Not even the recently bulletproof Jon Lester could save the Red Sox from relinquishing the advantage of playing three consecutive games at home; B.J. Upton and Matt Garza made sure of that.
Upton continued his torrid postseason hitting by going 2-for-5 with a huge three-run home run that effectively ripped through Lester's aura of invincibility like knife through butter. Garza made that home run stand up by pitching six innings and only allowing only one earned run while striking out six.
Upton wasn't the only source of offense. Evan Longoria, Rocco Baldelli, and Carlos Pena also homered as Red Sox were forced to watch their ace and their only rested reliever, Paul Byrd, get hit all over the field.
Now the Red Sox should be really nervous. Lester was far and away their best and most reliable starter. Now the Red Sox have to rely on Tim Wakefield and Daisuke Matsuzaka to prevent the Rays from closing out the series in Boston, and even if they manage to win a game, Boston's staff will still be short-handed and Josh Beckett will have to pitch one of the games, a prospect that doesn't excite anyone inside Red Sox Nation.
Unfortunately for the Red Sox, their short pitching staff is not the only problem that is giving Terry Francona a headache right now. Their offense, which had seemingly woke up in Game 2 with four home runs, regressed back to their former selves, leaving 14 runners on base and garnering only seven hits.
- B/R Ticket Guide
The Red Sox have now left more than ten runners on base in every game they have played in the postseason, including 20 in their Game 2 loss to the Rays. The Red Sox may have an offense built for the postseason with their patience and their penchant for drawing walks, but that type of offense doesn't work if the rest of the team fails to deliver with runners in scoring position.
It's frustrating enough to make me wonder what the offense would look like if Mike Lowell was healthy and Manny Ramirez was back patrolling left field. The real disappointment is the end of the batting order, not the middle.
Jed Lowrie is sporting a .391 OBP, but he is also sporting a .235 batting average and a .235 slugging percentage, including zero hits in the ALCS so far.
Mark Kotsay had three hits in ten at-bats against the Angels, but he has three hits in fourtenn at-bats against Tampa Bay, and he has left a lot of people on-base since the start of the series.
The worst offender should come as no surprise to Red Sox fans, Jason Varitek struggled all through the regular season and the postseason has been the same old story. He is 3-for-21 in the series which is a sporty .142 batting average, .170 OBP, and a .107 slugging percentage.
Quite frankly, it's difficult to watch.
Now the Red Sox have given up their home-field advantage and face a must-win Game 4 with steady, but mediocre Tim Wakefield toeing the rubber. It will be interesting to see how long Wakefield's knuckle ball will last against the hot bats of the Rays.
The only solace the Red Sox can take is that Andy Sonnastine is reliable, but he is not the same type of pitcher that James Shields or Matt Garza is. His stuff is less electric, and he doesn't throw nearly as hard.
Still, that is a very slim glimmer of hope for the Red Sox to grasp onto. Instead, the Red Sox are looking at a lot of gloom and doom in the near future, and a lot of locker-cleaning and golf in Florida in the not-so-distant future.
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about 1 month ago
good writeup, who is this mike lemaire? ive never heard of him. He should write fr sportsline more often, id read.
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