46 Reasons To Be A Red Sox Fan

Familiar, But Not Expected

mlblogsanotherdominantredsoxpostseason — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 15:55:42 +0000

Wow. I have to admit that I went to bed when we were losing 5-0. Dice-K didn’t have a same kind of outing he normally does. He doesn’t give up many homers, but Tampa has to be genuinely good if they can make all 4 of our starters look terrible. But, in the bottom of the seventh, we suddenly woke up. I can’t beleive i missed the second greatest comeback in playoff history! Just my luck i guess. I am so relieved that Papi got the 3 run shot, it was only a matter of time when we would see him start coming out of that slump. And JD Drew, going 2-4. Those last 3 innings gave me so much more confidence in our offense, and I hope it gave the Sox the same confidence. I just hope it carries over into tonights game! Tampa Bay is good, but they don’t have any experience in this playoff situation. Let’s hope the greatest comeback team in MLB can pull through again!

Not New Territory

mlblogsanotherdominantredsoxpostseason — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 23:39:43 +0000

Well, game 4 was a disappointing one. I did expect this outcome from Wakefield, however. The Rays are simply a better team than us this year, and I don’t think anyone can deny that seeing everything they have pulled off. Being down 3-1 is not new territory, though. Last year, against the Cleveland Indians, and 2004 against the Yankees, (an even greater defecit of 3-0). Nothing new, but it might be the time to worry. What we need now is pitching, and a little offense wouldn’t hurt. Let’s pray Matsuzaka has the same luck he had in game 1. I don’t know hot he does it, but hope it continues. Well, everyone needs to believe we can come back from this, because the Red Sox aren’t giving up yet, so neither should we.

Ellsbury vs. Coco

mlblogsanotherdominantredsoxpostseason — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 21:28:46 +0000

Can someone please tell me why Ellsbury is not in the lineup? Does Coco have a better average against Sonnanstine? He is a right handed pitcher, so I can’t really see why it is necessary to take Jacoby out, and i’ll tell you why. Jacoby had the third best average on the team in the regular season (determined by how many at-bats.) Coco not only had a worse average in the regular season, but he doesn’t produce in the postseason either. Maybe a certain game 6 of the 2007 ALCS would remind you? He was taken out and Jacoby was put in. And he came through. And he will do it again. Even Francona said in last nights press conference that he could tell Ellsbury was almost through his small slump. Jacoby has a better arm than Coco, and more speed. Ellsbury is the reason we score, when he’s on base, we get runs. Give me feedback on this decision please, cause i’m sure I don’t know all of the details on who’s better against Sonnanstine. Thanks

Unexpected

mlblogsanotherdominantredsoxpostseason — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 00:26:32 +0000

Well, tonight we took a beating from Tampa Bay, 9-1. To think the Rays ended the regular season last year 30 games back in the standings. Now we are in the 2008 ALCS, down 2-1 in the series. At least we can say this isn’t anything new for us, we have been in a worse position. Tonight surprised me a bit. Lester, doing so well this season, game up 5 runs before he left in the 6th. If there was a game this series that was a must win so far, it was this one. We are counting on Lester to be a healthy Josh Beckett, and this loss may hurt us in the long run. Im not sure I have confidence in Tim Wakefield for tomorrow night, although there aren’t many options. Tim lead our pitching staff in homeruns allowed this year with 25. (Byrd has 31 but was aquired later in the year.) It isn’t good to have that reputation against the Rays, who it seems have been doing nothing but hitting the long balls. Tonight was frustrating, but the Sox have come back from ALCS deficits before, and I have complete confidence it will happen again.

Trouble At The Trop

mlblogsanotherdominantredsoxpostseason — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 14:26:00 +0000

Tonight was definitely a frustrating one, for Red Sox fans especially. I was frustrated when they put in Timlin in the bottom of the eleventh, and you know the Rays’ walk-off history. I almost had a heart attack when I saw Jacoby bunt the ball right off his helmet. All we need is our lead-off man out of the line-up. I was at work so I didn’t see every detail othe game, was Timlin our last option? The guy hasn’t pitched since September 28th. I would have let Lugo pitch before i let Timlin pitch. (ok maybe not) But there were some good things that happened for us. Dustin Pedroia, coming out of his postseason shell, delivered 2 homers for us. This was definitely an Ameican League game, i’ll tell you that. Beckett wasn’t the dominant pitcher we know him to be, but did you expect any better? I just say that because he has been hurting, and he obviously isn’t 100% yet. He still put up a fight, and stayed in the game longer because of our great offense. And how about John Farrell? He definitely had an argument, and tensions were high, but we needed him, especially in extra innings. Well, we go back to Boston with a split in the series, which IS better than being down 0-2, so i’ll take it. I have no doubt in my mind that Lester will be lights out tomorrow. Knock on wood!

Dice-K Domination

mlblogsanotherdominantredsoxpostseason — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 13:39:36 +0000

A game one win at Tropicana Field was a must win game. Seeing as how the Sox lost 8 of 9 games at the Trop, I was scared coming into this series where the Rays have home field advantage. What can you say about DIce-K tonight? The guy is unstoppable. I’ll admit in the first inning my family and I had some words to say to Dice-K after he loaded the bases, as would any passionate Sox fan. But it is amazing the way he gains composure quickly and gets himself out of the jam. Even Tito said after the game he has no idea how Dice-K does it, one minute it’s 2 guys on with no outs, and then he leaves the inning unscathed. Dice-K came through in an important game. And Youk had a great game last night as well. He went 3 for 4 with an RBI, one of 2 runs in the game. This was definitely a pitchers duel, however, and in the end Dice-K and his relief walked away with the well deserved win.

Re-Cap Of The ALDS

mlblogsanotherdominantredsoxpostseason — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 16:51:32 +0000

I have to admit how terrified I was of the Angels when the Red Sox went to sunny California to kick off the postseason. People were saying, “Why is everyone so scared of the Angels? We have swept them 3 times in the postseason.” Well maybe it didn’t occur to you, but they had 100 wins this year, and the second team in their division was 21 games behind them! Not to mention they swept us twice during the regular season. But, the postseason IS a whole different ball game, and we sure proved that. Even though we won the series 3-1, we sure struggled for it. Jason bay, what can I say? We don’t need Manny to be successful, and that is what I have said since day 1. Not that I knew Jason Bay of all people would be the one to come through in the clutch. What makes him more unbelievable is that he has never gotten a taste of the postseason, and still proves to be a natural. Obviously the best performance of the series came from Jed Lowrie in the bottom of the ninth, a single to drive in the walk-off run to win the game and the series, what a clutch performance. Might remind people of a certain Navajo rookie who came up and owned the postseason last year? Speaking of Jacoby, he continues to destroy the competition in October, hitting .333 in the ALDS. You better believe Scott Boras is coming up with a big fat dollar amount to show to Epstein. And if Jacoby keeps producing in the postseason, then why not give it to him? One thing I have noticed is that Pedroia hasn’t been the MVPedroia we have all seen and love. But I believe he will come up in a big way when we play the Rays in this upcoming series.