Countdown Still On
I have to admit, the weekend went better than I had hoped. Not because I didn’t think we could sweep the Orioles while we were at home (oh wait, that wasn’t Fenway, but if you were only listening to the games you would never know that), but because I honestly didn’t expect the Yankees to lose a game to the Blue Jays at The Stadium and actually send us into the week tied for first.
It was nice to see some good pitching, both starters and relievers, great defense, and the offense coming around, but I think we really have one man to thank for his contributions to the sweep this weekend, Miguel Tejada. This guy looked like he was done with the season and couldn’t wait for it to end. I get the feeling that he is really regretting leaving the A’s to take that big contract in Baltimore. I’m sure Palmiero’s ridiculous accusations were not helping either. Hopefully he can find a way to get himself back into the game for the final week (or at least for the next 4 games) so he can help his team give the Yankees a run for their money.
Although it was a big weekend, which worked out better than expected, these next 4 days are even bigger. Here’s the good and the bad as I see it.
The Bad
The Orioles seem to have given up on the season. At this point, the Yankees could probably send their Columbus team down there and have them take 3 out of 4. I’d like to think that the Orioles could somehow find a way to steel one here, but I think that that’s the most we can hope for. We have to play very tough in order to keep that tie with the Yankees, and there’s a good chance we could still find ourselves behind one game at the end of it.
We’re only 5-9 against the Blue Jays this year. The only right-hander we face is David Bush in tonight’s game. After that it’s the rookie Gustavo Chacin, who has pitched us tough, noted Sox killer Ted Lilly, who continues to baffle this offense, and journeyman Scott Downs.
Big Papi has gone into a bit of a slump (1 hit in his last 4 games) and Damon is still having a tough go of it with the shoulder.
Our pitching has had a tough time with this Blue Jays offense, including blowing some late leads against them. Right now, the bullpen is just a big question mark. Although we had some good showings over the weekend, we still really have no idea what we’re going to get from anyone who goes out there.
The Good
We’re home. There is no team in baseball this year (or in the last few years) that thrives at home the way this team does. It doesn’t matter what else is going on, when we get home, it all goes out the window.
There are a lot of reasons for it, but one of the biggest is the fans. The Sox players thrive on it, and opposing players have admitted that they have a tough time playing here because of it.
When Fenway is a rockin’, that offense is a knockin’.
Speaking of that offense, it is really starting to break out at the right time. Manny, obviously is back, and Nixon, Mueller, and Varitek have been on fire for the last week. Graffanino’s back in the lineup and Renteria has been hitting better as of late, including that big hit on Saturday. Papi loves to hit at Fenway, so that slump should be a distant memory by the end of this.
And they don’t have much in the way of pitching to stop us. Yes, I noted that 3 out of their 4 starters are being lefties is a bad thing, and it very well could be, but for the most part, we should still have the advantage.
We’ve handled Bush twice already this year. Although Chacin has pitched us tough, we’ve now seen him twice and showed some signs of breaking through against him the last time in July, plus Seattle hammered him in his last start, and he may be wearing down after a long season. We got to Lilly for 3 runs on 5 hits in 5-2/3 innings on September 12th, and he only lasted 1 inning against the Yankees in his last start. Downs is just an average pitcher with an ERA of about 5 this month, who we’ve also already seen twice this year including September 13th when we managed 3 runs on 6 hits in 5-1/3 against him.
Meanwhile, our starters are pitching well and we’re getting at least 6 from them. The bullpen, for the most part, has also been good lately, including a nice outing by Bradford yesterday and a nice rebound by Papelbon in 2 appearances over the weekend.
And probably most important of all, this team seems to handle this type of pressure well. When they’re backs are to the wall, they somehow find a way to get it done.
So here we go, back at Fenway, backs against the wall, and no way to back into it. If we want it, we have to earn it, but it IS there for the taking, so let’s go out and get it.
It was nice to see some good pitching, both starters and relievers, great defense, and the offense coming around, but I think we really have one man to thank for his contributions to the sweep this weekend, Miguel Tejada. This guy looked like he was done with the season and couldn’t wait for it to end. I get the feeling that he is really regretting leaving the A’s to take that big contract in Baltimore. I’m sure Palmiero’s ridiculous accusations were not helping either. Hopefully he can find a way to get himself back into the game for the final week (or at least for the next 4 games) so he can help his team give the Yankees a run for their money.
Although it was a big weekend, which worked out better than expected, these next 4 days are even bigger. Here’s the good and the bad as I see it.
The Bad
The Orioles seem to have given up on the season. At this point, the Yankees could probably send their Columbus team down there and have them take 3 out of 4. I’d like to think that the Orioles could somehow find a way to steel one here, but I think that that’s the most we can hope for. We have to play very tough in order to keep that tie with the Yankees, and there’s a good chance we could still find ourselves behind one game at the end of it.
We’re only 5-9 against the Blue Jays this year. The only right-hander we face is David Bush in tonight’s game. After that it’s the rookie Gustavo Chacin, who has pitched us tough, noted Sox killer Ted Lilly, who continues to baffle this offense, and journeyman Scott Downs.
Big Papi has gone into a bit of a slump (1 hit in his last 4 games) and Damon is still having a tough go of it with the shoulder.
Our pitching has had a tough time with this Blue Jays offense, including blowing some late leads against them. Right now, the bullpen is just a big question mark. Although we had some good showings over the weekend, we still really have no idea what we’re going to get from anyone who goes out there.
The Good
We’re home. There is no team in baseball this year (or in the last few years) that thrives at home the way this team does. It doesn’t matter what else is going on, when we get home, it all goes out the window.
There are a lot of reasons for it, but one of the biggest is the fans. The Sox players thrive on it, and opposing players have admitted that they have a tough time playing here because of it.
When Fenway is a rockin’, that offense is a knockin’.
Speaking of that offense, it is really starting to break out at the right time. Manny, obviously is back, and Nixon, Mueller, and Varitek have been on fire for the last week. Graffanino’s back in the lineup and Renteria has been hitting better as of late, including that big hit on Saturday. Papi loves to hit at Fenway, so that slump should be a distant memory by the end of this.
And they don’t have much in the way of pitching to stop us. Yes, I noted that 3 out of their 4 starters are being lefties is a bad thing, and it very well could be, but for the most part, we should still have the advantage.
We’ve handled Bush twice already this year. Although Chacin has pitched us tough, we’ve now seen him twice and showed some signs of breaking through against him the last time in July, plus Seattle hammered him in his last start, and he may be wearing down after a long season. We got to Lilly for 3 runs on 5 hits in 5-2/3 innings on September 12th, and he only lasted 1 inning against the Yankees in his last start. Downs is just an average pitcher with an ERA of about 5 this month, who we’ve also already seen twice this year including September 13th when we managed 3 runs on 6 hits in 5-1/3 against him.
Meanwhile, our starters are pitching well and we’re getting at least 6 from them. The bullpen, for the most part, has also been good lately, including a nice outing by Bradford yesterday and a nice rebound by Papelbon in 2 appearances over the weekend.
And probably most important of all, this team seems to handle this type of pressure well. When they’re backs are to the wall, they somehow find a way to get it done.
So here we go, back at Fenway, backs against the wall, and no way to back into it. If we want it, we have to earn it, but it IS there for the taking, so let’s go out and get it.
posted by Bob at 9/26/2005 11:10:00 AM
1 Comments:
Correction: I spent some time yesterday trying to find numbers on how the Sox were doing against lefties this year. I ended up not being able to find them, some numbers are easier to find then others, so I just decided to go with my perception. Sometimes perceptions can be way off.
I knew that some of our left-handed hitters like Damon and Ortiz were actually hitting over .300 against lefties, and I knew Nixon was hitting them much better than he has in the past. But I also knew that Manny and Millar were having a tough time with the this year, and I thought that the team in general was as well.
Apparently I was very wrong, at least in Fenway where lefties are 5-10 with a 6.59 ERA against us, so this is obviously a big advantage in our favor.
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