The "ancient right-hander" Tim Wakefield will have the hopes and dreams of the red sox fans in his hands tonight. The Rays hope to destroy that hope early and often like they did in game 3 last night. The rays, themselves, are relying on another big game from a young starting pitcher. Tonight, it's Andy Sonnanstine the soft striek thrower trying to take down the sox much like Garza did in Game 3.
Ellsbury and Big Papi are a combined 0-24 in the first 3 games. I suggested last night that Ellsbury be benched. Well, Francona has taken him out of the leadoff spot for JD Drew, hoping to get a burst of energy from someone new.
This should be a fun game. I hope it's high scoring, atleast for the Rays that is.
What a change it is for the rays hitters to go from the hard throwing lefty, Jon Lester, to facing a knuckleballer. The need to be as patient as possible to get a feel for Wakefield's stuff early.
Top of the first and Wakefield gets Iwamura to stirkeout on an ugly and confused swing. Upton walk, which doesn;t surprise me, as he has been hotter than hot so far in the playoffs. he already is the youngest player to hit 5 homers in one postseason. Upton takes 2 standing up. They're gonna run all over him tonight. Staring right where they left off last night. Pena hits a 2 run jack over the monster to go up early. How important is momentum and emotion in the playoffs for sucha young team? Longoria makes it back to back and it's already 3-0. Crawford, feeding off the momentum rips a double down the right field line on the first pitch of an at bat. Masterson is warming up quickly in the bullpen with only 1 out in the first. It's panictime at fenway. Aybar goes down swinging and Crawford steals 3rd. That was the nastiest pitch Wakefield has thrown so far. Dioner navarro walks on 5 pitches. 1st and 3rd two outs. Fernando Perez is up, Maddon started him tonight for his speed on the basepath against the slow throwing Wakefield. He fouls out to Kotsay near the sox dugout to end the inning.
It'll be interesting to see if the top of the sox lineup can work off the crowd and put some runs back on the board early. JD Drew rips a back door slider right at Crawford in left for the first out. That's the onster coming into play with Crawford so shallow out there in right. Pedroia strikes out swinging. It's nice to get him out ahead of Papi, even if Papi does look terrible at the plate. He is still David Ortiz, after all. A weak groundout to second ends the inning. Sonnanstine goes 1-2-3, a great sign for the rays early.
One pitch one ou for Wakefield in the 2nd as Bartlett grounds out to shortstop. Iwamura, uo for a second time already flies out deep to right field as Drew catches it on the warning track. A very very quick, 1-2-3 inning for Wakefield as upton dribbles one to youkilis at third.
An extreme overreaction from the red sox fans as youkilis hits a high fly ball to center leading off the bottom of the 2nd. A weak ground ball down the third baseball leads to muffed glove by Longoria and a error on the throw to first, putting Jason Bay on second bade with 1 out and Kotsay at the plate. He rips a single up the middle but Bay has to be held up at 3rd. Lets see if the sox can take advantage of a rays error. Wow, this is not the red sox we know and hate. Coco crisp grounds out in a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning and any chance at a rally. That could be a huge point in the game for both teams.
Pena flies out to dead center on the warning track, its caught by Coco. Crawford gets a two out infield single and he flies down the first baseline. Crawford steals 2nd easily and puts himself in scoring position with 2 outs and aybar at the plate trying to tack on another one. Holy crap! Aybar rips one way over the monster to push the lead to 5, not even 3 innings into the game. It's interesting to see the rays take advantage of mistakes as opposed to red sox, the veterans and defending champions. Navarro follows the home run with rip single off the monster. Francona breaks down and takes Wake out of the game for Masterson. Masterson gets Perez to stare at a backdoor slider outside but called struek three to get out of any further trouble.
A change in pitcher might be just what the sox needed as Kevin Cash (Are you kidding me?) hits a homer over the monster to lead off the inning. I knew Varitek do more for the team from the dugout than in the batter's box. Sonnanstine settles down and gets the next 3 batters out quickly, keeeping the momentum on the rays side.
I have to take an hour break from the game because of prior obligations. Hopefully I come ack to a big rays lead.
Unfortunately, I missed the rest of the game. What the Rays have done over the past three games is absolutely unbelievable. In fact, they have scored 31 runs and have hit 10 home runs in any three game span for the first time in franchise history. They did not accomplish this against any old pitchers either. Beckett is one of the greatest postseason pitchers of all time and Lester had been hotter on the mound than anyone in the league. It truly is a site to see, especially for those of you who are smart enough not to be Red Sox fans. I love it when the fans at fenway sit there and sulk in silence.
I know people are complaining about the possible ratings bust Major League Baseball will face with a Phillies-Rays world series mathcup. However, I am very much looking forward to it. The Phillies have a lineup of all star hitters and the Rays are the most exciting team in baseball. I think it will make for an intriguing series, if, of course, the League Championship Series play out as they should. After all, the Red Sox have come back from the deepest hole ever.
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