ALCS Game 6
The pressure is back on the Tampa Bay Rays! Maddon had his staff set up the way he wanted, but the Rays relievers had a bout of poor location. Blowing a seven run lead is damaging to a team in many ways and now the Rays may second guess themselves slightly which is a far cry from the confidence they exuded 12 hours ago. Meanwhile, they think the Red Sox can come back and so do the guys in Terry Francona’s clubhouse.Tom Verducci reported in Sports Illustrated that Josh Beckett has a torn oblique. He seems to be getting around just fine and I still think his problem is the layoff more than anything physical. In his last two outings he had poor location and his velocity was maybe 2-3 mph below where it normally is, but I didn’t see anything that lead me to believe that he was seriously injured. James Shields is a breaking ball pitcher who doesn’t have Beckett’s velocity, but has been effective in hitting his location.
The Red Sox just need to continue to take this series one game at a time and make adjustments at crucial points in the game. I have a good feeling about the team heading back down south.
October 18th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
Face it,the sox are down and chances of them beating the Rays at the Trop, 2 in a row are slim and none.The Rays have too many ways to score runs and have shown no propensity to back down from any one.Beckett’s fastball with less velocity makes him an average pitcher.91 mph is barely average today.Good luck Boston.Thanks for participating.
October 18th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
Hopefully Beckett locates his fast ball much better. That is the key.
Jeff
http://www.soxandpinstripes.com
October 20th, 2008 at 9:46 pm
It was a great season for the Sox. I’m proud of them.
October 21st, 2008 at 3:47 pm
Jim - What, no posts since last Friday?!?
At least glow a little over Game 6, even if you have nothing to say about Game 7.
The Sawks could have used you in the lineup this series, sir.