BOSTON – Their top two starters have been spanked in consecutive games. They don’t have a hit between their leadoff and third place hitters.
And tonight in Game 4 of the ALCS at Fenway Park, the Red Sox turn to a knuckleball pitcher who hasn’t worked since the final game of the regular season.
“We are still in this,” catcher Jason Varitek declared after the Rays hung a 9-1 beating on the Rays in Game 3 last night that was witnessed by 38,031 of the quietest customers ever to enter New England’s living room.
Of course the Red Sox aren’t dead since the Rays lead the best-of-seven affair, 2-1. However, watching Josh Beckett give up eight runs and three homers in 41/3 innings in Game 2 and Jon Lester surrender five runs (four earned) and two homers in 52/3 innings last night, there is concern.
“We will start with Wake and work our way through this,” Varitek said of Tim Wakefield, tonight’s starter, who is 19-5 with three saves in his career against the Rays, but 0-2 with a 5.87 ERA against them this year. Andy Sonnanstine goes for the Rays.
Nobody deals with being down in October better than the Red Sox. Ask the 2004 Yankees, who held a 3-0 advantage in the ALCS and watched the Red Sox win four straight. Check with last year’s Indians, who were up 3-1 in the ALCS and let it slip away.
Still, with Beckett and Lester the Red Sox were supposed to have the edge in starting pitching. Clearly, they don’t.
Rays starter Matt Garza was a lot better than Lester, allowing a run in six innings. He was backed by three-run homers by B.J. Upton and Rocco Baldelli and solo blasts from Evan Longoria and Carlos Pena.
“With Upton, I wanted a fastball in and I left it up and Longoria the ball didn’t cut, it turned into a slider,” Lester said of the third-inning blasts that turned a 1-0 Rays lead into a 5-0 bulge. “When you leave pitches like that over the middle of the plate to good hitters they are going to hit them.”
Joe Maddon looks past Upton’s (24) and Longoria’s (22) ages and focuses on their confidence.
“They feel like they belong here and that’s a big reason why they have been able to perform with calm and permit everybody to see how good they are,” Maddon said of his studs. “Knowing them on a daily basis, it doesn’t surprise me.”
That Jacoby Ellsbury (0-for-14) and David Ortiz (0-for-10) don’t have a hit is shocking. And Varitek is 0-for-10 and got booed following a third-inning pop up.
An overall problem is the Red Sox hitting .125 (3-for-24) with runners in scoring position through three games.
One of the biggest outs Garza recorded was catching Ortiz looking with Dustin Pedroia on second and one out in the first.
“Ortiz was a little payback,” Garza said. “He got me twice in my last start in Tampa.” It would be foolish to dismiss the Red Sox. But with Beckett and Lester getting mauled and Ellsbury and Ortiz looking for their first hits, the Red Sox are a wounded club.