 OPS, not counting Middlebrooks, who doesn't have enough ABs to be judged).
I'm pretty sure we've seen Buckholz's last pitch of the year. Not sure I want Peavy pitching or "deer in the headlights" Breslow in a tough spot; he's either lost his confidence or his fastball. Morales would scare anyone at this point. Not sure what we can get from Tazawa. And none of that is very good, because the Sox starters aren't going deep into games against a club that has really grinded at bat BETTER than the 'grind to shine' Sox. Add it all up and we have a club that isn't hitting well, fielding well, and a bullpen that is suddenly suspect.
Here's hoping Ortiz's timely encouragement and Gomes' even more timely home run have snapped the Sox out of the funk they've been in for three games. They need improvement across the board to hang the next banner.
