Friday, October 07, 2005

RED SOX PLAYOFF COMEBACKS

1986 vs. California Angels: Red Sox go down 3-1, win 3 straight to win AL pennant
1999 vs. Cleveland Indians: Red Sox go down 2-0 on the road, win 3 straight to go to ALCS
2003 vs. Oakland Athletics: Red Sox go down 2-0 on the road, win 3 straight to go to ALCS
2004 vs. New York Yankees: Red Sox go down 3-0, win 4 straight to go to World Series

Tonight the Red Sox put out their old war horse, Tim Wakefield. The man who was there the last time we won the division. The man who played in the 95, 98, 99, and 03 LDSs. We didn't need him in last year's LDS because we swept. This time, we need him.

He goes up against Freddy Garcia. I don't think Garcia or the White Sox have the mettle or the experience or the confidence to beat us in our own backyard. Then again, I also predicted we'd win games 1 and 2.

GAME 2, CLOSE BUT NOT CLOSE ENOUGH

This game was lost on four different plays.
1. Graffanino's Error
2. Wells throwing 2 straight curveballs to Iguchi
3. Nixon pulling the ball too hard down the right field line
4. Renteria trying to pull a Jenks fastball

That's it. That was the game. 4 fucking plays. We screwed up and we lost. We deserved to lose because of these screw ups. But the game was even closer than the 5-4 score would suggest.

David Ortiz needs to learn how to not hit into the shift that other teams put on him. He needs to learn how to bunt better. It isn't that difficult of a thing to learn.

I have confidence going back into Fenway even though we're down 2-0. If we can win on Friday and Saturday, I'll have confidence facing El Mercenario in Chicago. Obviously, we need to win tonight though.