Unacceptable play tonight. They must start scoring with RISP. They lost this game tonight and Lowrie will have to start making those clutch hits the playoffs are right around the corner.
It was a tough loss. The ball that hit the ump hurt them badly as they would have at least tied the score. But you're right they had plenty of chances. The good thing is Ellsbury and Ortiz are starting to get hot at the plate.
Playoffs!!!!! Looks like we'll be face the Angels. Time to get guys rested and healthy. I also have to tip my cap to the Rays, I didn't think they were going to be this good and was expecting them to fall on their face but they kept fighting and fighting, good for them it makes the East that much more fun.
Let me too tip my cap to the Rays. I thought the Sox may catch-up, but they haven't let up a beat, because the Sox certainly haven't.
Grats on the playoffs. I was secretly hoping for the Yankees for obvious reasons lol but it should be a great first series. See you guys in Anaheim soon
Lester tossing a no-hitter through 5 in his last start before the playoffs makes me happy. Youk, Lowrie driving in some runs. Anyone know the pitching matchups for this weekends series with the Yanks. I wonder how many Yanks fans will be watching this weekend?
Some rookie is pitching Saturday for the Yankees (Pettite is being shut down with an elbow injury), and Mussina is going on Sunday but honestly I haven't even checked. Weird that a late September series vs. the Yanks is meaningless.
(I really wanted these last 3 to mean something for both) - of course we bring out the '27 Yanks lumber last night when it was meaningless!!!! P.S. Looking forward to SOX vs. LAA series!
Doesn't look like Lowell will be much help in the playoffs. Too bad. I guess the Sox will have to go with a Kotsay/Casey/Jeff Bailey platoon at 1st and then use Cora as a late game defensive replacement.
BostonHerald.com - Blogs: Clubhouse Insider Blog Archive Beckett could be out for postseason Word is Beckett is hurt and could be out for the post season. If true and he's out the Sox are screwed. Unreal. EDIT: Per Francona: Lester will pitch Game 1, Matsuzaka- Game 2, Beckett- Game 3.
Beat me to it and a huge blow for the Red Sox. If he can't go the Sox are like you said screwed. Need Lester to come up huge game 1. They are saying it is a strained oblique. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3615141
We're done without Beckett. This team has overcome a ton of adversity all year long, but without the best postseason pitcher in baseball, this team has no chance. Sad really.
I can't believe this happened in a side session. Has Beckett ever been out with a strained oblique. This is a huge blow to our playoff chances.
Yeah I've been trying to talk myself into this team winning without Beckett but I can't. I trust Lester but I have no confidence in Matsuzaka moving forward. For the Sox to win the Angel series we need a split in CA and the win it in Game 4. Of course who know what could happened in a week with Beckett. Let's not jump ship yet but I think its ok to get up on the ledge and start looking down.
I'm still not that confident. If the Angels were ever going to beat the Red Sox this was the year, and I thought that even when Beckett was healthy. I'm nervous lol, why could we play the White Sox instead!
You've been one of the die-hards since the FH days and nothing but a good sport in our recent postseason matchups. It would have been a tall task to knock off the Halo's even with Beckett. Now though, I just don't see it. Regardless, best of luck this upcoming series.
Yesterday I heard some people say from Boston that Beckett's injury isn't as bad as 1st stated and he will pitch game 3. I know we all have seen Dice-K get into way to many jams to think he can stay out of them in the postseason against good teams, but I was reading a Jason Stark article and he had Dice-K among his CY tough luck losers to Cliff Lee. When you stack his stats up with the rest of the league he is right there except for whip.
I have a few very big concerns moving into the playoffs. First, the effects of the Beckett injury. It may not be as bad as originally reported, but not having him ready to go twice (if needed) in this series hurts. Secondly, the Beckett injury just further reiterates the fact that we're going to have to win 1 or 2 bullpen games if we're going to make an appearence in the ALCS this year. Matsuzaka will undoubtedly put a major strain on the bullpen during his start (as always). Can guys like (gulp) Delcarmen, Lopez, Okajima and Masterson (has there been another rookie in baseball in a more important role over the last few years, outside of K-Rod in 2002?) get the game to Papelbon? I know Okajima has improved throughout the season, but when you're watching him... you're always waiting for the other shoe to drop. And lastly, will the offense be able to muster enough runs to win games with Ramirez gone and health concerns surrounding Lowell and Drew. When it comes right down to it, I might be more concerned with the offense than the pitching/bullpen issues. But overall, there's just too many flaws (albeit, many are a direct result of injuries) on this team to see them making any sort of deep run into the playoffs. That said, I'll be up till 2 am tomorrow pulling for them like hell. Go Sox!
Guys we have to have faith. Hopefully we can get some great pitching and good hits. I think we will be just fine
It's odd how both sides arent very confident heading into this thing. I'm already stressed out and the playoffs havent started yet! I did have a dream though that Juan Rivera hit a grand slam to give the Angels a 2 run lead heading into the 9th. Unfortunately I woke up before I saw if Frankie got the save or not...
I just think these two teams are equally matched and both very good. It almost makes no sense trying to predict who's going to win because it's just so close. I'm just hoping to see some good baseball (of course 3 Sox wins too). Good news is Lowell and Drew are playng tonight, hopefully both are healthy.
No I don't. I was actually trying to see how i could look it up and see. Oh god I hope you're wrong. Why not just have Don Orsello? He's watched the Red Sox all year so he's very familiar with the team and he doesn't come off as a homer when he's on NESN.
Leaving men on base is certainly not the way to win this game. Big Jam that Lester got out of in the first. I was sweating it.
You really can't say enough about Lester. He didn't look sharp in the first 3 innings and then all of a sudden the light went on and he just took the ball and started dominating. Great performance by him. Ellsbury is on fire right now, in the field and at the plate. Reaching base 5 times and stealing 2 times. And it was nice seeing Jason Bay go deep because you know whether the Sox win or lose he's going to be compared to Manny (whether it's fair or unfair). And Youk's play in the 8th was great. I also didn't think Masterson pitched poorly, as we obviously need him to come up big for us this month. Really the only ball they hit hard was Vlad's single, Hunter's base hit was a blooper. Anyway winning last night was huge, you could see it in some of the Angels' faces, like Vlad, they were just stunned. I said that the Sox really needed to win Game 1 because at worst you want to split the first 2 games on the road but also it zips some of the confidence the Angels had coming into the series and I'm sure it's not going to be fun for them sitting around for 48 hours listening to people ask them why they can't beat the Sox in October. But the series is far from over and Matsuzaka needs to have a big performance. The only negatives about last night is Lowell and Drew look pretty weak at the plate right now, especially Drew swinging at the first pitch in every at bat (but a positive is that Lowell moved pretty good in the field and I'm shocked the Angels didn't try to bunt a few times). It looks like Ortiz is pressing a bit at the plate too. And the Sox going into the 9th were 1 for 10 with runners on base, that cannot happen if they want to go deep into the playoffs. Hopefully the Sox can set the tone in Game 2 and score early and continue to put the pressure on LA.
Lester is a HORSE. Another phenomenal performance. We're in the Angels head at this point, especially Lackey's. All the pressure is on them tomorrow night because we have Beckett waiting for them upon their arrival in Boston.
Can't wait to watch Dice-K on Friday and see if we can get to Santana early. Lowell looked pretty good to me, made a few plays in the field. Drew looked really bad at the plate, hopefully he can turn that around, I wouldn't be surprised to see Kotsay a bit Friday depending on the match-up.
If we see the Great Dice K the Sox will be in great position. I think the bats will come alive in the upcoming games.
And we hate you for it lol. Lackey looked good last, very good at times. I cant complain about that outing at all. He had one bad pitch and Bay made him pay for it. It shouldnt have been a 1-0 game at that point anyway. Lester gave us chances early and the Angels just couldnt capitalize.
I think the Angels are a good matchup for Dice K. We arent a patient team, so even if he isnt sharp we'll bail him out of a some sticky situations letting him go deeper in the game than he usually does. Hopefully stud Santana who mows through lineups quickly is pitching for the Angels tomorrow. If he shows up I like our chances. If he doesnt...series over
Great performance from Lester last night but they must do better when they hvae runners on base otherwise this team won't go very far. That loss last night really got to the Angels you could see it in their faces.
Seriously how bad were Chip Carrey, Buck Martinez and Craig Segar (who I wasn't sure if his side line reporting or his bright orange suit was worse). Besides from the obvious false statements from Carey and Martinez, I loved how Segar spoke about such players: Dustin Petta, Josh Lester, Jeremy Bay and Jacob Ellis. I also thought Segar came off looking like an idiot in the post game interview with Lester when he said "Jon you beat cancer and won the game how do you feel?". Unreal I really wish Joe Morgan/Jon Miller or Buck/McCrevar was doing the game instead.
I wanted Buck Martinez dead by the end of the game. At the beginning it was fine, but he talks WAAAAAAAAAY too much, and says the same thing over and over and over again. If I have to hear one more time about how Lester didnt used to use the outer half of the plate and now he does, and that's why he's so good I'm going to kill someone. TBS is a train wreck.
